Despite the fact that Ryan Tubridy is causing thousands of Irish radio listeners to tune out and turn off 2fm, it seems that he’s doing something right because now the BBC wants him.
The Irish Independent reports that Tubs will be presenting the highest-rated breakfast show on UK radio over the summer months. Ryan will be covering for Chris Evans on BBC Radio 2’s breakfast programme.
Daring move? Maybe, but you never know. The UK could very well embrace Tubs, just like they’ve embraced Brendan O’Carroll and Mrs Brown’s Boys.
But Ryan will have his work cut out for him because the breakfast show has a weekly audience of 10million. Wow. Let’s compare that with the measly sum of 172,000 listeners who let Ryan into their eardrums over here.
Apparently Lewis Carnie, the Head of Programmes at BBC Radio 2, was super impressed with Tubridy’s work when he stood in for Graham Norton a while back.
Despite the fact that Ryan will be busy filling the headphones of Chris Evans, he plans to still continue to present his morning programme on 2fm, despite his most recent loss of 4,000 listeners.
However, while Ryan seems okay to carry on as normal, the Irish Independent is reporting that some RTE insiders are questioning if Tubridy is the right ‘fit’ for the radio station.
“Is 2fm the right station for Ryan Tubridy? If the public didn’t like Ryan why would ‘The Late, Late show’ have a 48 per cent (audience) share on a Friday night?” said a well-place source, speaking to the paper.
“He has a great producer and a great team but 2fm is the wrong station for him. He is definitely more suited to RTE Radio 1. The whole station (2fm) needs to be rebuilt. If you tune into Lyric FM, Spin or Newstalk you know what you’re going to get,” said the source.
“That’s not the case with 2fm which is suffering an identity crisis. There has been all sorts of chops and changes but none of it’s strategic. It’s a rudderless ship and they have never got back the listeners they lost after Gerry Ryan died,” the source added.
So cheer up Tubs, even if you ailing listenership at 2fm continues to drop at least you have a chance to snap up some new fans in the UK.
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