Lots happens in the radio industry each week so here’s a summary of the week we just enjoyed.
Here’s What Happened
Dermot & Dave are splitting up, as Dermot has made the decision to leave Today FM.
I think it’s fair to say they were Irish radios best known double act. Sure there are double acts with more listeners such as Sarah and Cormac on Radio 1, but I think really as far as double acts go Dermot and Dave were the ultimate pair.
Dermot is leaving the station to focus on other interests such as his Mindfulness coaching, while Dave is staying with the station with a new solo show. The pair are just back from live shows in Australia covering the Women’s World Cup, it was a fitting way to end a show that has existed for 21 years, an amazing achievement in radio.
Dave’s new show starts on the 28th of August. The very best of luck to the lads on their future projects, and well done on a truly fantastic run together.
It’s going to be interesting to see how listeners respond to the changes at Today FM, but we’ll just need to wait and see.
I don’t know if you remember, but RTÉ had a small controversy recently and it’s probably worth looking at the latest updates.
The most important update really is around Licence Fee revenue. In short, RTÉ has now lost out on millions of euro in revenue and things seem to be getting worse by the week. In total, revenue is down just under €3.7 million already, with a drop of €2,767,520 in July, and a drop of another €900,000 in the first week of August.
This is really bad news as long term it will unfortunately lead to less public service content in ireland. while Kevin Bakhurst says RTÉ won’t run out of money this year or next, he did say in an Irish times interview published this morning that they may need to delay some digital transformation projects.
“What it might affect is investment decisions in digital and in transforming the organisation… some of them may have to be delayed until we have a little bit more certainty about funding.”
RTE DG Kevin Bakhurst speaking to the Irish Times
We also heard this week that the reviews into Toy show the musical and the RTÉ redundancy schemes got under way.
Finally for now it was revealed that RTÉ are currently paying Ryan Tubridy less than what was asked for. They are currently paying him what they think he’s worth, which is less than what was requested in an invoice from July. No agreement has been made on Tubridy’s return yet, but it’s reported that they hope to conclude things in the next week or two.
It’s important to keep an eye on this story, as like it or not this is probably the most impactful story in Irish media for years. RTEs future impacts everything in Irish broadcasting, and it’s looking like a very rocky time ahead.
Read the Irish Times article here
An finally this week, Off The Ball is becoming a subscription service. Yep, the subscription radio era has arrived baby.
For €9,99 a month you get access to ad free podcasts, early access to some podcasts and ticket sales for OTB events, and extended interviews. They are pushing people towards signing up through the Off The Ball app, but you can also subscribe using the Apple Podcasts app if you so desire.
With over 60 podcasts a week I can see the value here. It seems a bit pricey to me, but then again I’m not a sports fan. For a price comparison the premium podcasts and news content from sports site The 42 costs €59,99 per year, which seems more reasonable but at the same time probably has less content.
If this is a success I’m sure it will be copied, so it’s one worth watching. I could see myself paying for a premium radio service, but it would need to have lots of perks. I’m sorry but I’m just not going to pay for ad free content alone.
So, with this new change we’re asking, is there any radio station you’d pay a subscription for? Go vote over on our Instagram story now.
Check out the subscription now
Quick Bits
combat sports reporter Lydia Des Dolles hosted her first show on Beat 102 103
There are some interesting stats on how many people want Tubridy back
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.