Some established broadcasters are losing listeners as a new generation of presenters takes centre-stage, writes Emmet Oliver.
Very few of RTÉ's household names were left smiling yesterdays after the Joint National Listenership Research (JNLR) survey was issued.
There was some good news (veteran DJ Larry Gogan gained almost 30,000 extra listeners), but overall the figures will cause considerable soul-searching among the top tier of management at RTÉ Radio 1.
While station executives dislike generalising, the overall view is that some of the station's most dependable names are no longer able to bring in mass audiences, at least not in the way they used to.
As with any survey, people will discover in the figures what they want to. But there was no disguising the trends in relation to RTÉ personalities such as Pat Kenny and Marian Finucane.
Today With Pat Kenny, a mid-morning show, has dropped from 332,000 to 301,000 (almost a 10 per cent fall), while the Marian Finucane show dropped from 383,000 to 357,000 (6.7 per cent).
If these figures were once-offs it probably would not worry producers and schedulers at RTÉ. But they appear to be part of a long-term trend, where once-commanding names no longer have quite the same pulling power, at least on radio.
Of course, there is always the danger of overstating the case. The audience for Today With Pat Kenny is still significantly above that of comparable programmes on commercial services. The same goes for the Marian Finucane show. It is still the third-most-listened-to programme on Irish radio.
So there will be no panic for now at RTÉ Radio 1. A mini-reshuffle has already taken place - Ryan Tubridy is taking over Ms Finucane's programme in the summer, and she is moving to weekend radio.
While the process is being managed gradually, there is no denying the overall trend of younger voices replacing longer-serving personalities.
Tubridy is one example of this, but on other stations similar things are happening. Ray d'Arcy, for example, is fast becoming the key personality on Today FM.
Ironically he started his career at RTÉ and still appears regularly on RTÉ television.
He managed to increase his audience from 158,000 to 196,000. With that kind of dramatic growth, one suspects RTÉ might want to take him back.
But Today FM's managing director, Mr Willie O'Reilly, told The Irish Times yesterday the presenter recently signed a new two-year contract.
At NewsTalk 106 things were a little more mixed. Eamon Dunphy has only been on air a few months and consequently has yet to make a big breakthrough.
But Mr Dan Healy, the station's manager, said he was "thrilled" with an average quarter-hour figure of 7,500 for Mr Dunphy. He was less happy with figures for George Hook's The Right Hook, in the evening (listenership was down about 1,000).
"I find that surprising. It goes against our own internal figures and research," he said. Also in Dublin, 98 FM will be concerned about a 3 per cent drop in its listenership.
Dublin's Spin FM, a clearly defined youth channel, pushed up its listenership figures by 4 per cent, arguably the strongest result in yesterday's JNLR.