JNLR Q2 2016 - 27 July 2016

wnolan1992 · 27-07-2016 11:07am #1

So the report was published a few minutes ago according to the website. I'm assuming as usual the embargo will be until later this afternoon.

Any predictions?

I think Ray D'Arcy will continue to grow. I can see him capturing more of the Liveline audience.

I'd like to see NT Breakfast's reign with Ivan and Chris end on a high.

I think everyone's predicting 2FM's figures to be dire, so I've a feeling it'll either remain static or show some modest improvements.

Could be another tricky book for Today FM, IIRC they were down across the board last time...

Mr Snow · 27-07-2016 2:05pm

98fm will loses a few listeners
nova will get more listeners
rte. radio 1 will say be the most listen station in Ireland
fm104 will be the no 1 music station in Dublin

IRE60 · 27-07-2016 5:03pm

JNLR: 2FM, which way you headed?
2FM: South, at full speed.

http://goo.gl/zGVgsC

Badabing · 27-07-2016 5:10pm

Matt Cooper up 7,000 to 139,000, Savage down very slightly. Dempsey 180,000

Billy The Shiite Bag · 27-07-2016 5:23pm

Newstalk losses across the board. Breakfast down 7000, Hooky down 9000 and Moncrieff down 5000.and PK down 7000.

Won't be any ads this time round!

D'arcy up a couple of thousand.

Badabing · 27-07-2016 5:46pm

According to RTE Marion Finucane has 400,000 listeners on Saturday, incredible

ford fiesta · 27-07-2016 5:53pm

Badabing wrote: »

According to RTE Marion Finucane has 400,000 listeners on Saturday, incredible

the 'marion finucane' slot, including those who regularly fill in for her...not forgetting her team of researchers, producers.

djemba djemba · 27-07-2016 5:58pm

I know you cant compare listenership between shows that are not in direct competition with one another but it is hard to believe Alison curtis has more listeners than matt cooper

serfboard · 27-07-2016 6:12pm

I always go to iLevel's Top 30 page when these results come out, yet again he's done a great job in a short space of time (here).

A few interesting things:

1. Ronan Collins has more listeners than Ray D'Arcy.

2. YoY Anton Savage lost 20,000 listeners - Ryan Tubridy found them and a few more. Tubridy now has the seventh most popular slot on Irish Radio.

While Savage is IMO exceedingly bland and I would never bother listening to him, Tubridy is a literal turn-off (the channel/radio) for me, but he's obviously doing something right. And it's not just the slot - Tubridy has increased the listenership since John Murray left.

3. What Oliver Callan calls Marian Finucane's dinner party seems to be losing popularity with listeners - it's not the presenter though, since her Saturday programme is no. 2 in Ireland. For me, I think the panel format is good, but as many commentators on the MF thread have said, it's the same old voices that's possibly the turn-off.

4. Pat Kenny again just about props up the table, which means his move from RTE was a bad investment for Dinny, what with Sean O'Rourke having 2.5 times the number of listeners.

wnolan1992 · 27-07-2016 6:15pm

As usual, thanks iLevel, stellar work.

Some thoughts:

2FM
Christ, this is a really bad book for 2FM. Breakfast down 11,000 listeners in 3 months and in serious danger of having comparable listenership to when they had 75 less minutes in the show, all other shows down (I'll give Tracey and Eoghan somewhat of a pass as they're relatively new), Game On pulling in a laughable 19,000 listeners... Seriously, why is Game On on 2FM? Can anyone explain that to me?

NT
Mixed bag really. Pat, while being down YoY is up 5,000 BoB, Lunchtime also made some modest gains, while Moncrieff and OTB maintained. OTB are pulling in some of their highest ever listenership (Second Captains were regularly dipping to just above the 40,000 mark IIRC), Breakfast lost minimal listeners. So book to book it isn't that bad, but the yearly trend would have you a bit worried. Especially Hook being down 11,000. They seem to be moving him to Lunchtime to bridge the gap between Pat and Sean, but if he's not able to keep his own listeners, will he be able to attract new ones?

Today FM
Dempsey and Cooper steady as ever. Matt seems to have been the bigger winner from Hook's decline, and the two drive shows are holding their audience steady, while at the same time not making any advances.
Fair play to Louise Duffy you have to say. Going out on a positive book is nice to see. Depending on how Fergal works out over the next year, maybe Today FM will come to regret this decision...
I really hope this marks the bottoming out of Anton's figures now. A very minute drop BoB I think you'd have to be happy with that. Hopefully he can kick on from this now and start to grow his own audience rather than trying to retain D'Arcy's.

