LOTs happens in the radio industry each week so here’s a summary of the week we just enjoyed.

Here’s What Happened

You know the drill at this stage. The latest JNLR numbers were released this week, so it’s time to see who’s jumping for joy and who’s crying in the studio.

Radio 1 has had huge scrutiny since Tubridy left. As an organisation, RTE has been crippled financially by people refusing to pay the licence fee. Despite all the controversy though, they seem to have avoided a massive listener drop.

• Morning Ireland claims a listenership of 463,000 this book which is up 23,000. That’s really good going to be fair
• The old Tubridy slot gained 13,000 listeners. It now sits at 347,000 listeners. It’s interesting to see the show do so well without a steady host. This gives RTE time to really think about what they want to do in that slot.
• A cool 331,000 tune in to Claire Byrne, that’s up a handy 8,000
• The Louise Duffy Show has gained a small 1,000 listeners, and now sits at 213,000
• News at one looks to be holding steady at 303,000. This is the same number as reported last time.
• Once again, Rte didn’t include numbers for LiveLine in their press release. wonder what the story is with that. Oh yeah, Joe lost 3,000 listeners. Honestly i wish RTE could just be clear about these small drops. It’s going to happen. It just creates extra work for people to look for it. Anyway, Joe now sits at 202,000.
• Ray Darcy now has 187,000 which is up 4,000. A small rise, but still good news.
• Drive time lost a thousand listeners and now has 219,000. They gained 6,000 last time though so no need to panic just yet.

I’d call this a win for Radio 1. Some nice jumps in the mornings, with a handful of small losses. Given the amount of controversy at the broadcaster in recent months I think they’ll be happy enough.

2FM is in the weirdest of weird places. They look to be growing at incredible speed, yet their very existence within rTE is in jeopardy. While the team in 2FM are likely more nervous about the Bakhurst plan then JNLR figures right now, hopefully they can still celebrate the fact that every show in the daytime schedule gained listeners. That’s some going.

• 2FM Breakfast with Doireann, Donncha, and Carl has 149,000 listeners tuning in each morning. That continues an incredible streak for the show which is up 11,000
• Jennifer Zamparelli has gained 3,000 and now sits at 136,000
• 113,000 tune into Tracy Clifford. That’s a decent bump of 6,000 new listeners.
• The 2 Johnnies continue to bring in new listeners. They’ve now gained another 11,000 to hit 151,000. They’ve also been entertaining on TV in recent weeks with the Late Night Lock In on RTE2. Maybe this might bring in a few more listeners to the radio show. We’ll need to wait and see.

It really doesn’t get much better than that. The future is unclear for 2FM, but they’re clearly doing something right.

Things seem to be generally okay at Today FM. They had a big departure this week which we’ll discuss later, but for now let’s look at the numbers

• 225,000 are tuning in to Ian Dempsey each morning. That’s up 4,000
• 227,000 hang around for Dave moore which is up 11,000. Seems going solo didn’t impact the slot negatively.
• Pamala Joyce has left Today FM, and unfortunately she didn’t hold her audience for the exit. She dropped a small 3,000 to 232,000 listeners.
• Ray Foley had his first big drop in a while, falling 9,000 to 164,000. Still a decent audience but not ideal.
• Matt Cooper gained 7,000 and now has 182,000

Generally it’s hard to give out here. Everything all probably evens out in the end.

Let’s just say Pat Kenny had an incredible book.

• Newstalk breakfast had a small drop of 1,000. They now sit at 144,000. That’s becoming a bit of a trend, so they’ll be keeping an eye on things. Especially with competitor Morning Ireland doing so well.
• As mentioned above, pat is having a great time. Pat gained 26,000 listeners, flying passed the 200,000 mark to land at 205,000. It really doesn’t get much better then that.
• Lunchtime live is up 5,000, offsetting the 4,000 loss from last time. They now sit at 107,000.
• Moncrieff is up a nice 7,000 to sit at 110,000.
• The Hard Shoulder dropped again but only lost 1,000. It’s 11,000 down in the past 3 books, now finding itself with 148,000 tuning in

Not perfect, but pat Kenny I’m sure offset a lot of the small drops at the station. Well done pat.

Overall

Things are holding steady. As always we don’t have time to cover every station, but check out the links below for more. Well done to everyone making great radio in the past few months.

