BBC’s highest paid star Chris Evans loses almost half a million listeners on Radio 2 show

The presenter earns around £2.2 million a year 
Losing listeners: Chris Evans' breakfast show has seen a drop of almost half a million listeners
Rex

Chris EvansRadio 2 breakfast show has lost almost half a million listeners in the last year according to new figures.

Audience research body Rajar found the DJ drew 9.01 million listeners a week between April and June 2017, down from the 9.47 million he attracted over the same period in 2016.

The news comes just weeks after it was revealed Evans was the BBC’s highest-earning star, receiving a salary of around £2.2 million, more than four times the amount of the highest-paid woman, Claudia Winkelman.

Evans has top billing on the station, presenting the Breakfast show – the most prestigious scheduling slot.

BBC Pay roll - in pictures

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And despite the drop in listeners Evan’s breakfast show still remains the most popular radio programme in the country.

It’s been a difficult month for the BBC, earlier this week an email criticising radio presenter Vanessa Feltz, who was one of few women to make the top-earners list, was leaked to the press.

BBC boss David Robey mistakenly sent the email in which he described working with Feltz as “…a constant battle to get her to suit the pace of breakfast" to colleagues.

Feltz was also caught up in an anti-semitism row after Irish Times journalist Kevin Myers write an article suggesting she and her colleague Winkleman were paid more than other women at the BBC because they are Jewish.

She explained she felt “extremely upset” over Myers’ comments and branded them “obviously racist”.

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