A week before his departure, Paul Arcand could not have hoped for a better outing. His show Since we have to get up, Who for years at the top of the ratings, gained listeners this spring.
98.5 FM saw its audiences drop in the fall, when Paul Arcand had to withdraw for a few weeks due to health problems. The king of the airwaves, who will leave the station on June 14 after more than 30 years of morning radio, returned to his microphone in January in preparation for his final season. Its return is felt in the listening figures in the greater Montreal region, which were revealed Wednesday by the Numeris firm.
Between February and May, Since you have to get up a saw its average number of listeners per minute increase by 14% compared to last winter, which still makes it the most popular show of all in Montreal. No other show in the top-10 can boast such an increase. 98.5 FM, whose entire programming suffered from the absence of Paul Arcand in the winter survey, remains the most tuned frequency. Cogeco’s talk station occupied 23.7% of the market share this spring, a slight increase compared to the winter.
The spring audience ratings are also quite encouraging for Radio-Canada. With 17.7% market share, ICI Première slightly increased its audience. Pénélope McQuade’s morning show remains the station’s most listened to. For a second consecutive survey, she continues to surpass that of Nathalie Normandeau in average number of listeners per minute. At midday, on ICI Première, Alec Castonguay also held his own in front of Luc Ferrandez, who officiates on the rival station’s airwaves.
On the weekend, ICI Première also posted excellent results. On Sunday morning, Franco Nuovo saw its number of listeners increase by 19%; Marie-Louise Arsenault, on Saturday early evening, by 22%.
Movement to be expected this fall
Now we’ll see what happens in the fall, when 98.5 FM will completely reshape its weekday programming following the departure of Paul Arcand. Nathalie Normandeau and Luc Ferrandez will co-host a new lunchtime show. The return show will be piloted by Philippe Cantin, while Patrick Lagacé will inherit the morning slot, the most important in a private station.
Patrick Lagacé is currently doing very well in the return home time slot. His show does not seem to have suffered from the sudden and highly publicized departure of columnist MC Gilles, fired by 98.5 FM in April. Quebec now is the second most listened to program in Montreal, increasing, both in market share and in average number of listeners per minute.
If Cogeco can rejoice in the figures obtained this spring by 98.5 FM, it is different for Rhytme FM. In Montreal, this station remains the most listened to music radio station, but the gap with its great rival Rouge, owned by Bell, is tending to narrow. At this time last year, Rhytme FM occupied 14.3% of the market share. In the poll released Wednesday, the Cogeco station fell to 10.5%.