A number of flagship RTÉ radio shows, including Morning Ireland and Gerry Ryan, have suffered a fall in listenership, according to the latest statistics.
The major broadcasters gaining listeners were Ian Dempsey, Ray D'Arcy and Matt Cooper from Today FM, Ryan Tubridy of RTÉ Radio 1, and Eamon Dunphy and George Hook from NewsTalk 106.
Gerry Ryan on 2FM achieved a listenership of 320,000 in the period between April 2005 and March 2006, but this was down over 3 per cent from the previous figure of 331,000. For many years Gerry Ryan had the third most listened to programme on Irish radio, in the latest statistics his programme has dropped into fourth position behind Liveline with Joe Duffy.
Nationally, RTÉ Radio 1 retained a 25 per cent listenership or "reach" figure, 2FM was down 1 per cent at 20 per cent, while Today FM was unchanged at 15 per cent. Local radio, now a major force in national broadcasting, was unchanged at 57 per cent.
In Dublin most stations were unchanged, although 98 FM, Today FM and Q 102 were down 1 per cent, with NewsTalk and RTÉ Lyric FM up 1 per cent. RTÉ said it was producing 18 of the top 20 programmes in the Republic.
Willie O'Reilly, chief executive of Today FM, said the station's three prime time presenters had outperformed the market.
Elaine Geraghty, chief executive of NewsTalk, said: "Every programme on the station has experienced a significant increase with The Right Hook continuing to lead the climb."
The results come during a key period for the station. On Monday the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI) meets to discuss the station's application for a quasi-national licence.
The latest Joint National Listenership Research (JNLR) survey covers the period from April 2005 to March 2006. The comparable figures from 2004 and 2005 have not been made available by the JNLR committee. So the industry has had to compare with the period from January 2005 to December 2005.
Adrian Moynes, head of RTÉ Radio, said the radio sector had changed. "It has now rebalanced, from a five-day week to seven-day week activity. This impacts on all stations." He said the decision to move Marian Finucane into the weekend schedule was delivering benefits.
Morning Ireland, the most listened to programme in the Republic, had a listenership of 463,000. This was down from the last set of figures which gave it a figure of 476,000, a drop of almost 3 per cent.