Not only are people talking to Joe, but more and more are listening to him, according to the latest Joint National Listenership Survey.
It found that Liveline presented by Joe Duffy gained 11,000 listeners in the 12-month period from July 2011 to June 2012 when compared with April 2011 to March 2012.
The Ipsos MRBI/JNLR survey had mixed news for RTÉ with weekend presenters such as Marian Finucane and Miriam O’Callaghan losing thousands of listeners.
Morning Ireland is still the most listened to radio programme in the State with 444,000 listeners but it lost 5,000 when compared with the last survey. Seán O'Rourke's News at One gained 7,000 listeners but Pat Kenny's show lost 5,000.
RTÉ focused on the positive, noting that it produced 18 of the top 20 most listened to programmes in the State. Today FM's Ray D'Arcy and Ian Dempsey are the only non-RTÉ presenters in the top 20. The independent station welcomed the figures, saying it had recorded growth in every daytime weekday show, when compared with the same period last year.
Today FM said the Ray D'Arcy Show had achieved its highest listenership - 255,000 - since the morning show began almost 12 years ago. Ian Dempsey's breakfast show gained 6,000 listeners when compared with the last survey while Matt Cooper's The Last Word picked up 8,000.
RTÉ 2FM head John McMahon said the station had "a clean sweep" with listenership up across the 2FM daytime schedule. He said Hector Ó hEochagáin, who hosts the 2FM breakfast slot, had gained 8,000 listeners compared with the last survey while Ryan Tubridy had picked up 3,000. This was good news for Tubridy who had lost 4,000 listeners in the last survey.
Some 85 per cent of Irish adults listened to the radio on an average day, the survey found. Some 58 per cent tuned into their local or regional station and 47 per cent listened to a national station. Among the younger 15-34 year-old market, 81 per cent listen daily.
The survey found that loyalty to local radio was particularly strong in Mayo, the Shannonside area and north Donegal where more than half of the adult population tune in daily. "In particular, on the criterion of share of minutes listened during prime 7am to 7pm, Highland Radio, Tipp FM, Radio Kerry and MWR hold the majority share position in their franchise areas."
