Lots happens in the radio industry each week so here’s a summary of the week we just enjoyed.
Here’s What happened
RTE have started running ads on Raidió na Gaeltachta and are encouraging brands to ensure a high standard of Irish in their adverts.
RnaG listeners are passionate about Irish, and even though someone’s phonetic pronunciation might sound right, a native speaker can tell when someone’s bluffing. As such, RTE is providing support and advice to advertisers to get this right.
They recommend that scripts should be drafted in Irish, saying “Automated translators/ Translation software don’t understand the tone and intricacies of the language.” In short, don’t use Google Translate.
They also say that a VO artist should have a level of Irish to enable them to appear as a contributor on Raidió na Gaeltachta. This should ensure a level of quality in the output.
RTE’s sales team will be running a webinar on the subject in July too, so they really are trying to ensure that their listeners do get high quality ads in Irish. Don’t think I’ll be able to voice any Irish ads for the station anytime soon unfortunately.
Read more about RTE’s Irish ads here
Campaign group Why Not Her? Have released another study looking at AirPlay of artists on Irish radio.
Out of the top 100 songs played on Irish radio between June 2023 and may 2024, just 2 were from Irish female artists. Jazzy and Dolores O’Riordan were the only ones reaching the top 100.
Most Irish radio stations have a tendency to just play big Irish artists which is a shame in some ways, there has been an improvement in airplay for artists of colour, but still a huge amount of work needs to be done.
Check out the Irish times report below for lots of interesting figures on Irish radio airplay. Why Not Her? Have been fighting this cause for a long time now.
Read about Irish radio airplay here
A number of stations have signed new 10 year broadcasting licenses with regulator Coimisiún na Meán
First up, Corks Red FM have signed a new contract to provide a music driven Local Broadcasting Service for the Cork Market. Owned by Bauer, Red FM has a similar identity to 98FM in Dublin, using the same tagline and imaging.
Also this week, East coast FM made the trip to The Commission to sign a new 10 year licence to provide a Local Broad-Format Sound Broadcasting Service in Wicklow.
I do wonder if there are many changes in these new contracts, but time will tell. With networking and all that kind of stuff on the rise, you’d hope that Coimisiún na Meán would use their power to protect the jobs that exist in the Irish radio industry.
Well done to the stations signing new contracts, hopefully we’ll hear high quality content from you in the coming years.
Quick Bits
Russell Crowe has shared his thoughts on Ryan Tubridy’s situation
Nova are airing a documentary on Christy Dignam
Raidió na Life wins Radio Station of the Year at the Celtic Media Awards
Cork Mid Summer Festival have an online pop up radio station now
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.