Tubridy and Finucane still slipping as Yates and Lee continue comebacks

THE LATEST radio listenership figures show a boost for RTÉ’s flagship news programmes but a drop for high-profile presenters Marian Finucane and Ryan Tubridy.

Tubridy’s figures continued the marked slide seen in the last listenership report as he presents two hours of the 2fm slot held by the late Gerry Ryan.

Tubridy, who began presenting a summer show for BBC Radio 2 last Saturday, recorded a drop of 16,000 listeners since the last report. He held his place at number 19.

The JNLR/Ipsos MRBI survey covers the period July 2010 to June 2011 and compares it to the April 2010 to March 2011 figures.

A second drop in a row was also recorded by Colm Hayes, who presents the last hour of Gerry Ryan’s old slot. He lost 12,000 listeners.

Tubridy and Hayes continued to be beaten in this slot by the Ray D’Arcy Show, which, despite a drop of 6,000 listeners, held its number 15 placing.

“Talk of Ray D’Arcy having 26,000 listeners more than Ryan Tubridy is nonsense,” head of 2fm John McMahon said. “Clearly a two-hour show and a three-hour show cannot be compared. The gap is much, much less.”

Mr McMahon added that the figures were “challenging” for 2fm.

The radio station lost 0.5 per cent market share to 7.3 per cent.

It also saw the breakfast show, presented by Hector Ó hEochagáin, drop by 7,000 listeners.

The report uncovered “some challenging trends for key players in the radio industry”, RTÉ Radio managing director Claire Duignan said.

RTÉ Radio produced 19 of the 20 most-listened-to programmes in the survey.

However, both of Marian Finucane’s weekend programmes recorded a drop for the second set of figures in a row. Her Saturday show lost 8,000 listeners and the Sunday show lost 6,000 listeners. However, she held her number three and four ranking.

Head of RTÉ Radio One Jim Jennings said there had been a predicted “plateau” after massive rates of growth.

Both programmes in the 10am weekend slots made impressive gains. Miriam O’Callaghan’s Sunday programme, Miriam Meets, continued its rise, adding 8,000 listeners. George Lee’s Saturday business show gained 5,000 listeners, after a 16,000 loss in the last report.

Lee was not the only former Fine Gael TD to gain listeners. Newstalk Breakfast, co-presented by former Fine Gael minister Ivan Yates and Chris Donoghue, gained 11,000 listeners to 110,000.

The listener appetite for news programming on RTÉ Radio Onecontinued to rise, with the News at Onegaining 4,000 listeners and Morning Irelandsolidifying its top spot with a gain of 4,000 listeners.

The second most listened-to show, Liveline, lost 4,000 listeners after large gains in the last report.

RTÉ's Drivetimewith Mary Wilson was the only early-evening national news programme to record gains, adding 6,000 listeners. Main rivals Matt Cooper and George Hook dropped 3,000 and 4,000 listeners respectively.

Of the national stations, Radio Onecontinued to be the most listened to with market share up 0.3 per cent to 23.3 per cent.

Today FM continued to be the second-most listened to station but dropped 0.6 per cent in market share to 8.9 per cent.

Newstalk's market share stayed the same at 4.1 per cent.

FM104 made the largest gains in Dublin, increasing share by 1 per cent to 12.4 per cent. Highland Radio continued to hold the biggest market share of local stations at 63.5 per cent, a gain of 1.8 per cent.