Another string to her bow! Jen hailed for lifting 2fm listenership
A COLLABORATION between 2fm’s Jenny Greene and the RTÉ Concert Orchestra has been hailed for turning listenership around at the station.
The partnership has seen the orchestra play classic dance music hits from the 1990s and 2000s in settings as diverse as the 3Arena and the Electric Picnic under the leadership of broadcaster Ms Greene.
The project has been praised as a phenomenal success – and it has gone from strength to strength, according to RTÉ, despite €555,619 being spent promoting gigs in 2016 and 2017.
Speaking to the Irish Daily Mail, head of RTÉ radio strategy Dan Healy said: ‘In 2015, 2fm was redefining itself so that it could meet audience needs.’ He said the station wanted to know what would happen if 2fm took the place of the artist and played at major music events.
Mr Healy said: ‘The collaboration has achieved that – and brought 2fm to huge live audiences, and in doing so we have seen the station’s primetime market share grow to 7.2% from 6% in just 18 months.’
The collaboration has paid off for everyone involved, he said. ‘It has been amazing to watch audiences – who may not normally watch an orchestra – really appreciate the amazing artistic force that is the RTÉ Concert Orchestra,’ he said.
Figures released to the Mail under the Freedom of Information Act show that there were ten collaborations, from 2016 to September 2018, between Ms Greene and the orchestra.
The RTÉ Annual Report for 2017 shows that the cost of running the Concert Orchestra was €15.7million.
RTÉ 2fm is now close to surpassing Today FM in the latest JNLR radio figures.
The quarterly figures show that 2fm’s adult weekday listenership has risen to 7.2% of the available audience, while Today FM’s listenership figures are down slightly to 7.3%.
Station ‘was redefining itself’