Lots happens in the radio industry each week so here’s a summary of the week we just enjoyed.
Here’s what happened
He was THE newsreader in Cork. Probably the best known radio newsreader in the county, and yesterday he was sentenced to eight years in prison.
Pearse McCarthy was a long time newsreader for 96FM and C103, filled in on the Arts House which is simulcast on both stations, and independently hosted the 4Play music podcast. But back in 2017 Gardai made a discovery
Pearse was found to be in possession of €270,000 worth of drugs for sale and supply with the drugs consisting of 2.2kg of cocaine, 2.8kg of cannabis and 950g of MDMA. Usually this is a mandatory 10 year sentence, but the judge set that aside on foot of a guilty plea by McCarthy.
McCarthy admitted that over the course of two and a half to three years in the drug dealing operation he had handled 90 to 100 kilos of drugs with a street value of up to €2m.
According to Defence barrister Jane Hyland, Pearse had addressed his addiction in the 90s and had actually counselled others with drug addictions for many years. But he relapsed later in life following the sudden death of his partner.
Pearse was sentenced to nine years with one suspended, with the judge noting that he is doing well in prison.
It’s a crazy story to think about and hopefully is something we don’t see again. It just goes to show how messy the world of drugs can be. It’s never good when the newsreader becomes the news.
Journalists from BBC Northern Ireland went on strike this week in response to local programming cuts.
The strike coincided with elections in the north, so this led to widespread impacts on many BBC NI services. BBC Radio Ulster had no news untill 9am, at which point Adam Smyth, director of BBC Northern Ireland read a bulletin.
Flagship shows such as good Morning Ulster and the Nolan Show were off air, and national coverage was used to discuss the elections. In all more than 200 journalists went on strike, so the impact was wide reaching across TV, radio, and online. There were plans for coverage of the election scrapped across all platforms, so really not great at all.
The whole thing follows cutbacks to Radio Foyle’s morning show, as well as other changes at BBC NI. It’s a shame to see journalists being forced to strike in the face of cuts, but we can only hope that it has some impact.
Coverage is returning to normal today, but ultimately there are no winners here. Fair play to the journalists for fighting for what they believe in though, you can’t knock that.
Finally this week just a quick note about Radio Land. You can now follow us on LinkedIn.
I’m hoping to slowly evolve Radio Land’s social presence over the next while, and this is the start of that. Radio Land is now available across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
It’s mad to think that Radio Land turns Three in a few months. I’m now in a position where I can focus more attention on the project again, and I look forward to the sites future.
As always if you have feedback about Radio Land or would simply like to get in touch, check out the Contact us page.
Thank you so much for supporting Radio Land. I hope you’ve found the site of benefit at some stage👍
Quick Bits
Its oficial, BBC Radio 5 Live presenter Patrick Kielty is taking over The Late Late show on RTÉ
NewsTalk has a new logo and tagline, “Conversation That Counts”
KarePlus is the new sponsor of the Ray Foley show
Insights with Sean O’Rourke launched on RTÉ Radio Player this week
A reviewer argued this week that Niall Boylans show is one of the most important on Irish radio
The Justice Media Awards Shortlist has been published
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.