Downturn is good news in radio wars
Friday August 21 2009
BAD news has proved to be very good news for some of the biggest names in Irish radio.
Joe Duffy, Marian Finucane, Matt Cooper, ‘Morning Ireland’ and ‘News at One’ have all seen their listenership explode in the last few months as the recession drives the masses to news and current affairs shows.
Lighter shows are also reaping the benefits of listeners in search of escapism as Derek Mooney emerged as the single biggest radio winner, while Eamon Dunphy also made strong gains with his weekend slot.
‘Liveline’s’ Joe Duffy has become the poster boy for recessionary audience gains, his audience growing by 34,000 since the start of the year.
The new figures show Duffy now addresses 426,000 listeners each day after adding 21,000 in the three months to March and another 13,000 in the three months to June.
Hit Marian Finucane is also a huge hit – her Sunday show is now up 25,000 since January, while the Saturday slot is up 16,000.
“I’m thrilled that after four years’ broadcasting at weekends listeners are still discovering the show,” she said last night, speaking two weeks ahead of her return to the airwaves on September 5.
‘Morning Ireland’ hosts Aine Lawlor and Cathal MacCoille also had plenty to smile about, as their show retained its crown of Ireland’s most listened to programme with an audience of 461,000, up 25,000 this year.
And Sean O’Rourke’s ‘News at One’ rounds up Radio 1’s news and current affairs’ winners, after the lunchtime slot added another 16,000 listeners in the three months to June.
“There is no doubt that the economic climate is helping to grow audiences for news and current affairs programmes,” RTE radio boss Clare Duignan confirmed last night.
But she insists she’s not concerned about an audience collapse when the bad times end though, citing the recent successes of “lifestyle and entertainment shows”.
Chief among them is Derek Mooney, who added 17,000 to his audience in the most recent period, making him the single biggest listenership winner.
Eamon Dunphy also had a good run, adding 9,000 to his ‘Conversations’ slot, while ‘Saturday Sport’ on Radio 1 was up 7,000.
Meanwhile, over at Today FM former business journalist Matt Cooper has pulled off a remarkable recovery.
His numbers were down a bruising 12,000 in the three months to March, but in the three months to June, he was up 9,000.
Newstalk’s Eamon Keane was another winner in the news and current affairs stakes, adding another 3,000 to his flock as his lunchtime show remained one of the station’s must-listens with a weekday audience of 62,000.
It wasn’t all good news though, particularly at 2fm, which is headed for a “repositioning” in January. Former FM104 duo Colm and Jim Jim bore the brunt of the loss as they saw their breakfast show audience shrink by 18,000.
The 2fm pairing now attract just 173,000 listeners, well behind Today FM’s competing Ian Dempsey show, which pulls in 226,000.
And 2fm suffered a number of other falls throughout its schedule, including Gerry Ryan (down 4,000), Rick O’Shea (down 7,000), Will Leahy (down 9,000) and Nicky Hayes (down 3,000).
“The breakfast show and all shows in the 2fm schedule will be looked at in detail over the coming months to see how they meet the expectations of the new 25- to 44-year-old target audience for RTE 2fm,” Ms Duignan said.
Today FM also suffered some losses, most notably Ian Dempsey’s fall of 9,000. Yesterday also marked the first figures for 4fm, which attracted a weekly audience of 95,000 in its first 16 weeks, putting the station well on its way to its target of 150,000.
