Whether you're an early riser catching the dulcet tones of Ollie and Dymphna on the Big Breakfast Blaa, or on the night shift listening to John O'Shea, WLR is number one for Waterford.
Today, radio continues to evolve as it competes with other technologies to attract and hold an audience.
Wireless broadcasts were first restricted to coded dots and dashes. Reginald Fessenden, a Canadian-born scientist, sent the first long-distance transmission of human voice and music from his station on Brant Rock, Massachusetts, on December 24, 1906. As far out as Norfolk, Virginia, his signal was picked up. It prepared the ground for commercial music and voice transmissions.
WLR FM is celebrating an all-time high in radio listenership following the release of the latest IPSOS JNLR results for the period January to December 2024. With remarkable growth across the station’s schedule, WLR FM continues to be the first choice for listeners in Waterford.
Daily Reach: 45,000 listeners – an impressive increase of 5,000 from the previous year.
Weekly Reach: 66,000 listeners – marking the best result in three years.
Market Share: Holding steady at 33.3%, demonstrating a strong and loyal audience.
In 2024:
- The station increased listening hours from 2,887,512 in 2023 to 3,352,099 in 2024 – INCREASE OF 464,587
- WLR reached 177 countries in 2024 – here are the top 5 – IRELAND / UK / GERMANY / USA / SPAIN
- The smart speaker owns 66.9% of the traffic which is just insane.– with the Alexa three times more popular than the Google smart speaker.
- Mobiles are 16% and desktops are 15% - TV’s make up the rest. 3%
- April 21st, 2024, was the most listened-to day of the year. Waterford v Cork in the Munster championships opener where 26,070 tuned in online for the match.
- Sunday is our most popular day for listening online, followed by Monday, Wednesday, Tuesday, Thursday Friday, and Saturday.
WLR is celebrating World Radio Day with several giveaways throughout the day.
For the latest Waterford News and Sport, tune into WLR News on the hour and download the WLR App for news on demand.
