Newstalk celebrates record audience for The Pat Kenny Show in latest JNLR results

Newstalk’s The Pat Kenny Show has achieved record listenership of 229,000 making it the most listened to show on commercial radio in Ireland, according to the latest JNLR results.

The results also see the station achieve an all time high market share of 8.2% and its highest ever weekly reach with 852,000 listeners tuning in every week and 489,000 now tuning in every day.

The Pat Kenny Show numbers represent an increase of 55,000 listeners in the last 12 months, while Newstalk Breakfast with Ciara Kelly and Shane Coleman have also recorded an all time high audience of 157,000 listeners.

The latest JNLR listenership figures for the 12 months to the end of March 2024 show a daily radio audience of 3.4 million listeners.

Elsewhere at Bauer, their station portfolio now has an all adults prime-time Market Share of 27.7% rising to 41.9% of 25-44 year olds.

It’s a good book for Today FM too as the station moves ever closer to a Weekly Reach of 1 million, having increased audience to 992,000 in this latest report. With a Market Share of 9.5%, Today FM maintains its No. 1 position in the Irish commercial radio market.

Ian Dempsey reigns as the top Breakfast show on commercial radio in Ireland with an audience of 216,000, while Dave Moore holds the largest audience on Today FM with 228,000 listeners. Louise Cantillon at lunchtime is proving successful with audiences drawing in 139,000 listeners.

In Cork, Red FM delivered a strong performance, cementing its position as the leading station in the region with a Market Share of 20.6% and a Weekly Reach of 179,000. The Neil Prendeville Show continues to grow audience, with its listenership now standing at 77,000, the largest audience for that timeslot in the Cork radio market.

In Dublin, SPIN 1038 is the most listened to music station in Dublin with a Weekly Reach of 266,000 and the station’s breakfast show ‘Emma, Dave and Aisling’ has once again achieved its highest ever audience of 52,000 listeners.

98FM increased its Weekly Reach to 188,000 while SPIN South West increased its Market Share to 13% and maintains its position of biggest station in the region across Weekly and Daily Reach.

iRadio recorded a successful performance achieving a weekly reach of 358,000 listeners, up 13,000 since the last results and a market share of 7.8%. iRadio’s drivetime show ‘Dave & Fionnuala’ saw a big increase in listenership, jumping 7,000 listeners to 82,000.

In Waterford, WLR continues to hold a hugely strong presence in the radio market with 61,000 Waterford people listening weekly. The station has a daily reach of 38,000 with WLR’s specialist speech and music programmes performing particularly well in these latest results.

Smart speaker listenership for WLR is at an all-time high and the station’s app is now downloaded on 30,000 mobile phones in the Deise.

Wireless Ireland’s Q102 grew weekly reach by a massive 26% year on year to 184,000 listeners, while FM104 also increased to 258,000 listeners.

While the Q102 figure only includes three months for the new Ryan Tubridy Show, other shows across the schedule are delivering new listeners too.

The combined weekly reach in Dublin now stands at 360,000 or 30% of Dublin adults.

Wireless Ireland stations in Cork also saw year on year growth, with Cork’s 96fm growing to 169,000 and C103 to 128,000 – 19,000 higher than the same period last year. Combined the stations reach 50.6% of the population on a weekly basis.

In Limerick 91,000 people tuned into Live 95fm on a weekly basis, equating to 52.7% of the population, while 110,000 people tuned into LMFM, capturing 38.9% of the available audience.

urbanmedia, the Wireless Ireland owned sales house, also delivered year on year growth and now reaches 980,000 people weekly, helped by partner stations Galway Bay FM delivering 117,000 and WLR 61,000 in weekly reach.

Today also saw the release of RAJAR listenership figures which cover listenership of UK radio stations. The report showed that U105 now delivers 223,000 listeners on a weekly basis, on FM across greater Belfast and DAB across all of Northern Ireland.

And Live 95 now has 91,000 listeners tuning-in every week, which is over 50% of adults in Limerick City and County.

Over at RTÉ – the company’s radio services reach over two million adults or 48% of the adult population every week. RTÉ holds 17 of the top 20 radio programmes broadcasting in Ireland, and RTÉ Radio 1 remains the only station with a weekly reach of over one million listeners with gains of +53,000 year on year.

