RTÉ figures show Gerry Ryan hard act to follow

RTÉ IS struggling to plug the hole left in the 2fm schedule by Gerry Ryan’s sudden death last year, the latest radio listenership figures show.

Ryan Tubridy and Colm Hayes, the two presenters whose shows are now broadcast in Ryan’s traditional morning slot, have both recorded marked falls in their listenership, according to the JNLR/Ipsos MRBI survey.

Tubridy, who is planning to present a Saturday show for BBC Radio 2 over the summer, recorded a drop of 14,000 in his audience, to 202,000. Hayes, who follows him on air, shed 16,000 listeners, and now has an audience of 145,000.

Comparisons between Tubridy’s show and that of Ryan are difficult because they differ in length. However, an indication of the challenge posed to 2fm bosses following the loss of its most popular presenter can be gleaned from the figures for average ¼-hour listenership. In the survey published a year ago, this figure stood at 180,000 for Ryan’s programme, whereas the equivalent figure today for Tubridy is 133,000 and for Hayes, 91,000.

RTÉ 2fm head John McMahon acknowledged the numbers were down for both broadcasters but said the station had gone through a period of great change and some “churn” in its audience was inevitable.

He pointed out that the station’s new Galway-based breakfast presenter, Hector Ó hEochagáin, had added 4,000 listeners and said he had “no worries” but that the audience for Tubridy’s show would grow in the longer term.

2fm’s claim to be the second most listened-to station ahead of Today FM prompted a complaint last night by its rival to the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland. Today FM said its market share stood at 9.5 per cent, compared to 7.8 per cent for 2fm.

Overall, the figures are mixed for the national broadcaster, with modest rises in audience for some programmes while audiences for weekend programmes generally dropped.

RTÉ Radio 1’s Saturday morning schedule suffered particularly badly, following a long period of growth.

Marian Finucane's Saturday show and Playback, now presented by Marian Richardson, both lost 18,000 listeners, while George Lee's business programme lost 16,000.

Morning Irelandremained the most-listened-to programme on radio and managed to add another 7,000 listeners to bring its total audience to 456,000.

Liveline, presented by Joe Duffy, also performed strongly with a 12,000 increase in audience, to 404,000.

Reflecting the public's continuing appetite for news programming, the News at Oneadded 3,000 listeners, to 338,000, and Pat Kennys morning radio programme added 2,000 listeners to give a total audience of 326,000.

The current survey covers the period April 2010 to March 2011, which was a period of intense political tumult and included the general election.

Once again, RTÉ Radio produced 19 of the 20 most-listened-to programmes in the survey. The exception was Ray D’Arcy’s programme on Today FM in 15th place with an audience of 218,000, down 1,000. At the same station, Ian Dempsey’s audience was static, Ray Foley recorded growth of 4,000 and Tony Fenton increased his listenership by 5,000.

There were gains all round for evening drive-time shows; RTÉ Radio 1's Drivetimewas up 5,000, The Last Wordon Today FM added 6,000 listeners and The Right Hookon Newstalk saw its audience grow by 8,000.

Newcomer rock station Nova FM recorded a healthy 2.9 per cent market share in its first set of figures. In Dublin, the big loser was 98FM, which saw its market share fall 2.6 per cent to 9 per cent. FM104 had a market share of 11.4 per cent and Q102 was on 11.1 per cent, while alternative music station Phantom 105.2 fell to 0.7 per cent.

Donegal station Highland Radio still had the biggest market share of the local stations, but saw its share fall by 0.6 per cent to 61.7 per cent.