Listenership figures (JNLRS) just out : Disaster for RTE

Everybody Up, nobody down, everybody at number 1 etc etc.

Nothing will change!

I think if you look back over JNLR releases over the last few years, Dan Healy and 2FM are always saying the same thing. Just about a different schedule or breakfast show each time.

You've only got to listen back (please don't if you don't want to be bored to death) to da live line to see why so many are switching off, whilst not the worst episode of late, there's been some extraordinarily bad shows over the past few months.

I'm actually amazed Scare Byrne down only 29k, absolutely astonishingly bad program, utter tripe and to describe it as a current affairs show is just farcical.

we changed from today fm to 2fm in the office, its painful until 12.00 as the hosts are awful, but the music is much better than today fm and the hosts are less unbearable after then

Agreed, the Jen Zamp show is awful muck altogether, like really, really, really bad..... Then Tracy Clifford comes on and its like night and day. Her tunes are excellent, and she comes across as way more polished and professional. I really dont listen to the show enough, but I'm really impressed when I do.

Maybe ( probably) I’m just getting old, but I think radio in this country has really gone to crap over the last couple of years. I’ve almost given up on it and tend to stick to Spotify for the majority of the day.

Early breakfast shows are poor- Dempsey is stale and repetitive at this stage

The 2fm mob are awful, and over on Classic, Kennedy and Colin whatever his name is are just unbearable. Dermot and Dave are ok sometimes.

His name is not Colin - it's Colm Hayes, formerly with FM104, 2FM and Radio Nova, sister station of Classic Hits.

Thanks!

shows what an impression he’s made on me! 😂

Darcy is a woke fecker. I don't want him preaching to me. Tubridy is fake as feck. Very wokey too. Storm rte, it's going to collapse eventually. It's a propaganda service now.

Very good point. This guy Healy seems to get a notion in his head - in this case we need 'talent' with huge social media followings coz' that's where the kids are. That's where his big idea seems to end. There seems to be no talent coaching, production seems to be very poor to me. And the amount of taking going on? Desperate.

2FM is getting it's absolute arse kicked by it's like for like rivals in Dublin and the regions. It seems to be unloved by all. The very continued existence of 2FM must be in question now. (I know this has been said many times one here)

2 Euro 71 cents of every license fee goes to 2FM, according to the 2020 RTE annual report.

(14.04 to Radio 1, 3.62 to Lyric FM and a chunky 8.14 to Radio na Gaeltachta, who's listener numbers are never quoted publicly)

If 2FM ain't making money and there is little by way of Public Service Broadcasting attached to it, is it worth continuing with it on FM?

Okay, you say that you think that Lyric and 2FM "should be done away with." Why so? Interested to hear what your rational here is.

It would be more likely that she would be biding her time rather than biting it!!

Id listen to Tracey Clifford and Jenny Greene most days and there is constant ads on for the breakfast show ,just from listening to the ads i feel like throwing the radio out the window!, Doireann should of been given a chance on her own it can’t be any worse than the drivel that’s on it now.

It's funny you mention Tracy and Jenny here when the poster above mentioned most DJ's (or presenters...) not having their own unique style anymore. I have found Clifford and Greene DEFINATLEY have their own style, and must have some input into their playlists, which is very very rare on daytime radio. Maybe its why I like Tracy's show and find it to be a breath of fresh air, as I said in an earlier post.

I am going to dig a grave for myself here but my rationale is:

• Two stations is enough state controlled media through any one medium. I do not believe in overloading of "state-approved" messages. Don't get me wrong, I'm not anti-vax or anything like that. I just don't like when we see the state use it's monopoly in a negative way, such as when, on TV they didn't invite SF to the debate. (I'm not in the SF camp either but I digress.)
• Competition breeds innovation and helps to advance technology and talent. I'm no free-marketer but this is definitely a proven theory. I think that if Lyric and 2FM were done away with then it would free up a listener base that could then transfer to the private stations and help to increase the competitiveness of the market. It could result in more of market for newer private stations.
• I'm a believer that the cost of the TV license, that funds these stations, is too high for the quality of entertainment that we can avail of. I would prefer to see these stations "de-funded" and all of the top talent that they have spread across the stations brought together in one place.

It's not from a dislike of Lyric and 2FM. I just think that the Irish public could probably receive more for their money.

Personally I hate those zany and wacky breakfast shows with the hosts and their fake 'bants' and even faker laughter.

The only person who does zazy radio well is Sean Moncrieff but with him it is his guests who are zany with Moncrieff providing the disbelief. His show isnt for everyone but he bounces very well off whatever zany guest they have lined up.

Do you think people were going to label you anti vaxer, Sinn Feiner or Free Marketeer if you did not make those defensive caveats?

Only a small part of the licence fee (which is the same price since 2008) goes to 2 FM, RnaG and Lyric. They are catering for minority interests, not some vehicle for state approved messages. All the broadcasters are catering for minority interests, if you look into the JNLR. RTE stations get less than 50% of the listening audience in every geography, every age group, and every time division. Even Morning Ireland is only about 11% of the available audience, over 15 years of age. The other 89% are listening to other stations, or have found a better use for their time than listening to any radio. Not much need to worry about state control.

RTÉ Radio 1

RTÉ RADIO 1 WEEKDAY MARKET SHARE 21.3% 

RTÉ RADIO 1 REACHES 888,000 LISTENERS ON WEEKDAYS  

• Morning Ireland is the most-listened-to radio programme in the country with 450,000 people tuning in each morning.

https://www.thejournal.ie/jnlr-rte-suffer-drop-in-listeners-5623623-Dec2021/

100% on RnaG and Lyric, which, in my mind are the dictionary definition of what a PSB should be - focusing on niche artistic and cultural content not catered for elsewhere and making that the core of your output, not paying mega money for social media influencers and trying to make them into stars whilst pushing out the same narrow playlists as all the commercials are doing.

2FM in its current form serves zero purpose:

• it offers nothing that isn't already well catered for by Beat, iRadio or the two Spin stations (all of whom trounce 2FM in each of their respective markets)
• it doesn't play anymore Irish music than the regionals
• it's news bulletins are the shortest on any radio station (BBC R1 haver regular fifteen-minute "Newsbeat" blocks throughout the day - big PSB fulfillment)
• they run commercials and sponsorship
• they go into automation from 10PM most evenings until 6AM the following day

and yet it requires over €10m a year to operate, over half of which comes directly from the license fee. For what?

However, rather than letting it go, I'd love to see a pop raidio format for 2FM would much better serve the PSB element than 2FM, Top 40 playlist with all presentation as gaeilge. Cut back on all the unneeded bloat like full-time entertainment correspondents who read whatever is on their Twitter and Instagram timelines for 60 seconds an hour. Don't need three presenters on a breakfast show. Put on specialist programming in the evening. Use overnights to train new talent in. Couldn't cost them anymore to put together than 2FM does today and I can't imagine the output would be any worse.

If you have Virgin Media, all of the BBC radio channels are "piped" down the cable in analogue.