We need your help now
Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.
You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.
If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.
Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
By continuing, you are indicating that you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
IT SEEMS THAT at present RTÉ radio can do no wrong – the state broadcaster has been having a field day on all fronts over the last three months according to the latest radio listenership figures.
The latest JNLR figures have just been released and they make for very happy reading indeed for RTÉ executives.
Liam Aherne / TwitterJNLR day... The day that Irish radio heads love and fear in equal measure
— Liam Aherne (@laherne84) October 29, 2015
The ratings for every significant RTÉ Radio One, daytime radio, and all weekend slots have improved in the last three months.
On top of that, the fortunes of 2FM, which had struggled badly in recent times, have undergone something of a renaissance it seems.
RTÉ’s heads of respectively Radio One and 2FM, Tom Maguire and Dan Healy, spoke to TheJournal.ie this afternoon in the aftermath of the broadcaster’s positive results.
“This improvement, it’s been patient and slow and deliberate. It’s great but we’re not finished yet,” said Maguire.
The age profile for Radio One listenership in particular is really coming down. It’s because we’ve been able to invest in people, something we weren’t able to do in recent times.
“There are 44,000 more daily listeners to 2FM today than there was this time last year,” Healy said meanwhile.
The station has changed around completely from what it was two years ago.
It goes to show the station has had its struggles but we’ve definitely turned things around. We’re really giving it a go now.
Breakfast Republic on 2FM is one of the major success stories of this period, with 196,000 listeners bringing it into the top 20 of most listened shows for the first time (although this is based on a new timeslot, having absorbed listeners who would have previously been tuned in to Ryan Tubridy) with Today FM’s Ian Dempsey making way.
Click here to view a larger image
Anton Savage and Matt Cooper on Today FM are among the big losers this time round.
Ray D’Arcy’s new afternoon show on Radio One is doing well with figures up by 9,000 to 199,000 since July, while Ryan Tubridy is a big winner – his new show in the slot formerly occupied by John Murray on Radio One now has 9,000 more listeners than in July with 307,000.
Marian Finucane is the big winner as regards weekend schedules, with 396,000 listeners for her Saturday morning show seeing an increase of 23,000 over the last year.
This RTÉ dominance is not a new story – when the last group of figures were published in July the state broadcaster occupied 18 of the top 20 weekly listenership slots – and 17 of those belonged to Radio One. That figure is now 19 of the top 20 with Anton Savage now the sole occupier of a top 20 slot from outside RTÉ.
Ipsos MRBI / TwitterMore than 3 million Irish people listen to radio everyday! #JNLR pic.twitter.com/2pY4vYOFYK
— Ipsos B&A (@IpsosBandA) October 29, 2015
Highlights
Here’s some more highlights from this afternoon’s results:
Currently 83% of the adult Irish population listen to the radio each day. We are truly a nation in love with the radio.
RTÉ Radio One remains very much the big boy on the court – with 22.3% of listenership nationally it can boast almost three times the listeners compared to its nearest non-RTÉ rival Today FM (7.9%).
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
So how long more will we allow these corrupt bastards to practice their “beliefs”
Then listen to the Catholic Church lie as it claims to be pro family.
How is ripping new born babies away from their mothers a family value?
They were bastard children removed from their immoral unmarried mothers and sent to be adopted by ‘real’ families. Back then an unmarried mother and a child was not considered a family. They did the same here with babies being send to be adopted all over the world but Irish American couples paid a lot of money for such babies.
How anyone could stand up for his disgusting cult is beyond me. They did the same here in the laundries and sold the babies to Americans!!! The sooner that cult is gone the world will be a better place. And not only do they protect child rapists they are also child traffickers!!!
My sentiments exactly
SORRY! Do they understand the meaning of the word ?
Catholic church up to no good again I see..
And still there collection baskets will be full this weekend,
The poor brain-washed aul women they rob every Sunday…
Not by me or mine.
What a horrible world this can be…
Seriously – if this was ANY other business/company/group of people, this utter rotten organisation would have been ordered shut down some time ago.
Same thing going on in Spain http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/07/world/europe/07iht-spain07.html
19 hours ago an article on this website flagged children currently in danger in Ireland. There are now only seven comments, split between understanding the difficulties the professionals face in these situations and anger that children are suffering. In the 4 hours since this story was printed, there are 13 comments here, all very angry about a horrible system and terrible wrongs that were done between the 50s and the 70s on a different continent. All valid comments, all made with passion and concern, I have no problems with them.
However, the lack of reaction to the current Irish story – which we are capable of doing something about – is a story in itself. What will the reports of our childrens generation say about us? Who will apologise for our treatment of the most vulnerable and will our apologies be as acceptable to them as the churchs are to us today?
Apologies are cheap, easy and largely meaningless. If one is truly sorry, one makes amends. These 150,000 grieving women had at least 150,000 babies, some of whom were apparently exposed to the drugs that their mothers were given and are now reported to be linked to cancer. For sure these 150,000 children were exposed to the trauma experienced by their mothers. These 300,000 victims deserve tangible help now. Though the offenses may have been years ago, many of these mothers, we believe, are still suffering; many of these babies, now adults, may be suffering birth trauma or trauma from poor/abusive placements. There is no accounting of these childrens’ fate.
We find it very hard to believe that the head of Catholic Health Australia “became aware of the past practices after the ABC began its investigations.” We strongly suspect that he and other church officials knew of this horror long ago but kept it hidden.
If Catholic officials won’t do what’s right for the health and well being of these 300,000 victims, we urge governmental officials to step in and force them to take responsibility for their decades of callous wrong-doing.
Steven Spaner, SNAP Australia Coordinator [ http://www.snapaustralia.org ], SNAPspaner@gmail.com
David Clohessy, SNAP Director [ http://www.snapnetwork.org ], SNAPClohessy@aol.com
have your say