New figures show the number of people listening to radio on a regular basis has fallen again, with some of RTÉ's flagship programmes suffering as a result.
The Joint National Listenership Research (JNLR) survey covering weekday and weekend listening shows that 85 per cent of the public listened to radio on a regular basis between the start of October 2004 and the end of September 2005. This was down one per cent on the last JNLR survey and continues a long-term trend.
Radio executives have found it difficult to pinpoint the reason for the drop. But most of them blame either competition from online media or the popularity of iPods and other music players among younger people.
The overall drop in listenership is believed to be contributing to rating losses among many high-profile programmes, although the strong competition among stations is also a major factor, particularly in Dublin.
The total listenership figure for local and regional stations increased by one percentage point to 56 per cent, while most of the national stations retained their overall listenership figures.
RTÉ Radio One was at 26 per cent, Today FM was at 16 per cent, Lyric FM was at 3 per cent and RTÉ 2FM dropped one percentage point to 21 per cent.
Approximate comparisons can be made with the last JNLR survey, which covered the period between July 2004 and June 2005.
Based on this comparison, the most popular programme Morning Ireland was down from 487,000 to 479,000 listeners. Despite this fall, the programme remains well-ahead of any rivals.
The decision to drop Marian Finucane from a prime-time morning slot on RTÉ Radio One and replace her with Ryan Tubridy appears to have produced mixed results.
The latest survey gave this programme slot an average listenership of 348,000, but this is down on the last JNLR survey which gave the slot 353,000 listeners. RTÉ explained that Tubridy had not presented the programme during much of this period.
In the evening slot, Five Seven Live had a listenership of 203,000. This was down from 205,000 in the last JNLR survey.
Today FM, the other national service, expressed satisfaction with its results. Chief executive Willie O'Reilly said the station was particularly pleased with the performance of the Ray D'Arcy Show which had a listenership of 226,000, up from 215,000 in the last survey.
In Dublin, competition continues to be fierce. Elaine Geraghty, chief executive of NewsTalk 106, said the station's 7 per cent listenership figure was very gratifying and the station scored a notable success with the increase for presenter George Hook.
Tim Fenn, chief executive of FM104, said his station had maintained its market share in an increasingly competitive environment.
The Independent Broadcasters of Ireland said RTÉ was losing touch with its audience and the independent sector was taking advantage.