Lots happens in the radio industry each week so here’s a summary of the week we just enjoyed.
Here’s What Happened
KCLR have launched a Ukrainian information service. The new service aims to provide support and info to those who have arrived in Ireland from Ukraine following the Russian invasion.
The service is being led by Tetiana Kuschyk, who herself arrived in Ireland only recently. Tetiana has previously worked as an interpreter and has qualifications in linguistics, so she’s more than qualified for her new role.
It’s been great to see the media trying to help out with this situation, little things like TheJournal.ie posting information in Ukrainian or the fundraising carried out by so many stations has been great to see.
The team over at Radio Today cover this story in detail so check out their coverage below. Very best of luck Tetiana, welcome to the Irish radio industry.
IRadio launched a new dedicated Irish music stream, following the lead of some other stations such as Today FM.
The ILove Irish station launched just before Paddy’s Day and will have music from loads of Irish artists. it’s available using smart speakers and the IRadio App.
I’d love to know the listenership of services like this as it seems trendy to launch streams of specific genres or decades. it’s obviously good that more Irish Music is getting played, but I think increased airplay for Irish artists on the main stations is also needed in some cases.
Finally this week, Ireland has a new hub for fact checking information. While this isn’t a radio specific story, I think it’s important to be aware of it as disinformation and misinformation are issues on all media platforms.
The new service, known as the EDMO Ireland Hub will be based at DCU, and brings together experienced fact checkers, social media experts and various academics in an attempt to try reduce misinformation and disinformation in Ireland.
We’ve been lucky that radio hasn’t been hit too hard with misinformation, but hopefully this new service will benefit all media outlets going forward. Even though radio hasn’t been hit too hard, I can think of examples of misinformation making it’s way onto the airwaves so this is certainly important.
Honestly, with it only being a half week, there wasn’t that much interesting stuff happening. Everyone played a few Irish tunes on St Patrick’s Day, not much happened that’s worth chatting about outside of that.
So, only 2 stories in quick bits this week. Hopefully next weeks a bit more interesting. If you have a story to share at any time be sure to email news@radioland.org as we’d love to hear from you.
And that’s the summary for this week. Come back to radio land next week for more radio news📻 and be sure to follow us on Twitter and Instagram for extra stories.
Lots happens in the radio industry each week so here’s a summary of the week we just enjoyed.
Here’s What Happened
It’s nearly St. Patrick’s day and there’s a station after popping up to celebrate the occasion. The Sound Of Ireland is broadcasting on 105.2 in Dublin for the next few days.
The station is sponsored by the Clayton Hotel Liffey Valley who seem to get a shout out in imaging at the top of each hour. On note of imaging, it’s nothing groundbreaking but it sounds perfectly fine. Same male voiceover as WLR in Waterford, and there’s a female voiceover artist involved too.
Music selection is relatively stereotypical but it’s not all didly idol either to be fair. I’ve heard Riverdance this morning, mixed with a Bit of Fontaine’s D.C, so it’s an okay mix. In general, I like it. I think there’s certainly a market for a station like this and especially for St. Patrick’s Day I think it works.
Louise McSharry is launching a new podcast after her 2FM show came to an end. This news was very well received as the show already has a 5 star rating from 42 apple podcast users, crazy considering no episodes have even been published yet.
It also seems one person gave 4 stars already, and there are even reviews. The only content launched so far is a trailer, with the full podcast launching on March 25th.
Best of luck to Louise from us at Radio Land. If this momentum can be maintained, Ireland has another very successful podcast on its hands.
Finally this week, broadcaster Gareth O’Callaghan is launching a fundraiser for those in Ukraine. The event, which will take place in Monroes Galway on the 24th of March, will be raising funds for the Irish Red Cross.
Very best of luck to everyone involved, and well done on organising an event for such a great cause.
And that’s the summary for this week. Come back to radio land next week for more radio news📻 and be sure to follow us on Twitter and Instagram for extra stories.
Lots happens in the radio industry each week so here’s a summary of the week we just enjoyed.
