RTÉ 2FM HAVE announced that DJ Jenny Greene will return to the airwaves to host a new radio show as part of the station’s revamped schedule. 

Greene will be back on air daily at 3pm after announcing she was leaving 2FM in March.

At the time Greene, who co-presented a 10am weekday show with Westlife’s Nicky Byrne, said that being moved from the morning to an evening slot “didn’t feel like the right decision for me both professionally and personally”. 

Meanwhile, Jennifer Zamparelli’s new 9am morning show will lead the station’s new schedule, aimed at drawing in young listeners. Zamparelli, who presents Dancing with the Stars on RTÉ TV, previously co-hosted 2FM’s Breakfast Republic. 

Media influencer Doireann Garrihy will co-present a new 2FM breakfast show alongside current drivetime presenter Eoghan McDermott. Garrihy previously co-hosted Spin 1038′s The Zoo Crew. 

The station’s shake-up was announced today with the release of the latest JNLR listenership figures.

It’s largely good news this quarter for RTÉ 2FM as the station readies itself for its relaunch while Today FM’s Last Word with Matt Cooper has seen a boost in listenership.  

RTÉ

Despite a drop from last quarter of 18,000 listeners, RTÉ Radio One’s flagship news programme Morning Ireland remains the most listened to radio show in the country.

Here’s a breakdown (all figures refer to changes since the last quarter, January to March):

• Morning Ireland  – down 18,000 to 421,000 listeners
• The Ryan Tubridy Show – up 3,000 to 328,000
• Today with Seán O’Rourke – up 2,000 to 322,000
• The Ronan Collins show – down 1,000 to 220,000
• News at One – down 9,000 to 334,000
• Liveline with Joe Duffy – down 6,000 to 375,000
• The Ray D’Arcy show – down 1,000 to 220,000
• Drivetime – up 2,000 to 223,000

Peter Woods, managing editor of RTÉ Radio 1, told TheJournal.ie that with the scale of listeners that Morning Ireland has he would expect to gain the listeners back. 

Where they are at 421,000, that’s phenomenal by any standards anywhere. 

Meanwhile, it was a mostly positive quarter for 2FM, with Breakfast Republic up 1,000 to 188,000, the Nicky Byrne Show with Jenny Greene was up 2,000 to 155,000, Tracey Clifford up 2,000 listeners to 147,000 and Eoghan McDermott down 4,000 to 134,000. 

Dan Healy, head of RTÉ’s 2FM told TheJournal.ie that they hope to capture the audience of the Nicky Byrne Show with Jenny Greene with its afternoon show with Jennifer Zamparelli.

We expect to hold it and then potentially grow. Nicky and Jenny were very successful in what they did so what they have left is a very solid audience for us to grow off. 

Source: RTÉ Radio

Today FM

It was a mixed bag this quarter for Today FM’s primetime midweek shows, with a dip in figures for both Muireann O’Connell and Fergal D’Arcy. 

• Ian Dempsey Breakfast Show – up 1,000 to 181,000 listeners
• Dermot & Dave – down 2,000 to 163,000
• Muireann O’Connell – down 6,000 to 93,000
• Fergal D’Arcy – down 6,000 at 106,000.
• The Last Word with Matt Cooper – up 10,000 to 152,000

A spokesperson for Today FM told TheJournal.ie that it was a “particularly brilliant” quarter for both Dempsey and Cooper’s drivetime shows.

Commenting on the fall of 6,000 listeners for Muireann O’Connell, the Today FM spokesperson said they are still building awareness of that show as she is not yet a year in that time slot. 

Staying at Communicorp, Newstalk had a disappointing quarter, although Ivan Yates’ listenership continued to grow. 

The station lost listeners across its weekday schedule except for Sean Moncrieff whose listenership remained the same at 97,000 while Yates gained 3,000 listeners.