Chris Moyles, the Radio 1 breakfast show host, has lost 700,000 listeners over the past six months, as the BBC slipped to its slimmest lead over commercial radio stations in a year, according to figures released yesterday.

The self-styled “saviour of Radio 1” lost 190,000 listeners in the past three months and 515,000 in the previous quarter, leaving the DJ with 7.02 million listeners, down from a record high of 7.72 million.

Moyles, who has hosted the show since January 2004, was beaten comprehensively by his Radio 2 rival, Terry Wogan, who remains the man most people in Britain wake up to, with 7.74 million listeners. Wogan dropped 10,000 listeners from the previous quarter, but is up 60,000 compared with the same period last year.

In London, Johnny Vaughan's Capital FM breakfast show topped the rankings for commercial broadcasters. Along with his co-host Lisa Snowdon, he pulled in 862,000 listeners for the 6am to 9am slot, claiming to have outperformed Radio 1 in the London area.

Nationwide, Radio 2 remains the most popular radio station, attracting 13.06 million listeners, compared with 10.87 million for Radio 1, but the BBC again saw commercial stations eat into its market share. The Radio Joint Audience Research (Rajar) figures, released every three months, showed that commercial radio increased its listening share for the second consecutive quarter, to 43.1 per cent, with local stations posting the biggest increase. About 45 million adults listen to radio stations each week.

Other BBC programmes also lost out as Radio 4 dropped 86,000 listeners to 9.45 million. The Today programme saw its audience dip from 6.26 million to 6.11 million.

Digital radio listening again increased in popularity, with 18.7 per cent of all listeners tuning in via a digital receiver, up from 15 per cent on the same period last year.

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