RTE has lost its dominance of the national airwaves for the first time, with more people tuning in to independent stations, according to new audience figures.
Independent local stations and Today FM increased their market shares, to take 51 per cent of the national market, compared to 49 per cent for all RTE stations.
The new JNLR figures for the 12 months to June show that, despite this year's revamped schedules, RTE Radio 1 has failed to win new listeners. The station's market share fell by 2 per cent to 29, and the number of people tuning in at any time also fell by 2 to 31 per cent. 2FM held its 20 per cent market share over the 12 months.
In contrast, Today FM increased its market share by 1 per cent to reach 7 per cent, and the independent local stations also increased by one to reach 44 per cent.
RTE's director of radio, Ms Helen Shaw, said the January schedule changes had produced some strong performances. "The clear indications are of a very strong morning for Radio 1 from 9 to 12, with some significant growth post-7 p.m.," she said. However, there was good news for RTE with the performance of Ireland's newest national station, Lyric FM. It had a "yesterday listenership"(the number of people who said they listened to the station at any time during the previous day) of 5 per cent and a market share of 2 per cent during the day, for the months of May and June.
"We set out with a target of 3 per cent market share by the end of 1999, and this result after two months is incredible," Ms Shaw said.
The president of the Institute of Advertising Practitioners in Ireland, Mr Steve Shanahan, said he was pleasantly surprised at Lyric FM's performance. He noted it had 10 per cent of ABC1 listeners in its "listened to yesterday" figures and 10 per cent of listeners living in Co Dublin.
The dominance of the national audience by the independent radio sector coincides with the 10th anniversary of the awarding of local licences. The best performers were Tipperary Mid-West Radio, which increased its market share by 11 per cent, followed by South East Radio (up 9 per cent), and CKR FM (up 6 per cent).
Highland Radio increased its share by 4 per cent to dominate Donegal, where it now has a 74 per cent market share, the highest of any local station.
There were also a number of poor performances including Radio Kerry and Tipp FM.
The Radio and Television Commission chief executive, Mr Michael O'Keeffe, said the independent sector's growth was attributable to the success of Today FM.
Today FM said the JNLR figures showed that it was beating Radio 1 each day in the 25-to-34-year-old category, attracting 31,000 more of these listeners daily. Within this category, Today FM claimed that Eamon Dunphy's Last Word programme had twice the audience of Radio 1's Five-Seven Live.
"We have now turned a corner and established the station as a force to be reckoned with on the national airwaves," Today FM's chief executive, Mr Willie O'Reilly, said.
RTE also experienced difficulties in the lucrative Dublin market, where both Radio 1 (down 3 per cent) and 2FM (down 1 per cent) both lost market share. The best performer in the capital was 98FM which increased its share by 3 per cent. However, RTE stations continue to hold 58 per cent of the Dublin market.
In Cork, Cork 96FM/County Sound increased its market share by 1 per cent to 55 per cent.