RTÉ will put a new schedule in place at 2FM in early 2025, it said, as the latest radio figures showed thousands of listeners have tuned out from the station in recent months.
After a string of presenter departures including Doireann Garrihy, Jennifer Zamparelli and the 2 Johnnies, 2FM’s market share retreated to 5.7 per cent, down from 6.2 per cent, according to the Joint National Listenership Research (JNLR) survey for October 2023 to the end of September 2024.
Bauer Media Audio’s national stations Today FM and Newstalk have also seen some slippage across their daytime weekday schedules since the previous survey, though the losses were deeper at 2FM.
RTÉ said it had an “exciting plan” for a new schedule, with 2FM bosses receiving about 500 applications over the summer in response to an open call for presenters. It has since piloted several shows. The line-up remains a “work-in-progress” but is expected to focus on the development of new on-air talent.
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Head of 2FM Dan Healy said RTÉ was “confident” the schedule would “meet the needs of young audiences in Ireland”.
The upheaval at the station this year means 2FM’s breakfast show now has 142,000 listeners, down 7,000 since the survey for the July 2023-June 2024 period, while Laura Fox, Ms Zamparelli’s replacement in midmorning, saw her listenership decline by 8,000 to 133,000.
Tracy Clifford has 119,000 listeners, down 9,000 since the last survey but up 6,000 year-on-year, while the drive-time slot, which has had several different hosts since the 2 Johnnies left the station in May, fell 12,000 to 145,000.
There were pluses and minuses over on RTÉ Radio 1, as Morning Ireland’s recent gains were unwound but Oliver Callan’s listenership nudged higher.
Morning Ireland, the most listened-to programme on Irish radio, now has 465,000 listeners, down 21,000 since the last survey but still up 2,000 year-on-year.
Mr Callan added 2,000 listeners to give him an audience of 338,000 at 9am, while Louise Duffy made the same gain to reach 223,000, her highest tally of listeners since taking over the music-led midday slot from Ronan Collins.
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News at One recovered from a recent dip, adding 7,000 listeners to reach 302,000, and Liveline gained 5,000 listeners to hit 307,000. The rest of the weekday Radio 1 schedule showed no real movements of note, with the station maintaining its 20.7 per cent market share.
On Today FM, the bright spot on weekdays was Ray Foley, who saw his listenership jump by 14,000 to 169,000. Dave Moore’s audience fell 15,000 to 208,000, however, and there were modest declines for Ian Dempsey, lunchtime presenter Louise Cantillon and The Last Word with Matt Cooper.
Newstalk, which enjoyed a series of all-time listenership highs for its shows earlier this year, also saw small dips for The Pat Kenny Show, Lunchtime Live, Moncrieff and The Hard Shoulder, with no change for Newstalk Breakfast.
Today FM and Newstalk have market shares of 8.9 per cent and 8.5 per cent respectively.
[ Oliver Callan now has more listeners on Radio 1 than Ryan Tubridy did a year agoOpens in new window ]
The JNLR report, compiled for the radio industry by research firm Ipsos, found that more than 3.4 million people listen to the radio on a typical day, tuning in for more than four hours on average. This is 71,000 higher than it was a year ago, the research indicates.
Responding to the figures, Wireless Ireland pointed to growth in the weekly audience reach of stations including Dublin’s Q102, which has been simulcasting Ryan Tubridy’s Virgin Radio UK show since the start of 2024. No listener figure for the show was released.
Local and regional stations made a collective gain in their market share in this survey, accounting for 52.8 per cent of the market. The national stations, meanwhile, looked past their wobbles to upcoming events.
Today FM cited both Mr Moore’s interview with actor Paul Mescal, which will take place at a “Gladiator Party” at Croke Park this Friday, and The Last Word’s coverage of the general election.
Sister station Newstalk said it was “delighted” that Mr Kenny, its biggest listener draw, was leading its team into a busy election period, while RTÉ said it expected Morning Ireland and other Radio 1 news programmes to add listeners as the campaign gets under way.
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