Sustained gains make RTÉ Radio 1 the people's favourite in the latest JNLR listener survey

. 1,844,000 people now listen to RTÉ Radio every week, with 19 of the top 20 programmes on RTÉ Radio
. Radio 1 remains the ONLY station with a weekly reach of over 1M and is the only national station to gain YoY (+10,000)
. Radio 1's Sunday Sport, World Report /Bowman score the biggest book-on-book gains nationally
. On Radio 1, Miriam Meets, Morning Ireland and The Business score biggest year-on-year gains
. Radio 1 continues to win the drivetime battle, with Mary Wilson's Drivetime the only early-evening programme to make gains b-o-b
. Lyric's Classic Drive with Lorcan Murray gains 26,000 listeners y-o-y on Saturdays
. RTÉ lyric fm continues to grow at weekends y-o-y

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"As the only national station to gain listeners for 7-day reach, year on year, this is certainly an excellent book for RTÉ Radio 1. For lyric fm we have seen growth also. All in all, there is a lot to celebrate in these latest figures," says Clare Duignan, Managing Director of RTÉ Radio. Commenting on the latest Joint National Listenership Survey figures, Ms Duignan observed that "this book, however, also uncovers some challenging trends for key players in the radio industry. For 2fm and Today FM, this book has made for difficult reading. But for 2fm we remain resolute: Breakfast with Hector is a great show, Tubridy has found its rhythm. We remain committed to making it work, and we will re-double our efforts to reclaim 2fm's second position behind Radio 1."

RTÉ Radio 1 has emerged definitively as the nation's favourite radio station, according to new figures released by the JNLR. While key national competitors have seen book-on-book losses to the key drivetime slot, Radio 1's Mary Wilson has emerged as the only early-evening programme to make book-on-book gains. Radio 1 also saw continued book-on-book growth for Morning Ireland, while Today with Pat Kenny, The Ronan Collins Show and the News at One all made gains. Joe Duffy's Liveline retained its crown as Ireland's second most-listened-to radio show; The John Murray Show sustained a stable listenership.

The success comes as RTÉ Radio 1 also made a resurgence at weekends. Miriam Meets, Saturday View, Countrywide, Sunday Sport, Papers/World Report/John Bowman, The Business and This Week all made significant gains book on book. The resurgence was matched by gains in the evenings for Sport @ Seven, Arena, The John Creedon Show, Arts Tonight and Late Debate. RTÉ Radio 1 conclusively retains 18 of the top 20 programmes nationally, with weekday reach stable at 25%.

Says Jim Jennings, Head of Radio 1: "It's really satisfying that listeners are turning in such huge numbers to Radio 1 in the mornings, throughout the day and in the evenings. The breadth of service offered by Radio 1 is clearly something that listeners want; the variety of programmes in the top 20, from news to lifestyle, regional affairs, business, entertainment and music, not only illustrates the scale of the Radio 1 offer, but shows conclusively that the service is truly valued by the Irish people. In that context, it's gratifying too that gains have been made to the re-structured evening schedule, with Sport @ Seven, John Creedon, Arena and Late Debate all making gains. At weekends we have seen that the massive rates of growth for The Marian Finucane Show and Playback have plateaued - we predicted this ourselves - but it's a real win that the shows that had room to make gains have made them so conclusively."

RTÉ 2fm has maintained key shows in the 20-44 Top 10, with Breakfast with Hector, Tubridy and The Colm Hayes Show all featuring. The station has also held onto 7 of the Top 20 positions among this cohort. Meanwhile 2fm has claimed 4 places in the Top 10 for 15-34 year olds.

Says John McMahon, Head of 2fm: "Whatever way you cut it this is a challenging book for 2fm. But talk of Ray D'Arcy having 26,000 listeners more than Ryan Tubridy is nonsense. Clearly a two-hour show and a three-hour show cannot be compared. The gap is much, much less."

John McMahon continued: "Our own feedback tells us that our key shows are hitting home; engagement in social media, by text, at events, is growing all the time. Just a few weeks ago 2fm had its most successful Oxegen yet, with unprecedented levels of live coverage and massive engagement across our Facebook and YouTube channels. This tells us our audience is out there. Ryan Tubridy is a world-class broadcaster, Hector is truly unique in Irish radio: we have what it takes to turn this around and this book is only going to make us work even harder."

RTÉ lyric fm has grown by 1000 listeners book-on-book to a 7-day reach of 248,000, with significant year-on-year growth on both Saturday & Sunday. Lyric is up 19,000 listeners on Saturdays to 112,000, and up 8,000 listeners on Sundays to 108,000. Year on year, Lorcan Murray has gained a staggering 26,000 listeners to 60,000 for Classic Drive on Saturday, while Gay Byrne's slot is up 9,000 to 49,000. Other gains were made for Magic Carpet, up 9,000 to 16,000, and Liz Nolan's Lunchtime Classics, up 5,000 to 31,000.

Book on book, Frank McNamara has seen gains on Saturdays, up from 4,000 to 29,000, while Lorcan Murray is up 4,000 to 53,000 on Sundays. Marty Whelan's new lyric breakfast show has also shown gains, up 2,000 to 21,000.

Says Aodan Ó Dubhghaill, Head of lyric fm: "This is a most satisfying book for lyric. Not only have we seen gains year on year, but we have held steady where we need to. The new breakfast show with Marty Whelan continues to grow, while there has been exceptional growth at weekends, year-on-year, particularly for Lorcan Murray's Classic Drive."

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RTÉ Radio 1
? Morning Ireland leaps ahead as Ireland's number one, with 460,000 listeners
? Gains for News at One, Pat Kenny, Ronan Collins, Drivetime weekdays b-o-b
? At the weekend Sunday Sport gains 14,000 listeners b-o-b
? Increases for Miriam Meets, Papers/World Report/Bowman, The Business, This Week, Countrywide across the weekend schedule b-o-b
? John Creedon up 4,000 to 24,000 b-o-b
? RTÉ Radio 1 reach is stable at 25% on Weekdays (+1,000) to 873,000. RTÉ Radio 1 share is up to 23.5% (+0.3pts)
. RTÉ Radio 1 sees a mix of year-on-year and book-on-book gains
. RTÉ Radio 1 up Book on Book by 3,000 to over 1.3million (7 DAY REACH)
. Radio 1 makes gains on weekdays in Dublin year-on-year (+12,000)

RTÉ 2fm
? Larry Gogan up 2,000 to 78,000 book on book
? Ireland's Biggest Jukebox up 19,000 to 143,000 year on year
? Baz and Lucy (Sunday) up 13,000 to 57,000 year on year

RTÉ lyric fm
? RTÉ lyric fm is up 19,000 listeners Year on Year on Saturdays to 112,000 and up 8,000 listeners Year on Year on Sundays to 108,000
? Lorcan Murray (Saturday) up 26,000 to 60,000 y-o-y
? Gay Byrne slot up 9,000 to 49,000 y-o-y
? Magic Carpet up 9,000 to 16,000 y-o-y
? Liz Nolan up 5,000 to 31,000 y-o-y
? Lorcan Murray (Sunday) up 5,000 to 53,000 y-o-y
? Frank McNamara up 3,000 both Sat and Sun y-o-y
? Marty Whelan up 2,000 to 21,000 b-o-b