A New Look for Joe!

12th October, 2009

RTÉ Radio 1 today announced Specsavers as the first-ever sponsor of Ireland's Number 1 radio talk show. With more and more people queuing up to "talk to Joe", Liveline recently emerged as the second most-popular programme on Irish radio, with more than 426,000 listeners tuning in to each day. The 12-month sponsorship deal begins on Monday 19 October.

As part of the announcement of the new sponsorship, Liveline presenter Joe Duffy today lent a hand to launch the Specsavers Drivesafe campaign. According to statistics revealed by Specsavers, one in five Irish drivers* are getting behind the wheel with eyesight that is below the legal requirement. With Irish Road Safety Week taking place this week, Monday 12 until Sunday 18 October, Joe Duffy helped Specsavers communicate these alarming figures.

RTÉ Radio 1 presenter, Joe Duffy commented: 'Working on RTÉ Radio 1's Liveline programme, I know very well the devastation that road accidents can cause to individuals and families. In these difficult times, remember it costs absolutely nothing to take extra care, slow down and pay attention. The alarming statistics of the Specsavers Drivesafe campaign only highlights the need for drivers to MOT their eyes as well as their car.'

Broadcasting in the popular weekday slot of 1.45-3pm, the new Liveline sponsorship package includes six Specsavers credited stings per show on FM and digital radio, podcast sponsorship and an on-line presence on the Liveline web page and across RTÉ.ie. From January to September 2009 more than 501,000 Liveline podcasts were downloaded. This is an average of 55,600 downloads per month.

Liveline focuses on current events and matters of public opinion, and regularly makes news headlines by uncovering scandals and controversies. Recent items on Liveline have included an interview with the late Frank Deasy, which raised awareness of organ donation, coverage of the inspector of prisons report into overcrowding at Mountjoy, stories from women who were sent to the Magdalen Laundries, the reunion of a mother with her daughter after 40 years, the taxi driver protests and 'Llama gate'. Joe Duffy and his team recently collected the Gold Award for Best Community / Social Action Programme at the 2009 PPI Radio Awards

Specsavers director, Catherina McGleenon said: 'Being Irish business owners, the Specsavers store directors in Ireland understand the importance of local opinion. At Specsavers, we listen to our customers just as Joe addresses the concerns of his listeners. We are honoured to be the first-ever sponsor of RTÉ Radio 1's talk show Liveline. As Ireland's most trusted opticians* there is a definite synergy between Specsavers and Ireland's number one radio talk show. The announcement comes on the first day of Irish Road Safety Week, where Joe has kindly lent his support to help announce Specsavers' Drivesafe campaign's alarming statistics that one in every five people are behind the wheel with eyesight that is below the legal requirement.'

Ronan Murphy, RTÉ Radio Sales & Marketing Manager says: 'We warmly welcome Specsavers, through their media agency Mediaedge CIA, as the very first sponsor of Liveline, Ireland's number one radio talk show. We trust that this will be a long and fruitful partnership between two such recognised and successful brands.'

David Hayes, managing director, mediaedge:cia said: 'Liveline is Ireland's most popular radio talk show and we are delighted to have secured the first-ever sponsorship of this flagship RTÉ Radio 1 show on behalf of our client Specsavers.'

RTÉ Radio recently joined with the Independent Broadcasters of Ireland to run, Choose Radio, a campaign to promote radio as a marketing medium, whether for advertising, sponsorship or promotions. Recent new sponsorships announced by RTÉ Radio include The Gerry Ryan Show with LowLow as the first sponsor in the show's 20 year history. Airtricity's sponsorship of Miriam Meets. , Odlums sponsorship of RTÉ Radio 1's Ronan Collins and the National Book Tokens sponsorship of RTÉ lyric fm's Sunday with Gay Byrne.

*Vision Screening conducted at the 2009 National Ploughing Championships in Athy, Co. Kildare where 731 people were vision screened

*RedC Survey January 2009