Battle of airwaves to hot up in autumn

SOME of the best-known names in Irish radio are gearing up for a major battle of the airwaves this autumn as Ryan Tubridy aims to boost flagging audiences for 2FM following the death of the station’s flagship presenter, Gerry Ryan, earlier this year.

The latest results from the Joint National Listenership Research (JNLR) show that Tubridy is facing a serious challenge to hold onto Ryan’s audience as one of his main rivals, Today FM’s Ray D’Arcy was one of the few household presenters not to suffer any decline in listeners over the past year.

The vast majority of the most popular weekday shows on national radio stations — Radio 1, 2FM, Today FM and Newstalk — recorded a fall in listeners.