Ryan Tubridy is the “King” of morning radio while his colleagues Joe Duffy, Ray D’Arcy, Miriam O’Callaghan and Brendan O’Connor have all lost listeners.
RTE’s top earner’s 9am to 10am morning show recorded an audience of 366,000 up 7,000 since the last Joint National Listenership Report book in December.
For the first time, it puts Tubs, and that slot, as the second most popular show after Morning Ireland.
He said: “It is very heartening, very encouraging and we are very grateful to have those listeners.
“We enjoy their thoughts and contributions to the show. We love what we do.”
Head of RTE Radio 1’s Peter Woods told Irish Mirror: “It is a big day for Ryan. It is a great achievement to get that spot.”
It comes as the new figures revealed that RTE now reaches almost 2 million (1,961,000) radio listeners in Ireland, with 49% of the adult 15+ population tuning in every week, a growth of 34,000 in a year.
To break it all down:
- RTE Radio 1 remains the only station in Ireland with a weekly reach of over one million, at 1,409,000
- Radio 1’s Morning Ireland remains the most listened to show with 459,000 listeners, a jump of 9,000 listeners since the previous period
- Today with Claire Byrne now boasts an audience of 346,000 up 6,000 compared to December’s book
- Ronan Collins also gained, growing his listenership by 7,000 to 242,000 in the mid-morning slot
- After suffering a hit in the previous book, current affairs recorded slight increases with News at One fronted by Bryan Dobson up 1,000, now bringing in 330,000 listeners, and
- Drivetime with Sarah McInerney and Cormac O hEadhra, is up 3,000, up to 227,000.
However, weekend stalwarts Miriam O’Callaghan and Brendan O’Connor suffered drops.
Her Sunday morning slot pulls in 312,000, a drop off of 10,000 listeners.
O’Connor’s Saturday and Sunday show, which he took over from the late Marian Finucane, now attracts an audience of 351,000 and 323,000 respectively – which is a 15,000 drop in listeners on Saturday and 6,000 less tuning in on Sunday.
But the Brendan O’Connor Show on Saturday is still the country’s third most listened to radio programme.
This dip was echoed across the afternoon slots, as RTE’s prized show Liveline with Joe Duffy also saw a drop in figures, down 3,000.
It comes after the show, which is currently pulling in 343,000 listeners, suffered a huge drop in last December’s book, as almost 60,000 tuned out of the show over the year.
Ray D’Arcy also suffered a slight drop of 1,000 listeners since the past period, down to 209,000 – compared to 210,000 during the last JNLRS.
Radio 1 boss Woods said he isn’t worried about the dips and added: “I’d be more worried if I thought in myself that they weren’t going the right way.
“But if you are looking at Liveline, and the programmes they have done, it is acquired listening and one third of the available audience, so one in three people that are listening to the radio when Liveline is on are listening to Joe Duffy.”
The figures recorded highs across the board at sister station 2FM after a troublesome period last year, whilst their competitors in commercial stations Today FM and Newstalk are celebrating record results once again.
2FM head Dan Healy told Irish Mirror: “As an adult when you find your score covered publicly it is tough.
“And you lose a bit of sleep a couple of nights before them, you definitely do. You put so much into it..
“At least you can’t get fired for the Leaving Cert, and you can repeat the Leaving Cert.”
But celebrating increases across the station, and set to launch shake-ups to the schedule, including the introduction of the 2 Johnnies and Laura Fox at the weekends, Mr Healy is “excited” for the future.
The Breakfast Show with Doireann Garrihy, Carl Mullan and Donnacha O’Callaghan now has 111,000 people tuning in daily, a rise of 8,000 listeners.
The programme struggled last year, after its change in format and presenters following Eoghan McDermott’s departure. Jennifer Zamparelli’s jumped to 141,000 listeners an increase of 1,000, whilst Tracy Clifford also grew her audience.
Drivetime with Jenny Greene saw a 7,000 rise to take its audience to 129,000
Elsewhere, Today FM bosses celebrated record-breaking growth with its biggest weekly audience in more than 10 years to becoming the second most listened to station in the country.
Now 929,000 people tune in every week, an increase of 52,000 year on year, and 453,000 each day, a jump of 38,000, .
That widens the gap with RTE 2FM, which has a weekly reach figure of 710,000, even further, now reaching almost 220,000 more listeners every week.
Dermot & Dave’s morning show grew their audience to 208,000, up 3,000 to cement their status as the biggest show on commercial radio in Ireland.
Breakfast host Ian Dempsey was celebrating as his audience grew by 6,000 to 184,000.
Mairead Ronan leaves on a high and hands new lunchtime host Pamela Joyce an audience of 143,000 up 11,000.
In the afternoon, Fergal D’Arcy leaves the station with a healthy audience of 134,000, an increase of 2,000 listeners.
Ray Foley takes over this time slot and launches his new show on Today FM on Monday.
In the ever competitive drive time slot, The Last Word with Matt Cooper (4.30pm -7pm) had another impressive JNLR performance, this time smashing a 10-year record to reach an audience of 173,000, an increase of 3,000, book on book.
Commenting on the latest results, Matt Cooper said: “We’re thrilled to have our largest audience in a decade.
“It seems we’re hitting the right note with our content on The Last Word, a smorgasbord that delivers the right taste for our listeners!”
It is also a good day for Newstalk, who recorded subtle rises across it’s schedule.
Breakfast with Ciara Kelly and Shane Coleman and The Pat Kenny show both increased their audience by 1,000, now achieving an audience of 138,000, and 184,000 respectively.
Lunchtime Live with Andrea Gilligan has an audience of 114,000, up 2,000.
Sean Moncrieff is also up 1,000 to 77,000 and The Hard Shoulder, which was taken over by Kiaran Cuddihy from Ivan Yates, is up 5,000 listeners, to 151,000.
Sign up to the free Dublin Live Newsletter for all the latest news.
