Fewer people are tuning in to the radio each day, according to the latest listenership statistics.
Some 86 per cent of adults listened daily to national, local or regional radio over the past year, according to the Joint National Listenership Research (JNLR) survey, down from 87 per cent in the previous 12-month period.
The fall continues a trend seen in recent years, which some industry sources have attributed to the increased popularity of iPods, MP3s and mobile phones.
As revealed in yesterday's Irish Times, the JNLR figures also show steep declines in the audience figures for many RTÉ personalities.
Gerry Ryan, Marian Finucane, Pat Kenny and Joe Duffy have lost thousands of listeners, although Morning Ireland and many weekend programmes recorded gains.
On the losses by some of the station's broadcasters, Adrian Moynes, director of radio at RTÉ, said: "Programmes can rally, audiences will [ change] from one report to another, you will see rises and falls, you would expect it."
Mr Moynes said the survey showed the huge lifestyle change among the Irish public, with a greater appetite for quality programming at the weekend.
The statistics were distributed to radio stations on Wednesday but the JNLR managing committee delayed their public release until yesterday.
RTÉ and the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland yesterday expressed regret that the embargo had been broken.
Individual radio stations yesterday responded to the publication of the JNLR figures with the usual accentuation of the positive aspects of their results.
Dublin's FM104 emphasised its leading position as the favourite music station in the capital, even though its market share fell 1.1 per cent to 13.9 per cent. This compared to 11 per cent for its main rival 2FM and 33.2 per cent for RTÉ Radio 1.
The biggest increase in the Dublin market was recorded by Q102, which saw its market share grow by over 3 per cent to 9.1 per cent. 98FM was the biggest loser in an increasingly crowded marketplace, with its share dropping almost 5 per cent to 11.2 per cent.
In Cork, Cork 96FM/County Sound lost 3 per cent of its listeners to a variety of RTÉ and commercial radio stations, but remains the largest station, with a 47 per cent share.
Among regional stations, Highland Radio remains the station with the greatest market share; 59 per cent of listeners in Co Donegal tune in to the station, down 3 per cent.
The biggest drop was recorded by Mid-West Radio, which saw its market share fall over 11 per cent to 43.6 per cent. Tipp FM, with 11 per cent growth, and Midlands Radio 3, up 8.9 per cent, showed greatest improvement.
Overall, local radio commands 48 per cent of radio listenership, the same as the previous year. RTÉ Radio 1 dropped 0.5 per cent and 2FM lost 1.8 per cent of its audience. Lyric FM gained 0.8 per cent and Today FM grew by 2 per cent.
The latest statistics cover July 2004 to June 2005.
