Lots happens in the radio industry each week so here’s a summary of the week we just enjoyed.
Here’s What Happened
Cork got its first of two new breakfast shows this week. Loraine And Ross in the Morning kicked off for 96FM on Monday, ahead of the Launch of a new Red FM breakfast show with KC starting in the next few weeks.
Loraine made the move from drive over to breakfast following KC’s move back to Bauer. So how strong is the new show? Let’s take a look.
Is Loraine And Ross in the Morning any good?
Loraine and Ross are two very different presenters. Ross is excitable and always ready to joke around and fly close to the sun. Lorraine on the other hand is very good at the nitty gritty of radio, while also being able to engage effectively with the casual style of her co host.
It’s an interesting dynamic. And it’s probably the biggest change for the show. 96FM have decided to play it safe and keep a very similar format in place. The 2 grand minute is still unchanged, as is the Buzz showbiz news segment. Even the jingles have a familiar feel. With Ross having a relatively Similar style, it feels like station bosses are just swapping in Lorraine and trusting her to nail it.
Trusting loraine is probably a wise move. She’s both a capable host and desk operator by sounds of things, but I think bosses should perhaps have trusted her more. Let her be creative, give her a budget, let her create her own features instead of just handing her the old format.
Lorraine and Ross are both good at what they do and should in my view have been trusted to build something fresh and exciting. Maybe it will take time for them to make it there own, but for now it feels a bit like their hosting someone else’s show. Their doing a fantastic job of it, but it doesn’t sound like they got major creative freedom in designing the show format.
Even the simple change of having a different person start the show each day is great, but let them be drastic. Giving a presenter a sense of ownership of the show should create a better end product.
For now it’s a great show, but it’s also nothing new. It’s going to be really fascinating to see what the new show from KC sounds like, but we’ll need to wait and see.
It was another interesting week for RTÉ, but it does feel like it’s now quietened down a bit. Instead of ten big key points we can safely narrow this week down to just two.
First up is the massive drop in licence fee revenue. 27% less for the first week in July and 31% in the second. That’s over a million euro. If that continues it’s going to have unimaginable impacts on public service broadcasting in Ireland.
The government will likely need to support RTe, but this is something that won’t happen without “reforms and potential cost cutting”. This is really bad news as we’re eventually going to see hits to journalism and Irish made entertainment.
RTE is already under huge financial pressure without this, so it’s going to be a tough time ahead with public broadcasting being severely damaged.
In other slightly more positive news, an RTÉ statement this week confirmed that the new DG Kevin Bakhurst had a constructive meeting with Ryan Tubridy. The details of that are unclear as of now, but it sounds positive so let’s just roll with it.
All in all everything is still a bit of a mess, and it’s sad to see how badly public broadcasting in Ireland has been destroyed. It’s going to be a rough time ahead but all we can do is watch it unfold it seems.
Finally this week we got the sad news that Cork DJ Colin Edwards, AKA Funky Colin has passed away.
Colin was a DJ, Voiceover artist and host, most recently hosting Funk It Up on RTÉ Pulse. he’s been well known in the cork radio circle for years and will certainly be missed.
There have been many tributes to Colin in recent days, including from the likes of PJ Coogan. PJ spoke about knowing Colin since the 80s in pirate radio, and even played some of Colin’s imaging on air this week. You can hear that here
Perhaps the nicest tribute however came from Colin’s sun Mark. Mark spoke in a Facebook post about a special moment he had with his dad only two weeks ago.
Today will forever be the hardest day I’ve ever had to endure, but a day where I have also found a sense of peace, you fought harder that any person I’ve ever known, my hero since the day I was born! My dad was a superstar to many but most importantly to me, growing up by your side was one hell of a ride! My dad Funky Colin Edwards, A legend and a name that always be remember in Cork City, you brought music and joy to everybody around you and I will treasure every memory with you forever, only 2 weeks ago you flew to Portugal and watched me propose to the love of my life and shared that beautifull moment with us, I asked you were you proud of me and you said always ❤️ until we meet again dad, look down on us all, the skies have gained an infinite party and one day I want a vip ticket! Love you always ❤️🙏
Mark Edwards Facebook
It’s a sad story, but at the same time a life well lived. Colin loved every aspect of radio, in fact when he came to chat to us in college I remember having a wonderfully nerdy conversation with him about the business of making imaging. A true radio man, May he rest in peace.
You can pay your tributes on the RIP.ie page here
Quick Bits
Scammers have started impersonating Galway Bay FM
Coimisiún na Meán this week announced John Evans as commissioner for digital services
Here’s an article on Beats 20 years on air
Brooke Scullion is filling in on Radio Ulster
People are generally still engaging with news, but younger audiences get it on Tik Tok
There are 120 jobs up for grabs at Coimisiún na Meán
And that’s the summary for this week. Come back to radio land next week for more radio news📻 and be sure to check us out on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn for more fun from the world of radio.