RTÉ 2FM weekly reach increases by +77,000 in the last 12 months to 764,000, and RTÉ lyric FM has 316,000 listeners on a weekly basis increasing by +22,000 year on year.

Here are some other stats direct from RTÉ on the latest results:

• RTÉ Radio 1 reaches 888,000 listeners on a weekday (+43,000 YoY)
• Morning Ireland remains Ireland’s most listened to radio programme with 469,000 listeners this book (+32,000 YoY)
• The Oliver Callan Show is Ireland’s third most listened to weekday programme, with 330,000 listeners each day
• Today with Claire Byrne, from 10am-12noon Monday to Friday, continues to see 341,000 listeners tuning in every weekday
• The Louise Duffy Show has 218,000 listeners (+4,000 BoB) tuning in for great music
• News at One has 301,000 listeners (+2,000 YoY)
• Liveline with Joe Duffy has a listenership of 301,000
• The Ray D’Arcy Show weekday afternoons on RTÉ Radio 1 has 181,000 listeners
• Drivetime has 220,000 listeners tuning in every evening
• Countrywide has 255,000 listeners (+21,000 BoB) on Saturday mornings
• Playback on Saturday has 339,000 listeners (+9,000 BoB)
• The Business on Saturday mornings has 324,000 listeners (+11,000 BoB)
• The Brendan O’Connor Show on Saturday has 352,000 listeners (+10,000 BoB), with 355,000 listeners now tuning in on Sunday (+12,000 BoB)
• Saturday with Colm Ó Mongáin has 242,000 listeners (+20,000 BoB)
• Saturday Sport/Doc On One from 2-6pm on RTÉ Radio 1 has 213,000 listeners (+9,000 BoB) and Sunday Sport has 213,000 listeners (+3,000 BoB)
• Sunday with Miriam has 304,000 listeners (+12,000 BoB)
• 2FM Breakfast with Doireann, Donncha, and Carl has 143,000 listeners tuning in on weekday mornings
• Jennifer Zamparelli on 2FM has 135,000 listeners to her 9-12pm show
• Tracy Clifford has 121,000 listeners enjoying great music each lunchtime (+8,000 BoB)
• Drive It with The 2 Johnnies continues to entertain listeners across the country in the afternoons with 151,000 listeners (+1,000 BoB)
• Game On has 37,000 listeners tuning in weeknights for sports chat (+5,000 BoB)
• Laura Fox from 9am-12noon has 129,000 listeners on Saturdays (+8,000 BoB) and 120,000 on Sunday (+5,000 BoB)
• Roz and Emma on 2FM from 12-3pm have 124,000 listeners on Saturdays and 97,000 listeners on Sundays
• Marty in the Morning has 54,000 listeners tuning in every weekday morning
• Niall Carroll’s Classical Drivetime has 46,000 listeners weekdays
• Liz Nolan’s The Full Score / Aedín in the Afternoon (Friday) have 44,000 listeners
• Lorcan Murray’s Classic Drive makes the afternoon sound better for 56,000 listeners
• Aedín Gormley’s Movies and Musicals every Saturday afternoon has 58,000 listeners (+4,000)
• Evonne Ferguson’s Daybreak has 43,000 listeners (+6,000 BoB) on Saturday mornings
• The Hamilton Scores with George Hamilton has 44,000 listeners on both Saturdays and Sundays
• Sunday Afternoon with Simon Delaney/Seán Rocks on Sunday have 50,000 listeners (+8,000 BoB)
• Opera Night with Paul Herriott enjoys 33,000 listeners (+4,000 BoB and +14,000 YoY)

QUOTES

Ciaran Cunningham CEO Radiocentre Ireland said: “It is clear that radio listening is booming in Ireland and today’s figures are a great reminder that Irish radio is a central part of people’s lives, with brilliant content being consumed by millions of listeners every single day. All parts of the Irish population, from young to old are listening to radio in huge numbers because it is a key part of Irish daily life.”

Michael Byrne CEO WLR said: “WLR has achieved outstanding success in the latest JNLR figures, affirming its position as the leading station in Waterford. Thank you to all our listeners and advertisers for making WLR the top choice in Waterford. Your support drives us to deliver high-quality content every day for the people of Waterford.

