Morning Ireland retains top spot as Ireland's most popular show with Neil Prendeville leading in Cork

Across Ireland, 3.4 million people are listening to radio every week, according to the latest figures released from the Joint National Listenership Research.

The average radio listener in Ireland is listening for more than four hours a day — with 91% of the population aged 15 or older tuning in every week.

Across Ireland, 3.4 million people are listening to radio every week, according to the latest figures released from the Joint National Listenership Research (JNLR), which tracks up to March 2024.

RTÉ remains on top in terms of audience, with its combined radio services reaching more than two million adults, or 48% of the adult population, every week and 13 of the top 14 most-listened to shows belong to the national broadcaster.

Morning Ireland remains Ireland’s most listened-to radio programme with 469,000 listeners this book, which is up 32,000 year-on-year but a fall of 17,000 from the most recent book back in February.

Book-on-book refers to a direct comparison to the last survey three months ago.

However, while both Brendan O’Connor and Miriam O’Callaghan grew their listenership book-on-book, Liveline, The Oliver Callan Show and Today with Claire Byrne all either lost listeners or remained on the same listenership figures as in February.

Commenting on the latest figures, RTÉ deputy director general Adrian Lynch said: “RTÉ radio services are a trusted source for news, sport, entertainment and music across Ireland, and the result of ongoing hard work and dedication of the radio production teams at RTÉ.” 

Cork figures

In the battle for Cork, Red FM delivered a strong performance, cementing its position as the leading station in the region, with a market share of 20.6% and a weekly reach of 179,000.

The Neil Prendeville Show continues to grow its audience, with its listenership now standing at 77,000, up 1,000 book-on-book.

Both 96fm and C103 had strong figures when compared to last year, with 169,000 and 128,000 weekly listeners respectively.

The Neil Prendeville Show continues to grow its audience, with its listenership now standing at 77,000.

Bauer Media Audio Ireland was also celebrating, with its combined portfolio achieving a record weekly audience of 2.18 million listeners.

That included Newstalk’s largest ever audience performance in a JNLR, as it now reaches 852,000 listeners each week — giving it 8.2% of the market share.

The Pat Kenny Show remains its most popular programme, with 229,000 people tuning in, up 55,000 on last year.

Meanwhile, Today FM reaches 992,000 listeners each week — its highest figure in more than 15 years.

Ian Dempsey has 216,000 listeners to his breakfast show, but Dave Moore holds the title of its most listened-to show, with an audience of 228,000.

Commenting on the results, Bauer Media Audio Ireland chief executive Chris Doyle said: “This is a brilliant set of results for Bauer, our teams work so hard to deliver world-class content and it is great to see their efforts being recognised and appreciated by audiences.”

In Dublin, SPIN 1038 is the most listened-to music station, with a weekly reach of 266,000 and the station’s breakfast show Emma, Dave and Aisling achieved its highest ever audience of 52,000 listeners.

Q102 grew 26% year-on-year, which Wireless Ireland said was aided by the addition of The Ryan Tubridy Show.

In Limerick, 91,000 people tuned into Live 95fm on a weekly basis, equating to just over half of the population of the county.

Sean Barry, managing director of Wireless Ireland said “The continued growth in our audience numbers is testament to the work being done by our programming teams across the island. We continue to invest in the best talent and it’s great to see our audiences reacting positively to the changes that we have made."