2024 (Boylan is back at Classic hits)

Lots happens in the radio industry each week so here’s a summary of the week we just enjoyed.

Here’s What Happened

Broadcaster Niall Boylan is making his return to Classic Hits Radio on Monday, after an unsuccessful run at the recent European elections.

Niall was not elected in the end, but did prove popular with voters. By the end of proceedings Niall had received over 50,000 votes. He’ll be hoping that many of these voters join him for his return to Night Time Talk on Irelands Classic Hits.

You’d wonder if Niall was able to negotiate a raise from his Classic Hits bosses with his new boost in popularity, but that’s hard to say.

Niall was very critical of the media during his election campaign. He called out Newstalks Shane Coleman for spinning “liberal and woke nonsense” every morning, he also heavily criticised RTE for not including him in TV debates and editing his appearances on Drivetime. He recorded one of his campaign videos on the RTE campus, saying “they don’t want to give you that voice”.

All this may alienate some, but it has clearly given Niall a popularity boost if his election results are anything to go by. Speaking to the Independant this week Niall said he wouldn’t be running in the general election, instead choosing to get back to radio.

It’s fascinating to see Niall getting back to traditional media rather than doubling down on his podcast, but there you go.

Let us know your thoughts on Nialls return over on social Media. Just search Radio Land Ireland.

Check out Nialls return promo here

It feels like much longer, but today marks a year since everything exploded at RTE.

It all started with RTE underwriting a sponsor commitment in presenter Ryan Tubridy’s contract, and that resulted in a backlash unlike anything the broadcaster ever faced before. Things have calmed down a bit now, but the great RTE drama won’t be forgotten anytime soon.

RTE is expected to announce their new strategy on Tuesday, with expectations that much more of RTE’s output will be made by third parties. We’ll need to wait and see if RTE decide to officially pull the plug on their Didgital radio services, but it’s likely that stations outside of RTE Gold will be scrapped.

Hopefully RTE get some funding security over the next few weeks and the organisation can properly heal from the past year. Did you know the whole scandal has its own Wikipedia page? check that out below.

Read the RTE secret payments Wikipedia page here

A number of staff from Live 95 and Down Syndrome Limerick in the Live 95 studios

Finally for now Limericks Live 95 has announced a new charity partner for the next two years.

Down Syndrome Limerick have been selected for the partnership, after over 20 applications were received from non profit organisations.

The new partnership will result in significant promotion for the charity and the work they do, as well as a focus on their fundraising activities.

I’ve always been a fan of promotions like this, so am delighted to hear of radio being used for good. We need more examples of radio stations working to support their local community, so hopefully we’ll have more stories like this soon.

Read about the new partnership here

Quick Bits

Newstalk have launched Younified, a new diversity podcast hosted by ⁨Mamobo Ogoro⁩

The Cash Machine has given away €200,000 once again

Dave Fanning was in the New York Times this week following the closure of AI generated news site BNN Breaking

The Digital News Report has been published

And that’s the summary for this week. Come back to radio land next week for more radio news📻 and be sure to check us out on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn for more fun from the world of radio.

This week in Radio 15/6/2024 (no Google Translate on RnaG)

Lots happens in the radio industry each week so here’s a summary of the week we just enjoyed.

Here’s What happened

RTE have started running ads on Raidió na Gaeltachta and are encouraging brands to ensure a high standard of Irish in their adverts.

Listen to an ad break on RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta

RnaG listeners are passionate about Irish, and even though someone’s phonetic pronunciation might sound right, a native speaker can tell when someone’s bluffing. As such, RTE is providing support and advice to advertisers to get this right.

They recommend that scripts should be drafted in Irish, saying “Automated translators/ Translation software don’t understand the tone and intricacies of the language.” In short, don’t use Google Translate.

They also say that a VO artist should have a level of Irish to enable them to appear as a contributor on Raidió na Gaeltachta. This should ensure a level of quality in the output.

RTE’s sales team will be running a webinar on the subject in July too, so they really are trying to ensure that their listeners do get high quality ads in Irish. Don’t think I’ll be able to voice any Irish ads for the station anytime soon unfortunately.

Quick Bits

Russell Crowe has shared his thoughts on Ryan Tubridy’s situation

Nova are airing a documentary on Christy Dignam

Raidió na Life wins Radio Station of the Year at the Celtic Media Awards

Cork Mid Summer Festival have an online pop up radio station now

This Week In Radio 8/6/2024 (€10 million? Irelands Classic Hits? The 2 Johnnies? Let’s talk about it)

Lots happens in the radio industry each week so here’s a summary of the week we just enjoyed.