Bauer Media Audio Ireland CEO Chris Doyle said: “This is a brilliant set of results for Bauer, our teams work so hard to deliver world-class content and it is great to see their efforts being recognised and appreciated by audiences.

“With nearly one million listeners a week to Today FM and Newstalk achieving all-time highs, we are very proud of these accomplishments along with significant performances from our other brands, including Red FM, iRadio, 98FM and SPIN, all contributing to superb results.”

Fyona Smith, Managing Editor of Today FM said: “Today FM has a new weekly reach of almost 1 million! Thank you to everyone who joins us each day and to the Today FM team for their collective creativity, energy and commitment to making brilliant radio every day. We look forward to building on this success throughout 2024.”

James Brownlow, Managing Editor, Music & Entertainment at Bauer Media Audio Ireland commented: “It’s clear that the overwhelming support from nearly a million listeners underscores the station’s unparalleled position in the Irish market. The unwavering devotion of our listeners shown in this survey not only validates the team’s efforts but also solidifies Today FM as the ultimate destination for music and entertainment in Ireland.”

Sean Barry, Managing Director of Wireless Ireland said: “The continued growth in our audience numbers is testament to the work being done by our programming teams across the island. We continue to invest in the best talent and it’s great to see our audiences reacting positively to the changes that we have made. A strong JNLR number backs up what we’re seeing in our digital audiences and we look forward to even more growth in the future”

Station Director of Live 95, Joe Nash said: “Radio is such a powerful medium and its connection with Limerick people is clearly shown by these latest official listenership figures, with a massive 81% of Limerick adults tuning in to a radio station every day. We are lucky to have a great team here at Live 95 and we consider it a privilege to serve this community. We want to thank the listeners, those who engage with us on our socials, website and the Live 95 app and also our advertisers, who consistently choose us to deliver their message about their product or service.”

“The CEO of the National Electoral Commission, Art O’Leary recently acknowledged the role Live 95 is playing in bringing coverage and analysis of the role of Limerick’s first ever Directly Elected Mayor to local voters. This is a unique election, as Ireland has never had a Directly Elected Mayor and the radio station believes that we and other local media have a major responsibility to give it the maximum, most accurate coverage possible.”

RTÉ Deputy Director General Adrian Lynch said: “RTÉ radio services are continuing to connect with over 2 million Irish people each week across RTÉ Radio 1, with increases in weekly reach across RTÉ 2FM and RTÉ lyric fm demonstrating the ongoing power of radio and importance of public service broadcasting on the airwaves for Irish audiences. RTÉ radio services are a trusted source for news, sport, entertainment and music across Ireland, and the result of ongoing hard work and dedication of the radio production teams at RTÉ. As the media landscape continues to evolve, radio is steadfast in connecting with Irish audiences at home and abroad.”

Dan Healy, Head of RTÉ Radio Strategy and RTÉ 2FM, said: “2FM continues to increase its audiences with a growing share of 15- to 34-year-olds. This was a great book for Tracy Clifford with strong growth both book-on-book and year-on-year. The 2 Johnnies and the breakfast show continue to consolidate recent audience gains. Doireann leaves 2FM Breakfast in great shape, and Laura Fox continues to grow her show across weekends. It is great to have an exceptionally talented team both on and off air and I am confident that 2FM will continue to perform well for the rest of the year.”

Peter Woods, Head of RTÉ Radio 1 said: “A resilient book for RTÉ Radio 1 with ten out of the top ten most listened to programmes in the country, seventeen out of the top twenty, 671,000 listeners between nine and twelve every weekday and our weekends growing incrementally. A tribute as always to our presenters and the hard work of our exceptional production teams and to the enduring support of our listeners.”

Sinéad Wylde, Head of RTÉ lyric fm said: “RTÉ lyric fm is committed to bringing a world of music to listeners, be it classical, traditional, jazz, film and musicals. Having recently celebrated our 25th birthday on 1 May we know that the station has become a cherished companion to many loyal listeners over the years and from this book we are delighted to welcome 22,000 new listeners who come to RTÉ lyric to listen to great music.

“Weekends have been particularly strong in this book with gains for programmes on both Saturdays and Sundays. Our growing audience numbers reinforce the fact that RTÉ lyric fm has a valued place in the lives of Irish audiences where music has a unifying energy and where we hope what we do makes life sound better.”

This story first appeared on Radio Today