Tubs was popular... but now 9am slot has more listeners
IN February 2022, broadcaster Ryan Tubridy was dubbed the ‘King’ of morning radio.
While his colleagues Joe Duffy, Ray D’Arcy, Miriam O’Callaghan and Brendan O’Connor had all suffered losses in radio listeners, RTÉ’s then top earner was said to have proved his worth when his 9am-to-10am show recorded an audience of 366,000.
It represented an increase of 7,000 since the previous book, and was the first time he had held the title of being the secondmost-listened-to radio show, behind Morning Ireland.
He had returned to his former weekday morning slot on RTÉ Radio 1 in early September 2015, having left the station to present a show on 2fm for the previous five years. He had a generally loyal audience throughout his time in the Radio 1 hotseat, although there were some fluctuations during Covid.
In November 2019, he had 334,000 listeners, which rose to 381,000 in November 2020.
He then suffered a 22,000 drop to 359,000 in November 2021, at a time when many of his colleagues were also losing out to independent stations.
By February 2022 he was back on track on 366,000, before dipping again to 331,000 in February 2023, when RTÉ experienced a drop across all its flagship shows, which it blamed on a post-pandemic realignment.
His 9am slot has now climbed back to an audience of 343,000, up from 331,000 in a year – but since last summer these listeners have not been tuning in for Tubridy.
Last month, it was announced that comedian Oliver Callan would take over the slot permanently, after filling in on rotation with other well-known names including Brendan Courtney and Shay Byrne since the old host’s sudden departure.