Listeners snub RTÉ for local stations

MORE people are switching off from the State broadcaster and tuning in to local and regional radio stations, new listenership figures show.

Joint National Listenership Research (JNLR) figures show local and regional stations increased their market share by 4%, with RTÉ and Today FM dropping by 1%. But while the State broadcaster holds the top 10 slots for daytime radio, there were significant falls for a number of flagship programmes.

Gerry Ryan hit the high note with listeners as the nation’s favourite voice - pulling in 392,000 listeners, up 11,000.

Joe Duffy was another big winner, on 353,000 (up 19,000) as was RTÉ’s up and coming star Ryan Tubridy who jumped 20,000 to 244,000.

However, the news was not so good for Pat Kenny, whose morning show continues to lose listeners, down 18,000 to 312,000. Marian Finucane, who dropped 40,000 listeners in 2003, lost a further 4,000 last year.

Although figures for Morning Ireland are down 8,000 to 472,000, it is still the most listened to show on the radio.

Welcoming the figures, Adrian Moynes, managing director of RTÉ Radio said: “We are pleased to see a remarkable growth for a range of our flagship programmes with Five-Seven Live, Liveline with Joe Duffy, The Full Irish with Ryan Tubridy, and The Ronan Collins Show, among others, all increasing their listenership figures.

“We are particularly pleased with the impact of our new evening schedule on RTÉ Radio 1 where there is a significant increase in audience figures throughout the evening; RTÉ 2FM is continuing to grow in the morning, while RTÉ Lyric FM is consolidating its national position as the channel of choice for music and arts-lovers seeking an alternative to talk radio.”

Across at Today FM, Ian Dempsey has managed to stem the flow and remains constant at 215,000, but Matt Cooper’s decline continues. In the past year Cooper has continued to slide from an audience of 162,000 to 138,000, a drop of some 14.8%.

Willie O’Reilly CEO of Today FM, said: “We have upweighed our position in national radio and the challenge is to continue this growth over the next six months.”

RTÉ Radio One’s market share was 24% (-1) while 2FM and Today FM had market shares of 17% (-1) and 9% (-1) respectively. Market share for Lyric FM remained unchanged at 1%.

The country’s newest radio stations are among the regional broadcasters showing well. In Dublin, Spin 1038 recorded a 3% increase in market reach to 7% while Newstalk 106 went up 2% to 4% and Country 106.8 increased its reach by 1% to 3%. The re-branded Q102, formerly Lite FM, reversed a year of decline by going up a point to 11%.

In Cork, 96FM County Sound was up 1% at 51%, while Red FM’s listenership fell 2% to 16%.

In the South East, the State’s first, and only regional licence-holder, Beat FM maintained its powerful presence just a year after coming on air with a market reach of 18%.

The report also revealed radio listenership across the country was up 1%, to 87% of the population.