It has been a good week for Ryan Tubridy. For years, the broadcaster has been forced to live at least part of his life by the "book" – an insider term referring to the number of listeners each radio show attracts, as recorded by Joint National Listenership Research (JNLR) figures.
And for years, every time the quarterly listenership figures were published, showing he had shed listeners from the morning slot he inherited on 2fm from the irreplaceable Gerry Ryan, Tubridy had to put up with a slew of newspaper headlines questioning his ability as a broadcaster.
As his “book” shed pages dramatically, questions were repeatedly asked about his worth, with constant references to his salary of just under half a million euro.
This week, for the third successive quarter, the listenership figures for his 2fm show jumped – albeit by a comparatively small 2,000. The shift in his fortunes forced the more mean-spirited of those charged with reporting on media matters to return their swords to their scabbards, or at least direct them elsewhere.
On the same day the new figures came out, it was confirmed Tubridy was to have a homecoming of sorts with a move back to the morning slot on Radio 1 which has just been vacated by John Murray. "2fm is no station for old men," Tubridy told Radio 1 summer stand-in Brendan O'Connor.
Given that he has seen his 2fm listenership grow each quarter for the best part of a year, he would be forgiven a quiet smile at the notion that almost as soon as he has readied a listing boat, he is asked to return to the mothership to start all over again.
In truth, he should never have left the mothership. Tubridy was good for the 9-10am slot on RTÉ 1 and it was good for him. He was relaxed, witty, engaging and informed and he easily jumped between light and dark as all good broadcasters must do.
He didn’t stop being a very good broadcaster as soon as he went to 2fm, but his broadcasting style was not the most comfortable fit for 2fm, a station that had no real notion what it was supposed to be and kept changing its mind.
Was it for 20-44-year-olds? Or 15-34-year-olds? When Tubridy was brought in, it wanted to be the former, but then, turning on a sixpence – to use a phrase that will mean nothing to most of its listeners – it decided to be the latter.
Moving Tubridy out of 2fm will be good for the station. The decision to stretch its early morning Breakfast Republic show by an hour to 10am and to have Nicky Byrne come in an hour earlier to run his show from 10am to 2pm, means it should now be able to settle into an identity it is happy with.
The move is also good for Tubridy. He is back where he belongs. Irish morning radio will be that little bit better for it. CONOR POPE