Independent

RTE

Goss

Radio Today

Broadcaster Pamela Joyce is leaving Today FM. The station announced the news in a social media post this week, which Pamela then shared to her story.

“We want to wish the one and only Pamela Joyce the very best of luck as she finishes up her lunchtime show on Today FM🎙️. We’ve loved every minute of the last few years Pam, you are one in a million ✨.”

Today FM post

Pamela is reportedly heading back to the west of the country to spend more time with her family and explore other opportunities.

Very best of luck to her on her future projects. Hopefully exciting times ahead.

Read the story here

RTE’s new rate card for 2024has been released. There’s not a massive amount new being totally honest, But I did learn some interesting bits that I didn’t know before.

I didn’t realise that RnaG carried ads. The station actually has quite affordable ads and seems to have at least some local options. For €61.75 you can get a national ad in prime time, with an off peak ad costing €30.88. You can also get local rates at €15.44 peak and €7.60 off peak respectively.

Still no sign of ad options on RTE Gold which I find interesting. RTE is super tight for cash right now and still the online station doesn’t carry ads. In one way it’s respectable but in another way stupid. They’ve got a strong niche audience that has value to advertisers, so I don’t see why they’re leaving that money on the table.

We might see big changes here soon once we get Bakhurst’s plan, and with a new commercial director starting anything is possible.

Read the new rate card here

Quick Bits

Gavin Deans has become the new RTE commercial director

Mairead Ronan filled in for Lunchtime Live on Newstalk

The Irish Times are reporting on rumours that Tubridy has signed a deal to join Wireless Groups Virgin Radio UK

The Irish Media Sector will grow by €1 billion by 2027

And that’s the summary for this week. Come back to radio land next week for more radio news📻 and be sure to check us out on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn for more fun from the world of radio.

Lots happens in the radio industry each week so here’s a summary of the week we just enjoyed.

Here’s What Happened

A new report from Radiocentre Ireland has shown that people are still listening to audio in big numbers. When you bring together radio, music streaming, podcasts, ETC, you get a total listenership of 98% of the adult population.

92% listen to radio, while 57% listen to on demand audio such as podcasts. In terms of share of listening it’s 74% for live radio, and 26% for on demand.

In share of commercial listening live radio claims an 88% share with 3% for music streaming. I’d take this one with a pinch of salt, as it seems some larger commercial music services such as YouTube Music were split off. They don’t appear to be counted in same category as services like Spotify.

The smart speaker is kind of a big deal now with 45% of adults having one, while 92% of adults have a Smart Phone.

Radiocentre consistently give us interesting research, and if you don’t mind the fact that they have significant skin in the game then it can be great reading.

Read the story here

Note

Radiocentre Ireland also released a revenue report this week, which is linked at the top of Quick Bits.

Nikki Hayes was in court this week as a result of money laundering charges against her. Nikki, whose real name is Eimear Black O’Keeffe has worked for a number of radio stations in the past, but is not currently in the industry.

In short, it’s alleged a man received a scam text from a bank. €15,000 went from his account into O’Keeffe’s account and was later withdrawn. The defendant told gardaí she had fallen on hard times and had been contacted by people offering her €2,000 if she let her bank account be used. When she saw the money entering her bank account she threatened to go to the guards, but those using the account threatened to burn her house down.

The defendant was in debt at the time to the tune of €53,000. Some money was owed to RTE, and there were also personal loans from a number of institutions.

It was agreed in court that the defendant was “ genuinely vulnerable”, and also had a diagnosis of bipolar disorder.

The judge adjourned the case for finalisation until next Thursday and asked the defence counsel to provide more paperwork on O’Keeffe’s alcohol status and on when she stopped working in radio, so we don’t know the outcome just yet.

You can get more detail in the story linked below.

Read the story here

Finally for now, Joe Duffy has called on RTE to locate a radio station on O’Connell Street to celebrate 100 years of Irish radio, and to give the city life.

It’s unclear if Joe was speaking about a full relocation of one of RTE’s existing services or a 2RN pop up, but either way I do think it would be kinda cool.

You could argue that radio stations have no need to be visible, and locating in a central location would be a waste of money. On the other hand, radio stations being in a public space can be a great promotional tool. The underutilised Red FM Pod in corks Mahon Point shopping centre is a good example of this.

