RTÉ radio has lost listeners in nine of its top 10 programmes, according to the latest figures from a Joint National Listenership Research (JNLR) survey covering the period from October 2005 to September 2006.
The greatest loss in listenership was suffered by Morning Ireland, which lost 17,000 listeners during that time, when compared with the period from July 2005 to June 2006. However, it is still the most listened to show in the State, with 442,000 listeners.
Today with Pat Kenny lost 16,000 listeners, which caused it to slip from sixth to seventh in the top 10 most listened to programmes in the State. Ryan Tubridy also suffered a setback with 14,000 fewer listeners to The Tubridy Show. However, it remains the second most listened to programme.
Gerry Ryan had halted the slide in his listenership in the last survey, but the drift in listeners began again in the new one with 10,000 fewer listeners for his 2FM show.
RTÉ's star performer in this survey was 2FM presenter Will Leahy. He gained 12,000 more listeners for his Saturday show, securing his place in the top 10 and passing out Derek Mooney's nature programme in the process.
Since the survey, Derek Mooney has moved from the weekend slot to present a daily two-hour afternoon show.
Pat Kenny's slide in listenership helped Marian Finucane to move up to sixth place in the top 10 programmes but she still suffered a loss of 1,000 listeners.
Adrian Moynes, managing director of RTÉ Radio, said the figures showed RTÉ still broadcasted the top 10 most listened to programmes in Ireland.
"RTÉ Radio's remit is to provide quality and choice for listeners of all ages and tastes. Ireland's top 10 radio programmes and 17 of the top 20 programmes listened to by all adults [ 15+] are all on RTÉ Radio," he said.
RTÉ Radio One's market share was 21.1 per cent while regional stations marginally increased their share to 52.1 per cent.
Today FM also saw a slight increase in its market share from 11.5 to 11.7 per cent. The station's very strong gains in the earlier July 2005 to June 2006 period did not continue in this latest period.
Back then, Ian Dempsey, Ray D'Arcy and Matt Cooper all increased their listenership by thousands. This time around, Matt Cooper's drivetime show was the only one of the trio to gain more listeners. He won another 3,000, bringing his listenership to 183,000, a gain of 33,000 listeners on the October 2004 to September 2005 period.
Today FM's chief executive Willie O'Reilly said the station continued to surge ahead in an increasingly competitive radio market. Independent radio stations, including Today FM, now have a weekday market share of 63.8 per cent, an increase of 0.6 per cent on the previous period.
2FM's market share fell by 0.4 per cent to 13 per cent but Lyric FM held at 1.1 per cent.
The figures cover the year up to September 2006, before NewsTalk 106FM went national. Its flagship evening programme, The Right Hook, lost 2,000 listeners, compared with the earlier period, but NewsTalk said the year-on-year growth in the Dublin audience was very encouraging. Newstalk chief executive Elaine Geraghty said flagship programmes such as The Breakfast Show, Lunchtime and Life! with Orla Barry had all performed very well.
Meanwhile, Highland Radio in Donegal continues to have the biggest market share of any local station at 64.7 per cent, followed by Mid West Radio at 60 per cent and Radio Kerry at 55.8 per cent.
Most local stations in Dublin held their "reach" figures (the number of people who listened yesterday) apart from FM104, which increased its reach by 1 per cent. It also increased its market share, as did 98FM and Spin 103.8FM. Cork 96FM/County Sound 103FM still holds the biggest weekday market share in Cork at 51.9 per cent.
