Lots happens in the radio industry each week so here’s a summary of the week we just enjoyed.
Here’s What Happened
The IMRO Awards are back for 2023.
Applications opened this week, so radio stations can start making submissions via the awards website now.
The event is once again returning to the Lyrath Estate Hotel in Kilkenny, with the ceremony taking place on Friday October 6th. The IMRO Awards are probably the wildest night in Irelands radio calendar, so now we know the all important date.
‘It comes around so quickly, however, now is the time for stations to showcase their best output and get their entries in for the IMRO Radio Awards. We look forward to continuing the strong participation of the last number of years and would like to thank IMRO for its continued support of the awards.”
Chris Doyle, Chairperson of the IMRO Radio Awards
It’s always fantastic to see talented radio people get recognised at these events, and of course we also look forward to providing our summary of proceedings the morning after the night before.
Nominations close at 5pm on June 29th, so get those applications in. Best of luck to those entering from us at Radio Land.
Who the hell is going to host the Late Late Show? RTE seem to be running out of options as their biggest names are ruling themselves out.
Claire Byrne had been favourite to get the gig, but she ruled herself out on Wednesday as she wanted to focus on her family and radio show. Sarah McInerney followed soon after, saying that she was looking forward to all the upcoming political stuff on Drive time and Prime Time.
It’s hard to know who RTÉ will pick now, but it really is going to be exciting. Patrick Kielty, kathrin Thomas, and Jennifer Zamparelli are all names linked to the role, with Tommy Tiernan also still in the running.
Who do you think should take over the show? Let us know over on our Instagram story.
Finally this week, some good and bad news depending on how you look at it.
Reporters without borders have published their annual World Press Freedom Index, and it contained some good news for Ireland. We now have the second best press freedom score, with Norway maintaining the top spot.
This is great news, but Ireland isn’t without its issues. the main thing mentioned as far as ireland is concerned was the lack of funding for public service broadcasters and local newspapers.
Denis O’Brien leaving the Irish media business was seen as a good thing, after his stakes in INM and Communicorp were sold to mediahuis And Bauer respectively. Ireland had been criticised for having too few media owners in the past, so this makes sense.
While it’s good news overall for Ireland, the picture around the world isn’t great.
Things aren’t good at all actually, with 31 countries deemed to be in a “very serious situation”. Thats up 10 from 2 years ago so we’re not moving in the right direction at all. That’s not good for obvious reasons.
Between misinformation and AI, there are lots of concerns facing media at the moment. I’d highly recommend reading the article linked below as it gives a great overview of the situation.
Hopefully we can see things get better over the next while, but it could be a rocky road ahead.
Quick Bits
There was a lovely article about the community behind Irish radio in America
Joe Duffy was on the warpath this week
documentary The Wireless is streaming on a new Fast Channel called Irish Eyes TV
EuroSong radio has launched on GoLoud
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.