Here’s what happened
The 2 Johnnies will be returning to 2FM. The presenters were on air with a new drive time show for just 3 days in February, before they were taken off air as a result of a sexist segment on their podcast.
I’ll be really interested to see how this turns out as it could really go either way. The show is strong and there’s now more awareness of its existence, but a lot may now have a negative view of the show.
We can only wait and see how it goes. The JNLR numbers will tell a lot here.
“On the back of what was a very intense week, and having issued an apology and clarification of the events which occurred, we are extremely excited about returning to our daily drivetime show. We had a great welcome at 2fm last week and are eager to work with Dan and the 2fm family again, acknowledging the lessons we’ve learned and committing to put these into action. Coming from a different environment it is a privilege to get the chance to have a national conversation five days a week, and we appreciate that with this comes great responsibility and a lot is now expected of us. We are determined to create a successful radio show and work with everyone in 2fm to show the nation the best of us. We would like to thank 2fm for working through this with us”.
RedFM launched their new breakfast show this week, but it’s basically the same show just with different hosts. Both the secret sound and instagrand remain, and there are no new major format elements.
The imaging didn’t change either except for a new bed that seems to be used in all links. In general, it’s the total opposite to the big welcome that the 2 Johnnies got.
Ciara is very capable as the main presenter, and it would seem that Rob and Laura are taking a Co presenter role. I still think the show needed a format change, but ultimately it’s numbers and not opinions that matter.
I look forward to seeing how the show performs against KC and Ross over the next while. The shows are incredibly similar at this point so it’s going to be a real test of presenting style which is always interesting.
Broadcaster Eoghan McDermott was in the news this week after he tweeted a legal letter related to allegations that were made against him.
“A few months ago, false allegations were made about me. Despite not being investigated or verified, these allegations were spread widely, the effects of which I am still processing.”
Eoghan McDermott via his Twitter account, @eoghanMcDermo
I’d highly recommend you read the letter that Eoghan tweeted. You can find it in the Twitter thread linked below. It’s unclear if Eoghan plan’s to return to broadcasting, And RTÉ aren’t commenting.
Usually we only have 3 main stories, but this week we’re giving you an extra one. This story is off the beaten track a bit, but it’s too interesting to get relegated to Quick Bits.
This story starts way back in 1947. It was the night of the All Ireland Final, the first time the match had been played outside of Ireland. Telly in ireland was still many years away, so that was the night that radio showed it’s true potential.
It was an outside broadcast of sorts. At 8pm Irish time, Micheal O’Hehir took to the airwaves to commentate the match live from New York. This was an event that would change the life of one young boy, listening to the match on a portable radio from here in Ireland.
That young boy was Pat Herbert, who later started Ye Old Hurdy Gurdy Museum of Vintage Radio.
This was a man who loved radio, and it all started on one night way back in 1947. The radio on that night changed a life for 73 years, a crazy thought when we think about it.
But why are we talking about this now? Well, pat died in 2020, and on Tuesday his personal radio collection will be sold at auction.
The reason I find this fascinating is I think it’s a great reminder of the power of radio. It’s also a lesson to push the boundaries a bit from time to time.
If they can broadcast from New York back then, we can certainly do that and more today. It’s up to todays radio teams to inspire tomorrows radio enthusiast’s, and I think that’s a really cool opportunity.
And that’s the summary for this week. Come back to radio land next week for more radio news📻 and be sure to follow us on Twitter and Instagram for extra stories.
Lots happens in the radio industry each week so here’s a summary of the week we just enjoyed.
Here’s what happened
What a mad week it’s been over at 2FM. A new show launched Monday, and was off air again by Thursday. So, let’s go through everything that happened, and discuss what might happen in the future.
The 2 Johnnies launched their new show on Monday, and it was clear 2FM had gone all in. New imaging had changed up the station sound, and voice notes from the lads mammy’s aired across the day promoting the show.
