RTÉ suffers setback as listenership levels fall

RTÉ radio has suffered a major setback in the latest JNLR listenership figures, which show major losses for its programmes to the benefit of Today FM and Newstalk.

RTÉ’s flagship weekday shows such as Ronan Collins (down 6,000 to 232,000), Ryan Tubridy (down 11,000 to 175,000) and Drivetime (down 7,000 to 238,000) saw significant numbers of listeners move on since the last count was taken in July, yet Today FM’s Ray D’Arcy saw his listener figure increase by 16,000.

RTÉ pointed out that RTÉ Radio 1 remains the only station with a seven-day weekly reach of more than one million.

However, apart from Pat Kenny, whose listenership stayed level at 327,000, and John Murray, who saw a rise of 2,000 to 330,000, all of RTÉ Radio 1’s main programmes saw a fall. The biggest collapse was witnessed by two of the station’s biggest stars, Marian Finucane and Miriam O’Callaghan.

Finucane saw a fall of 39,000 on her Saturday programme (to 335,000) and 20,000 on her Sunday programme. Miriam O’Callaghan’s “Miriam Meets” dropped 24,000.

The story was little better for RTÉ 2FM. As well as a decline in listenership for Ryan Tubridy, whose JNLR figure now stands at 175,000 — significantly less than Ray D’Arcy’s at 228,000 on Today FM — Hector Ó hEochagáin saw a 5,000 drop to 125,000. However, there were increases for Colm Hayes and the station’s veteran broadcaster Larry Gogan.

The only station to see rises across the board for its main programmes was Newstalk, the most notable of which was “Breakfast” with Ivan Yates and Chris Donoghue, which saw a 5,000 boost.

Jim Jennings, head of RTÉ Radio 1, conceded that the latest figures are not as strong for weekend listening but he said that was the case across the national stations. He also pointed out that RTÉ Radio 1 still has 18 of the top 20 programmes.

The highlight for Today FM’s Willie O’Reilly was the performance of the Ray D’Arcy show. “The Irish public have taken Ray D’Arcy and his team to heart and given him their number 1 vote. The station is in a growth phase and winning back listeners from the opposition.”

Frank Cronin, chief executive of Newstalk, said the station was delighted to grow its audience to above 300,000 daily listeners.

“Listeners are turning to Newstalk for its exciting, opinionated and challenging coverage of day-to-day events,” he said.

According to JNLR, 84% of all adults are listening to the radio every day.

“Irish audiences continue to listen to a significant amount of radio daily — tuning in, on average, for almost four hours per day during the prime 7am-7pm time,” it said. “In terms of share of all minutes listened, national radio has 47% share of all minutes while local/regional holds the majority share position with 53%.”