The downward trend in radio listenership is continuing but local stations are holding their own, according figures for 2003 released today.
RTE's two flagships, Radio One and 2FM both reported a 2 per cent decline in reach or the "listened yesterday" category while Lyric FM is down a point.
The National independent licence holder Today FM is down 3 points to 9 per cent, according to the JNLR/TNS MRBI figures.
Market share, which gives a broader indication of how stations are competing with each other, shows a 1 per cent decline for the three main nationals: Radio One is on 25 per cent; 2FM is at 17 per cent and Today FM recorded 9 per cent. Lyric FM remained unchanged at 1 per cent.
RTÉ's managing director of Radio, Mr Adrian Moynes described figures as "robust". "All of our peak-time programmes lead in their categories - and the ten most popular programmes are RTÉ productions," he said.
He pointed out that listnership was only one measure of RTE's performance. "I attach equal importance to other issues such as the range, diversity and quality of our programming," he said.
While there has been a 2 per cent fall off in radio listeners to 86 per cent, local stations are unchanged at 54 per cent.
The big winner is the State's first regional station, Waterford-based Beat FM which broadcasts to the south east. It recorded a listnership of 18 per cent after just six months on air.
Highland Radio continues to lead the way for locals with a 70 per cent showing in the "listened yesterday" or "reach" category. Others performing particularly well are Mid West Radio (68 per cent) and North West Radio (63 per cent).
Wicklow station East Coast Radio continued its strong recovery with a 49 per cent showing in market share.
UTV's investment in the market in the Republic will conitnue to disappoint shareholders. Its Dublin station Lite Fm continues its freefall, down 3 points to 9 per cent while its Cork stations Cork 96 FM/County Sound recorded a reach figure of 49 per cent (-8).
Listenership at Cork city's Red FM also fell - to 16 per cent (-2).
In Dublin, the preliminary figures released in October were confirmed with good news for the newest franchise holders. Spin 1038 achieved a 5 per cent reach, while NewsTalk recorded 4 per cent and Dublin's Country 106.8 showed a listenership figure of 3 per cent.
In the battle for Dublin's mainstream listeners, 98 FM took a clear though narrow lead with its reach increasing to 22 per cent (+2) while FM104 remained unchanged at 20 per cent.