JNLR figures: winners and losersRTÉ radio has suffered another steep decline in its listenership with many of its leading programmes losing thousands of listeners in the last year, a new survey has found.
The Joint National Listenership Research (JNLR) survey delivers little good news for any RTÉ station, although 2 FM managed to hold its market share nationally.
The director of RTÉ radio, Mr Adrian Moynes, said three new stations had come on air in the last year and it was inevitable that this would affect the figures.
He said RTÉ had announced its autumn schedule and this involved some radical changes. He acknowledged its stations were under pressure in Dublin, but stressed its services had to remain national and it could not devote special attention to Dublin at the expense of the remainder of the country.
While the losses for RTÉ are partly explained by a 2 per cent drop in the numbers listening to radio generally, some of its rivals managed to maintain their position and, in some cases, add listeners.
However, the talk station NewsTalk 106 failed to increase its 2 per cent listenership in the period under review - July 2002 to June 2003. While its managing director, Mr Aidan Dunne, pointed to improvements in recent months (it had a 3 per cent listenership figure for the last six months), the station is still seeking critical mass in the city.
While opinion differed over what the figures mean for NewsTalk, radio sources expressed surprise at the size of the fall in listenership of several RTÉ programmes.
For example, Morning Ireland, while remaining the most popular programme in the State, lost around 46,000 listeners in the period under review.
RTÉ Radio One's Marian Finucane Show lost around 40,000, while Today with Pat Kenny lost 42,000. While RTÉ remained the most listened-to station in the Republic, in Dublin the State-owned broadcaster has lost serious ground.
Between July 2002 and June 2003 RTÉ Radio One lost 6 per cent of the market share in Dublin as new stations like NewsTalk came on air.
Of the commercial stations, the best results were for Today FM and 98 FM.
Today FM managed to maintain its 16 per cent listenership figure nationally, while its market share nationally also remained unchanged at 10 per cent. While there was an 8 per cent drop in the listenership of The Last Word, presented by Matt Cooper, generally the station's programmes made gains.
The Ian Dempsey Breakfast Show was up by 7,000, to 215,000 listeners, while the Ray D'Arcy Show added 17,000 listeners, giving the programme a total listenership of 157,000.
It is clear from the figures that Dublin has become the most competitive radio market in the Republic, with 10 stations vying for listeners. The Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI) has also announced that it may add another four in the next year.
In Dublin, 98 FM made considerable gains, increasing its listenership by 3 per cent and its market share by 4 per cent.
Listenership of 98 FM's rival, FM 104, dropped 2 per cent to 19 per cent, while its market share remained unchanged at 13 per cent.
Under the management of chief executive Mr Dan Healy, 98 FM won wide praise this year for its Fugitive campaign.