Thursday, 13th August: The latest JNLR report (JNLR/Ipsos 2026-2) for the 12 months to the end of June 2026 shows that over 4 million Irish adults now tune in to radio every week. Today’s results show another powerful performance for Today FM, with growth across every key station metric and major gains throughout the weekday schedule.
Today FM now reaches an audience of 974,000 every week, having jumped 20,000 listeners since the last survey and almost 50,000 compared to last year (+46,000 YoY), while daily reach has climbed to 524,000 listeners (+4,000 BoB / +25,000 YoY). Today FM has also grown its market share to a landmark 10.0% (+0.4% BoB / +1.6% YoY), the highest in over a decade.
The big winners for IMRO ‘National Station of the Year’ include The Ian Dempsey Breakfast Show (06:00-09:00), who has recorded his highest ever listenership in back-to-back books, now with a massively impressive 240,000 listeners tuning in each morning (+8,000 BoB / +27,000 YoY).
This is the sixth audience survey in a row where The Ian Dempsey Breakfast Show has gained new listenership, maintaining his position as the most-listened-to show on Irish commercial radio.
Celebrating today’s results, Ian Dempsey said:
“Reaching 240,000 listeners is a brilliant milestone for the whole breakfast team. We never take for granted that people choose to start their day with us, so a huge thank you to every listener who tunes in, gets involved and keeps us company each morning.”
Ray Foley (14:00-16:30) is also celebrating a record breaker, growing his audience to a staggering 179,000 listeners (+13,000 BoB, +20,000 YoY).
It’s been a hat-trick of increasing results for Ray with gains in his last three books, resulting in his highest audience to date.
Commenting on his record audience figures, Ray Foley said:
“Thank you so much to everyone for listening every day, it’s not easy but your hard work has paid off and now this show is officially the biggest it’s ever been with 179,000 listeners! Pundits are saying I’ll bottle it before the end of the season but if our supporters want to enjoy it, let them enjoy it. Homecoming tomorrow night in McHale Park with chips and warm tins of coke after.”
Dave Moore on Today FM (09:00-12:00) also grew his audience to 211,000 listeners (+5,000 BoB / +13,000 YoY). Dave was joined by some big musical acts on his show in recent months with Westlife and Teddy Swims joining him for live shows in front of a captive audience.
Louise Cantillon, (12:00-14:00) now entertains an audience of 134,000 (-1,000 BoB / +13,000 YoY). Louise is fresh from a very special live show from Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann in Belfast with Aslan as musical guests.
The Last Word with Matt Cooper (16:30-19:00) is also celebrating back-to-back record results as the show grows to 195,000 listeners (+3,000 BoB / +14,000 YoY), with the show once again recording its highest figures in over 15 years.
In the evenings, Paula MacSweeney (19:00-22:00) grew her evening audience to 38,000 (+2,000 BoB / +8,000 YoY) in what is her last show in this time slot with Dave Duke and Fionnuala Corbett announced to take over the 7-10pm weekday slot from September onwards.
There were also big winners on weekends with Alison Curtis celebrating gains in her Saturday show (08:00-11:00), now attracting 188,000 listeners (+8,000 BoB) and her Sunday show (09:00-12:00) now welcoming 147,000 listeners (+14,000 BoB). Dara Quilty also saw huge increases in his Sunday show (12:00-16:00) with 149,000 listeners tuning in (+24,000 BoB) and Dec Pierce brought in another 3,000 rave enthusiasts to his Block Rockin’ Beats show which now stands at 47,000 listeners (+3,000 BoB / +12,000 YoY).
Today’s performance comes as Today FM is preparing for a bumper weekend of broadcasting live from Electric Picnic in the coming weeks. As Official Radio Partner of the now sold-out festival, Today FM is giving its audience the chance to be part of the action with tickets to be won across the month on the station.
Commenting on the results, Today FM Managing Editor Nathan Murphy said:
“I’m delighted for the Today FM team that the creativity and energy they bring to every show has been rewarded with another set of record breaking listenership figures. We’ve had a brilliant few months with the 100 Greatest Irish Songs, Mayhem and our Up Close and Personal Series with Westlife and Teddy Swims all drawing more and more listeners to Today FM team”