A record number of us are listening to the radio according to the latest RAJAR results released this week. 45 million people, equivalent to 90 per cent of the UK population, tuned in to their radios each week in the last quarter of 2006. That’s the highest number of listeners ever recorded since the weekly surveys began in 1992.

Once again digital listening has risen, with the number of people who have access to a DAB receiver, or listened to the radio via digital television or the Internet, increasing from 54 per cent to 55 per cent. 16 per cent of the UK population also now live in homes which have a digital radio.

Radio listening via mobile phone is up 24 per cent year on year with 7.8 per cent of the UK adult population using their handsets to tune in. Likewise the downloading of podcasts is on the rise. 2.1 million adults now use their mp3 player to listen to podcasts.

Also holding it’s own is commercial radio which takes a 54 per cent share of listening in the key 15 to 44 demographic, the core audience demanded by advertisers. 72 per cent of this age-group listen to Commercial Radio every week, up by 228,000 since last quarter.

However, the results show a major shift in radio listening from analogue to digital in all its guises and companies would do well to pay attention to the changing trends in media consumption or they could find themselves left behind.