Notable Mentions
- Ray D'Arcy, down 6,000 BoB, which I'm sure a lot of posters on this forum will delight in, but unless it's replicated in subsequent books, I wouldn't read too much into it.
- Marion Finucane, I honestly think 400,000 people in this country need serious help.

Faugheen · 27-07-2016 6:18pm

Sounds like 98 had a good book.

Expunge · 27-07-2016 6:25pm

Also worth noting, thanks to iLevel for his fantastic resources....

Lyric FM - classical and minority music station now more popular in Dublin - in terms of reach - than 2FM!

Lyric has 59,000 listeners in the capital, 2FM has 58,000

I thought I'd never see the day!

At this rate, both Nova and Sunshine (57,000 listeners a piece) could also overtake the former 'Big Station'

serfboard · 27-07-2016 6:34pm

wnolan1992 wrote: »

Game On pulling in a laughable 19,000 listeners... Seriously, why is Game On on 2FM? Can anyone explain that to me?

Because RTE wanted to compete with OTB but also want to keep Arena in the RTE1 7PM slot. The compromise was to have it on 2FM, but I agree with you, it's a daft place to have it and totally out of character with whatever they're trying to do with 2FM.

The only thing RTE are probably thinking is that 19K on 2FM is 19K less listeners for OTB, and that's probably good enough from RTEs point of view.

RTE can't really have Arena on any later as most plays etc. start around the 8PM mark, so you'll get your audience at home and en route to events.

I enjoy Arena myself, and will only switch over to OTB when it gets too artsy-fartsy. I never even think of listening to Game On, since 2FM is at the end of my presets and I almost never go there.

Expunge · 27-07-2016 6:41pm

Because RTE wanted to compete with OTB but also want to keep Arena in the RTE1 7PM slot.

The sensible thing would have been to put Arena on Lyric and let R1 lash away with the sport till John Creedon. Bit late for that now.

On the 2FM thing, is this still the 'Post the death of Gerry Ryan period' or are we past that now and it's just awful programming? What's the problem?

blue4ever · 27-07-2016 6:47pm

Expunge wrote: »

Lyric has 59,000 listeners in the capital, 2FM has 58,000

I completely missed that one! I may have to do something on that (naturally there will be a hat tip). Given that my nom de plume is blue4ever here, I'd have to show just how cultured we Dubs's are and I'll be bringing a selection of Maria Callis to the Hill on August 6th for the Q final.

serfboard · 27-07-2016 6:52pm

blue4ever wrote: »

I completely missed that one! I may have to do something on that (naturally there will be a hat tip). Given that my nom de plume is blue4ever here, I'd have to show just how cultured we Dubs's are and I'll be bringing a selection of Maria Callis to the Hill on August 6th for the Q final.

Congratulations once again to you on your blog, but make sure 'tis Maria Callas you bring to The Hill with you instead of the lesser-known artiste you were considering

Expunge · 27-07-2016 6:55pm

The Triumphal March from Aida by Verdi might be the one to bring to the Hill, Blue.
Hard to see anyone stopping the Jacks this year.

blue4ever · 27-07-2016 7:00pm

Expunge wrote: »

On the 2FM thing, is this still the 'Post the death of Gerry Ryan period' or are we past that now and it's just awful programming? What's the problem?

Well post GR. The whole programming change was a dice chuck, mainly stacked trying to get more Dublin listeners. I used it once in the yarns earlier, but the Dublin Centric thing is important as it adds numbers. It's not working for 2FM as they added 6,000 in Cork!

blue4ever · 27-07-2016 7:04pm

serfboard wrote: »

Congratulations once again to you on your blog, but make sure 'tis Maria Callas you bring to The Hill with you instead of the lesser-known artiste you were considering

FCUK, there I was thinking we was posh!

And cheers!

C

27-07-2016 7:31pm

I'm very interested to see where Pat Kenny goes from here.

It's a shame to see such a talented broadcaster bringing up the rear in the top 30 radio shows, where previously he would have been one of its leading lights.

His NT contract expires in 2018, when Pat will be almost 70. Will he just retire gracefully from radio? maybe go back to RTE for some TV work?

