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2FM has more daily listeners than Today FM for the first time since Gerry Ryan's death

The survey covers the summer months and shows that over 3.1 million Irish people listen to the radio every day.

RTÉ’S 2FM HAS surpassed its rival Today FM in daily listeners for the first time since Gerry Ryan’s death in 2010.

According to the latest Joint National Listenership (JNLR) survey, 2FM has 404,000 daily listeners to the Communicorp station’s 402,000.

The survey covers the summer months and shows that over 3.1 million Irish people listen to the radio every day.

On the whole, the results make for good reading for 2FM, which has seen year-on-year increases for a number of its shows including Breakfast Republic, The Nicky Byrne Show and Tracy Clifford.

Today FM has also recorded an 18 month high of 870,000 weekly listeners and is the number one station with 25-44 year olds.

Head of 2FM Dan Healy told TheJournal.ie that the figures were the result of many years work.

“We’ve had a very good day. The station changed in 2014 and from there we anticipated a decline but maybe not the level that came.

“Today FM is a great station and they invest heavily in marketing to make noise, so while we’re not competing against them, we do benchmark ourselves on those figures.

“(The turnaround) was a bit tougher than I thought it would be, but I’ve had lots of these JNLR days and when you get a day like today, you’ll take this.

“I was told that if we didn’t turn it around, 2FM was dead in the water. What’s interesting here is that 2FM was built around Gerry Ryan, now it’s built around every one of our shows.

“It’s not over by a long shot, but we’re happy with this.”

In Today FM, Ian Dempsey’s Breakfast Show gained 6,000 listeners in the past 3 months bringing his morning audience to 169,000, Dermot and Dave are up to 167,000 and Al Porter is now on 118,000. Fergal D’Arcy’s show is at 97,000.

In Newstalk, Pat Kenny is up 4,000 to 150,000 and George Hook’s lunchtime slot, since taken over by Ciara Kelly, has passed 100,000 listeners.

Read: Caitriona Perry and Keelin Shanley are the new presenters of Six One News

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    Mute Stuart Dickens
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    Oct 26th 2017, 12:09 PM

    Don’t know how…

    191
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    Mute Mike Keane
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    Oct 26th 2017, 12:19 PM

    @Stuart Dickens: Because they put in crappy presenters like Al Porter and Fergal Darcy.

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    Mute Carlos Bandanas
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    Oct 26th 2017, 12:22 PM

    @Stuart Dickens: The Fergal D’arcy effect.

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    Mute Robbie Patterson
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    Oct 26th 2017, 1:02 PM

    @Mike Keane: Deromt and Dave There’s charisma in my b0ll0x..

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    Mute Sean
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    Oct 26th 2017, 1:04 PM

    @Stuart Dickens: Because today fm have decided to try and chase the iradio listenership. If you are over 30, you mean nothing to today fm. Anton Savage got sacked for refusing to play only teenie pop music on his show.

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    Mute David
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    Oct 26th 2017, 1:07 PM

    @Mike Keane: as opposed to Nicky Byrne and Jenny Greene…

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    Mute Patrick J. O'Rourke
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    Oct 26th 2017, 1:58 PM

    Just look at how they get the figures.

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    Mute Kieran Conroy
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    Oct 26th 2017, 3:23 PM

    @Mike Keane: How the Fu@k did Porter get a job on radio? Horrible voice and amateurish presentation.

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    Mute Davy Boy
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    Oct 26th 2017, 12:50 PM

    Bring back Anton Savage

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    Mute Barry Somers
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    Oct 26th 2017, 1:01 PM

    @Davy Boy: agree
    The mornings are awful since they got rid of Anton Savage

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    Mute andrew
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    Oct 26th 2017, 1:54 PM

    @Barry Somers: Savage was hopeless. It’s not his exit that matters its his replacement.

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    Mute Sean
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    Oct 26th 2017, 3:08 PM

    @andrew: Savage wasn’t hopeless. It was his exit that matters along with his replacement.

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    Mute Greg Blake
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    Oct 26th 2017, 12:16 PM

    They’ve all settled into a same-same blandness anyway, at least for music stations. Does anyone else feel that if you’re driving around Ireland, UK or Europe the language of the presenter makes no difference. The segments and ads just babble along in the same tone and meter so after a few minutes you don’t even notice what’s between the songs.

