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

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 11/5/2024 (2FM shake up time)

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

Hears what Happened

2FM breakfast team on an orange background

2FM are set for a breakfast shakeup after Doireann Garrihy announced this week that she would be leaving the show to focus on her podcasts.

She originally hosted the show with Eoin McDermott, but in recent years has been joined by Carl Mullan and Donncha O’Callaghan. The 2FM breakfast show has been a major success by many metrics, performing really well in JNLR books consistently for quite a while now.

Doireann has indicated that she’ll be taking her podcasts Laughs of Your Life and Doireann and friends on the road in some form, which will likely be much more lucrative then 2FM breakfast. It just goes to show the power of podcasts, and how in many ways radio isn’t set up to compete.

The question now turns to who will replace Doireann on breakfast. RTE will likely trial people for a bit before making any definitive call, but there are some people they’ll definitely be looking at. Exciting times.

Doireann will host her last 2FM breakfast at the end of this month. Best wishes to her and the whole 2FM breakfast team for the future.

In other podcast related news, RTE are looking for a sponsor for their upcoming true crime podcast called the Real Carrie Jade.

When a young woman named Carrie Jade Williams asked RTÉ Doc On One to follow her through brain surgery, they jumped at the chance. But as time passed, they began to understand that not everything was as it seemed. She was lying to them.

RTE have had huge success with Doc on One podcasts before, producing shows like The Nobody Zone, runaway Joe, and Finding Samantha. The new 6 part podcast series will begin publishing in June, and a TV special is also set to air later in the year.

The podcast sponsorship also includes the sponsor logo on promos across RTE platforms, adding to the reach. I’ve actually come across Runaway Joe promos on buses before, so RTE love to promote their podcast content.

Promo for podcast series Runaway Joe on a bus

The sponsorship fee for RTE’s upcoming series comes in at €90,000, and could be a brilliant fit for many brands. Cool to see.

Wireless group which owns Irish station Q102, 96FM, Live 95 and others made another loss.

In recently filed accounts the company disclosed that they lost €2.78 million, despite a rise in Didgital revenue. The company had total revenue of €22.4 million, which is likely mostly made up from advertising on the companies various stations.

It’s not fantastic, but things could be worse. Wireless Groups parent company also operate the UK channel Talk TV. Talk TV made a loss of £54 million in its most recent accounts, showing that the business of radio is certainly a bit cheaper than telly.

Talk TV recently ditched their traditional broadcast channel, becoming an online brand focused on YouTube. That move looked to be going well this week, after one of the companies productions Piers Morgan Uncensored held an interview with a lady claiming to be the real Life Martha from hit Netflix show Baby Reindeer. The interview has now been seen millions of times.

Ultimately the one takeaway from this weeks Radio Land is really that the platform is becoming less and less relevant. It doesn’t matter if it’s radio, telly or online, if it has viewers, listeners, or people willing to pay then it can make money.

I won’t be rebranding to Podcast Land just yet, but the shift is undeniable.

Read about the Wireless group earnings here

Quick Bits

Run With Ray is returning to RTE Radio 1 later this month

Bauer’s Eurosong Radio is back online in Ireland for 2024

Today FM are giving away tickets to the UEFA Europa League Final In Dublin

Rte should learn a bit more about their funding situation soon

This Week In Radio 4/5/2024 (all about revenue)

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

Here’s what Happened

The Irish Times are reporting that the government are planning to replace the licence fee with a slightly reduced fee that will be collected by Revenue instead of An Post.

This is a rejection of what the media minister wants, as she reportedly wants RTE to be funded directly by the state, in a similar way to other state bodies like the HSE, or indeed TG4. This idea has significant opposition however from other members of government.

Ultimately if we want to keep RTE in its current form it will need state funding of between €200 million and €250 million a year, so it’s a lot of money. The question of how to pay that is frustrating as people generally don’t want to pay for it.

I would hope that if revenue does start collecting the fee though it changes to a more modern style of tax instead of the flat fee it is today. Just reducing the fee is kicking the can down the road, so I hope a sustainable solution can be found.

It’s been an important week for RTE as the minister received the outstanding reports related to the broadcaster. The Irish Times have some good coverage, so I’d recommend checking that out below.

Check out the Irish Times coverage of the reduced license fee and RTÉ reports here

Today FM have secured a sponsor for sports updates ahead of the Paris 2024 olympics.

Flogas have signed a 1 year deal to sponsor the updates airing across the station schedule, with stings initially set to focus on the companies support for Team Ireland,

The agreement was made by Bauer owned MediaCentral, Core Sponsorship and Today FM, and will include over 400 stings a month.

These sports updates will bring in a nice bit of revenue for Today FM, but media in general tends to get a big boost from the Olympics. RTE holds broadcast rights this time around following a deal with Warner Bros Discovery.

All media outlets will be trying to cash in on any slice of the pie they can get, and it looks like Today FM have got an early gold medal.

Read about the Flogas sponsorship here

Finally this week, lyric FM has turned 25. The station launched all the way back in 1999.

The broadcaster celebrated with a concert in limerick this week which was also broadcast on the station. Lyric has built a very loyal audience in its 25 years on air, and is unlike anything you’d hear on commercial radio.

It has fans all around the world as we discussed in our last post, and has a huge following closer to home too. Michael D. Higgins congratulated the station with a message this week, summing up its significance really well.

