'We were told that streaming would be the death of 2FM - no it's f***ing not'
Every programme on RTÉ’s main radio stations have recorded a rise in listeners.
EVERY PROGRAMME ON both RTÉ Radio One and 2FM has seen a rise in listeners in recent months.
The latest Joint National Listenership Research (JNLR) figures cover April to June of this year and mark the sixth quarter in a row that 2FM has seen rises.
On Radio One, Morning Ireland is up 7,000 listeners to 438,000 on this time last year, while Ryan Tubridy has also seen a rise of the same amount to 311,000.
Today with Sean O’Rourke is up 12,000 to 307,000, Ronan Collins is up 10,000 to 213,000, the News At One is up 14,000 to 346,000 and Liveline has added 11,000 listeners to 381,000.
Ray D’Arcy and Drivetime climbed 14,000 and 2,000 listeners respectively.
Saturday with Cormac Ó hEadhra is up 15,000 listeners to 234,000, while Marian Finucane is up on both her Saturday and Sunday shows – up 5,000 to 329,000 on Saturday and up 13,000 to 321,000 on Sunday.
On 2FM, there were jumps for Breakfast Republic (up 1,000 to 186,000), Tracy Clifford (up 5,000 to 134,000) and Eoghan McDermott (up 8,000 to 144,000), while the Nicky Byrne show was unchanged at 148,000 listeners.
Dan Healy, head of radio strategy and RTÉ 2FM, told TheJournal.ie that there was much to celebrate.
“We’re blessed because we have a great on-air team and a clutch team. A lot of people put a lot of work into 2FM.
“Those people who said there was no future for the station know nothing about radio. In radio, you fail quickly and recover slowly. It’s still a project and it’s got a lot more work to do, but we’re reaching 15 to 34 year olds because we have unique content – we were told that streaming would be the death of 2FM, no it’s fucking not.
“We’ve shown that when we’re funded, we can create Irish audiences.”
2FM's Dan Healy
‘Heavy’ news cycle
Tom McGuire, the head of RTÉ Radio One, said that the results were pleasing because it showed that Irish people had engaged with the broadcaster during a “heavy” news cycle.
“We’re also finding that people, particularly young women are making shows at the weekend like Marian Finucane appointment listening – they’re going out of their way to listen to it.”
Over on Today FM, the station says it too is celebrating an increase in daily reach, up 12,000 daily.
The Last Word with Matt Cooper now reaches an audience of 141,000 (up 3,000 on the last quarter of 2017 and 10,000 on the same period last year).
Ian Dempsey’s show is up 4,000 listeners to 167,000, while Dermot and Dave’s mid-morning slot is up 3,000 to 167,000. Newest presenter Muireann O’Connell is up 5,000 to 106,000, with Fergal D’Arcy down 2,000 to 102,000.
On Newstalk, The Pat Kenny Show is up 1,000 to 152,000 while Newstalk Breakfast is up 7,000 to 126,000. Ivan Yates’ show, The Hard Shoulder, is up 23,000 to 153,000, while Off The Ball is up 6,000 to 57,000. Newstalk Lunch with Ciara Kelly is up 4,000 to 102,000.
Written by Paul Hosford and posted on TheJournal.ie