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    Mute Rob P Toonster
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    Oct 26th 2017, 12:28 PM

    @Greg Blake: It’s called media narrative homogeneity. It’s not just a thing here. Check this out https://youtu.be/PLxtpZwrrGs

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    Mute Paul Furey
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    Oct 26th 2017, 12:55 PM

    @Rob P Toonster: don’t forget the forced hilarity and how soooooo funny that they think themselves to be.

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    Mute Rob P Toonster
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    Oct 26th 2017, 1:18 PM

    @Paul Furey: They are just so whacky! They’re mad them lads *rolls eyes

    26
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    Mute Elizabeth Gregory
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    Oct 26th 2017, 1:54 PM

    @Greg Blake: I’ve given up on Irish radio – Spotify is the only way to go. First thing I do when I get into the car is connect my phone to the radio. Happy days!

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    Mute Mondoburley
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    Oct 26th 2017, 1:24 PM

    Don’t listen to Today FM anymore, Dermot & Dave laughing at each other all morning, no thanks…

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    Mute David Huston
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    Oct 26th 2017, 6:30 PM

    Mat Cooper has a sports show interrupted by news, No Thanks.

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    Mute Fight/Milk
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    Oct 26th 2017, 2:01 PM

    George Hook had an increase in his show’s figures before he got the boot. Be interesting to see the figure’s his replacement gets next time. My prediction? A massive drop, show is terrible since GH left.

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    Mute Greg Blake
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    Oct 26th 2017, 12:20 PM

    Q. If the ESB issue below has been struck out, why are the comments still closed? Maybe it takes time to make that decision, just curious.

    35
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    Mute Paul Linehan
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    Oct 26th 2017, 12:25 PM

    @Greg Blake: They’re waiting for a bit more ‘light’ on the subject…

    34
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    Mute Joe Soap
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    Oct 26th 2017, 2:06 PM

    Jesus Christ that Al Porter lad is brutal

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    Mute Caroline Otoole
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    Oct 26th 2017, 1:09 PM

    Hector is great on Sunday evenings. Can’t remember the last time I listened to 2fm, how long is Dave Fanning gone?!

    33
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    Mute Jay Lane
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    Oct 26th 2017, 5:19 PM

    @Caroline Otoole: Who listens to the radio on Sunday evenings?

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    Mute Conor Sheehan
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    Oct 26th 2017, 6:33 PM

    @Caroline Otoole: He’s still there on Saturday and Sunday mornings, 9-11am. Just him and Gogan are the only long-term presenters left, and they got moved to the weekends about 3 years ago.

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    Mute mike from ireland
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    Oct 26th 2017, 7:24 PM

    @Jay Lane: You mean you don’t listen to The Rolling Wave?

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    Mute Rodney Williams
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    Oct 26th 2017, 12:30 PM

    The listeners are in foreign countries as evidenced by the left hand drive car in the snap!

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    Mute Guy Incognito
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    Oct 26th 2017, 12:16 PM

    *sponsored content*

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    Mute Davey Dwyer
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    Oct 26th 2017, 1:44 PM

    Bring back Anton Savage!! Only reason for dip in listnership

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    Mute andrew
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    Oct 26th 2017, 1:56 PM

    @Davey Dwyer: once he went I switched back on. So much for that theory!

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    Mute Ne
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    Oct 26th 2017, 2:05 PM

    @andrew: Perhaps he is assuming that you are not the only person inxthe country with a radio.

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    Mute Michael Mulcahy
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    Oct 26th 2017, 1:00 PM

    Where do they get there figures from?Dublin i suppose isnt that why poor Hector got the push because he couldnt talk like a dub….just saying oh yes isnt berties son in law taking over now

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    Mute Eamonn Sheen
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    Oct 26th 2017, 2:18 PM

    Why is there a picture of a car radio on the MW band when both 2FM and Today FM are FM stations. It’s the small things that bother me.

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    Mute Stiofán De Priondárgas
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    Oct 26th 2017, 2:44 PM

    @Eamonn Sheen: im no Sherlock homes but I’m guessing as it’s a vw car and it’s a left hand drive, and the 720khz mw frequency that the radio is tuned to, that the photograph was taken in Germany, possibly within range of the Langenberg radio tower…

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    Mute Eamonn Sheen
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    Oct 26th 2017, 5:43 PM

    @Stiofán De Priondárgas: Good work detective.

