2024 (The Final Radio Land post)

Lots happens in the radio industry each week so here’s a summary of the week we just enjoyed.

No the title isn’t click bait

All good things come to an end some day, and unfortunately today is that day for Radio Land.

I started the website back in 2020, properly launching the site on the night of the 2020 IMRO awards. Now, 4 years later it’s time to move on to the next adventure.

If I’m honest there’s a part of me that would love to have done 5 years, but there are many reasons why I think now is the right time to close this chapter.

The main reason is simply time. Back in 2020 I was still in college, but now I have a full time job. I don’t have as much time to commit to personal projects as I once did, and it’s time for me to try something new.

When you invest a lot of time into something it’s tough to just bring that to a close, but Radio Land has achieved a lot. Thousands have read content on the site, which for a relatively small industry is fantastic. It’s given me many valuable skills, and helped me in many things I do now for work.

In my view, Radio Land has been a great success.

Radio has gone through massive changes in the past 4 years. Bauer hadn’t arrived on Irish soil when I started, and the RTÉ controversy couldn’t have been imagined. In some ways radio has changed for the better, and in some ways for the worse.

That said I still love radio. Radio is an exciting industry and there are many fantastic people working within it. Who knows what the future brings, but I’m sure it will be exciting.

The Radio Land site and its content will remain online for the foreseeable future, but there won’t be regular new content added. Maybe Radio Land will return some day in the future, but for now that’s a wrap.

Thanks to everyone who has read or contributed to Radio Land over the past few years, and feel free to stay in touch. You can find details on my personal website here

For now let’s do this one last time. Here’s what happened This Week In Radio.

Here’s What Happened

The IMRO Radio Awards 2024 took place in Kilkenny last night, returning once again to the very fancy 5 star ⁨Lyrath Estate⁩.

We can’t go through every single award, but it’s always great to acknowledge the big three.

WLR in Waterford are the 2024 local station of the year. They won this award consistently for years, and were hoping to make it five in a row back in 2023. They missed out last year, but quickly got back to work and will be hoping to get the streak going again. Well done WLR.

Music station of the year goes to Red FM down in Cork. Red have also won this award before, but it’s their first time with the win since Bauer purchased the station last year. Bauer will be happy to keep this one in the family, with sister station Spin winning it in 2023.

And national station of the year heads to Newstalk for another year. they really had a great night for awards last night so I’m sure the news people had some good fun. Bauer also own Newstalk, so they’ll be happy with that win too.

It’s always great to recognise fantastic radio, and as I said above this industry is full of amazing talent. To those who won awards very well done, and to those who didn’t don’t worry. Just keep making the best radio you can and you won’t go too far wrong.

The full list of winners can be found below, and there’s reaction all over social media too. Hopefully everyone had a good night.

Read the list of winners here

The money’s on the way ladies and gentlemen. Payday is nearly here for independent broadcasters.

Budget 2025 took place this week and it was a mixed bag for the media sector. TG4 is to be allocated €60 million for the year which likely means they won’t have enough to build the new dedicated news service they desperately wanted, but new tax incentives for unscripted television look really exciting if allowed under state aid rules.

Long awaited and also subject to state aid approvals is a €6 million fund ring fenced for news and current affairs on commercial radio and telly. It sounds like the campaign from the IBI was successful, with funding now available to stations reducing costs of news operations for media owners.

Lots is still unclear about all this, but for now at least it seems stations are happy.

TG4 will understandably be disappointed, but for everyone else it looked like a nice enough package.

Read details from minister ⁨Catherine Martin TD⁩ here

Finally for now, Radio Novas PJ and Jim are about to be very very cold.

The two presenters are taking part in this years Dickie Dip, and will be taking a dip in the Irish see with just a dickie bow for protection. The whole event is raising money for vital cancer services, which really is fantastic.

We’ve spoken before on Radio Land about how radio can be used for good, and this is another great example from PJ and Jim. It’s a brilliant way to raise awareness and funds, so very well done to the lads for getting involved.

The event takes place in Skerries, Co Dublin, on Saturday November 16th, and you can Find out more about the Dickie Dip here

Best wishes to everyone taking part, and here’s to more radio being used for good in the future.

Read about PJ and Jim here

Quick Bits

Radio 1 advertisers can get Lyric FM ads with a discount for Q4

James Patrice might return to 98FM

Freedom FM is back on air for another year

Weekend Classics with Claudia Boyle is launching on Lyric FM

John Creedon is going to host a new TV series

98FM are bringing their listeners to the zoo again this year

FM104 is to become the Dublin GAA official media partner

And that was Radio Land. Hope you’ve found the site of service over the past few years and thank you for the support. Your free to read Radio Today now instead☺️

This Week In Radio 28/9/2024 (just the Quick Bits)

Lots happens in the radio industry each week so here’s a summary of the week we just enjoyed.