“Over the past quarter-century, lyric fm has truly enhanced the cultural landscape of Ireland, showcasing the beauty and diversity of not just classical music but also such a wide range of music that includes traditional, jazz, world music, musicals and film scores.
Michael D. Higgins

It’s a huge achievement for the station, and hopefully they’ll be on air for another 25 years and more. Congratulations to all at Lyric FM from us at Radio Land.

Read the lyric FM press release here

Quick Bits

RTE’s Bryan Dobson has retired after 37 years with the broadcaster

An Irish presenter had her voice cloned by AI, and it was then used to scam a business out of £20,000

The Dawn Chorus takes place tonight

FM104 are giving away a Jeep Avenger on their breakfast show

What’s your favourite Gift Grub character of all time

Yesterday was press freedom day, and there were calls for new defamation legislation

This Week In Radio 27/4/2024 (Boylan fights to go to Europe)

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

Here’s What Happened

Broadcaster Niall Boylan is running in the upcoming European Elections, and has stepped down from his show on Irelands Classic Hits radio.

Niall is running for the independent Ireland party, which doesn’t operate a strong party whip system. Niall for his part is running with the tagline “ it’s time to stand up to Europe”.

It’s time Ireland stood up to the EU and we stop handing over our sovereignty and ability to control our own borders, protect our agricultural sector and so much more. I’ll stand up and be The Real Voice For Dublin And Ireland.
Niall in an X post promoting his campaign.

Following the announcement, there were changes in Nialls slot on Classic Hits Radio. Gareth O’Callaghan stepped in to host, with a statement first played from the radio stations CEO Kevin Branigan.

Kevin Branigan, Irelands Classic Hits Radio CEO

Niall then sat down for a non political interview with Gareth in which Niall discussed his career and spoke to a few listeners.

Niall isn’t after completely ditching the broadcast world, as for now at least he’s continuing to host his live phone in podcast, which of course isn’t subject to the same election coverage rules.

Time will tell if Niall can convert listeners to votes. Gareth O’Callaghan continues to cover the night time talk slot for now, and who knows where we’ll go from there.

Best wishes to Niall on his future career.

In other news revenue continues to grow in the radio industry.

According to numbers from Radiocentre Ireland, the radio world made €39.6m for Q1 this year. That’s up 2% on the same period last year. It’s small growth, but growth all the same.

Spot advertising was flat which is somewhat concerning, and digital revenue only grew by 3%. Digital revenue made up just €1.8m which seems really small all things considered. definitely room to improve on that.

Sponsorships and partnerships are performing well though as it seems brands want more integrated solutions. €7.1m came from these sorts of partnerships in Q1, that’s growth of 10.8% which is very healthy.

There’s no drop which is good, but it certainly could be better. Radio really needs to modernise didgital advertising for a start, as the default now for small businesses is just to advertise on Facebook or Google.

It’s good as always that Radiocentre are transparent about these numbers. Hopefully we’ll have strong performance for the rest of the year.

Quick Bits

Simon Delaney has spoken about hosting in Gay Byrnes Lyric FM slot

Ireland was featured on the Global countdown

An Taobh Tuathail is turning 25

Bauer have become gold standard certified from the Internet advertising bureau

Lyric FM are celebrating 25 years of Movies and Musicals

This Week In Radio 20/4/2024 (more networking)

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

Here’s What Happened

More networking is on its way, with Wireless group set to simulcast another show across some of their stations.

FM104s Freaks on Friday, hosted by DJ Al Gibbs, will now be known as ‘Freaks with Al Gibbs’, and is going to be airing on Saturday as well as its long running Friday show.

The Saturday show looks to be remaining an FM104 exclusive for now, but between 8pm and 9pm on Fridays the show will be joined by listeners in Cork and limerick, with 96FM and Live 95 joining the party.

We also heard this week that Angela Scanlon is joining Virgin Radio UK, but there’s no word on that show being carried by the Irish network just yet.

The consolidation of Irish radio and media in general continues at a rapid rate, and there’s no way of knowing what the future holds.

Read the story here

Ryan Tubridy launched his new podcast this week in association with Eason.

The Bookshelf is available on all the main podcast apps as well as on YouTube, with the first episode featuring author and former Britain’s Got Talent judge David Walliams.

The show has a simple yet nice set, and is uploaded to the YouTube channel of NK Productions. That’s the YouTube channel of Ryan’s agents NK Management.

The YouTube channel hosts other podcasts too including path to power with Matt Cooper and Ivan Yates, and Understanding Money with Eoin McGee. I have a suspicion these podcasts are all recorded in the same studio, but I guess we can’t be sure.

It’s the perfect sponsorship for Eason really, as it fits their brand in every way. RTE had secured a podcast from Tubridy as part of the €170,000 deal that would have seen him return to radio 1, but that deal unfortunately fell apart.

The podcast launched at number one in the Irish podcast chart, outperforming Journal Media’s hugely popular podcast the Stardust, which released an episode this week following the Stardust inquest.

It looks to be a good start for the Bookshelf, showing that Tubridy continues to perform really well outside of RTE.

Listen to the first episode of The Bookshelf here

Finally this week, we got the sad news of two RTE veterans passing Away.

Alf McCarthy passed away age 73 following a short illness. He was best known as presenter of RTE Radio 1 show Late Date, and RTE Cork show Corkabout.

Former Late Late show executive producer Larry Masterson also passed away this week, again aged 73.

Larry left a career as a social worker to join RTE, and worked on shows such as The Live Mike. He was well liked and respected in the industry and will be missed.

It’s a sad story. Hopefully both men rest in peace.

Read tributes from RTE Here