Battle for nation's radio listeners remains deadlocked

JNLR figures released today show the battle for the nation's radio listeners remains largely deadlocked, with few significant winners or losers.

The figures, which gauge average listenership of national and local radio stations among people aged 15 and over for July 2002 to June 2003, show 86 per cent of people listen to the radio. This is down 2 per cent on the equivalent period last year.

Local radio retains its hold outside Dublin, with a 53 per cent reach of listeners, compared to RTÉ Radio One, 2FM and Lyric, which recorded slight decreases in their figure over last year at 28 per cent (-3), 26 per cent(-1) and 3 per cent (-1), respectively.

Today FM's national reach remained the same at 16 per cent.

Within Dublin, those with most reason to be pleased are the owners and staff of 98 FM, which has recorded a 3 per cent increase to 22 per cent.

RTÉ Radio 1 remains the capital's favourite station, with 33 per cent of respondents saying they tuned in at least once a week. However, this figure is down 2 per cent over the previous results. 2FM achieved 17 per cent, which is a slight increase over last year's 16 per cent.

FM104 achieved 19 per cent, which is down 2 per cent, while Lite FM recorded a similar drop in popularity to 10 per cent. Spin 103.8 achieved a listened yesterday figure of 4 per cent, while NewsTalk 106 and Dublin's Country 106.8 both recorded 2 per cent.

Cork's most popular station remains Cork 96FM/County Sound, which has a listenership of 50 per cent. This is double the popularity of its nearest rival, RTÉ Radio 1, but still represents a 7 per cent fall.

Donegal's Highland Radio, with a huge 73 per cent listenership, remains the country's most popular local station.Mid West Radio has climbed a full six points to 71 per cent, while Galway Bay FM has risen by the same amount to 55 per cent. Biggest losers in the local radio market include North West Radio, which saw its popularity plummet by 10 per cent to 60 per cent, and Radio Kilkenny, which is down 9 points to 53 per cent.

The JNLR figures are released by the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland.