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It seems that Ryan Tubridy has had a personal break-through – he’s finally realised that his listeners don’t want to hear about him or his life. And it took him HOW long to figure this out?

The Irish Sun reports today that Tubs is slowly but surely clawing listeners back and for the first time since he took over the late Gerry Ryan’s radio slot, his audience figures are actually up. Tubridy has gained a modest 1,000 listeners raising his daily audience to a respectable 176,000.

“It’s hardly Ronan O’Gara scoring a point in extra time but a win is a win – it’s better than a decrease. We realised there was a problem with the show and we’ve changed direction so it’s very reassuring to know we are going in the right one,” said Tubridy.

And what new direction did RTE take? Well, according to Ryan “the show is less about me and more about the listener” – we’re sure radio listeners across the country are weeping with joy right now.

“It’s back to being an old-fashioned chat show. I think the audience can now tell I like them, I hope they’re starting to like me a bit more,” he added.

While Tubs was delighted with a mere 1,000 increase in listenership, his main rival Ray D’arcy at Today FM held on to the top spot when it comes to radio chat shows. Ray’s programme gets a massive 234,000 listeners five days a week. Is Tubs bitter?

“I like Ray and I admire him and if we bump into each other on a night out it’s not handbags at dawn,” Tubridy said.

Can’t you just feel the sincerity in his voice?

But while Ray and Ryan had decent figures, RTE’s Morning Ireland blew them both out of the water by remaining the country’s most popular radio show. Morning Ireland broadcasts to 446,000 listeners daily.

We reckon it won’t be long until Tubridy is trying to become BFF with Morning Ireland as well…