Lots happens in the radio industry each week so here’s a summary of the week we just enjoyed.
Here’s What Happened
This week marked the end of the road for the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland. The BAI has now been dissolved,, and it’s remit has moved over to the new media regulator, Coimisiún na Meán.
In case your like me and haven’t a notion how to pronounce that, here’s an audio clip of one of the commissioners saying it.
I really do wish I was better at Irish.
Anyway, the new regulator takes all the media regulation stuff from the BAI, and adds on some online regulation to create one big regulator of all media. There’s still a lot we don’t know, but it’s an exciting time ahead. Will it change the industry for better or worse? We’ll need to wait to find out.
The new website CnaM.ie isn’t fully ready yet, so the old BAi site remains for now, but you can read a message from the four commissioners on the new site so it’s worth a look.
With all that said, the very best of luck to everyone at Coimisiún na Meán. It’s a time of change in the industry so I hope that they do a good job in supporting radio in ireland.
Check out the new Coimisiún na Meán website here
Usually when we hear on air giveaways we expect cars, holidays, or cash. However, Midlands 103 are doing something that I’ve never heard being done before.
The station announced this week that they will be giving away a round of fertility treatment as part of a partnership with a company called first IVF. It’s hoped that the partnership will raise awareness, and of course it might, hopefully, change some lives.
The station do seem to be taking the sensitivity of this subject into account, and they don’t appear to be using the typical words you’d hear around radio promotion such as win or prize. The station haven’t said anything on this, so that’s purely an observation on my part.
I’d be really interested to hear people’s thoughts on this concept as it’s so different to what we’re used to. Is this radio at its best helping its listeners? Or do you think IVF treatment is something that shouldn’t be given away as part of a radio promotion? Tell us over on our Instagram story now.
Finally this week, a story that’s mainly related to television, but also brings up some interesting radio bits.
Ryan Tubridy is leaving the Late Late show. You knew that already though so I’m not going to bore you with the details, if you’ve no idea what I’m talking about then fair play, that’s next level living under a rock.
There are two interesting things about this from a radio point of view so let’s discuss.
- We got to see Claire Byrne using a fancy new radio studio
- Could the replacement lead to a shake up at RTÉ Radio?
Right, first things first, the studio
We’ve discussed RTE’s new studios for Radio 1 before, but this is the first time we’ve seen them used to their fullest potential.
After RTÉ made their announcement, Ryan joined Claire for an interview in studio. Like a well oiled machine, the audio went up as a podcast on Radio Player, the video went out across all the main social media platforms, and an article went onto the RTÉ News app and website with a video version of the interview attached. it really showed how these new visual studios could be put to work to generate content that was useable across all platforms.
I do think the clip should have also gone to YouTube, but it was still amazing to see how much mileage they got out of 1 interview in the new high tech studio. hopefully they continue to take advantage of this incredible setup more going forward as it really is the way to go for a quality digital broadcaster.
The other interesting thing about Ryan’s move from a radio point of view is how it might impact the schedule on RTEs radio stations.
Many of the names that have been mentioned in connection with the job are radio presenters with RTÉ, and if they take on the Late Late they may decide to quit the radio show.
It’s fun to speculate on who’ll get the gig but we’ll need to wait for RTÉ to make there announcement in late summer.
Big changes over at RTÉ, but it’s all very interesting to follow. Best wishes to Ryan on his next adventures from us at Radio Land.
Quick Bits
Newsreader Pearse McCarthy has pleaded guilty to the sale and supply of drugs
Radio Nova found irelands best band as part of their Shamrock Referendum
Huge congratulations to PJ Gallagher who is expecting twins with his partner Kelly
Gareth O’Callaghan was injured in a serious road collision
How have the accents in Irelands radio ads changed
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.