Change is hard for radio listeners

The next managing director of RTÉ Radio is likely to have a tricky time putting his or her stamp on its schedules – the medium's loyal audience is notoriously resistant to change.

Whereas successful broadcasting on television is about novelty, Terry Wogan once said, strong radio is built on familiarity and repetition.

"People use their radio like a clock or a timetable through the day. They get up when Morning Ireland comes on, or when a particular segment of Morning Ireland comes on," says Clare Duignan, who will step down as the boss of RTÉ Radio at the end of June (with head of Radio 1 Jim Jennings taking up the role on an interim basis).

Cheap hour
"It is difficult to change programmes, because they are very embedded in people's lives."

The 52-week schedule is one reason “why it is difficult to make cutbacks in terms of staff and spend” on radio, says Duignan.

With television, the much shorter run of most programmes means audience routines are not as cemented – a programme strand can be axed with greater ease.

If cuts do need to be made on radio, it’s no use simply replacing expensive current affairs broadcasting with a cheap hour of music, Duignan says: “You will just lose your listenership. What listeners want is the regularity of the programmes they love.”

Criticism of RTÉ services is important, she adds. “I think it’s brilliant, because it shows that people care. If I’m not talking about you, that’s when you should start to worry. Thankfully, that isn’t happening [with RTÉ].”