Other presenters promoted their shows, but it was clear 2FM had only one show they wanted people to know about. With briliant execution, the Jennifer Zamparelli show promo was turned into a sketch of the 2 lads hijacking the segment. Instead of Jen telling listeners what was coming up, the lads told Jen what was happening on her own show, then proceeded to shamelessly plug their own.
In short, it was fun. This wasn’t just excitement put on for radio, people in 2FM were clearly genuinely excited. As it drew closer to 3, I was excited too. I had never listened to the 2 Johnnies podcast with the exception of one episode with Dáithí Ó Sé, but despite my relative ignorance I knew this show would be different. I didn’t know if it would be a good or bad sort of different at this stage, but the idea of a change from the regular radio way was something that excited the radio nerd in me.
When 3 came, I was instantly impressed
They talked over the imaging, it was clearly pre scripted, it had everything that they teach you not to do in radio. But you know what? It was perfect. It was new, it was different. Sure this was a radio show with two men and bog standard competitions, but this wasn’t a strawberry alarm clock copycat. They hadn’t ripped off KC and Ross or Dermot and Dave, it was a new way of doing radio.
The show had its issues, some of the links were too long, and the budget for competitions seemed underwhelming considering the hype around the show. Winning a €100 Just Eat voucher seemed stupid alongside the €10,000 that was being given away on breakfast. But all this was stuff that could be fixed. The hosts were strong, and as for the format, that could be adapted later.
I was assuming at this stage that the show would have a good run and that any issues could be sorted out. but I was wrong. By Thursday, everything had changed.
I was taking a scroll through the RTÉ News App, and amid all of the coverage of the crisis in Ukraine, there was another story. The 2 Johnnies had apologised for sexist comments made on their podcast. When I read the article I learned that they had been taken off air while RTÉ looked into the situation, and from there it all began.
We would like to apologise for the content which appeared on our social media, these posts were offensive and should never have been published. This is not who we are nor what we stand for. We aim to do better in the future, we are not perfect, and we are learning all the time.
The 2 Johnnies referring to a now removed sexist video posted on social media
Before we continue I want to make clear that I haven’t seen the video in question as I write this. The video has been very well scrubbed from the internet, and to be honest I’ve no real interest in seeking it out either. With that said, let’s go through what happened.
The 2 Johnnies had a segment on their podcast about car stickers. As part of this segment, they went through weird car stickers sent in by listeners. In the words of Johnny B on LiveLine, some of them got cruder, and some of them went too far.
Too far is a bit of an understatement, but let’s go into details for a minute.
As far as I can tell, there are two main issues
One of the car stickers that was discussed used the word sl*t, with other sexist stickers in the mix as well.
The lad’s apparently laughed at these stickers leading many to ask if they saw the seriousness of the issue.
The video was quickly removed and an apology was made, but at this stage the damage was done. Politicians questioned if they should be allowed on 2FM and this sparked a debate.
On one side, people argued that they had shown clear sexist behaviour
On the other, people argued that this was a clip out of context and cancelling the show does disservice to the lads record of promoting consent, safe sex, and standing up for women in sport ETC.
We at Radio Land did a poll on Twitter to try and establish some consensus. The results are interesting.
A total of 399 people voted over a 24 hour voting window
72% of voters said that they should keep the show
28% said they shouldn’t
There was also some nuance in the replies with one person saying that they feel the hosts should get one more chance
This result is interesting, it shows the majority is clearly on one side, but it isn’t unanimous either.
So that’s the story. A huge show launches and within days, it’s off air again due to sexism allegations.
What happens next is unclear. Speaking to Katie Hannon on LiveLine yesterday, Johnny B was asked when the duo would be back on air. He responded by saying “that’s not a discussion for today, RTÉ has their own guidelines and that’s a question for them”.
And that brings us up to now. We don’t know when or if the new show will return and unfortunately for RTÉ they’re not going to please everyone with whatever decision they make. All we can really do now is wait and see what happens.
Jingle review?
When I heard the new imaging on Monday. I promised a Jingle Review. I don’t feel as passionate about doing that at this point but I do want to share some brief thoughts.
