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 announced Upfront with Katie Hannon, a new Monday night current affairs show to take over Claire Byrne Live’s old slot.
What’s interesting though is that it’s not really just a TV show. Upfront will be a full brand of podcasts, articles, and digital content across social platforms designed to facilitate public discussion.
Katie is giving up her radio hosting duties to take over the new show, so that means we’re getting a new host for Late Debate and Saturday with Katie Hannon.
RTEs deputy foreign editor Colm Ó Mongáin will take over both slots from December. He’s been responsible for some of RTEs podcasts recently, including Brexit Republic and the Pandemic Podcast.
The press release does mention that Katie will still have a roll on radio 1, but they haven’t said much about what that will be yet.
Very best of luck to Katie from us at Radio Land. It’s great seeing RTÉ really taking a digital first approach with this, so I look forward to seeing it all come to fruition in January.
Is it time for radio Rí Rá to go full time on FM?
The station returned to FM for three days this week, but in all the promotional material for the launch they made one thing clear. They want a full time FM licence. is it time they got one?
“We would like to thank the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, and Sport, and the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland for their support in this development opportunity, and the opportunity to show that the station is ready to take the next step to provide quality shows and content to young people at a national level on a full-time basis.”
Raidió Rí-Rá Chairperson Traic Ó Braonáin
So, are they ready to go full time? And what does that look like? Would they operate as an independent public service broadcaster? Or would they try be a commercial operator?
On a national level it’s just RTÉ and Bauer now, and even if you don’t think we need new stations you’ve got to admit that Rí Rá is doing something nobody else is, and catering for an audience nobody else is serving.
So, should they get a full time licence? Go vote on our insta story now.
Finally this week, RTÉ newsreader and former radio continuity announcer Eileen Dunne has retired.
Eileen has had many gigs on radio over the years, presenting the God Slot on RTÉ Radio 1 as well as many music shows on Lyric FM.
In recent years Eileen’s main gig has been the Nine O Clock TV News, but she still continued to read news on Radio 1 and Lyric.
Congratulations to Eileen on a great career and all the very best for the future.
Quick Bits
The boss at Radio 1 says he fears losing Joe Duffy and Ryan Tubridy
The BAI are joining other regulators to collaborate on online media regulation
A review of broadcasting rules is taking place
The winners were announced at the Radio 1 Folk Awards
An article this week tells the story of One Offaly town’s contribution to the birth of radio
GoLoud have launched a Christmas station and hired Santy to host for them
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.