I can't see him returning to RTE Radio, and I can't see him being being nearly as well remunerated by Newstalk in a new contract cycle.

Shame it hasn't worked out for him as well as many expected. I had expected he'd make Newstalk a lot more competitive.

Faugheen · 27-07-2016 7:38pm

2FM's problem is that it's dipped into a completely stacked market where every region has a well established youth-orientated station. Both Spins, Beat, iRadio, RedFM etc covers every market and the presenters play the music the young people want and know how the regional dynamics work. It's why the likes of Martin Guilfoyle can go to Spin South West and be instantly appealing, he knows the craic in that region.

2FM can't do that. If they try to please one area, the rest of them start to switch off.

There hasn't been a youth-orientated national station because there wasn't a market for one. Simple as.

L1011 · 27-07-2016 7:58pm

Faugheen wrote: »

Sounds like 98 had a good book.

After nearly half a decade of unmitigated crap ones, they must be delira :pac:

They were one of the few stations to not even try spinning the book in PR recently, still no Facebook posts anyway. Spin joined them there last time!

Faugheen · 27-07-2016 8:09pm

L1011 wrote: »

After nearly half a decade of unmitigated crap ones, they must be delira :pac:

They were one of the few stations to not even try spinning the book in PR recently, still no Facebook posts anyway. Spin joined them there last time!

Was listening to Brendan O'Loughlin reading the news at 6 and he gave it a small mention at the end. Didn't say they were number one or anything.

On that actually. Their news service is one thing they really have going for them. I think it's brilliant.

IUA14 · 27-07-2016 8:37pm

Absolutely appalling book for 2FM...Breakfast Republic and Nicky Byrne taking another big hit...and Game On..bizarrely still on the schedule...hitting a new low...but somehow RTE have managed to spin nearly all shows losing listeners as a positive by focusing in on the number 1 in the 15-35 bracket:

"RTÉ Radio 1, 2fm and Today FM were among the big winners in the latest Joint National Listener Research figures published on Wednesday. And according to JNLR figures, 2FM has now overtaken long-time rival Today FM in daily listenership figures for the all-important 15 to 34 audience."

Interesting tweet from Rick O'Shea: https://twitter.com/rickoshea/status/758337259150147584

TodayFM was a mixed bag...Ian steady as usual, not bad from Anton with a minor drop of 1,000...would not be surprised to see him build from here on out...Louise Duffy won back those she lost last book so will be interesting to see if "Ferg" *SHUDDER* can improve on that, and Cooper as I expected with a very good book, I think he will benefit further from Hook departing drive time also. Dermot and Dave though...Today FM have a real problem at lunchtimes...another book with them being down and lunchtimes down 40,000 plus listeners from its heyday circa 2012! They have honestly grown on me the last year but they are obviously not connecting with a lot of people so that is worrying.

Newstalk's new schedule will be interesting to see how it does over the next year, needed refreshing anyways!

eiresandra · 27-07-2016 8:40pm

Expunge wrote: »

On the 2FM thing, is this still the 'Post the death of Gerry Ryan period' or are we past that now and it's just awful programming? What's the problem?

According to Dan's quotes this evening, it's still the "loss of Ryan Tubridy" problem.

Csalem · 27-07-2016 9:06pm

Thanks again blue4ever for the work you put in on the blog. Always great insight and analysis.

yiddo59 · 27-07-2016 9:07pm

djemba djemba wrote: »

I know you cant compare listenership between shows that are not in direct competition with one another but it is hard to believe Alison curtis has more listeners than matt cooper

And poor Matt is over 100k behind Sunday Miscellany!
Well done to all involved with Sunday Miscellany. 11th in the Top 30 most listened to prgrammes with 246000 listeners.

Mr Snow · 27-07-2016 9:31pm

How many pepole listen to the night time network with tarra and mel?
what is the most listen show on nova?
Who has more chris barry or niall boylan?

honeybear · 27-07-2016 9:37pm

What are Marty's listenership figures on Lyric?

smurfs5 · 27-07-2016 9:46pm

Faugheen wrote: »

2FM's problem is that it's dipped into a completely stacked market where every region has a well established youth-orientated station. Both Spins, Beat, iRadio, RedFM etc covers every market and the presenters play the music the young people want and know how the regional dynamics work. It's why the likes of Martin Guilfoyle can go to Spin South West and be instantly appealing, he knows the craic in that region.

2FM can't do that. If they try to please one area, the rest of them start to switch off.