This week, we’re asking two questions. should RTE launch a 2RN pop up to celebrate 100 years of Irish radio?, and should they locate a station on O’Connell Street? Let us know what you think over on our Instagram story.

Read the Story here

Quick Bits

Radiocentre Ireland also released revenue numbers this week

Anton Savage has a second show at weekends on Newstalk

RTE’s Director Of Legal Paula Mullooly is leaving at the end of the year

The IBI are looking for a CEO

On the 31st of October, a 98FM presenter will be murdered. Can you solve the clues? The Dead Air contest starts soon

And that’s the summary for this week. Come back to radio land next week for more radio news📻 and be sure to check us out on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn for more fun from the world of radio.

Lots happens in the radio industry each week so here’s a summary of the week we just enjoyed.

Here’s What Happened

An Irish broadcaster has been found not guilty of the defilement of a child. The broadcaster was found not guilty following an 8 day trial, where after 5 hours of jury deliberation a majority verdict from 10 or more jurors was accepted.

The broadcaster who’s now in his forties was accused of having sex with a girl back in 2010, when she was 16. The girl acknowledges she originally said she was 18, but had claimed that the accused knew her true age by the time they first had sex at his workplace. The acused denied all three charges. Both parties had remained in touch until 2020.

The woman was unable to identify the house where she alleged a sexual act had taken place on two occasions, whilst the man corrected the record once it was pointed out that the restaurant where he said he met the girl in January 2011 hadn’t opened at that time.

In closing statements both sides agreed that “the girl doesn’t have a grudge against the man and did not say a bad word about him in her evidence”. The case effectively came down to the word of one vs the other.

The man was found not guilty on all three charges. He reportedly became emotional outside the court following the trial, embracing his parents.

It’s hard to know if the man will be able to rebuild his career following such a high profile case, but time will tell.

If you or anyone you know needs support on subjects discussed in this story, there are many services available Here.

Read the story here

An article published on the GCN website this week was highly critical of how Irish media reports on the trans community, with particular criticism being aimed at RTE, The Irish Times, and the Irish Independent, which was described as “The highest-selling broadsheet conservative newspaper”.

References were made to the Joe Duffy LiveLine controversy from last year, as well as articles from other media outlets. The article points out that searching for trans on the Irish Times archive gives you more articles than there are people who have legally changed their gender,

It’s an interesting article, Trans people do have an awful time of it in sections of the press, but I wouldn’t necessarily have considered the named outlets to be the worst offenders. That’s me speaking as a total outsider though which has to be acknowledged.

It’s tough as some believe the role of the media is to give everyone a voice, while others believe the role of the media is to simply report facts.

Where you land on that ultimately comes down to your personal opinion, and you’ll never have 100% agreement on it.

Have a read of the linked GCN article below and remember you can share your opinion with us on social media. please remember to keep things respectful.

Note that this article was in the GCN print edition back in April but was published online this week.

Read the story here

Finally for now, it emerged this week that nearly 700 workers at Rte may have been wrongly classified as contractors instead of staff, and as such didn’t get pension contributions, sick leave, and all those other entitlements that employees get.

RTE has set aside less than €20 million to correct the issues, but now questions are being asked around how Rte will compensate those impacted.

RTE isn’t the only business impacted by this kind of issue. Karshan (Midlands) Ltd who trade as dominos Pizza, this week lost a Supreme Court case with drivers who should have been classed as employees. These kinds of contracts are very common in media, and it will be interesting to see if this decision from Irelands highest court changes that.

The domino’s pizza case will have wide reaching impacts, and Rte is just one of the organisations facing the prospect of very expensive worker lawsuits.

Read the story here

Quick Bits

Radiocentre Ireland released a new study exploring why audio entertainment is growing

RTE is launching ads to promote its irish language services

The Cash Machine has a bonus competition running until the end of the month

There was an interesting article on internet community radio published by RTE

The Zebbie Awards took place this week celebrating writing for Stage, TV and Radio

RTE Media Sales attended and sponsored the Effie Awards this week

And that’s the summary for this week. Come back to radio land next week for more radio news📻 and be sure to check us out on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn for more fun from the world of radio.