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 have awarded €2million to be split between 10 radio and TV projects to support the live music sector.
As always more money has gone to television as a result of its more expensive nature, although there are some big budget radio projects in the mix too. Let’s take a look at what got funding on the radio side.
- Hot Press and the IBI are teaming up once again for Irish Music Month 2022. the project has been awarded €320,000 from the BAI in this round.
- Community Radio Youghal are making The Day The Music Died, A Performers Perspective. This 10 part series looks at how the Covid pandemic has impacted the local live music sector. It’s been allocated €5,370 from the Bai.
- Cultural Resonance on Phoenix FM has received €7,406, from the writing process to performing, this series explores the experience of musicians in Dublin 15.
- Cuan an Cheoil 3 for RnaG has been allocated funding in this round. It’s the second biggest award for a radio project as it receives €73,000 from the BAI.
- Ray Cuddihy is producing Mise Sessions for RTÉ Radio 1. The eight part music performance series has received €38,472 from the BAI in this round.
Well done to everyone who received funding in this round. it’s great as always to see quality broadcasting being supported by the BAI.
Read the full list of funding recipients here
Broadcaster Eoghan McDermott, who was previously the host of 2FM Breakfast as well as Junior Eurovision Eire on TG4 is making a return to broadcasting.
Eoghan had been the subject of aligations, however his accuser has since admitted through her Lawyer that a number of facts were false. She accepted she was above the age of consent when they met, that she falsely claimed McDermott fled the country as a result of the claims and that it was wrong of her to retweet unfounded allegations of sexual assault by third parties.
Eoghan hasn’t gone back to broadcasting much in Ireland since the incident, but now he is making a return to Love Island Australia. Eoghan previously was the narrator of season 1 and 2, but now he’s back for season 4.
It will be interesting to see if this helps Eoghan get his foot back in the door of Irish media. Will the Australians give Irish broadcasters the confidence to bring Eoghan back to breakfast? We’ll need to wait and see.
And finally an update on the drama between CRKC, The IBI, and the GAA.
If you want more context on this situation I’d recomend you have a quick read here, but if you just want a TLDR version… basically the IBI (Independent Broadcasters of Ireland) did a deal with the GAA that Community Radio Kilkenny City were unhappy with. Very unhappy actually. CRKC claimed that they had been told by the GAA that they needed to “curtail their coverage”. This went down like a fader after a curse word, because GAA was a huge part of the output for CRKC. CRKC didn’t go into this, but it’s safe to assume that the loss of GAA would also hit the stations finances as a result of potential lost sponsorships.
So, what’s happened now. Well the IBI responded to Radio Today. here’s what they said. Keep in mind this is responding to the CRKC statement.
“This statement is inaccurate, misleading and misrepresents the situation.
“The fact of an agreement between IBI and GAA regarding the broadcasting of GAA games is nothing new.
“The IBI have had a deal with the GAA concerning the broadcasting of their games by our member stations for almost 14 years and the latest 5-year deal doesn’t entail any significant changes to what was agreed in the original agreement.
“If an IBI station is not commentating on a match, other bona fide stations appropriately licensed and approved by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland may provide commentary provided it is within the terms of their broadcasting licenses and as long as the GAA allows them to. To suggest a blanket prohibition on non IBI stations is in place is completely disingenuous and untrue.
“Therefore, to suggest that GAA supporters are restricted in their access to radio commentaries as a result of this agreement is simply not true.
“The only people who should be worried about this deal are those who seek to operate outside a rights agreement with the GAA or to contravene its terms which are standard, long standing, and reasonable and have worked well for IBI stations, the GAA and most importantly for GAA fans throughout the country since 2008.”
Kieran McGeary, on behalf of the IBI, speaking with Radio Today
What does this change? It’s hard to know. It would be interesting to see if CRKC respond further, but for now that’s where we stand.
It would be good to see the IBI clarify what the differences actually are in the deal, we know your saying they’re not significant, but it would still be interesting. Outside of that it’s just a case of waiting to see if anyone comments further.
Read the coverage from Radio Today here
Quick Bits
Halloween FM is back, here’s their launch
RTE have announced winners of their short story competition
Philip Boucher Hayes is taking over Countrywide on radio 1
Des Cahill is stepping away from the sunday Game to move to the weekend sports shows on Radio 1
Things are still all good for live radio
Mairead Ronan left Today FM as she didn’t want to be Miss Rabbit
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.