I have got my hands on some of the Drive It imaging. But I’m not going to say much on that other than to say I like it.
There are a few elements I do want to chat about though
The news opener
I really like the intro to news. Strong sonic logo, good branding and VO’s and a generally good transition into the bed. I don’t know about the sonic note at the end, perhaps that could be improved, but in general very good.
Show Promo
All the shows have unique sounding Promo’s. And this is no exception. Again a very strong VO at the end, real great job on those guys, consistently great throughout. I also like the push towards the under appreciated RTÉ Radio Player. I’m not a massive fan of the bed, but as a package it works.
In short, I generally like the new imaging. Some of the imaging is a bit weird, the elements for 2FM Rising seemed a bit low pitch or something. But in all a good new station sound.
Other News
Believe it or not, stuff happened on other stations this week too.
Classic Hits has extended their coverage. The station now broadcasts on 94.1FM in north county Dublin. It will be interesting to see if the station can grow listenership in the region over the next few months, it may potentially make it harder to validate the performance of new shows on the station however.
The station has switched up breakfast, evenings and late nights in the last year, but increased coverage may make it harder to spot if the shows are underperforming in JNLR’s as one may counteract the other.
Radiocentre Ireland are using findings from Canadian research to try boost advertising in the radio industry here in Ireland. These stats are interesting for sure, but I’m really curious to see how ireland compares when we start doing our own research.
And that’s the summary for this week. Come back to radio land next week for more radio news📻 and be sure to follow us on Twitter and Instagram for extra stories.
Lots happens in the radio industry each week so here’s a summary of the week we just enjoyed.
Here’s what happened
Red FM announced their new breakfast show this week. Rob Heffernan will join Laura O’Mahony and Ciara Revins on the new show starting from the 28th of February. I haven’t heard Rob on air much before, so it will be very interesting to see how the new team sound when the new show launches.
I think the biggest thing for Red FM is to make the show sound fresh. If they just keep the format the same, it will sound like a host has changed, but if they update the format, it will sound like a new breakfast show. I think Red FM needs a whole new show really because as competitive as the Cork market is, the main shows from Red FM and 96FM sound very similar.
There’s huge potential in this show but they do really need to change things if it’s going to compete with KC and Ross long term. Regardless, I’m excited to see how the new show sounds when it launches. Very best of luck to the new team from us here at Radio Land.
IRadio has had a bit of a rebrand. The station now has a slightly updated Logo, and a new TV ad featuring a snail.
Firstly, I like the logo. The yellow and blue have a nice summer vibe and I think the purple helps the branding work year round. It’s fun, aesthetically pleasing to look at, and I generally feel like it’s a good improvement from the stations previous look.
I also really like the TV ad. It features a happy little snail on a mission not to get crushed. The ad is fun and has a good message, to look out for those around you.
I wonder where this ad will be shown, it would be really cool to see the ad on national tv stations like RTÉ and Virgin Media but considering IRadio isn’t national, that might not be the smartest move ever. Perhaps you can target ads using Virgin’s Ad Smart? and I’m almost sure you can target ads on RTÉ Player by region, so local stations having TV ads really isn’t actually that insane these days.
The new TV ad
Radio Today also mention the station having a new sound, but I didn’t find a demo of the new package from any of the main imaging providers. The current sound on air sounds a bit like 2FM, a style which has grown on me over the past while.
Finally this week, a 17 year old boy received a 6 month deferred sentence following harassment of a BBC journalist and threat’s against an RTÉ journalist. This is a really complex situation, so I’d recommend that you read the story linked below as it does an okay job of covering this story.
It’s tough to know what to say with stories like this, but I think it’s important to be aware of these cases as they do unfortunately exist. All we can really say is that hopefully everyone involved here gets the support they need. It’s a sad story really and hopefully everyone involved can find their way through it.
And that’s the summary for this week. Come back to radio land next week for more radio news📻 and be sure to follow us on Twitter and Instagram for extra stories.