Here’s What Happened

So the owners of Classic Hits Radio (Bay Broadcasting) have written to the minister and the RTE DG, offering to buy 2FM for €10 million.

They state in their letter that they feel the service should be privatised, but RTE are fighting back saying that 2FM is not for sale. Kevin Branigan, who runs Bay Broadcasting has also said he’d be open to chatting with the 2 Johnnies if he purchased the station.

Bay broadcasting seem to be desperate to get a slice of RTE recently, but this trend isn’t new. They were talking about offering Ryan Tubridy a job last year, and a number of years back they wanted to take over the RTÉ DAB multiplex to take Nova National.

The question of privatising 2FM is an interesting one, and Bay Broadcasting seem to want it. Bauer would almost certainly like a slice too. Time will tell if this goes anywhere, but I’d doubt it. This to me feels more like marketing than a serious push to buy 2FM, but who knows.

Host Brian Dowling is taking a break from 98FM over the summer as he and husband Arthur Gourounlian prepare to welcome their second child.

Brian hosts alongside Suzanne Kane on 98FM, as well as having a large social media audience. Another popular social media creator and tv presenter is joining Suzanne for the summer, as James Patrice is set to cover with Suzanne in the slot.

The show airs 10am to 1pm on the Bauer owned station. James has filled in for Brian before, but it’s always interesting to see how a pairing goes on a longer term basis.

Best wishes to Brian and Arthur on the new baby, and to James and Suzanne with the show.

Quick Bits

Irish Presenter Ronan Keating is leaving Magic Radio Breakfast

License fee payments for the first 5 months of the year are down a reported 15%

Paul Byrne has left Virgin Media, he’s previously covered on Red FM in Cor

This Week in Radio 1/6/2024 (2FM aren’t the only ones making changes)

Lots happens in the radio industry each week so here’s a summary of the week we just enjoyed.

Here’s What Happened

We got the new summer schedule from 2FM yesterday as promised, and there are some names rising up the ranks.

Aifric O’Connell is joining 2FM breakfast replacing Doireann. She’ll be hosting alongside Carl and Donncha so 2 thirds of the existing team are staying on board to keep the ship steady.

Aifric is no stranger to 2FM breakfast shows as she’s previously hosted alongside Carl on weekend breakfast. Carl then jumped over to the main breakfast show, and now Aifric is joining him on weekdays. In recent years she’s been hanging out with the 2 Johnnies on drivetime.

2FM Breakfast with Carl, Donncha & Aifric starts Tuesday, when we’ll get a chance to hear if they evolve the show much.

In the drive slot we’re getting a bit more of a shakeup as Lottie Ryan and David O’Reilly take over from the 2 Johnnies. I’ll be interested to hear this show and see if it leads to anything. Lottie has covered lots on the station and has been an entertainment news reporter in recent times, while David has been a station contributor.

David Co hosts the any news podcast as well so does have presenting experience, but time will tell how that translates to radio.

I can definitely imagine Lottie and David working well together, but it will be a very different show compared with the 2 Johnnies. Best wishes to all involved.

Read about the 2FM schedule here

2FM might have got all the attention this week but I actually think there was a much more interesting scheduling announcement from RTE that didn’t get any attention.

As of Tuesday, RTE Gold will be on air with a full schedule as it introduces a new drivetime show. Breakfast and mid morning shows have been airing since 2017 and Ronan Collins extended the schedule when he left Radio 1, but now Carol Moran is launching a new drivetime show on the service. this means the station has presenters on air from 7AM to 6PM on weekdays, as well as a full schedule on weekends too.

It’s cool to see an internet only station from RTE finally go for a full schedule. I would hope RTE use this as an opportunity to promote the station heavily and eventually bring in some extra revenue with a few ads. stations like Classic hits aren’t going to have the same style as RTE Gold, so this competition in the industry is much needed.

RTE Gold has been moving in the right direction slowly but surely in recent years, so this is great to see. Judging from the online reaction Gold listeners are happy with the news and it’s rare enough rTE gets praise these days. Best wishes to all involved. Hopefully we’ll hear the station generate some revenue for the public broadcaster soon too.

Read the announcement from RTE Gold here

Three people stand with Giving for living Radiothon branding

Radiothon has been airing on Corks 96FM once again, and has raised €409,178 for cancer charities in Cork.

I love pointing out radio being used for good, and the long running Giving For Living Radiothon is one of my favourite examples of this. the event has been running in Cork for 16 years now and has raised over €6.5 million over the course of its run.

There’s not a whole lot more to say on the subject other than to acknowledge that this is fantastic. Anything media can do to support charities is a good thing and deserves to be praised.

Well done to everyone involved in Radiothon once again this year, this really is fantastic stuff.

