2024 (the ups and downs of JNLR)

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

Here’s what happened

It’s that time one and all, the latest JNLR listenership numbers are here. Everything’s still moving along nicely, but let’s take a look at who’s going up and down with Irelands main stations.

Click here to skip the JNLR news

RTÉ Radio 1

Overall a good book this time for Radio 1. They didn’t have a great time in the last book so this will be a relief.

486,000 are tuning into Morning Ireland. That’s up 17,000 from last time which is really healthy.
336,000 tune in to Oliver Callan, which is a boost of 6,000.
Claire Byrne gets a boost of 3,000 for a total of 344,000. It’s not a massive jump but it’s a good steady increase.
221,000 tune in to Louise Duffy. That’s also a boost of 3000.
News at One has had a drop in its first book without Bryan Dobson. The show is down 6,000 to 295,000
Joe Duffy is holding on nicely above that 300,000 mark. He now has 302,000, a jump of 1,000.
The Ray D’Arcy Show had a great book, increasing 10,000 to reach 191,000. The show climbs ever closer to that 200,000 figure.
Drivetime goes from 220,000 to 224,000, which is, you guessed it, a 4,000 listener increase.

This was a good book for Radio 1. While nothing has exploded in terms of numbers, nothings had big drops either. The News at One is obviously going through change, but time will tell how it all plays out. Definitely better luck than last time,

RTÉ 2FM

2FM has had so much change over the past while that it’s probably not worth super deep analysis until things settle down a bit. however, let’s take a look at the current state of play.

149,000 are tuning in to 2FM breakfast each morning which is a boost of 6,000
141,000 are tuning in to Laura Fox, which is also a 6,000 listener jump.
128,000 are listening to Tracey Clifford, who is probably the most consistent voice on the station. She’ll be happy as that’s a boost of 7,000
157,000 are tuning in to 2FM Drive at the moment, which is a jump of 6,000

These are all super numbers for the station, but 2FM is on the verge of some of the biggest changes to its schedule ever. Dan Healy spoke about some of those changes in a press release.

We are in the middle of a process of discovering the next new radio talent for Ireland, almost 140 people are coming through 2FM over the next two weeks. We are meeting incredibly talented people from all walks of life.

Off the back of this strong book we look forward to building on these gains and bringing a new breakfast and evening drive show for the audience over the next few months.

This is really interesting stuff. The next year for 2FM is looking really exciting for sure.

Today FM

Things could definitely have gone better for Today FM. the station suffered a decrease in listeners on much of its daytime schedule this time around.

Ian Dempsey now has 210,000 listeners, a decrease of 6,000 tuning in each morning.
Dave Moore has 223,000 tuning in which is a drop of 5,000
131,000 tune in to Louise Cantillon, which is an 8,000 drop
155,000 listen to Ray Foley which is down 6,000. This breaks a streak of great gains for Ray.
Matt Cooper is down 10,000 and now has 171,000 listeners. Still very respectable but obviously not ideal

You’re always going to get bad books, but this really isn’t ideal for the station. Time will tell if they can reverse course.

Newstalk

Newstalk might have lost its managing editor, but it’s not losing listeners. The station had a really good performance this book.

Newstalk Breakfast has gained 11,000 and now sits at 168,000 listeners
Pat Kenny had a super book adding 15,000 listeners, now landing on 244,000
137,000 are listening to lunchtime live. That’s an incredible leap of 19,000 listeners. Super stuff
Moncrieff gets a respectable 3,000 listener increase and now has 108,000 tuning in.
The hard shoulder is up 7,000 and now sits at 155,000

If Bauer were upset by the numbers at Today FM they’ll be able to at least smile with the results for Newstalk. A brilliant book for the station no matter how you look at it.

The ups and downs continue

Well done to everyone who gained listeners in these books. For those who didn’t, just keep at it. Radio is a game of ups and downs. There are exciting times ahead in the Radio industry for sure with 2FM in particular looking quite interesting. time will tell how everything plays out.

More JNLR info can be found at the below links.

In other news

Bank Of Ireland has signed a new partnership with Off The Ball for rugby coverage.

The new deal agreed with Bauers Media Central will see bank of Ireland have a presents on OffThe Balls main radio show, as well as across the brands digital channels. It is set to run for 12 months under the current agreement.

This isn’t a full show sponsorship, with the deal instead focusing on Rugby. It just goes to show that OTB is a full brand now, capable of attracting multiple big name sponsors for different elements.

