Lots happens in the radio industry each week so here’s a summary of the week we just enjoyed.
Here’s What Happened
The BAI had some money to spend in the latest round of sound and vision. A total of €6.4 million in funding was announced for a number of TV and radio projects.
We didn’t see anything of the scale of Irish music month this time unfortunately, but there are certainly a few notable projects.
Here are just a few of the interesting radio projects getting funding in this round.
- Waiting For Faro is a drama for Newstalk focusing on budget air travel. It’s a one part 80 minute production and it’s been allocated €9,987, only €13 off 10k. The drama is being made by Purple Design Limited.
- RTE gold is getting a number of new shows such as the Live Vault allocated €15,286, and For The Record allocated €20,441.
- Push Button B is a 2 part documentary for Ocean FM. The doc will take a nostalgic look at Irish phone boxes. This production was allocated €8,840 and is being produced internally by Ocean FM
The sound and vision scheme really is a fantastic scheme for smaller producers, and it’s great to get a little glimpse of the future every few months as we look forward to some great public service TV and radio projects.
I’m really interested to see how this scheme will work under the new media commission. I hope it doesn’t change radically but it will be interesting to see what happens.
Check out what got funding here
This one might not be considered news by many, but I find this really interesting and I personally think this could have a massive impact.
RTE Gold had a sponsor for the paddy’s day weekend. The station, which never usually has advertising was proudly shouting about Harvey Norman while counting down the top 200 Irish tracks of all time.
Personally, I think this is fantastic. RTE finally felt Gold had a high enough listenership to justify a sponsor. This adds serious legitimacy to RTEs internet radio game and simultaneously could allow brands to play around with media sponsorships without spending a fortune.
I say could as I can’t unfortunately confirm if this is a stand alone sponsorship. Harvey Norman also sponsored 2FM for the Weekend, so I don’t know if the two deals were bundled together. I did ask RTE’s press team but unfortunately I haven’t yet received a response.
Regardless, this is still good on so many level’s, it lowers the bar of entry to media sponsorship, adds legitimacy to RTE’s internet radio game as well as internet radio more generally, and in this case it’s helping bring in extra cash for a public service broadcaster who needs it.
Hopefully we see more of this going forward as I think this is a really great first step for the industry. We are going to need to transition into digital services over the next few years, so seeing RTÉ have their fingers in that pie in a commercial capacity already is great as far as I’m concerned.
How the spot sounded
You can hear RTÉ gold as well as loads of other stations on our listen page
Finally this week a sad but important story. The Man Ezeke, who according to PJ Coogan was Irelands first black radio presenter, has passed away. Ezeke hosted shows on many stations in Ireland, both pirate and licensed , including ERI, 96FM and Iradio.
I’m only 21 so I don’t have any memories of listening to Ezeke’s shows personally, but I think it’s important to acknowledge not just a great radio presenter, but also someone who knocked down barriers.
Many people from across the industry have paid tribute to Ezeke this week, a number of which can be read and heard at the links below. May he rest in peace.
Quick Bits
A look back at Raidió na Gaeltachta from the Irish Times
RTE’s short story contest is back for another year
The future of media commission report was back in the news this week, but it still isn’t published
RTE are on high alert for a cyber attack after suspicious SD cards were sent to the regional offices
And that’s the summary for this week. Come back to radio land next week for more radio news📻 and be sure to follow us on Twitter and Instagram for extra stories.