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RTÉ RADIO ONE is still the most listened to station in Ireland despite a drop in its overall audience, according to recent figures published this afternoon.
The JNLR listenership figures released today show Morning Ireland is the most-listened-to radio programme in the country with 450,000 people tuning in each morning down 41,000 on the same period last year.
The Brendan O’Connor Show on Saturday morning comes in second place with 366,000 listeners, and 329,000 listeners tuning in to the programme every Sunday morning.
The Ryan Tubridy Show with 359,000 listeners is the third most-listened-to programme down 22,000, followed by Joe Duffy’s Liveline with 346,000 listeners.
Rounding out the top five is Today with Claire Byrne with 340,000 listeners tuning in, down 29,000 on the same period last year.
Commenting on the figures, Peter Woods, Head of RTÉ Radio 1, said: “This is a consolidation for Radio 1. The book reflects how well the changes we made in the schedule last year have played out, with strong performances for Claire Byrne, Sarah McInerney and Cormac Ó hEadhra, Katie Hannon, Brendan O’Connor and Bryan Dobson on the News at One.”
Miriam O’Callaghan’s Sunday show was the only one to grow its audience up 4,000 listeners to 322,000. Ray D’arcy and Drivetime meanwhile saw their listenership shrink by 32,000 and 41,000 respectively. During the period, The Ray D’Arcy Show broadcast to 210,000 listeners each weekday afternoon, while Drivetime with Sarah McInerney and Cormac Ó hEadhra had an audience of 224,000 listeners.
2FM also lost out over the past 12 months. The station’s weekday breakfast show is down 23,000 to 103,000 listeners, following on from the drop last year of 9,000.
“These are early days for our new Breakfast Show and the chemistry between Doireann, Donncha and Carl is infectious, and we are looking forward to seeing their audience grow over the next few months,” Dan Healy, Head of RTÉ Radio Strategy and RTÉ 2FM said.
It was a good period for Jenny Greene who grew her 2fm audience by 9,000 to 122,000.
The station overall had a weekly audience of 324,000.
Bauer Media
Today FM enjoyed a weekly listenership of 911,000 and recorded a market share of 8.9% — beating nearest competitor 2FM.
Ian Dempsey’s breakfast show meanwhile was down just 1,000 over the 12 month period to 178,000 weekly listeners.
Mairead Ronan’s lunchtime programme added 33,000 new listeners – the biggest increase of any Today FM show – with 136,000 weekly listeners over the course of the survey period. Today FM will be keen to keep this new audience as Mairead recently announced that she will be leaving the station at the end of the year to spend more time with her family.
Fergal D’Arcy’s mid-afternoon music programme also increased its listenership to 132,000, up 7,000. The Last Word with Matt Cooper increased its listenership by 18,000 over the past 12 months, now broadcasting to an audience of 170,000.
Dermot Whelan and Dave Moore continue to be the biggest draw for the station, with a weekly listenership of 205,000, their biggest ever audience according to Today FM. They picked up 22,000 new listeners during the period.
Commenting on the figures, Whelan said. “we are so excited by these figures that show that more people than ever are enjoying our show.
“It has been a very tough couple of years, and we try every day to lighten people’s mood and bring them some laughs and support with our show. A heartfelt thank you to all our amazing listeners who make the show the success it is.”
After rising consistently in previous quarters, The Hard Shoulder with Kieran was down 31,000 to 146,000 weekly listeners. The Sean Moncrief show also dropped 20,000 to 76,000 weekly listeners.
The station overall had a weekly audience of 767,000 as its other flagship shows saw continued gains among listeners:
Newstalk managing editor Patricia Monahan said the station provides “a clear alternative
to RTE Radio 1”.
“We are delighted to see Newstalk make significant audience gains in the latest results. It clearly shows there is a demand for talk radio that engages, entertains and provides a clear alternative to RTE Radio 1.”
German media giant Bauer Media took over Denis O’Brien’s Communicorp Group — which includes Today FM, Newstalk and 98FM – earlier this year.
The first JNLR results for Bauer Media Audio Ireland since it entered the market is “a
very proud day for all”, according to group CEO Simon Myciunka.
“Our stations have flourished over the past year. Our audiences rely on us as a source of trusted news and information, but they also come to us to be entertained, for escapism and light relief. Our music and entertainment stations have shown they have what it takes to entertain and engage and the growth in Newstalk demonstrates the strong appetite for an alternative talk radio product to RTÉ Radio 1,” said Myciunka.
Would love to see RTE explain the salary Ray D’Arcy receives based on them figures.
How does Newstalk Breakfast see a rise in listeners with that insufferable know it all Ciara Kelly.
@Laura Ni Hearga: The same way Pat Kenny’s show sees a rise. People hate listen so they can scream at the radio.