Sports is big business and Off The Ball is definitely one of the bigger sports focused media outlets in Ireland. The show on Newstalk is just one slice of the pie now which is interesting to see.

Read about the new deal here

And finally for now, RTÉ Midlands Correspondent Sinead Hussey is organising a bake sale to raise funds for charity.

This follows the sad death of CJ McCann, who died following a battle with an aggressive brain cancer called an Atypical Teratoid Rhabdoid Tumour (ATRT). CJ died at just 21 months old.

The family have been fundraising for vital cancer services that helped them on their journey, and have already raised over €150,000.

Usually stories like this end up in our Quick bits section, but I think it’s important to recognise people’s amazing generosity. Well done to everyone involved, and hope the upcoming fundraisers go well.

Read about the upcoming fundraisers here

Quick Bits

Presenter Brian Dowling has criticised Ireland’s surrogacy laws

A bursary is being set up in memory of broadcaster Gerry Anderson

Peadar Breathnach is reportedly joining RTÉ

98FM is hosting a big summer safari at Dublin Zoo

Laura fox has got engaged

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.

This Week In Radio 18/5/2024 (latest listenership from JNLR

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

Here’s what happened

New JNLR numbers came out this week so let’s take a look and see how things are going for the countries main stations.

Skip the JNLR stuff by clicking here

RTE Radio 1

It was a mixed bag for radio 1 this time around, but things didn’t look great on weekdays for sure.

Morning Ireland took a dip in this book after a major jump last time. The show now has 469,000 listeners, down from 486,000 in the last book. That’s a drop of 17,000 which isn’t great, but it doesn’t undo its gains from last time so could be worse.
330,000 listen to The Oliver Callan Show. that’s a 13,000 drop, and the second drop in a row for the slot. I wouldn’t panic just yet, but definitely worth keeping an eye on.
Claire Byrne didn’t have any change this book and still has 341,000 tuning in.
It’s up 4,000 for Louise Duffy, who now has 218,000 listeners. She’s gained 1,000 in the passed 2 books, so the last 3 bring her up 6,000.
Bryan Dobson leaves the news at 1 with 301,000. That’s a 5,000 listener drop, but the show is still in a healthy place over 300,000. It will be interesting to see if Bryan’s retirement has much of an impact.
Joe dropped 2,000, and now sits level with news at 1 on 301,000
5,000 left Ray Darcy who now sits at 181,000. Rays show has traditionally benefited from the significant promotion of Operation Transformation, so time will tell if the show can find something else to attract an audience.
220,000 now listen to Drivetime which is down 1,000. Nothing too bad really.

This book looks rough for Radio 1 in parts although the weekend lineup did perform better. One needs to wonder if all the recent controversy has driven some listeners away, but there’s no way of saying that definitively.

No need to panic yet, but certainly could have gone better.

RTE 2FM

Tracey holding up the fort nicely here, with the 2 Johnnies and Game On also getting a boost.

Ahead of the big shake up, 2FM Breakfast with Doireann, Donncha, and Carl has 143,000 listeners. That’s down 3,000. The show has lost 6,000 in the past 2 books combined but the show has had an incredible run overall. It’s going to be very interesting to see what RTE do in the breakfast slot here.
Jennifer Zamparelli is down 1,000 and now sits at 135,000. Still a very respectable number.
Tracy Clifford is a highlight for 2FM this book, up 8,000 to 121,000
The 2 johnnies continue a great run on the station adding 1,000 to sit at 151,000. That’s a good number.
Interestingly, Game on is up 5,000 listeners and now has 37,000 each evening.

Overall it’s an okay book for the station. Some small losses are mostly offset with some nice gains. Definitely could be worse.

Today FM

There’s no other way to say it. This wasn’t a great book for Today FM.

216,000 tune in to Ian Dempsey, that’s a drop of 12,000.
228,000 tune in to Dave Moore, based on Bauers numbers that’s a drop of 2,000.
Louise Cantillon is down 1,000 and now sits at 139,000. Still a good performance though.
161,000 tune in to Ray Foely that’s down 2,000
Matt Cooper completes the schedule with 181,000. That’s down 5,000, meaning Bauer lost listeners for all daytime shows.

Things really could be better for Today FM, but this is the first bump in a series of good books. Is the appeal of the cash machine decreasing? We’ll need to wait and see.

