The latest radio listenership results have brought bad news for most of the State's best-known broadcasters.
While RTÉ still retains its hold on the top ten most listened to programmes, the majority of those programmes saw a fall in listenership in the period April 2009 - March 2010 when compared with the January - December 2009 period.
The JNLR/Ipsos mrbi survey showed that the most popular programmes Morning Ireland, and Liveline lost 19,000 and 10,000 listeners respectively during that period. Broadcasters such as Ryan Tubridy, Pat Kenny and the late Gerry Ryan all lost listeners, but Mr Ryan's programme held its place as the tenth most listened to show.
Marian Finucane, on the other hand, gained 1,000 listeners for her Saturday morning show and 4,000 listeners for her Sunday show. Her Sunday show moved up one place in the top ten to sixth place, passing out Pat Kenny's daily current affairs show in the process.
There was also good news for the radio highlights show Playback presented by Ruth Buchanan and The Business, presented by John Murray with both showing a rise in ratings.
The Drivetime show lost 7,000 listeners, while its Today FM rival, The Last Word fared worse, losing 9,000 listeners. Today FM's most listened to presenter, Ray D'Arcy, lost 5,000 listeners over that period while Newstalk's George Hook lost 3,000.
The survey results show that 86 per cent of the adult population was listening daily to a mix of national, regional multi-city and local radio throughout the State during that period. This was a fall of one per cent on the last survey.
Small decreases in market share were recorded for RTÉ Radio 1 at 22.9 per cent (-0.5), RTÉ 2FM at 9.7 per cent (-0.4), Today FM at 9.6 per cent (-0.3) and Newstalk at 3.9 per cent (-0.1). RTÉ's Lyric FM bucked the trend by retaining its market share of 1.6 per cent. Once again, the most listened to local radio station was Donegal's Highland Radio but it too saw a fall in its market share, dropping 1.4 per cent to 64.1 per cent.
RTÉ Radio managing director Clare Duignan said 2FM continued to win out decisively against the competition and she paid tribute to its most popular presenter, Gerry Ryan, who died last month. "Obviously Gerry Ryan is very much in our thoughts today. Not only has Gerry remained number one with 20-44 year olds but it is a fitting tribute that, in a set of results that sees fewer listening to radio overall on weekdays, Gerry Ryan retained his position in the top ten most listened to programmes in Ireland. "
Today FM's chief executive Willie O'Reilly said the independent station had anticipated some losses as a result of increased competition and reduction in commuting. "We are confident that our ongoing investment in marketing and strong programming will further strengthen our position in the market," he said.
Newstalk chief executive Frank Cronin said the national station was now reaching 259,000 listeners daily, and increase of 12,000 when compared with this time last year.
