Lots happens in the radio industry each week so here’s a summary of the week we just enjoyed.
Here’s What Happened
Broadcaster Niall Boylan is running in the upcoming European Elections, and has stepped down from his show on Irelands Classic Hits radio.
Niall is running for the independent Ireland party, which doesn’t operate a strong party whip system. Niall for his part is running with the tagline “ it’s time to stand up to Europe”.
It’s time Ireland stood up to the EU and we stop handing over our sovereignty and ability to control our own borders, protect our agricultural sector and so much more. I’ll stand up and be The Real Voice For Dublin And Ireland.
Niall in an X post promoting his campaign.
Following the announcement, there were changes in Nialls slot on Classic Hits Radio. Gareth O’Callaghan stepped in to host, with a statement first played from the radio stations CEO Kevin Branigan.
Niall then sat down for a non political interview with Gareth in which Niall discussed his career and spoke to a few listeners.
Niall isn’t after completely ditching the broadcast world, as for now at least he’s continuing to host his live phone in podcast, which of course isn’t subject to the same election coverage rules.
Time will tell if Niall can convert listeners to votes. Gareth O’Callaghan continues to cover the night time talk slot for now, and who knows where we’ll go from there.
Best wishes to Niall on his future career.
Read more about Niall Boylan‘s election bid here
In other news revenue continues to grow in the radio industry.
According to numbers from Radiocentre Ireland, the radio world made €39.6m for Q1 this year. That’s up 2% on the same period last year. It’s small growth, but growth all the same.
Spot advertising was flat which is somewhat concerning, and digital revenue only grew by 3%. Digital revenue made up just €1.8m which seems really small all things considered. definitely room to improve on that.
Sponsorships and partnerships are performing well though as it seems brands want more integrated solutions. €7.1m came from these sorts of partnerships in Q1, that’s growth of 10.8% which is very healthy.
There’s no drop which is good, but it certainly could be better. Radio really needs to modernise didgital advertising for a start, as the default now for small businesses is just to advertise on Facebook or Google.
It’s good as always that Radiocentre are transparent about these numbers. Hopefully we’ll have strong performance for the rest of the year.
Read more about radio revenue here
Finally for now, Lyric FM got a shout out this week from Sarah Jessica Parker.
She shared a screenshot of the RTE Radio Player to her Instagram where she praised the station, saying “It’s always so lovely”. The Sex And The City star has 9.7 million followers, so this comes as a nice promotional boost for Lyric.
She wasn’t listening to Marty in the Morning unfortunately, instead opting for Lyric Through the night. Still, a listeners a listener at the end of the day.
Unlike the BBC, I don’t think RTE has much in the way of international advertising, so international listeners don’t bring huge value. With that said the celebrity endorsement was widely covered in the Irish press so maybe that will give Lyric a small boost.
This can only be a good thing, and it’s great to see Irish radio getting attention.
Read SJP’s Instagram post here
Quick Bits
Simon Delaney has spoken about hosting in Gay Byrnes Lyric FM slot
Ireland was featured on the Global countdown
An Taobh Tuathail is turning 25
Bauer have become gold standard certified from the Internet advertising bureau
Lyric FM are celebrating 25 years of Movies and Musicals
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.