Scary Nic

OLDHAM-BORN DJ Nick Grimshaw has been praised for “scaring” away older listeners from Radio 1.

BBC Radio 1 has lost nearly half a million listeners aged 30 and over, according to figures released by audience research body Rajar.

The latest Rajar figures show that the station pulled in an average weekly audience of 9.7 million.

Ben Cooper, controller of Radio 1, said: “I’m pleased that Grimmy is doing what I’ve asked of him by keeping his young audience happy and scaring off the over-30s.

“Since Radio 1 has been focused on younger audiences it was highly likely some older listeners would move on, like the half a million over-30s that left us this quarter. “