Oliver Callan remains the third most popular weekday show on Irish radio and 2FM has shown strong gains following recent upheavals at the station, according to the latest round of Joint National Listenership Research (JNLR) figures.
The new figures represent the first six months of Callan's stewardship of the RTÉ Radio 1 9am slot since he took over from Ryan Tubridy and his morning show now has 336,000 listeners each day, which is a rise of 6,000 book on book.
The latest JNLR figures follow major changes at 2FM, which saw the departure of Jennifer Zamperelli and The 2 Johnnies from the station’s schedule earlier this year.
Since taking over from Zamperelli, Laura Fox’s show on 2FM, the new JNRL figures reveal that she has 141,000 listeners for her 9-12pm slot, which marks a rise of 6,000 book on book.
Since replacing The 2 Johnnies on 2FM’s drivetime slot, Lottie Ryan and David O’Reilly have 157,000 listeners, a rise of 6,000 book on book.
Book-on-book is a comparison of the average listenership for programmes across the four previous quarters (three-month periods).
Since this time last year, 31,000 additional listeners are tuning into RTÉ Radio 1 across the week, weekly listenership to RTÉ 2FM has increased by 94,000, and RTÉ lyric fm has an additional 37,000 listeners based on this time last year.
Commenting on the latest figures, RTÉ Director General Kevin Bakhurst said: "We saw over recent days how millions of people in Ireland turned to RTÉ for coverage of an exceptional Olympic Games.
"Public service media continues to play a central role in Irish life - and these latest radio listenership figures underline that once again. RTÉ broadcasts 17 of the top 20 radio programmes in Ireland.
"RTÉ Radio 1 is growing and remains the only station with a weekly reach of over 1 million listeners, with gains of 31,000 listeners year-on-year. RTÉ 2FM is growing, with a weekly reach increase of 94,000 year-on-year. And RTÉ lyric fm is growing, increasing by 37,000 listeners year-on-year.
"I'm proud that RTÉ's range of programmes, including speech and trusted news and information, entertainment and music, continue to engage and connect audiences across Ireland."
There were also significant gains for commercial radio in Ireland. Newstalk, which is owned by Bauer Media Audio, has achieved its highest ever market share and now commands 8.7%, a rise from 8.2%.
Pat Kenny's mid-morning show on the station saw a rise in listenership to 244,000, a gain of 15,000 listeners since the last JNLR survey in May.
Newstalk Breakfast, presented by Ciara Kelly and Shane Coleman, also achieved their highest ever listenership with 168,000 listeners, a rise of 11,000 since May and 23,000 year-on-year.
Meanwhile, Today FM saw falls in listenership on weekday peak-time slots, apart from Dave Moore’s midmorning show which now has 223,000 people tuning in, a rise of 7,000.
Morning Ireland remains Ireland’s most listened to radio programme with 486,000 listeners this book, an increase of 46,000 year on year.
Today with Claire Byrne has added 3,000 listeners and now has a daily listenership of 344,000 every weekday from 10am-noon.
The Louise Duffy Show has also seen an increase of 3,000, with 221,000 listeners tuning on Monday to Friday.
Brendan O’Connor on Saturday has 340,000 listeners, an increase of 2,000 year on year, while 346,000 listeners tune in to the second most listened to programme in the country on Sunday (+23,000 YoY).
Liveline with Joe Duffy has an increased its listenership by 1,000 and now has of 302,000 listeners, according to the new JNLRs.
The Ray D'Arcy Show on weekday afternoons on RTÉ Radio 1 has seen as rise of 10,000 and now has 191,000 listeners.
An extra 4,000 people tune into Drivetime on Radio 1 each evening and the show has a figure of has 224,000 book on book.
Sunday with Miriam has added 5,000 and now has 309,000 listeners, nightly arts show Arena has 49,000 listeners every weekday, which is an increase of 8,000 book on book, and The John Creedon Show has also shown an increase of 4,000, bringing his show to 56,000 listeners.
Tara Campbell, Managing Editor of RTÉ Radio 1, said: "This is a strong book for RTÉ Radio 1 with the range of content produced by our creative and hard-working programme teams resonating with audiences across news and current affairs, sport, entertainment, music and culture.
"As the only station with a weekly reach of over one million listeners we're particularly proud of the loyalty of our audiences and the trust they place in our talented presenters and in our output. Our listeners remain at the forefront of everything we do."
2FM has also seen rises for the Breakfast show (149,000), the Tracy Clifford show has (128,000) and Roz and Emma's weekend show, which has 133,000 listeners on Saturdays and 98,000 on Sundays.
Dan Healy, Head of RTÉ Radio Strategy and RTÉ 2FM, said: "Laura Fox has had an immediate positive impact to the 2FM with her show growing by 6,000 listeners weekdays from 9am to 12pm. Laura has a brilliant team led by Kate Proctor.
"Tracy Clifford has increased again in this survey up 7,000 listeners from 12pm to 3pm. The Breakfast Show are up 5,000 and the 2FM Drive slot up 6,000 listeners.
"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. Finally, a massive thanks from all the 2FM team to our listeners."
On RTÉ lyric fm, Marty in the Morning has added 13,000 listeners with 67,000 tuning in every weekday morning.
Aedín Gormley's Movies and Musicals every Saturday afternoon also has 67,000 listeners, an addition of 9,000.
There have also been gains for Sunday Afternoon with Simon Delaney (60,000 listeners), Niall Carroll's Classical Drivetime (51,000 listeners), and Liz Nolan's The Full Score/ Aedín in the Afternoon on Friday (51,000 listeners).
Sinéad Wylde, Head of RTÉ lyric fm, said: "RTÉ lyric fm has been celebrating its 25th birthday year since May and this book is the icing on the cake for programme teams with our best ever gains. In a noisy, busy world music has the ability to speak to us, help us to recalibrate as we make it, listen to it and dance to it. It connects us.
"RTÉ lyric fm remains committed to bringing great music to Irish audiences. We are very grateful to all the new listeners who have found us and opened their ears to be with us for an alternative listening experience and delighted to welcome 37,000 new listeners including many new younger listeners, in the 15-34 years age group, who have come to RTÉ lyric fm in the last year."