What the hell is going on?

Things are going to be a bit on the short side this week as I’m away for work. As a result Radio Land is a day later than normal, and it’s really just going to be the Quick Bits. I know this is a travesty beyond comprehension, but such is life.

Ahead of next week, best wishes to all at the IMRO Radio Awards. We’ll have coverage of the event on Saturday as well as some news of our own.

For now have a great week and enjoy some Quick Bits curated with love❤️.

Quick Bits

Clint Drieberg is to become the programme director at Classic Hits

The IMRO Hall of Fame inductees have been announced

The IBI are still fighting for money ahead of the budget

98FM sent presenters out to cook dinner for people in their homes

RTE will be providing extensive budget coverage

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.

This week in Radio 21/9/2024 (independent radio wants money, but not that money)

Lots happens in the radio industry each week so here’s a summary of the week we just enjoyed.

Here’s What Happened

We’ve spoken before about how the independent broadcasters of Ireland want money in order to fund local news, but the sector has seemingly decided not to engage with the schemes for local council and court reporting.

The Independent are reporting that the sector want funding for their core news service rather than for extra news, and as such aren’t engaging with the schemes from ⁨Coimisiún na Meán⁩. They say that the schemes ”simply do not work for the radio sector”

The IBI had a similar response when I shared an opinion piece I wrote a few weeks ago, with the organisation responding on social media saying “additional’ S&V (Sound & Vision) schemes do absolutely nothing to help hardworking newsrooms and journalism”

I think in some ways it’s a shame that these schemes aren’t being better utilised by broadcasters. The IBI have asked the government for €179,000 for each of their 34 member stations, but are on the same hand rejecting a €6 million set of schemes that they say aren’t fit for purpose.

I’ve said it before, but we need schemes that put more journalists in newsrooms, not schemes that mean stations no longer need to pay the journalists they already have. This feels like a real missed opportunity to me.

How do you feel? Are the IBI right? Am I wrong? Let us know your thoughts on social media now. just search Radio Land Ireland.

Read the Independant article here

RTE’s annual report for 2023 was released this week, revealing lots of interesting statistics from the year of chaos at the national broadcaster.

The business made just over €150 million from commercial revenue, with the total coming in at €150.7 million. Licence fee cash income was €193.3 million, with that including the €15 million allocated in the budget.

In total RTÉ got €344 million, with it costing €341,9 million to run the network day to day. they also spent over €7 million on special events coverage, with the broadcaster ultimately losing €9.1 million.

Honestly while this is bad, it could be much worse. RTÉ has reduced its presenter pay a lot with Joe Duffy now at the top earning €351,000. Compared with over €500,000 for Tubridy not that long ago this is a big reduction.

If you like numbers the annual report is well worth a look. The fancy online interactive report has bean replaced by a massive PDF this year, but no harm in a chunky document before bed I guess.

You can check out the report in full at the link below.

Read the Anual Report here

Finally for now, RTÉ is looking to sell its first sponsorship for RTÉ RnaG.

Spórt an tSathairn & Spórt an Lae are up for sponsorship, with the Saturday and Sunday sports shows looking to find a partner for the next year.

Irish government agencies need to ensure that 20% of their advertising is in Irish, with 5% of ad spend needing to go on Irish language services. RTÉ is trying to cash in on these new rules, with the broadcaster offering ad spots on their Irish language station for the first time.

Now, they are expanding to include show sponsorship. The deal is on the market for €70,000. It will be very interesting to see who picks this up. Will it be a government agency? Or perhaps a brand wanting to really target the Irish speaking community.

Time will tell. Check out the full details of the offer below.

Read about the sponsorship now

Quick Bits

LMFM host Michael Reade has terminal cancer

Drivetime is launching a new podcast

Radio stations have started revealing their local heros

This Week In Radio 14/9/2024 it’s everyone’s birthday

Lots happens in the radio industry each week so here’s a summary of the week we just enjoyed.

Here’s What Happened

Industry training body Learning Waves is turning 20, after launching in 2004.

The organisation provides training to employees of commercial radio stations on a variety of subjects, and also operates programmes like TY Media Week. It’s funded by the commercial radio sector, as well as by business support agency SkillNet.

I’ve never got to do a Learning Waves Course, but I have done courses through other SkillNet programmes. Resources like this are hugely important and can be a great way to help those in the industry boost their skills.

Celebrations of the birthday are taking place over the next week, congratulations to all involved at Learning Waves on 20 years.

Have you ever done a course with Learning Waves? Let us know on social media.

Read about the birthday here

Learning Waves aren’t the only ones celebrating birthdays this week as the BBC celebrates 100 years in Northern Ireland.