Newstalk

Things were a bit better over on Newstalk with some nice listenership gains in the morning at least.

157,000 listen to Newstalk breakfast, a really nice increase of 8,000.
13,000 extra listeners tune in to pat Kenny, who now has 229,000.
Lunchtime Live moves from 113,000 to 118,000 this book for a jump of 5,000. Can’t really complain about that.
Moncrieff is down 11,000 landing at 104,000. Could be worse, but certainly not great in an otherwise good book.
147,000 tuning in to the Hard shoulder. The numbers here were a mess last time, but appear to be down 6,000.

Bauer will definitely be happy with the first half of the day here. Second half could have gone better, but it’s not a disaster either.

Overall

As always a mixed bag, but no disasters. You learn quick enough that individual books aren’t important. Trends are what really matter, and there’s nothing concerning here for now at least.

Check out coverage from other sites below.

Radio Today

AdWorld

Independent

In other news

It will come as no surprise to anyone that RTEs reputation has been badly damaged, but just how bad is it?

In a study exploring the attitudes to 100 companies and agencies by Irish consumers, RTE ranked 99th marking the biggest fall of any organisation.

The only brand with a worse reputation was Elon Musk owned social media platform X which came in the 100th slot. RTE has dropped from 67th place in 2010, so it just goes to show the true scale of the damage.

In terms of the top 3 this year, that went to credit unions, Lidl, and Boots, with An Post ranking highest on average over the past 15 years. The highest scoring media brand was the Irish Times, which came in at 53 on the list.

RTE is going to have a tough job rebuilding their reputation, and it’s going to take a lot from both the broadcaster and the government. They seem to be on a strategy of avoiding risks right now, as their controversial health event Operation Transformation was ditched this week despite high engagement. RTE share rights to that show in the international market too, so it seems they are willing to make hard decisions to try satisfy the audience.

Things like the licence fee will likely be a roadblock to improving reputation, but time will tell if they can pull it off.

Quick Bits

There’s a rumour that 2FM could swap the 2 Johnnies to the 9AM slot

2FM gave away €5,000 with the Autotune Fortune this week

Pat Kenny’s media company made a profit of €99,415 last year

This week in radio 10/2/2024 (it’s JNLR time again)

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

Here’s what Happened

It’s time once again to chat about JNLR numbers. Every 3 months we get a chance to see who’s up and down in the latest round of the radio listenership wars.

As always we can’t cover every station, but we’ll cover the main national players. Let’s get down to business.

Click here to skip the JNLR stuff

Let’s begin with Irelands biggest radio station in the form of Radio 1. They seemed to have a generally good book this time, with only small dips in parts.

Morning Ireland had a really nice listenership jump this book and is up 23,000 to a huge 486,000. Could they cross half a million listeners? Time will tell.
343,000 tune into the 9AM slot which is down a small 4,000. This isn’t worth much concern for now as the slot just got a new host, and was up 13,000 in the previous book anyway.
Claire Byrne jumped 10,000 and now sits at 341,000. There’s an opportunity to grow that with the referendums in march, but time will tell how that plays out.
Louise Duffy gained 1,000 listeners which is the same as last time. She now has 214,000 tuning in each day.
News at One with Bryan Dobson has 306,000 listeners, which is 3,000 up from last time.
Joe Duffy gained 1,000 and now has 303,000 tuning in each day.
186,000 tune into Ray Darcy each day. That’s a 1,000 listener drop
221,000 listen to drive time. That’s up 2,000

Rte saw good weekend performance for Radio 1 also, so in all not a bad book. People tend to turn to Rte for big referendums and elections so maybe RTE can benefit from that, but we’ll need to wait and see.

Over on the young people’s station also known as 2FM, there were a few small drops. Everything is holding steady though so it’s nothing too concerning.

2FM breakfast is down 3,000 and now sits at 146,000. They had an incredible streak for a while and gained 11,000 in the last book, so this really isn’t too bad.
Jennifer Zamparelli hasn’t had any change from last time and now sits at 136,000 listeners
113,000 tune into Tracy Clifford, also unchanged from last time.
The 2 johnnies had a small dip, but are still doing great. they lost 1,000 and now have 150,000 listeners. That’s still the most listened to show on the station.

2FM had an exceptional book last time so this is standard enough. They had good weekend performance so all in all it’s a grand book.

Now it’s over to Bauer, which has become the most listened to radio group in the country thanks to its recent purchase of Iradio. Even though RTE had a great book across the board, Bauer now has a larger presence in the market.

