Today FM audience rises as RTE has mixed fortunes

Today FM has continued to increase its share of the national radio audience, according to the latest JNLR/MRBI figures.

RT╔'s fortunes were mixed, according to the survey, with 2FM recording a decrease in listenership, Lyric FM showing an increase and Radio 1 remaining the same.

The JNLR/MRBI interim survey covers April to September of this year.

It involved a data collection method known as "yesterday listenership", in which 3,390 participants recorded the stations they tuned into on a specific day - irrespective of how long they listened in.

The Broadcasting Commission of Ireland's chief executive, Mr Michael O'Keefe, said the performance of Today FM was particularly noteworthy.

The station showed a 1 per cent increase on last year to 16 per cent listenership nationally when compared to the survey results for April to September of last year.

"Worth noting is the strong performance of the independent sector and particularly the national station 100-102 Today FM, which continues to strengthen its position," he said.

Meanwhile, RT╔ Radio 1's figures remain unchanged on last year, with the station still having a national listenership of 864,000 or 30 per cent.

2FM showed a 2 per cent drop to 27 per cent.

However, Lyric FM, which is owned by RT╔, grew to 4 per cent from last year's figure of 3 per cent.

Lyric FM's station head, Mr SΘamus Crimmins, said he was "very encouraged by this positive news".

More than 1.6 million people continued to tune into one of the State's local independent stations each weekday.

The listenership figure remains the same as last year at 55 per cent.

Cork 96FM and Galway Bay FM continued to maintain their dominant position within their areas.

A total of 54 per cent of listeners tune into Cork 96FM each weekday, while Galway Bay FM recorded a listenership of 50 per cent in the Galway city and county region.

Meanwhile, 65 per cent of people tuned into local radio each weekday in Connaught/Ulster and 61 per cent listened in Munster.

In Dublin, the independent music-driven FM 104 and 98 FM had figures of 24 per cent and 23 per cent respectively.

Lite 102.2FM, the music station that targets the 35-plus age group, recorded a figure of 12 per cent.