Lots happens in the radio industry each week so here’s a summary of the week we just enjoyed.
Here’s What Happened
Let’s just get all the RTE stuff out of the way in one burst shall we?
RTE have spent €493,291.69 on grant Thornton reviews so far, according to documents given to the Public Accounts Committee. It’s hard to criticise them for this as they were effectively forced to do it, but it does seem like an awful lot of money.
The review into Toy Show The Musical is still ongoing.
Meanwhile, the funding of public service broadcasting was a hot topic once again as the Taoiseach said this week that he thinks people could refuse to pay a household media fee following all the controversy.
Direct exchequer funding was mentioned again for the first time in a while, and it’s probably looking like the least worst option at this point.
Lastly on the Rte front for now, former chairperson Moya Doherty has spoken about how cuts could kill RTE. She specifically mentioned plans to cut 2FM, saying this would cut the link with the younger audience.
The next big news will probably be the plan from Kevin Bakhurst, which will tell us a lot about the broadcasters future. It’s unclear just how many jobs will be lost or services will be cut, but time will tell. That report is expected some time this month.
Read the chairpersons comments here
Read about the reports costs here
Read what the Taoiseach had to say here
Halloween FM went back on air this week, but it was only for one day with very little fanfare. I was thinking after last weeks news post that we’d heard nothing from the station by that point, but then they did go on air at 7AM on the 31st.
It’s interesting in ways as I remember when Halloween FM first launched they had Fanta as main sponsor, and they ran with live programming for a whole week. Halloween has grown since then, but Halloween FM has downsized to the point where it’s now efectivly just a launchpad for Christmas FM.
By the end of the day, the Christmas FM account had posted sharing that the “Halloween FM Takeover” was nearly at an end, and that Christmas FM would be on air from 7am via the website and apps.
I kinda feel Halloween FM has the potential to be way bigger than it is, but I think the team there have realised that for better or worse, Christmas FM is what they’re known for, and running two large scale stations isn’t worth the greif.
Who knows what the future holds for Halloween FM, but gone are the days when the station had a big event with dedicated multi platform content. It’s a shame in a way.
Finally for now, a really cool story.
The fantastic podcast documentary The Nobody Zone has been turned into a two part TV series.
The new Docudrama will air on RTE One on Monday 6th and Monday 13th of November, with Actor Ned Dennehy playing Kieran Kelly in the show:
The story is told using recorded tapes of police interviews, where the Irish man claims he’s murdered 11 people.
RTE Media Sales are also trying to sell the show to international broadcasters, and were pitching it at Mipcom last month.
I’m really excited to see how they translate this incredible podcast into a TV series. The podcast won a number of awards, so maybe the TV show can be just as successful.
Quick Bits
RTE spent €75,000 appealing self employment claims
Former reach PLC strategist Ciaran Bradley is the new digital editer at Newstalk
Doc on One has won a major award
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.