It’s been another crazy year in the radio industry, but now that year is coming to an end. Let’s take a look at the biggest stories of 2022 and see what’s changed in this industry we love.
In January we saw the start of a story that would go on for months
Well, it wasn’t exactly the start, but this story dragged on so much everything just kind of blurs together at this point.
South east radio and Wexford county council had a falling out over ad spend. South East Radio claimed that the council was using its power as the stations biggest advertiser to pressure the station and get involved in its editorial direction.
It got spoken about by the Taoiseach, had a standards in public office investigation, there was no slowing it down. There’s a dedicated section of the site with all our coverage so I’d recomend checking that out if your interested.
The freedom of the press is very important, so it’s good to see this story got good traction. Hopefully it’s something we don’t need to discuss again in 2023.
February saw us post our biggest story of the year
In a bonus post in February, we asked if Irish radio should have an Irish music quota.
Both sides aired their views, and the department gave their view on the matter too. It quickly became our most popular post of the year, a position it’s held since.
Not bad for a Bonus post
March saw the 2 johnnies attempt a second launch of there Drive Time show, after attempt one went a bit, well, shite.
2FM went all out. New jingles, huge hype, and it all lasted just 3 days. After a sexist segment in their podcast the 2 Johnnies had their new Drive Time show paused in February, but March saw them return for round 2.
Thankfully the second attempt lasted a bit longer, and the show now continues with healthy JNLR numbers to boot.
I mean, that’s one way to launch a show.
RTE was getting sued left right and centre in April
Both the leader of the opposition Mary Lou McDonald, as well as MEP’s Mick Wallace and Clare Daly started legal actions against RTÉ this month.
RTE is being sued a lot at the moment between a number of Fair City actors, journalists and politicians. It will be an interesting one to watch in 2023, but we’ll say no more than that for now as proceedings are still ongoing.
May was a month with money
In may the BAI announced a number of Sound And Vision rounds, with funding amounting to €10.5 million
The Sound And Vision scheme is fantastic as it not only provides funding for quality public service broadcasting, but it also gives us a look at what we can expect on air over the coming months.
I’d be hoping sound and Vision continues in some form when the BAI is replaced by the Media Commission in February. We’ll need to wait and see.
We had a break up in June
June was the month that RTÉ and Dublin Pride had their break up. It all started with a discussion about trans people on LiveLine that annoyed a lot of the LGBTQ+ community. Dublin Pride ended their relationship with RTÉ after the show, which resulted in the story going full nuclear.
The wireless group then launched Pride Vibes, a radio station which now seems to have ceased broadcasting.
It’s always a shame to see organisations arguing like this, so hopefully this valuable relationship can be rebuilt in 2023. Bridges seemed well burnt for a while but who knows what the future brings.
July is for JNLR
It was a mixed bag of numbers this book with everything remaining relatively stable. Afternoons on Radio 1 showed the first signs of trouble, with questions being asked about Ray Darcy in particular.
While everyone wasn’t up by any means, it certainly wasn’t a total disaster. it’s only when you have a downward trend you need to be very concerned, and for the most part we’ve avoided that.
August was quiet enough, but RTÉ launched a new Radio Player
GoLoud has been around for a while now, and RTÉ knew they needed to catch up if they were to compete in the digital age. In august they launched the new Radio Player, which serves as a hub for all audio content across radio, podcasts and news.
If your interested you can check out our review of the new app on YouTube.
September brought us one of the years weirder stories
Imagine having a text number so close to a radio stations, that people started texting you by accident.
@travelwithaine on TikTok has been receiving messages from FM104 listeners for years now, with people sending music requests, and justifying why they should win Westlife tickets.
On one hand it sounds fun, but on the other it also sounds very annoying. I think I’ll pass.
October was the month of the IMRO Awards
The IMRO Awards went back to an in person event in October, with loads of people making the journey to the Lyrath for the annual radio get together.
Loads of presenters and stations received awards, so congratulations to everyone involved. It’s great to see everyone united at one big radio event.
Red FM got baught by Bauer in November
Corks Red FM agreed a deal to be purchased by German media group Bauer in November. The deal which is still subject to approval will likely see Red FM join the GoLoud network, and start syndicating the likes of the Cash Machine.
It’s going to be very interesting to watch the cork market in the next few months and years, as all local stations now have big parent companies. We’ll need to wait and see if this leads to more investment, or a major downsizing. Time will tell.
And that’s about it
We’re now in December and 2022 is coming to a close. We’ve covered loads of stories each week for the past year, so this is only scratching the surface, but it’s still good to take a look back at the year gone by.
Have a very merry Christmas from us at Radio Land and we look forward to bringing you more Radio News in 2023🎉