Turning now to the Regional franchises and the local stations – looked at collectively this time round as there are a better fit together rather than separating the two.
The regional stations are still performing well, but in every case they have a long way before they catch up on the local radio numbers. Although the home local dominates in every case it looks as if their grip is loosening as you can see from the individual graphs – most are in decline. Only in the Northeast are there signs that the local stations are making any sort of a comeback. So strong is the draw in some areas, in the Southeast Beat 102-103 does what no other regional station does – puts RTE1 into third place!
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For the local stations I have (as the figures were to hand) given the last three years of data, but the “+/-“ are year on year. Highland still has the highest penetration of all the stations at 64% down 3% on the previous year. KFM made the biggest gain adding 5% to its listenership. Year on year Galway Bay FM is taking a real pounding dropping 22,000 or 11% of its listeners, but its only down marginally on the previous survey.
| Station | County | 14Q1 | 14Q1 | 13Q1 | 13Q1 | 12Q1 | 12Q1 | +/- | +/- |
| Mid West Radio | Mayo | 62 | 62% | 60 | 60% | 63 | 61% | 2 | 2% |
| Tipp FM | Tipperary | 45 | 36% | 54 | 43% | 60 | 48% | -9 | -7% |
| South East Radio | Wexford | 42 | 37% | 43 | 38% | 44 | 39% | -1 | -1% |
| Galway Bay FM | Galway | 62 | 32% | 84 | 43% | 81 | 41% | -22 | -11% |
| Midlands 103FM | Laois/Off/WM | 68 | 36% | 66 | 35% | 70 | 38% | 2 | 1% |
| Shann/Northern Snd | RN/LD/LM/CN/MN | 85 | 43% | 82 | 41% | 93 | 47% | 3 | 2% |
| Highland Radio | Nth Donegal | 64 | 64% | 68 | 67% | 68 | 66% | -4 | -3% |
| Clare FM | Clare | 39 | 44% | 44 | 48% | 43 | 47% | -5 | -4% |
| Ocean FM | Donegal/Leit | 35 | 44% | 42 | 52% | 39 | 48% | -7 | -8% |
| KCLR 96FM | Kilk/Carlow | 40 | 34% | 41 | 35% | 47 | 40% | -1 | -1% |
| East Coast FM | Wicklow | 32 | 30% | 28 | 27% | 28 | 27% | 4 | 3% |
| Radio Kerry | Kerry | 58 | 50% | 57 | 49% | 60 | 52% | 1 | 1% |
| LM FM | Louth/Meath | 53 | 23% | 57 | 25% | 61 | 26% | -4 | -2% |
| K FM | Kildare | 40 | 25% | 32 | 20% | 41 | 26% | 8 | 5% |
| Limerick’s Live 95FM | Limerick | 66 | 43% | 68 | 45% | 69 | 45% | -2 | -2% |
| WLR FM | Waterford | 42 | 46% | 41 | 46% | 40 | 45% | 1 | 0% |
