Radio 1 enjoys success in JNLRs
Joe Duffy’s Liveline programme on RTÉ Radio 1 enjoyed one of the biggest leaps in listeners gaining 24,000 year-on-year and bringing his total to 395,000 according to the latest Joint National Listenership Research (JNLR) figures.
Ray D’Arcy will also be celebrating as his year-on-year total rose 17,000 to 216,000.
The station’s biggest draw, Morning Ireland had a modest increase of 5,000 but that brought its total to 444,000.
It was a good day all round for the station’s news programming.
News at 1 has seen its listenership increase by 13,000 to 338,000 and Drivetime with Mary Wilson’s total has risen by 10,000 to 236,000.
The one small decrease for Radio 1’s week day schedule was for Sean O’Rourke. However, despite his fall of 3,000 year-on-year, he still has 325,000 listeners.
The station’s big draw at the weekend, Marian Finucane has seen falls in listeners for her Saturday and Sunday programmes. The former is down 9,000 to 387,000, while the latter is down 16,000 to 322,000.
Jim Jennings, managing director RTÉ Radio, said Radio 1 now has 19 out of the top 20 radio programmes in the country. “By any standard, this is a fantastic achievement,” he said.
The news is a lot worse for Radio 1’s sister station, 2fm, where there have been large listenership losses. Breakfast Republic’s total is down 51,000 to 145,000. The Nicky Byrne Show’s audience is down 32,000 to 131,000 and Tracey Clifford has lost 27,000 listeners for an audience of 110,000.
“2fm is continuing to evolve into a younger radio station and attract listeners in a very difficult demographic,” said Mr Jennings.
The losses are not so significant at Today FM. The Ian Dempsey Breakfast Show total has declined by 8,000 to 173,000. Anton Savage’s loss is more heavy. He now has 166,000 listeners, 25,000 fewer year-on-year.
Dermot and Dave’s show in the early afternoon has lost 10,000 listeners bringing their total to 113,000.
The news was more positive, however, for Fergal D’Arcy whose total of 97,000 is 1,000 more than the slot had a year ago. The Last Word with Matt Cooper has also seen a rise of 1,000 bringing its total to 136,000.
Newstalk said it could not give comparative figures for its main shows because it has only recently completely revamped its schedule.
In Cork, Red FM said the Neil Prendeville Show is now the most listened-to talk show in Cork with 64,000 people tuning in on a daily basis “which is 4,000 more than his nearest competitor”.
“The station has also increased its market share lead to 21.1% putting it 2.1% ahead of second placed RTÉ Radio 1 with 19%,” it said in a statement.