There hasn't been a youth-orientated national station because there wasn't a market for one. Simple as.

I don't agree. The regional youth stations do a brilliant job and have nailed exactly what their audience wants and cater to it perfectly. However, look at the UK- nearly every area of the country has a Capital variation but BBC Radio 1 is still thriving. I think 2FM can be a success, it just needs to work out how to be distinctive and offer something different. They should do live sessions, have a more varied playlist new and alternative music alongside the big hits, promote more new Irish music, put on big national events, improve their news output etc.

I also don't know why they haven't done a TV ad campaign. Really put it out there that 2FM is changing and will be something different. Most young people probably don't know of the changes.

They also need more personality. The breakfast show has reasonably OK ratings, Nicky & Jenny is a bit bland but I suppose it's fine for mid-mornings, Eoghan McDermott is an excellent presenter IMO and is doing a cracking job on drive, Louise McSharry is a poor man's Annie Mac/ Zane Lowe but I appreciate them trying to do a show like that, Chris & Ciara are fantastic and are exactly the type of creative, youth-orientated show that 2FM needs. Tracy Clifford should be on weekends- really liked her on Fully Charged on SPIN but she's not weekday material on a national station. They need a Chris & Ciara/ Ray Foley type show that is creative and has personality and will attract people away from the regionals.

The weekend schedule also needs an identity and to fall in line with the weekday schedule rather than being the dumping ground for weekday rejects.

They should get some credit. Two years ago, the station was a mess- playlist all over the place, each show targeting different audiences, awful imaging, poor presenters. The imaging is far better, they've improved the weekday schedule and the playlist seems pretty close to what they should be playing for a 15-34 station.

Faugheen wrote: »

Was listening to Brendan O'Loughlin reading the news at 6 and he gave it a small mention at the end. Didn't say they were number one or anything.

On that actually. Their news service is one thing they really have going for them. I think it's brilliant.

Completely agree on this. For all the woes the station has suffered, their news output is really excellent. Their bulletins are engaging, snappy, have a good mix of stories and I think Aideen Finnegan and Brendan O'Loughlin are two of the best newsreaders out there. For me, a 98fm news bulletin is one of the best in the country.

Faugheen · 27-07-2016 10:40pm

smurfs5 wrote: »

They also need more personality. The breakfast show has reasonably OK ratings, Nicky & Jenny is a bit bland but I suppose it's fine for mid-mornings, Eoghan McDermott is an excellent presenter IMO and is doing a cracking job on drive, Louise McSharry is a poor man's Annie Mac/ Zane Lowe but I appreciate them trying to do a show like that, Chris & Ciara are fantastic and are exactly the type of creative, youth-orientated show that 2FM needs. Tracy Clifford should be on weekends- really liked her on Fully Charged on SPIN but she's not weekday material on a national station. They need a Chris & Ciara/ Ray Foley type show that is creative and has personality and will attract people away from the regionals.

I don't know much about the UK markets so I won't go into that, but on this I want to make a couple of points.

Anyone I know doesn't listen to Breakfast Republic. It's God awful and I genuinely don't know how it does so well.

I thought Nicky and Jenny started out quite well but has now fallen big time.

Tracy Clifford was someone I really liked in Spin. I think she needs someone to really bounce off to get the best out of her.

I don't like McDermott personally but I can see what they're trying to do with him. Having said that, the youth drive-time market is easily the toughest one out there. Steve K in 1038, Eoghan Fitz in Spin South West and Andy Mac in Beat are all stalwarts of their stations and the latter two I think are the most listened to shows (all day) in their region, while Steve K has the highest listeners of all drive-time music shows in Dublin. That's not taking Dara Quilty and Ben Murray into account either. McDermott really will have a tough task to bring in listeners on his own.

smurfs5 wrote: »

Completely agree on this. For all the woes the station has suffered, their news output is really excellent. Their bulletins are engaging, snappy, have a good mix of stories and I think Aideen Finnegan and Brendan O'Loughlin are two of the best newsreaders out there. For me, a 98fm news bulletin is one of the best in the country.

Agreed on this. Both of them are brilliant. I think Stephanie Grogan has done well to fill the void left by the excellent Frank Greaney as well.

I often wonder how Brendan would sound elsewhere. I think the way he is on 98 is perfect for their presentation, but I dunno if he'd be suited in one of the nationals considering it's a completely different style to what he has.

