Finucane gains most new listeners as Radio 1 scores

RTÉ Radio One and Marian Finucane in particular have emerged as the big winners in the latest Joint National Listenership Research figures which were published yesterday.

All the station’s main presenters boosted their audiences by several thousand listeners during 2008, with Ms Finucane turning in the most impressive performance, recording double-digit percentage growth for both her weekend shows over the past 12 months.

The broadcaster’s Saturday programme gained 53,000 new listeners to reach a total audience of 355,000 in December 2008 — an annual increase of 17.5%.