Is BBC Radio 2's exodus of older stars backfiring? Vernon Kay loses 1.3million listeners after taking over Ken Bruce's show - while audience at veteran DJ's new station Greatest Hits Radio grows by 80

Vernon Kay's BBC Radio 2 show has lost 1.3million listeners since he took over from Ken Bruce - while the veteran DJ's audience at his new station Greatest Hits Radio is booming. Ken Bruce admitted feeling like he had been 'taken for granted' when he left his long-running Radio 2 show earlier this year Vernon Kay's mid-morning show pulled in 6.9m listeners, according to data released today by Rajar. Greatest Hits Radio, which also counts ex-Radio 2 veteran Simon Mayo as a presenter, has seen growth of 76.9 per cent year on year, the biggest across all stations Radio 2 fans have accused the BBC of ageism as a string of older DJs step back, including Paul O'Grady, Steve Wright, Ken Bruce and Simon Mayo, replaced by ex-Radio 1 DJ Scott Mills, RuPaul's Michelle Visage, Rylan and DJ Spoony 'I'm very fortunate in the way it's panned out.. people move on and get replaced. The most noticeable drop is Zoe Ball's Breakfast show It comes as Sara Cox waded into the BBC Radio 2 ageism row by insisting there are still 'legends' on the station Cox admitted it was 'a bit of a shocker' when Bruce left.