Actually no, if 2FM were to revamp their news service, he should be top of their list.

soc160 · 27-07-2016 10:55pm

Faugheen wrote: »

2FM's problem is that it's dipped into a completely stacked market where every region has a well established youth-orientated station. Both Spins, Beat, iRadio, RedFM etc covers every market and the presenters play the music the young people want and know how the regional dynamics work. It's why the likes of Martin Guilfoyle can go to Spin South West and be instantly appealing, he knows the craic in that region.

2FM can't do that. If they try to please one area, the rest of them start to switch off.

There hasn't been a youth-orientated national station because there wasn't a market for one. Simple as.

I disagree with the last statement. I think if the license was in the hands of a private company they would make a far better attempt at making it a viable youth/top 40 station. You wouldn't have had years of neglect and poor management decisions like there has been. At least you wouldn't have a bloody sports show on at 7pm!

TheLonelyOne · 27-07-2016 11:07pm

Any word on 98 breakfast and drive figures?

Faugheen · 27-07-2016 11:10pm

soc160 wrote: »

I disagree with the last statement. I think if the license was in the hands of a private company they would make a far better attempt at making it a viable youth/top 40 station. You wouldn't have had years of neglect and poor management decisions like there has been. At least you wouldn't have a bloody sports show on at 7pm!

Now that sounds like a good idea for a thread. Well, not that exactly, but if you could build a privately owned station with that licence what would your line-up be.

Broadcastonfm · 27-07-2016 11:22pm

There are a couple of interesting things in Dublin as far as I can interpret

- audience in capital down to 78% , is this finally the effect of the iPod generation ?
- allowing for acceptable margins of error , there is very little change for any stations in Dublin at all . Anything else you're hearing is spin.

Generally ,
-2fm breakfast show remains the poor show that most of think it is
- D'arcy ain't the answer for radio one
-today fm and Newstalk seem to need a joint strategy , anyone for NT 1& 2?

Lastly

Anyone really surprised by any of this ........

ford fiesta · 27-07-2016 11:53pm

Healy and Co messed up re-launching 2FM, they should have kept the over 35 market who would have grown up with it.

These listeners I feel would have stayed loyal.

Any attempt such as above, would have been better than trying to get a new audience of teenagers to turn on a station their parents listened to...and 2FM is no BBC Radio 1 and never will be.

Time for Healy to bow out.

foxtrot101 · 28-07-2016 1:22am

Dan Healy really does come out with some nonsense...

The head of the station, Dan Healy, said the figures were “not as strong as anticipated” and said 2fm’s schedule was suffering from the departure of Ryan Tubridy to RTÉ Radio 1 last autumn.

How many of Gerry Ryan's 300,000+ listeners did Turbidy lose again and how long did Healy leave him in place while he was shedding all those listeners?

marno21 · 28-07-2016 3:01am

How are 2FM doing in Cork and Wicklow?

Cork has no youth station and Wicklow only has overspill from Dublin and iRadio/Beat so I'd expect them to make gains in Cork.

PeterTheNinth · 28-07-2016 7:20am

foxtrot101 wrote: »

Dan Healy really does come out with some nonsense...

Yeah, I find it incredibly funny that every time the JNLR figures come out, they come out with the same mealy mouthed, self serving guff that they normally give out to politicians for uttering.

PeterTheNinth · 28-07-2016 7:31am

A Tyrant Named Miltiades! wrote: »

It's a shame to see such a talented broadcaster bringing up the rear in the top 30 radio shows, where previously he would have been one of its leading lights.

I think there are two things about Pat Kenny:

1) It is easy enough to get somebody in RTE to take over the reins in such a political discussion show. RTE have a number of people like Sean O'Rourke, Keelin Shanley etc who can very capably take over the show. The point being that Pat was never really as inexpendable as RTE liked to make out.

2) Never underestimate the power of the national broadcaster. There are a number of people who will stay on RTE between 9am-12pm, no matter who they put in there.

I can't imagine that Pat will go back to RTE. He was fairly bitter when I heard him talking about leaving RTE. I think them cutting his Frontline show, and the constant analysis of his wages really p1ssed him off.

hufpc8w3adnk65 · 28-07-2016 7:48am

marno21 wrote: »

How are 2FM doing in Cork and Wicklow?

Cork has no youth station and Wicklow only has overspill from Dublin and iRadio/Beat so I'd expect them to make gains in Cork.

