The last word - and it's goodbye

Radio ReviewFriends asked whether there was a tipping point, a moment when the radio was hurled out the window and the letter of resignation dashed off in a temper. Maybe one too many Tubridy shows? Too much bottom talk from Gerry Ryan? Over-exposure to Newstalk's dreary breakfast show? Or even the thought of Nob Nation? No, no "tipping point" to explain why this is my last radio review, though that is one of those expressions, along with "road map" and "going forward", that infested the airwaves like a plague this year - enough to drive any regular radio listener right round the bend.

It wasn't a vintage year for radio - of the four years I've been writing this column it probably was one of the dullest. No new "must-listen", not many new voices and nothing particularly innovative, though there were plenty of programmes I'm glad I heard for different reasons, from the consistently hilarious Gift Grubevery day on Ian Dempsey's Breakfast Show(Today FM) to much, but by no means all, of RTÉ's Liveline. Duffy's programme came in for some severe criticism this year for initiating calls from listeners and for its apparent urgent need to whip up controversy, but it still has the power to give a strong voice to people who feel powerless. It's also the programme played in newspaper and TV newsrooms and it's in the rare position that its content regularly spills out into other media and even the Dáil.

Think of the late Susie Long who contacted the programme over her delayed treatment for cancer, or last March when Clare woman Mary O'Sullivan called Joe to explain her sense of hurt and betrayal that her rapist had walked free from court the previous day, despite a jury concluding he was guilty.

RTÉ's Documentary on Oneslot is a personal favourite and has been consistently a strong listen, with producers Ciaran Cassidy and Ann Marie Power in particular delivering powerful work.

Newstalk's new Sunday evening documentary slot is a hopeful sign that the station is truly committed to broadening out its talk offering and maybe even diluting its reliance on sport.

A SIGNIFICANT EVENT happened in February when, for the first time, a commercial station overtook RTÉ in terms of the number of listeners in a key slot. Today FM's teatime show The Last Word with Matt Cooperedged ahead of RTÉ Radio 1's Drivetime. Whether it's because Cooper is so good or Drivetimeso dreadfully bad is debatable - though for my money the reason lies firmly at the door of whoever had the idea of replacing the authoritative Five Seven Livewith such an editorially fractured listen. Whatever your view, February's listenership figures did give Today FM an enormous boost.

It's now more than a year since Newstalk went national and it is the only station offering a news and current affairs alternative in the other key radio slot, the breakfast show.

Compared to Morning Ireland, however, Newstalk's offering with Claire Byrne and Ger Gilroy hasn't made a dint in the national psyche and still sounds underfunded and more like a local radio programme than a national one. Morning Ireland is still the only breakfast show for news junkies or anyone interested in the day's news agenda, and that's not likely to change anytime soon.

The real radio stories happened off the airwaves, in the lucrative battle for the younger listener. So while there appears to be more choice than ever, particularly in Dublin, the market is now controlled by only three entities: UTV Media owns FM104 and Q102, with a 32 per cent audience share of the 15- to 34-year-old demographic; Denis O'Brien's Communicorp, which owns Today FM, Newstalk, 98FM and Spin 103.8, has a 48 per cent share of the same audience; while the three radio stations owned by RTÉ have between them a 17 per cent market share of the 15- to 34-year-old audience.

The most significant change over the four years I've been paid to listen is how broadband is impacting on listener choice. People e-mail me regularly to tell me they've discovered and become fans of BBC Radio 4 through their computers, particularly that station's peerless drama offerings and lifestyle programmes; a Polish friend who has lived here for three years doesn't know who Gerry Ryan, Ray D'Arcy or Ryan Tubridy are - she listens to Polish radio online for global current affairs and news from home and has discovered Dublin station Phantom FM for music; and while the development of digital radio is still in its infancy here - RTÉ did trial broadcasts of a few stations this year, and Communicorp surely has the muscle to develop niche digital stations - that is where listeners will looking to in the future.

For me for the past few years, it's been a choice between a few stations; the next person who gets to wear the radio reviewer earphones will have to contend with the multiplicity offered by digital radio.

So Happy New Year. Going forward.