BBC listening figures and the Freak Zone

With talk of the BBC closing 6 Music and the Asian Network dominating the headlines, it's worth looking at what sort of listening figures other stations get. Katy Stoddard, a Guardian researcher/librarian, has posted all the most recent figures on the Datablog. Bottom of the list is Five Live Sports Extra, although I suspect it's running costs aren't that high. Why though isn't anyone talking about closing 1Xtra?

I'm a fan of 6 music, or at least parts of it. If the station does close, I suspect that the brilliant Stuart Maconie's Freak Zone will survive although it will probably be reduced to an hour and banished to the early hours of Radio 2. A suggestion - why not drop Aled 'keep the faith' Jones's Good Morning Sunday show and replace it with Maconie. The Freak Zone includes plenty of spiritual music and the most recent show's featured album was Black Sabbath's eponymous debut.