Today FM are doing very well and are closing in on the 1 million weekly listeners mark.

228,000 listen to Ian Dempsey each morning. That’s up 3,000
There’s a glitch in the system for Dave Moore’s slot. Back in November Bauer, Goss, and ourselves here at radio land all reported a figure of 227,000. The new figures from Bauer claim an audience of 230,000, and a book on book jump of 2,000. The maths are wrong somewhere, but it’s not currently clear where.
Louise Cantillon has an audience of 140,000, that’s up 8,000
Ray Foley is down 1,000 and now has 163,000 tuning in
It’s up 4,000 for Matt Cooper who now has 186,000

Today fm was tough to calculate this time as they didn’t generally compare books. When they did it revealed maths errors somewhere along the line. All in all though things look healthy with that weekly reach of 1 million now looking very achievable.

It’s good news for Newstalk, with listener gains across the schedule. There’s really nothing to give out about.

149,000 Listeners tune into Newstalk Breakfast, which is a jump of 5,000.
The Pat Kenny Show had another incredible boost with an extra 11,000 tuning in. He now sits at 216,000
Lunchtime Live now has a very respectable 113,000 Listeners and is up 6,000
Moncrieff has 115,000 listening each day and is up 5,000. There appears to be an error in the Newstalk post about these numbers, but the 115,000 seems to be correct. Don’t undersell yourselves Newstalk☺️
More maths issues for the hard shoulder so I’m just going to use Newstalk numbers. 153,000 listeners which they say is up 6,000. They said he had 148,000 last time.

Things look good across the board for Newstalk so I’m sure they will be happy enough. They like Radio 1 have a chance to gain listeners with referendum and election coverage, so the next few books will be interesting.

Other stations

Here are a few links so you can look at other coverage. All in all it seems like the industry continues to tick along nicely.

RTE

The Independent

Ad World

In other news

⁨Coimisiún na Meán⁩ have announced the details of two new rounds of the Sound And Vision funding scheme.

Both will be open rounds and will provide funding for culturally valuable broadcast content. The rounds will also be open to broadcasters and producers looking to make shows in the Irish language.

It’s unclear if the recent drop in licence fee revenue will impact these rounds, but it will likely be something we see have some influence at least. It’s a shame in many ways, as Sound and Vision has traditionally resulted in some hugely valuable pieces of public service broadcasting.

Round 53 will open on the 9th of April and close on the 30th of may. Decisions for that round are expected in August. October 15th will see the opening of round 54, with it set to close on the 28th of November. if Christmas fm is on air, your too late. Decisions for round 54 are expected in February 2025.

Best of luck to those applying, hopefully we’ll get great content out of it.

Read the story here

Finally for now, Joe Duffy is not leaving RTE. Everyone can calm down.

Reports in the press this week stated that Joe Duffy had not asked for a new contract. This turned into Joe might leave RTE. It was all a bit of a fuss over nothing, as joes contract isn’t up until next year.

Joe had stated last year that his most recent contract renewal might be the last negotiation he has with RTE. He did not announce his departure or anything like it.

It’s amazing how a simple comment can turn into such a storm. For now at least you can continue to enjoy Joe on LiveLine, and we’ll see what happens next year.

Read the story here

Quick bits

Beat 102 103 have launched a fantastic new media literacy programme

Rachael English has said she still needs income from her radio work despite being a successful author

Today FM have teamed up with ESB to give away tech to schools

An eir giggly bits ad had a complaint upheld this week, with a TG4 documentary having its complaint partialy upheld. All good on radio front though

This Week In Radio 19/8/2023 (JNLR’s, buyouts, and a pinch of Ryan Tubridy)

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

Here’s what Happened

Bauer are buying another radio station. Yes, another one.

This time it’s Iradio’s turn to become part of the big radio family, subject to them getting all the necessary go ahead from regulators, competition bodies, etc.

We can speculate about what this means, but realistically we know the playbook at this point. Cash Machine, GoLoud, and maybe a presenter shakeup. Bauers already huge grip on the industry was clear to see, and now it’s getting even tighter.

It’s hard to know how to put this, but Bauer is at this point taking over not just radio stations, but also the industry as a whole. There buying more and more stations, but even stations operated by other operators are doing things the Bauer way. That can’t be healthy.

