Radio listenership figures released today have brought a degree of comfort to staff and management at Dublin current affairs station Newstalk 106.
The JNLR listenership figures, published this afternoon, show Newstalk's "listened yesterday" figure rising to 3 per cent, or around 50,000 of the Dublin audience, for the six-month period from January to the end of June. The overall annual figure from July 2002 to June 2003 is 2 per cent.
But the figures show the troubled station has a market share of just 1 per cent.
Although this figure may seem miserly at best, observers have pointed out that its market share last year stood at an abject zero per cent and that any climb, however slight, was very positive, and perhaps essential, for the station's long-term survival.
Sources within Newstalk 106 today welcomed the rise in its listenership while acknowledging that the station was "still not where it should be" in terms of market share.
The station has struggled to reach a sizeable audience in the Dublin region since it went to air in April of last year.
Sources at the station claimed today that research it funds itself has consistently given Newstalk a far higher listenership than indicated by the JNLR figures.
"Our own phone polls have shown us to be on at least 9 per cent with over 100,000 listeners daily," one source told ireland.com.
Notwithstanding the discrepancies between the internal and external figures, the mood in the station remains upbeat today.
Insiders believe today's figure is "a good 3 per cent", indicating that in recent weeks Newstalk's percentage of the Dublin market has been hovering close to the 4 per cent mark.