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    Mute bigbrownduck
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    Oct 26th 2017, 1:03 PM

    Really?? Cos 2fm is w@&k…. except the sports show that’s actually pretty good…. rest is muck tho

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    Mute Dec
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    Oct 26th 2017, 5:33 PM

    i can’t listen to that lottie ryan one, as bad as today fm is, 2 fm is way worse. newstalk or the cd player for me

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    Mute Martin O Donnell
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    Oct 26th 2017, 12:37 PM

    2fm is a lot better now from breakfast up to eons show great fun

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    Mute Conor Sheehan
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    Oct 26th 2017, 6:35 PM

    @Martin O Donnell: I love Breakfast Republic!

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    Mute Sean Scanlon
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    Oct 26th 2017, 12:20 PM

    Poor Denis O Brien getting slagged off by Thejournal.ie again

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    Mute The Girl
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    Oct 26th 2017, 12:42 PM

    @Sean Scanlon: Poor?

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    Mute Anthony Byrne
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    Oct 26th 2017, 1:35 PM

    Couldn’t find a picture of a right-hand-drive?

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    Mute Ne
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    Oct 26th 2017, 3:30 PM

    @Anthony Byrne: Couldn’t just imagine one in your head? They used to call radio “theatre of the mind” you know!

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    Mute Miss T
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    Oct 26th 2017, 12:12 PM

    Have to say I teared up a bit watching his departure from six one. Wishing him the best in his new venture. G’wan Dobbo!

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    Mute Ken O'Neill
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    Oct 26th 2017, 12:19 PM

    @Miss T:

    You got a bit Miss T eyed then? (‘ ‘, )

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    Mute Miss T
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    Oct 26th 2017, 11:58 PM

    @Ken O’Neill: boom boom

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    Mute Paul Costello
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    Oct 26th 2017, 2:35 PM

    God knows how this is possible. In general all Irish radio is gone down the toilet as every station plays the same muck over and over again. 2fm is particularly s***e though!

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    Mute Deano Cracow
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    Oct 26th 2017, 12:41 PM

    Just shows that there is a huge taste for sh*** in this country.

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    Mute Deano Cracow
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    Oct 26th 2017, 3:51 PM

    @Deano Cracow: Mind you the height of intellectual endeavour compared to the liveline with Joe Duffy.

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    Mute Johnr
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    Oct 26th 2017, 5:56 PM

    They might give Dill a job.

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    Mute George Oscar Bluth
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    Oct 27th 2017, 2:17 AM

    @Johnr: Goes well with Salmon

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    Mute John Gough
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    Oct 26th 2017, 5:24 PM

    Has anyone here ever been called by JNLR people? Journal could ye do a Poll the maths they use must be nuts. No way that they are accurate. Can’t wait for the day that it is truly measurable with hard data.

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    Mute Dan Bradley
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    Oct 26th 2017, 2:18 PM

    Used to listen to Today fm. But Dermot and Dave are so f*cking annoying. Breaking their boll*cks laughing relentlessly at each other at stuff that’s not even funny. Head melters

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    Mute Ne
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    Oct 26th 2017, 1:10 PM

    And it’s only taken seven years.

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    Mute Eamonn Sheen
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    Oct 26th 2017, 2:15 PM

    In fairness both 2FM and Today FM are shit.

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    Mute Craig Hughes
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    Oct 27th 2017, 6:08 AM

    A little shocked by that , I found 2 fm quite boring and a lot of my friends think the same

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    Mute Arnold Lane
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    Oct 26th 2017, 2:02 PM

    Jesus, do Irish people still listen to the radio? That’s surprising seen as it’s so crap.

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    Mute mike from ireland
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    Oct 26th 2017, 7:26 PM

    @Arnold Lane: Morning Ireland, Sean O Rourke, The Rolling Wave

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    Mute Arnold Lane
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    Oct 26th 2017, 8:23 PM

    @mike from ireland: As I said “crap”.

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    Mute Liv
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    Oct 26th 2017, 6:10 PM

    That’s cause Keith, Jenny and Bernard are hilarious and people/listeners want to hear their funny dialogue in the morning. Their championing it!!

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    Mute Jimmy Ireland
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    Oct 27th 2017, 8:56 AM

    I like Dermot and Dave. Seem like sound lads and I do laugh at a lot of their jokes. Nikki and Jenny are woeful in comparison. Literally everything else to do with Today FM is pants. Matt Cooper has long lost his edge. Podcasts for the commute are where it’s at now.

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    Mute David Evans
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    Oct 26th 2017, 12:06 PM

    Don’t know how…

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