Rather than do big analysis of this deal, we’re just going to ask a simple question. Is Bauer too big? Go vote on our Instagram story now.

Read the story here

It’s been another crazy three months, and it’s time to see who’s going up and down with the latest JNLR results.

Let’s start with Radio 1

RTE has had a disastrous few months, but at least for now listenership seems okay. With Tubridy leaving we might see big changes here soon, but let’s look at where we’re at now.

440,000 listen to Morning Ireland, which is a boost of 3,000 from last time. Every little helps
Last time I covered listenership numbers for tubs I called him “the most talked about man in Ireland”. i mean at least I know my content is evergreen. Anyway, unfortunately Tubridy won’t be going out on a high, he lost 1,000 listeners and had 334,000 tuning in.
Today with Claire Byrne has 323,000 listeners. That’s down 4,000 but she gain 6,000 last time so it’s not too bad.
News at One is up 3,000 and now sits at 303,000 listeners, or so RTÉ say. There seems to be an error here somewhere as RTEs last reported listenership was 299,000 from the show. Either the slot gain 4,000 listeners, or RTÉ under reported listeners last time. It’s also possible that they’ve over reported listeners in this book. We’ve reached out to RTÉ media sales to clarify and will update the article if we receive a response.
LiveLine is down 1,000 and sits at 305,000. This is based on numbers from the Irish Times, as RTÉ didn’t include the numbers for the show in their press release.
183,000 listeners tune into Ray Darcy which is up 2,000. Ray was on a down hill slope there for a while but he’s up 6,000 in the last two books.
Drivetime also did well and has seen listener numbers grow. It’s up 6,000 for an audience of 220,000.

Seems like an okay book for the station, with strong growth being seen at the weekend too. RTE haven’t shared numbers for Louise Duffy, so I’ll update the article if I get those. All in all an okay book though.

RTE 2FM is also doing okay

Really 2FM has seen good results for key shows. Let’s take a look at how things are going

2FM Breakfast with Doireann, Donncha, and Carl has 138,000 listeners. They’ve shown consistent steady growth and are up another 3,000 this book.
133,000 listen to Jennifer Zamparelli, which is the same as last time.
Tracey Clifford is having a bit of a bad time at the moment losing yet more listeners. She’s now at 107,000 which is a 2,000 drop. She’s lost 20,000 in the last 4 books, so that’s got to sting a little.
The 2 johnnies had a lovely boost of 10,000 and now sit at 140,000. That’s really as good as it gets. Fair play.

Generally all good news, but it’s looking like it’s time for some changes for Tracey. Hopefully she gets a boost next time as otherwise I’d be very concerned for her. Can she do a ray Darcy and turn it around?

“2FM is in good health following the publication of listenership results for the most recent period. In general, most of our programmes have experienced an increase in audience. Particularly pleasing for all of us at 2FM is the continuous growth at breakfast time with Doireann, Donncha and Carl. With each quarter the show experiences steady growth. Producer Grace Callaghan and right hand person Willem McCarthy also deserve credit for the good shape the show is in. The two lads from Cahir , not yet on air two years, are out performing 2FM’s primetime share by 25%, this is a phenomenal result for The 2 Johnnies. Our new weekend schedule is also bedding in well and I look forward to the next set of results. As ever a massive thanks to our loyal audience and big welcome to our new listeners.”
2FM boss Dan Healy

Today FM will be happy out

Today FM will be happy out with their results as most weekday shows are up. Some of the gains aren’t small either.

221,000 tune into Ian Dempsey each morning, which is a boost of a huge 13,000 from last time. Well done Ian.
Dermot and Dave had a listenership of 216,000, an 11,000 boost. Dermot has left the show now but it’s cool to see that he left on a high. We’ll need to wait and see if Dave can hold the audience solo.
Pamala Joyce has gained 9,000 listeners and now sits at 145,000. Today FM say she’s up nearly 10,000 listeners, which is mildly entertaining. 9,000 is nearly 10,000 so I suppose it’s fair enough.
Ray Foley continues to crush it. He’s up, again. He’s gained 10,000 and now has 173,000.
Matt cooper now has 174,000 up 7,000. This more than reverses his drop from last book.

Really it doesn’t get much better than this. Today FM are doing amazing on Basicaly every metric, and I’d imagine the German bosses at Bauer will be happy campers.

What’s the news with Newstalk

Newstalk has only recently undertaken a visual rebrand, and they’ve also been doing some advertising. While we won’t see the results of that in this book, let’s take a look at how they’re getting on.

