Finucane and O'Callaghan bounce back as Today FM and Newstalk make gains

THERE WAS mixed news for RTÉ in the latest radio listenership figures, with strong gains for Marian Finucane, Miriam O'Callaghan and Joe Duffy's Liveline, but a fall in listeners to its most popular programme, Morning Ireland.

Today FM will be pleased with the JNLR/Ipsos MRBI findings as it recorded an increased market share and a strong boost in listener numbers for presenters such as Ian Dempsey, who gained 18,000 listeners in the period January-December 2011 when compared with October 2010-September 2011. Matt Cooper, Tony Fenton and Ray D’Arcy all picked up thousands of listeners during the same period.

RTÉ’s Ryan Tubridy gained 1,000 listeners, which will be a relief for the broadcaster who had been experiencing a slide in listenership since he took over part of the time slot previously occupied by the late Gerry Ryan.

As the figures were released, 2FM announced a promotional plan that includes a country-wide tour by Tubridy. He will broadcast from shop windows around Ireland during his “Greet on the Street” tour.

2FM will also be RTÉ’s official Euro 2012 radio station, carrying commentary from the Ireland soccer games, and Colm Hayes will team up with Jedward for a Euro 2012 charity anthem.

Hector Ó hEochagáin, who saw a marginal decline in listeners, will entertain 1,200 guests at Dublin Olympia’s Theatre. 2FM head John McMahon said: “We believe in 2FM and are determined over the next 12 months to reassert our place in the listening habits of the Irish public.”

Despite its drop in listener numbers RTÉ Radio 1's flagship news show Morning Irelandis still by far the most-listened-to show in the country with 446,000 listeners. The broadcaster still produces the 10 most listened to radio programmes and 17 of the top 20 programmes.

Head of RTÉ Radio 1 Jim Jennings said the new Saturday schedule, which introduced Oliver Callan's Green Teaand Saturday with Charlie Bird, had made "a very strong debut with 232,000 listeners".

Marian Finucane shed thousands of listeners in the previous survey so her gain of 30,000 listeners for her Saturday show and 14,000 for her Sunday show will be welcome. Miriam O’Callaghan gained 17,000 listeners for her Sunday morning conversations with well-known figures, almost making up for the loss of 18,000 listeners in the previous survey.

Other RTÉ winners included Seán O'Rourke's News At Oneshow, which gained 11,000 listeners and George Lee's The Businesswhich gained 13,000 listeners.

Today with Pat Kennymoved up one slot in the top 10 to become the sixth most listened to programme, having overtaken The John Murray Show, which lost 3,000 listeners.

Today FM’s market share increased by 0.4 per cent to 9.5 per cent in this survey and the station compared that to RTÉ 2FM’s share of 7.5 per cent.

“2FM now trails Today FM across the main listening day in every programme segment,” said the station’s chairman, John McColgan. “Today FM’s continued growth is proof positive that more Irish people want an antidote to all the daily doom and gloom.”

Newstalk saw strong gains for its two most popular shows. Breakfast, with Ivan Yates and Chris Donoghue, now has 133,000 listeners – an increase of 18,000 on the last survey.

George Hook's The Right Hookshow gained 8,000 listeners during the same period, bringing his listenership to 129,000.

Its chief executive, Frank Cronin, said the station had grown its audience of 25-45 year olds and broken landmark barriers with listenership increases. “The passion and integrity we bring to our brand of talk radio is resonating with Irish people,” he said.

The latest results show that 85 per cent of all adults listen to the radio every weekday. People tune in on average for almost four hours per day during the prime 7am to 7pm time.

Local and regional radio holds the majority share position, accounting for 52.4 per cent of all minutes, while national radio has 47.6 per cent share.

When the share of minutes listened to during the day was analysed, the local stations holding the majority share were Highland Radio, Tipp FM, Radio Kerry, MWR and Shannonside 104FM.

Among the Dublin stations, FM104 had a market share of 11.6 per cent among all adults listening during 7am-7pm. It was followed by Q102, at 9.6 per cent and 98FM at 8 per cent.