Cork has a "youth" station if you believe it's licence RedFm is a youth station

How did iRadio do?

L1011 · 28-07-2016 8:24am

MrMac84 wrote: »

Cork has a "youth" station if you believe it's licence RedFm is a youth station

How did iRadio do?

Red are doing their damndest not to even pretend to be a youth station anymore though

wnolan1992 · 28-07-2016 10:59am

Just IMO, I think where 2FM went wrong was they stayed too loyal to the presenters that made the station great in its early years. Initially, it was THE music station, with the likes of Fenton, Dempsey, Fanning, etc. They gained a huge audience but then made the mistake of allowing the station to age along with their listeners as opposed to bringing in new talent and maintaining their identity as a youth station.

Building a "youth" station around Gerry Ryan and Larry Gogan? Come on like.

Then, they seemed to doubt their own convictions, and instead of going the whole way and fully going for the older audience, they're trying to swing desperately back again, while still maintaining a weekend schedule that most under 30's would laugh at.

I'll give Healy credit for revamping the daytime schedule. It may not be working, but he seemed to have a plan and implemented it. The daytime schedule is the most cohesive it's been in years IMO.

But then you have a SPORTS TALK SHOW AT 7PM! FFS.

And the weekend schedule is now totally at odds with the weekday schedule.

2FM seriously needs to decide what it wants to be. I still believe there's a place for it as a youth oriented station in the style of BBC R1. A slightly more mature Spin or Beat (that's not a slam on those stations, I have the height of respect for them) focusing on breaking new music, interviews, live sessions, live coverage of festivals and gigs, etc.

But to do that they need to basically burn it to the ground and start from scratch again identity wise.

Game On needs to go. Virtually all of the weekend shows need to go. Larry Gogan, Will Leahy, Dave Fanning, Rick O'Shea and Ruth Scott need to go. Build a weekend schedule around young, fresh, vibrant new talent. Throw money at the cream of the crop from the Spins, Beat and iRadio and give them slightly more creative freedom than they currently have and see if they can thrive. Scrap Nicky Byrne and Breakfast Republic and start again. Rest of daytime schedule could be shuffled and given more time to develop and build an audience along with a fresh clean rebranding.

Either that, or scrap the weekday schedule and lurch back to the older demographic and fully commit to it. Either way, I think 2FM will continue to struggle until it sets out clearly what it actually wants to be.

marno21 wrote: »

How are 2FM doing in Cork and Wicklow?

Cork has no youth station and Wicklow only has overspill from Dublin and iRadio/Beat so I'd expect them to make gains in Cork.

I think RED is repeating the same mistakes 2FM has. When I was a teenager, RED was the station all of my friends listened to. KC and Lenny, Stevie G and Victor Barry were all quality. Now it's drifting towards the "I only hear this in shops every and now then..." territory.
Considering 96FM and C103 are already serving the older audience, I'd be worried that long term this'll end badly for RED.

Expunge · 28-07-2016 11:00am

honeybear wrote: »

What are Marty's listenership figures on Lyric?

According to the press release on rte.ie

"Marty in the Mornings is up 1,000 (b-o-b) and a growth of 2,000 (y-o-y) with 45,000 tuning on weekday mornings."

So, that's not as many as Keith Finnegan (47,000) on Galway Bay FM, but it's equally ****e.

blue4ever · 28-07-2016 11:32am

Expunge wrote: »

Lyric FM - classical and minority music station now more popular in Dublin - in terms of reach - than 2FM!

Lyric has 59,000 listeners in the capital, 2FM has 58,000

I thought I'd never see the day!

It's only proper...

http://www.ilevel.ie/media-blog/radio/102891-jnlr-2016q2-dublin-listenership#hill16

Expunge · 28-07-2016 12:26pm

Nice job, Blue. Maria Callas and the boyiz on the Hill look like they were meant to be together!

That graph line illustrating the decline of 2FM in the capital is really damning.

In that time Lyric has tipped away in Dublin at around 6 per cent or in an around 60,000 listeners but, Christ almighty, 2FM is bleeding to death!

blue4ever · 28-07-2016 12:54pm

wnolan1992 wrote: »

Just IMO, I think where 2FM went wrong was they stayed too loyal to the presenters that made the station great in its early years. Initially, it was THE music station, with the likes of Fenton, Dempsey, Fanning, etc. They gained a huge audience but then made the mistake of allowing the station to age along with their listeners as opposed to bringing in new talent and maintaining their identity as a youth station.