BBC Radio Ulster and Radio Foyle have a day of celebrations taking place tomorrow, including the airing of a specially recorded concert. Specially created idents to mark the occasion have also been appearing on BBC TV.

The BBC really is the ultimate public service broadcaster in many ways. 100 years of the organisation operating in NI is well worth celebrating for sure.

RTÉ doesn’t have much of a presence in Northern Ireland even though some of its services do broadcast there. For those north of the border, broadcasting is much more closely aligned with the UK.

You can check out the full schedule of special programming at the link below. Best wishes to all in BBC NI for the next 100 years.

BBC Northern Ireland Turns 100

Finally this week, ⁨Coimisiún na Meán⁩ have announced the latest projects to get funding under the Sound And Vision scheme.

€10.1 million was allocated in this round making it the largest round of Sound and Vision ever. €2 million of the fund was specifically for the creation of children’s content which is always fun too.

One of the projects getting money in this round include another series of Ours To Protect. The project is receiving €300,000 and will air across 16 IBI stations.

It’s always fantastic to see high-quality content like this getting support and I look forward to hearing some of it on air in the coming months. Congratulations to everyone who got projects funded.

Read about the funding here

Quick Bits

What was it like for those facing committees during the RTÉ crisis

Zeinab Elguzouli has spoken of her radio experience

James Patrice is finishing up his summer stint on 98FM

This Week In Radio 7/9/2024 should we have more ads?

Lots happens in the radio industry each week so here’s a summary of the week we just enjoyed.

Here’s what Happened

⁨Coimisiún na Meán⁩ are inviting submissions now on changes to the Codes and rules for Broadcasters.

These codes cover lots of things and look to introduce a new complaints procedure among other changes. There’s a lot of simplification in the new draft rules, but one thing isn’t really set to change.

The current level on advertising is set to remain the same, with 10 minutes per hour and 15% of airtime per day being set as the levels of advertising allowed on commercial radio stations. Those numbers are lower on community stations.

Despite the current plan for these rules to stay the same, ⁨Coimisiún na Meán⁩ are looking for people’s views on the subject.

It’s a tough balancing act, because less ads is generally better for listeners while more ads is better for the broadcasters. How do you balance the need to keep broadcasting sustainable with the desire to ultimately benefit the listener?

Commercial TV broadcasters are able to air up to 12 minutes of ads per hour, which is a bit more than radio, but TV is also a lot more expensive.

What do you think, should we have more ads each hour to keep the money flowing in, or do we give the listener a bit of a break from commercial breaks? Let us know your thoughts now.

Get more details on the rules here

RTÉ isn’t probably who you think of when somebody mentions true crime podcasts, but this week they had a fantastic win when they teamed up with Netflix.

The Nobody Zone started life as a production between RTEs Doc on One, and Danish production company Third Ear. The podcast was extremely successful and went on to be produced into a tv docudrama funded and produced in house by RTÉ.

This week that docudrama made its way to Netflix in Ireland and the UK after being licensed to the streaming service by RTÉ Programme Sales. The deal seems to be for non exclusive rights, as RTÉ are also still hosting it on their own RTÉ Player streaming service.

It’s not clear how much Netflix are paying RTÉ for the show, but this can only be a good thing. Any money RTÉ makes ultimately supports public service content for Irish audiences, and the fact that RTÉ still have the show freely available on their own platforms is great for viewers.

Podcasts becoming TV shows is an area RTÉ are looking to really nail down, with another Doc on One podcast The Real Carrie Jade also making its way to TV screens. This Netflix deal makes podcasts and shows like this more sustainable, and is definitely an interesting way of monetising the content.

Read the press release on the Netflix deal here

Finally for now RTÉ are looking for a company to run an audience insights panel, with a cost of around €360,000 each year.

The Panel will be able to provide regular insights on RTÉ content, as well as providing a weekly report on app and website usage in Ireland. The idea here is that they will be able to inform RTÉ on what the audience think, letting RTÉ make better decisions.

RTÉ already have an audience council, but that only meets every couple of months. It seems this panel will be a bit more active. Time will tell.

We often hear radio broadcasters running poles online to hear what audiences think of the music they play, and some stations even bring listeners in to listen to music and provide feedback. It’s always interesting to know how listeners feel about the content stations air, and it looks like RTÉ is really trying to use those insights.

Read about the panel here

Quick Bits

⁨Coimisiún na Meán⁩ have pushed out the deadline for their journalism schemes to the 30th of September

Conor Halpin is Niall Boylans new producer on Classic Hits

Some of the lineup has been announced for RadioCentres Sounding Out 2024

RTÉ have big plans for Culture Night 2024

Helen Wogan, widow of Terry Wogan passed away this week

Today FM had a win at the Digital Business Ireland Awards