Radio figures show 5% fall in RTE listenership

The number of people listening to RTÉ radio stations nationally has slipped by 5 per cent, according to the latest JNLR radio listenership figures. However, the State broadcaster continues to command 50 per cent of adult radio listeners.

Radio 1's "yesterday listenership" for all adults, aged 15 and over, slipped 4 per cent, leaving the station with an overall listenership figure of 28 per cent nationally. Both other RTÉ stations - 2FM and Lyric FM - recorded a 1 per cent drop in national listenership, recording figures of 26 per cent and three per cent respectively.

The figures, covering the six-month period from October 2002 to March of this year, also show a dip of 1 per cent in the national figure for Today FM. However, in Dublin Today FM gained one point to record a figure of 12 per cent; Radio 1 dropped 7 per cent in the capital. 2FM's Dublin audience grew by 2 per cent in the six-month period.

Local radio, with a listenership of 55 per cent nationally, gained two percentage points in the JNLR/MRBI survey. Local radio station listenership was up 4 per cent in Dublin at 47 per cent and up 1 per cent in Cork at 61 per cent.

The battle of the two big music stations in Dublin was an evenly fought battle. 98FM's figure grew by 4 per cent to equal FM104's (+2 per cent) 22 per cent listenership figure. Dublin's Lite FM is down 3 per cent at 10 per cent.

Dublin's NewsTalk 106 held a 2 per cent listenership figure; Spin 103.8 also remained unchanged at 4 per cent.

In Cork, the recently established Red FM recorded an 18 per cent figure, at the expense of 96FMCounty Sound - which dropped 8 per cent to 51 per cent.