Lots happens in the radio industry each week so here’s a summary of the week we just enjoyed.
Here’s What Happened
A woman who was recently the subject of an RTÉ true crime podcast has been arrested and charged in Kerry.
Just 1 week after the conclusion of the podcast series The Real Carrie Jade, Carrie Jade, who’s real name is actually Samantha cookes was arrested in a Kerry post office in what’s been described as a sting operation.
The charge for welfare fraud comes after the podcast series detailed a number of incidents where Samantha Cooke’s allegedly deceived a number of people using many fake identities.
RTÉ have already released a short bonus episode to the podcast updateing listeners, hosted by the shows series producer. This really shows the advantages of podcasts compared with traditional radio in some ways.
You can get a podcast episode out near instantly, without needing to wait for a broadcast schedule to adapt. Massive well done to RTÉ for the investigation work, and for brilliant podcast production as always. RTÉs true crime podcasts are consistently good and I’d definitely recommend having a listen.
The Real Carrie Jade is available wherever you get your podcasts, and is making its way to television later this year.
Listen to the Real Carrie Jade from RTÉ here
How effective are radio ads? Radiocentre are trying to find out.
For a long time radio has struggled to provide brands with quality information about how effective their ad campaigns are. With something like Google or Meta you can have specific targeting and get results on how many people see your ad, click your ad, convert from your ad, and so on.
With radio it’s different. Loads of people hear your ad all at once, but how effective it is in turning listeners into customers is anyone’s guess. Radiocentre Ireland have launched a new study to try and establish ad effectiveness in a number of categories , hopefully encouraging advertisers to spend more.
It’s an interesting one as I can see radio finding it very hard to get close to providing the ad data modern brands want. Like a small business these days might spend €50 a day with something like Google, that adds up to €18,250 a year that radio misses out on because there’s a lack of a high quality data solution.
Hopefully that will change in time, but who knows. We’ll need to wait and see.
Read about the Radiocentre study here
Should car manufacturers be required to keep radios in cars?
The IBI are fighting a war to keep radios in vehicles, in a move to attempt to keep commuters listening to traditional broadcasters.
Many people now opt for Spotify or Apple Music in the car, with plenty more just listening to their own music library via Bluetooth. That has lead to FM radios falling out of favour in cars, much to the frustration of the radio industry.
Now the IBI are fighting back, with the issue being raised on an EU level.
In some ways I see the industries point, but they are also missing a trick. Surely the radio industry would benefit more from having something like Irish Radioplayer pre installed on all car entertainment systems. Use FM as a fall back, but use internet in the first instance to try get that valuable ad data we spoke about earlier.
Who knows if we’ll still be listening on FM in 20 years, but the radio industry won’t give in that easily.
Read about the IBI’s fight here
Quick Bits
RTÉ is bringing pay of Raidió na Gaeltachta staff in line with English language services
A new major DAB multiplex is launching in Northern Ireland
Fiachna Ó Braonáin has been interviewed on Newstalk
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.