Radio Ireland has shown little improvement in the size of its audience, according to interim listenership figures published yesterday. While the Independent Radio and Television Commission (IRTC) welcomed a small increase in the actual numbers who have listened to Radio Ireland, the increases are so small, both the nationwide figures and for Dublin, as to be within the statistical margin of error. The interim figures cover the period April to September. The full figures that caused such a storm during the summer were for the period June to July 1996-1997 and covered the first few months of Radio Ireland's operation. They confirmed that the national station was doing badly, showing a market share of 1 per cent.
Yesterday's interim figures only show the size of the audience the stations actually reach, and under that figure there is no change for Radio Ireland.
Meanwhile, the new head of Radio at RTE, Ms Helen Shaw, said the figures indicated that RTE Radio had its best summer for at least four years.
Fifty-seven per cent of listeners tuned to an RTE radio station every day, with RTE claiming that 2FM is doing particularly well with 30 per cent. Radio 1 had a weekday audience of 34 per cent.
The IRTC said the figures showed that 52 per cent of the adult listeners tuned into an independent station every day.
The chief executive of the IRTC, Mr Michael O'Keeffe, said "the strength of the independent sector in Munster is very much reflected in Cork. There, 55 per cent of all listeners tune into Cork 96 FM County Sound each weekend, which puts them ahead of all other stations in the area. In Dublin, FM 104 has a listenership of 28 per cent and 98 FM, 23 per cent."
Meanwhile, the IRTC is still waiting for Radio Ireland to reply to its letter seeking clarification over a number of issues in the station's new programme schedule.
Radio Ireland and the IRTC have been in contact with each other and the mood seemed to be more conciliatory than it was at the weekend when Radio Ireland threatened to broadcast without IRTC approval if necessary.