Liveline and Today with David McCullagh lose listeners in latest radio ratings

Another marquee programme to experience a difficult quarter was Liveline, which lost 12,000 listeners, falling from 280,000 in February to 268,000 in the latest figures. File picture

Drops in listenership for several of RTÉ’s flagship shows, including Liveline and Today with David McCullagh, dominated the latest key listening figures for Irish radio.

The latest edition of the JNLR (Joint National Listenership Research) figures — quarterly listenership numbers for Irish broadcast radio — shows that many of RTÉ Radio 1’s flagship programmes experienced a difficult three months.

While the station remains the most popular in the country, notable drops in average listenership were recorded for several of the broadcaster’s mainstay programmes.

Overall, Radio 1’s weekly listenership dropped from 1,388,000 to 1,356,000 between February and May, a fall of 32,000 listeners.

The station’s new presenter in the key 9am-11am slot, David McCullagh, saw his show’s audience drop from 440,000 in February to 423,000.

Another marquee programme to experience a difficult quarter was Liveline, which lost 12,000 listeners, falling from 280,000 in February to 268,000 in the latest figures.

Meanwhile, RTÉ’s flagship morning news and current affairs programme, Morning Ireland, lost 15,000 listeners over the quarter, dropping from 467,000 to 452,000, while remaining the most-listened-to programme in the country.

Comedian Oliver Callan, who previously presented in the now-defunct 9am-10am slot, saw his audience in the new 11am-1pm slot fall from 308,000 to 296,000.

Flagship lunchtime broadcast News at One also recorded a slight decline, dropping from 279,000 to 275,000 listeners.

Buck­ing the trend, however, was the broadcaster’s classical station, Lyric FM, which achieved its highest market share since launching 30 years ago, rising to 3.6%.

Nevertheless, RTÉ’s director of audio, Patricia Monahan, said the latest figures “demonstrate Ireland’s ongoing connection to and love of radio”.

She said she was “really heartened” to see Lyric FM achieve its highest-ever result, describing the station as a “precious resource for its hundreds of thousands of listeners”.

Ms Monahan has overseen one of the largest overhauls of Radio 1’s schedule in recent memory over the past nine months, including the acrimonious end of DJ Ray D’Arcy’s association with RTÉ last September.

A new weekday schedule launched last November saw many of the station’s best-known names — including Callan, McCullagh, and Katie Hannon — move to new programmes and timeslots, alongside a controversial overhaul of programme theme music last month.

At Bauer Media — owner of commercial national stations Today FM and Newstalk — the figures were more positive. Ian Dempsey’s breakfast show on Today FM gained 8,000 listeners, rising to 232,000 weekly listeners.

Veteran broadcaster Matt Cooper also gained 8,000 listeners for his afternoon programme, The Last Word, bringing its audience to 192,000.

Today FM remained the largest private station in the latest report, with 954,000 weekly listeners, up about 13,000 from February and 40,000 year on year.

Newstalk, which has also undergone a major daytime schedule overhaul, recorded mixed results. Weekly listenership fell slightly to 846,000, down 3,000, while daily reach increased to 466,000 and market share rose by 0.3 percentage points.

Veteran afternoon presenter Seán Moncrieff increased his audience by 9,000 listeners in one of the station’s strongest performances, while Claire Byrne — a recent defector from RTÉ — recorded 206,000 listeners in the first report since her move.

RTÉ’s youth-focused 2FM, another station to undergo a major overhaul, recorded relatively stable results. 

2FM Breakfast held steady at 121,000 listeners, while Morning with Laura Fox — whose presenter has since moved to the afternoon slot and been replaced by returning presenter Doireann Garrihy — dipped slightly to 120,000 listeners.

The station’s head, Dan Healy, described the latest figures as “a stable result”.

“These numbers tell us our foundation is solid,” he said.

“We are proud of our new schedule and how it reflects life in Ireland today and believe that our presenters and programmes will resonate with young Irish audiences.”