The independent radio station Today FM has overtaken RTÉ Radio One on a time slot for the first time, according to the latest radio listenership figures from the JNLR/TNSmrbi survey.
The Last Word,presented by Today FM's Matt Cooper, had 192,000 listeners during the period January to December 2006, compared with 189,000 for RTÉ's Five Seven Liveand latterly Drivetime.
Five Seven Live, presented by Rachael English, occupied Radio One's evening slot until September when it was replaced by the new Drivetimeprogramme, presented by Mary Wilson, Des Cahill and Dave Fanning.
While the shows are competing for listeners, their time slots vary slightly, with The Last Wordrunning from 4.30-7pm and Drivetimerunning from 5-8pm.
The JNLR figures showed that Matt Cooper's show gained 9,000 listeners since the last survey period of October 2005-September 2006 while the RTÉ slot lost 2,000 listeners.
RTÉ insisted that the figures were good news as Drivetimewas a new programme with a new format. Its spokeswoman also pointed out that the survey was not comparing like with like as Today FM picked up many listeners in the half-hour before Drivetimecame on air.
Today FM chief executive Willie O'Reilly said the station was "delighted" that Matt Cooper had achieved such a strong audience, particularly as he had taken over the slot from Eamon Dunphy - a household name.
Mr Dunphy also made his own history yesterday when he entered the top 10 of most listened to radio programmes. Conversations with Eamon Dunphy, RTÉ's Saturday morning programme, was the 10th most listened to programme last year with 248,000 listeners.
Despite the blow to Drivetime, this latest survey had better news for RTÉ than the previous one when nine of its top 10 programmes lost listeners. RTÉ still produces the 10 most listened to radio programmes in the State and Morning Irelandis still the most popular programme with an audience of 442,000. This was the same figure as the previous survey period.
However, The Tubridy Showslipped from second to third place as Joe Duffy's Livelineovertook it, gaining 15,000 listeners. Liveline'stime slot was increased by 15 minutes last autumn as part of a Radio One reshuffle.
Today with Pat Kennylost 1,000 listeners in this survey and there was also bad news for Playbackwhich lost 8,000 listeners. Its time slot was changed last autumn to make way for Conversations with Eamon Dunphy.
Derek Mooney has slipped from the top 10 since his move from the weekend to the daily Mooneyprogramme in October. The afternoon slot, earlier occupied by John Creedon, had a listenership of 134,000 in the survey, an increase of 25,000 on the previous period.
Ana Leddy, head of RTÉ Radio One, welcomed the results yesterday. "I am very pleased that the strategic changes we have introduced on both RTÉ Radio One and RTÉ Lyric FM have had an immediate effect, attracting new listeners and growing audiences," she said.
But it was a day of celebration for Today FM. Last year, the Ian Dempsey Breakfast Showpassed out Marty Whelan's morning show on 2FM. Now it has reached an all-time high in this survey with 236,000 listeners, while Ray D'Arcy's mid-morning programme continued to build on its strong listenership. Some 244,000 listeners now tune in, just 4,000 less than the 10th most popular programme.
There was also good news for Newstalk, the Dublin station which began broadcasting nationally on September 29th. Its flagship show, The Right Hookwith George Hook, gained 9,000 listeners on the previous survey period and now has 46,000 listeners. Newstalk's national audience figures will not be available until May. The figures show that independent radio now has a combined market share of just over 63 per cent.
David Tighe, chairman of the Independent Broadcasters of Ireland group said this was "another strong set of results for the independent sector".
RTÉ Radio One's market share was 20.9 per cent in this survey, while 2FM held 12.9 per cent of the market. Today FM marginally increased its market share to 12.1 per cent and Lyric FM's share was 1.7 per cent.
In Dublin, 98FM held the largest market share at 14.1 per cent, followed by FM104 and Newstalk. Highland Radio had the largest market share in the local radio sector, followed by Mid West and Radio Kerry. Cork 96FM/County Sound 103FM had a slightly reduced market share of 51.7 per cent, while Cork's Red FM rose slightly to 9.4 per cent.
