RTÉ Radio 1 and 2FM have plenty of reasons to be cheerful following the publication of the latest radio listenership figures but there will be few smiles in Today FM which appears to be struggling to retain its audience.
The top 20 most popular programmes on Irish radio are now all aired by the national broadcaster, according to the latest raft of numberrs from the Joint National Listenership Research (JNLR).
Marian Finucane’s Saturday show was the brightest star in the RTÉ stable gaining 23,000 listeners over the last three months taking the programme’s total listenership to 396,000. Year-on-year, the number of people listening to the programme on a Saturday morning has jumped by almost 50,000.
Finucane’s Sunday show also saw a jump in listeners although by a considerably more modest 1,000 to 338,000.
Speaking to The Irish Times, Finucane said she was “thrilled” by her highest ever listenership although she pointed out things could change quickly for any programme.
“This is not the Oscars and next time out we will all be having another nervous breakdown,” she said.
Finuance praised the role her long-time series producer Ann Farrell has played in growing the audience over the last 10 years. "She developed and changed the programme and tweaked it and always gave it her all. When we started on weekends there was no audience and she grew that. I think that is her achievement. I don't think producers ever get enough credit for what they do."
Ms Farrell has taken over the production of the Late Debate in recent weeks.
Morning Ireland remains the most popular radio programme in the State and it swelled its listenership by 6,000 to 439,000. Joe Duffy's Liveline grew its audience by 2,000 to 371,000 while the News at One also saw a significant increasing, growing its listenership from 314,000 to 325,000.
Today with Seán O'Rourke added 11,000 listeners since the last quarterly figures were published in July, which brings his listenership to 328,000. The Ray Darcy Show added 9,000 listeners with 199,000 people now tuning in to the programme each day while the 9-10 slot which is currently occupied by Ryan Tubridy grew its listenership by 11,000 - jumping from 296,000 to 307,000.
An additional 8,000 people listened to Drivetime over the last three months and its current listenership now stands at 226,000. Claire Byrne’s Saturday lunchtime show added 10,000 listeners.
The head of RTÉ Radio 1 Tom Maguire expressed delighted at the figures and said that heading into an election year, the numbers next year could improve further.
“The last few years have been very tough but we have been able to inject a little bit of investment in recent times,” he said. “We have changed half our daytime schedule in just two years and that’s not something I could have imagined possible.”
The figures were also very positive for 2fm with some of the shows reporting substantial gains, although changes to the schedules mean some of the show which reported the largest gains are now on air for an hour longer each morning. Breakfast Republic was a case in point. It now runs until 10am and the additional hour helped it swell its audience from 119,000 to 196,000 in just three months.
The Nicky Byrne Show which comes after it saw its listeners increase by 13,000 to 163,000.
Today FM pointed out that Ian Dempsey's show attracted 33,000 more listeners between 7am and 9am than Breakfast Republic while the Anton Savage Show reaches more people across his 9am-midday show than Breakfast Republic and The Nicky Byrne Show over the same period.
The head of 2FM Dan Healy said the radical overhaul at the station which has seen it focus almost entirely on the 15-34 age group and actively jettison the over 35s was starting to work in delivering an increasingly larger share of the station’s new target market.
While RTÉ insiders were hailing the quarterly figures as the most positive in recent years, there was little reason to be upbeat for many in Today FM with most of its flagship programmes losing listeners.
The biggest casualty was Matt Cooper drivetime show which lost 6,000 listeners over the last three months. Ian Dempsey's breakfast programme also saw a decline of 2,000 to 181,000 while the Anton Savage Show lost 3,000 listeners and now pulls in 191,000 listeners each day.
For Newstalk, the JNLR figures will be something of a mixed bag. Both its breakfast show, which is presented by Ivan Yeats and Chris Donoghue, and George Hook's drivetime show grew their listenership. Newstalk Breakfast now has 178,000 listeners compared with 173,000 three months ago while the Right Hook has 148,000 up from 143,000 in the last quarter. Year on year it has seen an increase of 35,000 listeners.
Seán Moncrieff also made modest gains increasing his mid-afternoon listenership by 1,0000 to 120,000. It represeents an increase of 6,000 year on year. Pat Kenny’s listenership remained static on 134,000. This time last year it had 143,000.
Listenership figures: (current quarter/last quarter)
Morning Ireland: 439,000/433,000
Marian Finucane (Saturday): 396,000/373,000
Liveline: 371,000/369,000
Marian Finucane (Sunday): 338,000/337,000
Today With Sean O'Rourke: 328,000/317,000
News at One: 325,000/314,000
Ryan Tubridy: 307,000/296,000
Playback: 285,000/276,000
Miriam Meets: 265,000/262,000
Saturday with Claire Byrne: 240,000/230,000
The Ray Darcy Show: 199,000/190,000
Breakfast Republic: 196,000/119,000
The Ian Dempsey Show: 181,000/183,000
The Anton Savage Show: 191,000/194,000
The Last Word with Matt Cooper: 135,000/141,000
News talk Breakfast: 178,000/173,000
The Right Hook: 148,000/143,000
The Pat Kenny Show: 134,000/134,000