Newstalk breakfast had another drop, and now sits at 145,000. That’s down 4,000.
179,000 people are tuning into Pat Kenny, a 6,000 listener increase according to the station. That doesn’t quite add up as they claimed he had 174,000 last time, so there’s an error somewhere. He’s up, but the details are a bit unclear.
Lunchtime live is down 4,000 and sits at 102,000. That’s dangerously close to that 100,000 clif edge
Moncrieff reached 103,000 daily listeners which is an increase of 5,000. Back over the 100,000, how bad.
149,000 listen to The Hard Shoulder, that’s down 3,000. The show has now lost 10,000 in the last 2 books.

Outside of Kenny it’s not really great news, and even pats numbers are slightly unclear. We’ll need to hold out and see if the advertising makes any difference, but this book could have gone better.

“delighted to see more listeners tuning in every day, choosing us as their talk station. We welcome them and look forward to engaging with them in conversation that counts in the coming months,”
Newstalk Managing Editor Patricia Monahan

Overall

Things are still ticking along nicely. The next few books will be interesting as we see the fallout from all the RTÉ drama, but that’s for another day.

You can check out the links below for sources.

Finally this week a story that in some ways I didn’t expect. It’s official, Ryan Tubridy is not going to be returning to radio 1, at least for now.

The news came on Thursday evening when RTÉs Director general Kevin Bakhurst issued a statement saying he was concluding negotiations. Kevin spoke of a breakdown in trust between the parties, following a statement from Ryan responding to a Grant Thornton report.

Despite having agreed some of the fundamentals, including fee, duration and hours, regretfully, it is my view that trust between the parties has broken down. Public statements made without consultation appear to question the basis for the necessary restatement of fees paid for services for 2020 and 2021.
Section of the statement from Kevin Bakhirst

The debate is now over. Love or hate Ryan, you won’t be hearing him on radio 1. Following the announcement there were some nice tributes to Ryan on the news, which in many ways felt like eulogies to his career. we also had Kevin Bakhurst give an interview to Morning Ireland, confirming that Tubridy is perfectly entitled to head over to Newstalk or virgin now.

Who knows what’s next for Ryan. He could certainly make money with a podcast if he wants to. It’s also unclear what’s going to happen to his slot on radio. It’s the end of an era in some ways, but it can also be seen as an exciting time for change. this might well be the making of Ryan, but perhaps that’s too optimistic. I certainly don’t envy how he feels right now as if you think about it, he’s actually been canceled.

Best wishes to Ryan and RTÉ. Hopefully this relationship can heal in time.

Read the story here

Quick Bits

Liam Thompson is replacing Colm Hayes as PD at Irelands Classic Hits Radio

⁨Sheila Naughton⁩ has started a new job at Newstalk after stepping down as Tipp FMs head of news

The second series of podcasts produced by the Irish Prison Service is out now, well worth a listen

Malachi Cush is hosting a new RTE radio 1 show

The Doc On One podcast is up for sponsorship

BBC are airing a 4 part radio documentary on Seamus Heaney

This Week In Radio 13/9/2023 (JNLR numbers anyone?)

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

Here’s what happened

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, it’s JNLR time once again. It’s time to take a look at who’s up and who’s down in the latest round of radio figures.

You can use this link to skip the JNLR stuff if you’d like

The good news is that no stations have had any catastrophe this time round, and RTÉ in particular will be satisfied knowing that their disaster of a book from last time seems to be behind them. Some shows certainly are doing better than others though, so let’s get into the details and see where people stand.

Radio 1 did better than last time

Overall the news is good for Radio 1. It’s certainly not worth a fireworks display or anything, but not bad at all.

Morning Ireland is up 4,000 and now has 437,000 tuning in each morning. They lost 18,000 in the last book so still a bit of recovery needed, but an increase is an increase at the end of the day.
The most talked about man in Ireland, also known as Ryan Tubridy, has an audience of 335,000 tuning in each morning. That’s an increase of 4,000. Tubridy will be interesting to watch over the next while as his time hosting the Late Late Show comes to an end. On one hand TV viewers might miss him and tune in on radio instead, or the lack of TV time might reduce the relevance of the show hurting it’s listenership. Fascinating times ahead.
327,000 tune into Claire Byrne each day. That’s a nice boost of 6,000.
This is where the good news ends for a while. The Louise Duffy Show has dropped 9,000 to 213,000. How much of that loss is as a result of Ronan moving on to RTÉ Gold is hard to know, but it’s certainly not ideal to be losing listeners in your first book.
News At One has 299,000 falling under the 300,000 mark. It’s a loss of 11,000 from last time which really ain’t great.
LiveLine also fell and now sits at 306,000. That’s down 4,000.
A much needed boost came for Ray Darcy, as he gained 4,000 to reach 181,000 listeners. He could still do with gaining a few more but it’s certainly an improvement.
214,000 tune in to Drive Time on Radio 1, that’s up 6,000. not bad at all.

