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.
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.
Read more about RTEs reputation here
Finally for now, Bauer have a new CEO.
Chris Doyle has become the new CEO of the business following a trial run as interim CEO. The former CEO moved over to Bauers UK audio business last year.
Chris was the former COO at Cummunicorp, and moved to Bauer when they bought the business back in 2021. In his time as interim CEO of Bauer he bought Media Central, IRadio and Beat, so he’s clearly trusted to make big deals.
Bauer say the new CEO comes at an exciting time as they continue their next stage of digital development.
Who knows what all that means really, but it will be interesting to see if any big changes come from the new boss.
Best wishes to Chris on the new role from us at Radio Land
Read about Bauers new CEO here
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
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.
