As we await the JNLR tomorrow, I heard an interesting conversation on the said medium. I was listening to the fact that Mr Yates is (allegedly) none to keen on the 3:30am awakenings so that he can present the morning show on Newstalk so is looking for a new slot (allegedly).
The mantra in the radio business is: Win the morning – win the day. So I was curious as to how the morning pans out for the rest of the day for the national stations. I left it at the nationals, as the charts below looks complex enough without adding the local stations as well. The figures are the twelve months to April 2010.
The first chart shows the stations average quarter hour listenership throughout the day – in absolute terms. You can see that the skyline is dominated by RTE1 getting a huge boost from morning Ireland (peaking just after 8:00am) and then again for the lunchtime news followed by Mr Duffy and rounded off with Drivetime. Quiet a combination.
2FM’s brightest moment is across the 9:00 12:00 segment. I’d hazard a guess that that light wont shine, unfortunately, so bright in the future – bright given the current format, but not to those heady heights.
Today FM have a not to dissimilar signature, bar the fact that they are dominated in the mid morning segment by 2FM and in turn dominate in the evening slot.
Newstalk have two punches – the breakfast (which was the genesis of this) and Mr Hook in the evening. Outside that its fairly lacklustre.
Lyric are lyric and ‘tip along’ throughout the day.
If you have a look at the stations in another way: rebased at 6:00am and followed until 6:00pm to see where they either fail or excel in comparison to their own figures. (If you click the chart – it will enlarge and save the remnants of your sight).
Interesting to see how each station has its own dynamic. Today FM and 2FM having their glory hours in the morning – boosted by a trench of female listeners joining the ranks after 9:00(ish).
RTE1, as discussed above, have their moments. Newstalk don’t seem to get out of the blocks at all – even with the spike they get in the mornings and lyric have their best hours in the evening.