Generally it’s not a bad performance. The shows with longer run times and consequently more ad breaks all gained listeners which is good news for the station. The Ray Darcy slot still needs serious improvement, but it’s not dropping even more listeners which is something.

“The increase in the listenership across the morning and late afternoon is very welcome. It’s a tribute to the focus and commitment of our teams and we will continue to refine our output. Weekend programmes have always fluctuated – but the position of so many of those programmes in the top ten underlines our continuing pre-eminence and connection with the audience. This was a good book.”
Peter Woods, Head of RTÉ Radio

It will be interesting to see if all the changes on telly impact radio numbers in the next few books. Time will tell.

They’ll be dancing at 2FM, mostly

Last time we spoke about 2FM, it’s presenters were all dancing their hearts out on Dancing with the stars. Some presenters benefited from that, but it’s not universal.

135,000 people now tune in to 2FM breakfast each morning. That’s up 6,000. The show got good promotion when Carl won Dancing with the stars, so we’ll need to wait and see if it’s a sustained boost.
Jennifer Zamparelli is down 1,000 and now has 133,000 tuning in. Only a small drop so no need for panic just yet.
Tracey Clifford had a 7,000 listener drop and now has 109,000. She really needs to reverse course at this stage as she’s been losing listeners consistently for a while now. She was down 4,000 in February, and down 7,000 in November. Combined that’s a loss of 18,000 in the last 3 books. Certainly not ideal.
The 2 Johnnies had a lovely boost and are now up 11,000 to 130,000 listeners. My dentist made the switch from Today FM recently,, so now you can suffer through an extraction while being entertained by the Parish Quiz. How bad.

The 2 johnnies have had a really good boost, but I’d be getting a bit concerned about Tracey. Does she need a co host? A new format? If it doesn’t improve in the next book or two it will be time to look at a more drastic change.

“Overall 2FM, has performed well. This is the first time that we have a full 12-month view of the 2 Johnnies since they joined the station in February last year. Their daily reach ( IPSOS MRBI/JNLR 2023-1) has grown by 11,000 adults since the last survey and with significant growth every quarter hour from 3pm. Doireann, Donncha and Carl also continue to grow from survey to survey. Their daily reach has increased by 21,000 from this time last year from 114,00 to 135,000.The new weekend schedule has bedded in quickly and we will have a clearer picture of how that is performing in the next survey. I want to thank everyone at 2FM, both on and off air for their creativity and hard work. Most importantly I want to thank our audience ,who despite the changing audio environment and irrespective of what device is used to listen, they know there is nothing better than live radio.”
Dan Healy, Head of RTÉ Radio Strategy and RTÉ 2FM

Things are still ticking over just fine.

Some small ups and downs for Today FM

Good news continues for Today FM, as most of their shows continue to gain listeners.

Ian Dempsey now has 208,000. That’s up 5,000 from last time. Slowly but surely moving away from that 200,000 clif edge.
Dermot & Dave had a small drop of 2,000 to stand at 205,000. Nothing worth panicking about yet.
Pamela Joyce has gained 2,000 listeners and now has 136,000 tuning in. She’s well ahead of Tracey Clifford for now, but you can never truely relax in this game.
Ray Foley continues to smash it. He’s got 3,000 new listeners and now has 163,000 each day. Not bad at all.
Matt Cooper’s down 4,000 and now sits at 168,000. Still a respectable audience but worth watching. He gained 8,000 back in February so should be grand.

The German bosses will be quite happy with this I would think. No crazy jumps, but more importantly no major losses.

“I’m incredibly proud of the Today FM team. We believe we have some of the finest talent here on-air and behind the scenes and today, our listeners have reinforced this. Together we are taking Today FM to new levels of success. One of the exciting aspects of our team is we have highly experienced professionals working together with the next generation of stars coming through. Our audience is at the heart of what we do and we have a lot of fun along the way doing it”
Fyona Smith, Managing Editor Today FM

Today FM are continueing to perform well so no need for concern.