@Laura Ni Hearga: because she speaks her mind, comes without a preset agenda unlike one or 2 of her newstalk colleques (they are actually the ones showing a drop in listeners esp that leftie moncrief fella) and also the fixed narrative of rte radio 1 presenters some also on the way down.
@Laura Ni Hearga: yeah can’t stand her.
@ChadChaderson: stopped listening to morning Newstalk because of her would do your nut in
@M: Ciaras co-presenter is a “leftie”.
Thats why the numbers are up?
RTE just caters for wokesters, while they all support and applaud each other the rest of us switch off
You’d want to be barking mad to listen to it though…
2fm…a joke of a station. I’m not saying breakfast republic was everyone’s cup of tea but imagine having 180,000 listeners, cancelling the show, sacking Keith Walsh and replacing them with that muck.
@Brian Heffernan: 2FM should be sold off. It adds nothing to the FM band. RTE Gold would be better on FM instead of it. Not all parts of the country get Classic Hits so RTE Gold would fill a gap for those areas.
@Brian Heffernan: Well said Keith.
@Brian Heffernan: It’s bad because Dan Healey has lost the plot these day’s. What on earth is he thinking with these day’s? His Arse it must be… putting them 3 on the breakfast show especially that dreadful horror voice of Doireen! Christ she is bad!!!
@Ed: listen to Jennifer Zamparelli or allowing someone to get sick into your ears? Which would you prefer?
@Billy Davies: I’d rather choose none of them if that’s ok.
@Ed: Good point, Kind of a BBC Radio 2 which is the biggest station in the UK..
Delighted for Dermot and Dave. Really enjoy the vast majority of their stuff (except for Noni).
Lol at those PR comments – trebles all round – everyone’s doing brilliantly! The reality is there is very little choice on Irish FM radio – I wonder if they survey how many people are listening to online stations or 6music?!
How come Lyric doesn’t rate a mention?
@PJ Berry: Yes, I’ve listened to Lyric FM for a lot of my life. It has a smaller listenership according to the report.
Radio novvvvaaaaaaa. Except Dee Woods, she’s a tool
The quiz at four on ray d’arcys show every day is kinda boring and dragged out. He’s asking contestants what they’re having for the dinner just to kill a few extra minutes
@Sean O Cathasaigh:
That’s my favourite part
2FM breakfast show has to be the worst ever since radio started. They must have picked them three gob.. sh..it..s from the bottom of the toilet bowl. Jennifer Zapp is just as bad. Now Tracy is good at her job. God it would be great if Radio Nova from the 80s came back on air. They were propper DJs.
RTÉ have a radio station? Must look for it.
@Dave Barrett: you can’t see radio, it’s invisible
@Hugh Morris: Radio Station. Where they broadcast from. Not the frequency.
Even allowing for language difference, I’m surprised that Tús Áite at 1700 on RNaG isn’t on the list. Only from 3 to 5 news topics discussed daily in ‘standard’ Irish, at drive-time, calmly, without adverts, and without the need to reach hastily to turn off the bongo-bongo at 1800 that’s on RTE1. RNaG(+TG4) is possibly the only good reason to pay a TV licence.
@Fachtna Roe: Interesting. Good to see an unbiased comment on here for a change! But that’s enough about my comment…
@William Tallon: LOL, you’re a leg end
@Hugh Morris: The game’s afoot…
Newstalk Breakfast,The Pat Kenny Show a bit of Lunchtime Live, a bit of Moncrieff and a bit of Spin SW and that’s it for me. I find all the rest a tad silly! Nobody makes up for Gerry Ryan, Larry Gogan, Gay or Marian… “those days are gone…”
10 songs on repeat all day long
Government should make haste and prepare an urgent meeting regarding the implementation of a Radio tax to support RTE
What is bewildering for us non Irish is how boring rte is to us non Irish ears and then there’s rte, s total lack of any diversity.. All its presenters and output is all much cut from the same cloth.. Why eg are their no afro presenters.. Or any other ethnic or religion.
.
Irish radio listeners must have a high boredom threshold… Its seems to me that most people under seventy don’t watch or listen to rte. And then the tam ratings include those that are just switching channels.
Ie retention span!
Irish Radio, regardless of who owns it, is absolutely brutal. How many times a day do these stations think we need to hear Adele bemoaning some personal problems for starters. Classic hits my bean bag. Pretty much the same 30 or so songs recycled over and over. And that Dua Lipa rendition of Elton Johns songs is some of the laziest music I’ve ever heard. There’s no effort in it. Same tripe over and over and over across all the stations.
yes if you add up all the listeners to every single station the total figure exceeds the population by 4 or 5 times so yeah even if i channel hop i guess i am counted.
Lies lies more lies
Those who have ears to hear let them hear. We lend our ears to endless patter, but weather forecasts are important.
The Ray D’Arcy Affect
where I live i have very little choice, even hard to pick up rte since the they done away with dab radio. lucky I’m getting a Bluetooth radio from Santa.
The D’Arcy Affect
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