Digital listening has lifted BBC Radio to a new audience high, with the breakfast show rivals Chris Moyles and Terry Wogan securing record figures.

Increased radio access through digital sets, websites and mobile phones has reinforced the popularity of BBC stations but their dominance could prompt fresh calls for the privatisation of Radio 1 and Radio 2.

Sir Terry, 69, remains the nation’s breakfast favourite, attracting 8.1 million listeners to Radio 2, up 370,000 from the previous quarter, according to Rajar, the official radio audience research body. But he is in danger of losing his crown to Moyles, the self-styled “saviour” of Radio 1.

Moyles, 34, had a record 7.72 million listeners, up 410,000 from the previous quarter. His audience is now only 380,000 lower than Wogan’s.

Radio 2, the nation’s most-popular station, has 13.63 million listeners, a record since a new system of counting was introduced in 1999. Programming highlights for the period covered by the figures included a live R.E.M. concert from the Royal Albert Hall and the last Humphrey Lyttelton broadcast of The Best of Jazz. Chris Evans, whose arrival in Radio 2’s drivetime slot prompted complaints initially, has added 620,000 listeners to the show.

Radio 1, which had lost touch with its target audience of young pop fans, is now resurgent and has exceeded 11 million listeners for the first time since 2001.

Last week Peter Bazalgette, the television guru behind Big Brother, called for the privatisation of Radio 1 and Radio 2, arguing that the funds could create a public service arts network. But Jenny Abramsky, the outgoing head of BBC Radio, said that privatisation would be a “cultural travesty confining public service broadcasting into cultural elitism”.

Ms Abramsky, the new chairwoman of the National Heritage Memorial Fund, said: “Radio 1 and Radio 2 support UK talent, new music and live performance. They underpin the nation’s cultural life in the broadest sense.”

Listening to Radio 4 was also up but Radio 3 bucked the trend recorded by the BBC’s flagship stations. Ratings fell for the classical music, arts and culture station from 1.95 million in the last quarter to 1.79 million.

The station has managed to avoid returning to its record low, of 1.78 million listeners recorded early last year. Roger Wright, the controller of Radio 3, said it was “disappointing to see that classical music listening figures are down generally”.

Digital stations such as 6 Music, the dance channel 1Xtra and the Asian Network helped the BBC to gain a 56.8 per cent share of all listening hours.

The ownership of digital radio sets has increased 40 per cent year on year to 27 per cent of adults, and 11.6 per cent of adults have listened to the radio on a mobile phone. Almost a third of adults listen to digital radio every week. The most-popular commercial digital-only station is The Hits, with 1.57 million listeners.

Andrew Harrison, chief executive of the trade organisation RadioCentre, said that regulators needed to give commercial stations more freedom to change their formats so that they could compete with the BBC.

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