Newstalk is doing okay, although they did have a few losses. Lots of shows staying still here too which is fair enough I guess.

Breakfast has dropped 3,000 and now has 149,000 listeners.
Pat Kenny stays at 174,000 which is still as respectable as it was last time
Lunchtime live hasn’t received a boost from Boylan it seems, it’s also stayed still with 106,000 listeners
It’s a 2,000 jump for Moncrieff with 98,000 listeners. So close to the 100,000
The hard shoulder took a hard fall of 7,000 to 152,000 listeners. Not ideal, but we’ve certainly seen worse.

Could be better and could be worse. There’s nothing wrong with staying still, so I wouldn’t be issueing a breaking news alert just yet.

Overall

Not a bad day for radio all things considered.

You can read more details on these results by clicking the links below, and we’ll be back to do it all again in 3 months time.

RTE

The independent

That other radio news site, whats it called again? Radio Today? Something like that

In other news

Wireless Radio Ireland, which is ultimately part of News Corp, made a loss of €2.58 million before tax, according to new accounts.

The group, which owns FM104 and Q102 in Dublin, 96FM and C103 in cork, live 95 in Limerick among others, has had a large reduction of staff, but it’s staff costs still went up.

240 people used to work for the company, but that number has now dropped to 201. It’s unclear where most of these jobs were cut, but the station has shown more interest in networking in recent times. Despite the lower staff count, staff costs are up from €10.56 million to €10.99 million, which is interesting to see.

The business mentioned strong digital growth, and they say they’re investing more in this area going forward.

There are more detailed financial details linked below, so go check that out if your interested. It’s ultimately a shame seeing numbers backing up staff cuts in radio, but unfortunately that’s the way it goes.

Hopefully radio will find itself on healthy ground in the years to come.

Read the story here

Usually when the minister for finance goes on a radio show, he gets asked some difficult questions by the presenter. But sometimes, politicians fight back.

Yesterday the minister for finance Michael McGrath joined Mick Mulcahy on Red FM to answer some questions. Ordinarily this would be of no relevance to Radio Land readers, but when the minister questions the presenter about the Cash Machine, it suddenly becomes more interesting.

On Thursday a cork couple from the minister’s constituency won over €40,000 on the Cash Machine. This lead to Mick attempting to get a declaration from the minister, but the endeavour didn’t go according to plan.

It is a beautiful radio moment, so allow me to share the experience with you.

Mick started as all good presenter should. He informed the minister that the following question was “just for fun”. Despite Mick’s efforts, the minister was expecting an interviewer ready for war, so he wasn’t exactly ready for fun.

Mick proceeds to point out the success the ministers constituents had on the Cash Machine the day before, and asked the minister to confirm that these winnings are tax free. This would have been grand, except the minister wasn’t sure. In order to answer the question effectively the minister needed more information about this Cash Machine thing.

The minister spoke about lotteries, leading Mick to expertly retort that “it’s a game of skill”. It was an intervention worthy of a lawyer from Mick, but Michael came back for more.

Who is the operator? Asked the minister, to which Mick responded “The GoLoud Network of Radio Stations. Mick was now on shaky ground as it’s actually Bauer Media Audio Ireland.

Before things could get any worse Mick came clean saying he just wanted a Sound Byte. The Minister proceeded to confirm that Lottery winnings are usually tax free, as long as the lottery is registered. For good measure the minister offered to look into it for Mick, at which point Nick promptly moved on to less interesting questions.

It was truly a great performance from both candidates, and it really raised some interesting questions. Is the Cash Machine a lottery? Or is it as Mick said “a game of skill”. Go vote on our Instagram story now.

Listen to the clip here:

Quick Bits

A former RTÉ supervisor has had a €60,000 personal injury claim thrown out

Former Today FM presenter Fergal Darcy is joining 2FM

Bauer Media Audio Ireland is getting a new CEO, as Simon Myciunka joins the UK arm of the business

Paul McLoone is back with Nova

Gareth O’Callaghan is returning to Classic hits after his crash in Cork

Lyric FM are doing a big outside broadcast from Bloom in June

And that’s the summary for this week. Come back to radio land next week for more radio news📻 and be sure to follow us on Twitter and Instagram for extra stories.