Quick Bits

Broadcaster Adrian Kennedy has revealed that he was diagnosed with prostate cancer

Pride Vibes is back on FM

Rachael English is taking over the News at One on RTE Radio 1

There was an opinion piece on local radios use of digital

Angela Scanlon has spoken about suffering with an eating disorder

This Week In Radio 25/5/2024 (what a week at 2FM)

Lots happens in the radio industry each week so here’s a summary of the week we just enjoyed.

Here’s What Happened

What a week it’s been over at 2FM. They’ve now lost presenters for their three main shows, and station boss Dan Healy ended up joining Claire Byrne for what can only be described as an epic interview.

So, let’s summarise. Doireann Garrihy is leaving 2FM breakfast, Jennifer Zamparelli is leaving her mid morning show, and the 2 Johnnies are leaving Drive It, the stations drivetime show.

Dan Healy has already confirmed Laura Fox is taking over from Jen. She’s a strong presenter that’s performed well on the weekends, so this is a good move.

That leaves breakfast and drivetime. The bosses at 2FM aren’t rushing into anything and have decided to give the station what seems to be a temporary summer schedule, before presumedly launching a full new schedule later in the year. we’ll find out more about the summer schedule on Friday.

While all this was going on, 2FM boss Dan Healy popped over to the Radio 1 studios to have an interview on Today With Claire Byrne. Dan was well fired up and the interview is well worth a listen.

I’ve got to agree with Dan in many ways that the future for 2FM is exciting. If they can nail the line up with strong presenters and a good content strategy, they can definitely hit their goal of 14% share of 15-34s by 2025.

2FM have a chance here to really think digital. How do you compete with the Spins, Beat and IRadio when they’re all owned by Bauer and have got the power of the cash Machine helping in JNLRs.

If I was Dan Healy, I’d be putting a 20 min game show format on Laura’s show each Friday. Give it a brand, make it flashy, it’s live radio, but it’s treated as a podcast. Then if it works convert to telly and sell as a format. Give it a visual set, throw it on YouTube. Shoot in a TV studio, do stuff Bauer won’t do.

There’s so many fun bits like this they can try to compete in the youth space. It’s probably one of the most exciting stations now because they effectively have a blank space to build whatever they want, hire whoever they want, run the station however they want. I genuinely get why Dan Healy is so excited by that.

Time will tell if they can make it work, but we’ll just need to wait and see. Bring on next Friday.

Watch the Claire Byrne interview here

The cash machine was in overdrive this week as the team at Bauer had a guaranteed €100,000 up for grabs.

No matter what you think of the cash Machine, there’s no denying that it’s good business for Bauer and can give you great radio moments at times. yesterdays winner had just baught a house and received the keys Thursday, but had no money to do it up. He now has €100,000 to solve that problem.

In work during the week a colleague mentioned that Today FM had €100,000 to give away. No other radio competition can create that buzz. When 2FM shared a TikTok of someone winning €5,000 on their Autotune fortune it was being called a tiny amount and getting compared to the Cash Machine in the comments.

The reality is smaller players can’t compete. Increasingly Irish consumers are exposed to large giveaways, so smaller money is seeming less and less significant. With huge money from Mr Beast on YouTube to TikToks of Heart UKs Make Me A Millionaire, prizes of €5k, €10k, or even €20k don’t excite audiences any more.

It’s a fascinating change, and one we’ll probably see more of in the coming years.

Check out the video of yesterdays Cash Machine win here

Finally for now a fascinating story from the international radio world, specifically from the BBC.

Both BBC Radio 2 and BBC 6 music are leaving x and Facebook behind, ending posts on both platforms. The two stations are instead going to focus on content for TikTok and Instagram.

The accounts will remain open and users can still tag them if they want to reach the studio, but all new posting will stop.

This is a fascinating story to me. Is it time to move on from older social networks? Will we see more of that in the next few months? BBC does have a big presence on these platforms, but the primary accounts over on X are BBC News for example. Traditionally it was the case that every station had a presence on all the main platforms, but this new selective approach does seem interesting.

We’ll need to wait and see how this evolves in the next few months and years, but this likely isn’t limited to just the uk market.

Let us know over on our X, do you think we’ll see Irish stations leaving the platform? Just search Radio Land Ireland.

Visit the poll on X now

Quick Bits

Mark McCabe is joining the weekend schedule at 98FM

Moncrieff has been on air for 20 years

Pamela Joyce has spoken about leaving Today FM

Waterford Wispers report that 2FM is to become just a late night slot on RTE Gold

The justice media awards shortlist was announced this week

Ryan Tubridy was back hosting his show in Dublin from the Q102 studios

Radio Nova are airing a documentary on a Scottish band