Building a "youth" station around Gerry Ryan and Larry Gogan? Come on like.

Then, they seemed to doubt their own convictions, and instead of going the whole way and fully going for the older audience, they're trying to swing desperately back again, while still maintaining a weekend schedule that most under 30's would laugh at.

I'll give Healy credit for revamping the daytime schedule. It may not be working, but he seemed to have a plan and implemented it. The daytime schedule is the most cohesive it's been in years IMO.

But then you have a SPORTS TALK SHOW AT 7PM! FFS.

And the weekend schedule is now totally at odds with the weekday schedule.

2FM seriously needs to decide what it wants to be. I still believe there's a place or it as a youth oriented station in the style of BBC R1. A slightly more mature Spin or Beat (that's not a slam on those stations, I have the height of respect for them) focusing on breaking new music, interviews, live sessions, live coverage of festivals and gigs, etc.

but to do that they need to basically burn it to the ground and start from scratch again identity wise.

Game On needs to go. Virtually all of the weekend shows need to go. Larry Gogan, Will Leahy, Dave Fanning, Rick O'Shea and Ruth Scott need to go. Build a weekend schedule around young, fresh, vibrant new talent. Throw money at the cream of the crop from the Spins, Beat and iRadio and give them slightly more creative freedom than they currently have and see if they can thrive. Scrap Nicky Byrne and Breakfast Republic and start again. Rest of daytime schedule could be shuffled and given more time to develop and build an audience along with a fresh clean rebranding.

Either that, or scrap the weekday schedule and lurch back to the older demographic and fully commit to it. Either way, I think 2FM will continue to struggle until it sets out clearly what it actually wants to be.

I think RED is repeating the same mistakes 2FM has. When I was a teenager, RED was the station all of my friends listened to. KC and Lenny, Stevie G and Victor Barry were all quality. Now it's drifting towards the "I only hear this in shops every and now then..." territory.
Considering 96FM and C103 are already serving the older audience, I'd be worried that long term this'll end badly for RED.

Very thought provoking and an interesting from a 2FM point – if not in hindsight unfortunately – where a station can make a wrong turn. Hanging on to the coattail of the past is not a good idea any recycling ‘the talent’ is probably a good thing and nobody stays put long enough the be referred to as ‘the talent’!

Strangely I heard Dave Fanning standing in for RT earlier and he was talking about 2FM in its early years. He was recalling how they stood for new talent a lot of times and during the summer having road shows (Lark in the Park etc) highlighting local musical talent. Well attended events as well. Even if it wasn’t everyone’s bag it still was a particular identity for the station.

What’s the station now?

dulpit · 28-07-2016 2:45pm

The thing I wonder about 2FM is how do people know it exists? When I was young there were plenty of ads and the beats on the street to generate buzz, nothing like that now.

2FM serves 1 purpose in my car. If I'm with Mrs Dulpit and she wants to listen to a song and there is nothing on Today FM or Red FM, we end up with 2FM. That's it.

marno21 · 28-07-2016 3:02pm

L1011 wrote: »

Red are doing their damndest not to even pretend to be a youth station anymore though

Exactly. 96FM and RedFM are pretty much clones of each other except RedFM's evening playlist is more diverse and RedFM's daytime playlist is more grating and repetitive.

dulpit wrote: »

The thing I wonder about 2FM is how do people know it exists? When I was young there were plenty of ads and the beats on the street to generate buzz, nothing like that now.

2FM serves 1 purpose in my car. If I'm with Mrs Dulpit and she wants to listen to a song and there is nothing on Today FM or Red FM, we end up with 2FM. That's it.

This is my issue #1 with 2FM. If they are launching a youth station, they HAVE to advertise it and let it be known. Otherwise you have the older listeners tuning out as it becomes more and more youth oriented and no new listeners tuning in because they don't know about it. There's ads on the TV all the time for 96FM & Q102, there's billboards up for Spin South West around the south west (and even then it's 9 years since it launched so most would know about it).

Csalem · 29-07-2016 5:38pm

blue4ever wrote: »

It's only proper...

http://www.ilevel.ie/media-blog/radio/102891-jnlr-2016q2-dublin-listenership#hill16

And looking at the charts, if current trends continue then Nova and Sunshine may overtake 2FM next.

JNLR Q2 2016 - 27 July 2016

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