LEADING radio presenter Steve Power has joined the heated debate about BBC Radio Solent's decision this week to dispense with a number of its front line presenters in a bid to reverse ailing listenership numbers.

While Radio Solent has seen a drop in listeners, rival Wave 105 has prospered.

More people are now listening to the Segensworth-based station (21 per cent) at some point each week, compared with Solent's 19 per cent.

Their audience share is also up to 8.7 per cent, edging closer to Solent's 9.5 per cent.

Wave's leading presenter Steve Power, who fronts the breakfast show, shared his thoughts on why Wave 105 is pounding its ailing rivals.

"I think it could be down to a degree of a touch more hunger," he told the Daily Echo.

"By the very nature of what Wave 105 is, a commercial station, there is almost a little bit of an in-built desire to scrap."

He added: "The Radio Solent audience has always been inherently older.

"By the very laws of living, that audience at the top end will always diminish because people will die and drop off the end.

"I think radio has to evolve and maybe you can't stand still. If you have got the audience that Radio Solent has had in the past, the only way you can go is down.

"It's a case of pre-empting a fall in figures as quickly as possible - maybe they haven't done that quickly enough."

The 41-year-old DJ who has worked at Wave 105 for the past seven years added that as a public service broadcaster, the BBC "shouldn't be hung up on figures".