This Week In Radio (new year, new shows, new sponsors)

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

Here’s What Happened

Broadcaster Ryan Tubridy started his new show on Virgin Radio this week, with the show simulcast on Dublin’s Q102. His new Irish weekend Show starts tomorrow and will air between 10:00 and 12:00 across Wireless group stations. live 95, 96FM, Q102 and LmFM

The weekday show has already secured a UK sponsor, with Paddy Power coming on board for a year. Paddy Power himself announced the deal as a guest on the show. financial terms were not disclosed.

It seems Irish audiences were excited and curious to listen to Tubridy again, with apps for both Virgin Radio and Q102 hitting the top 5 in the Irish Apple App Store charts on launch day. JNLR and RAJAR numbers will tell how the show ultimately performs, but things look to be off to a good start.

Kevin Brannigan (boss at Irelands Classic Hits Radio), said he did not believe it was appropriate for a UK programme to be broadcast on Irish radio. Kevin previously offered to hire Ryan, and his station airs the uk produced Kim Wild 80s Show. While Kevin’s point is understandable it was interesting to see him making it.

Overall it seemed to be a positive launch for Ryan. Big presenters like Corks Derry O Callaghan are having shows cut in length tomorrow, and some of those shows have pre-existing sponsors too. It’s an interesting situation and it will be fun to listen to.

Let us know what you thought of the show over on social media. Just search Radio Land Ireland

Read the story here

Virgin Radio wasn’t the only station signing new sponsors this week, as RTE signed a deal with Cash & Carry Kitchens who will become the Sponsor of Today With Claire Byrne for the next year.

It’s unclear what was paid for the sponsorship, but the one year package had previously been advertised at a cost of €350,000

“We are delighted to be involved with the broadcast sponsorship of Claire Byrne on Radio 1. This partnership aligns seamlessly with Cash & Carry Kitchens, offering an opportunity to boost brand awareness and engage consumers through Claire Byrne’s widely popular radio show.
Alan Morris, Head of Marketing at Cash & Carry Kitchens

Rte are under serious financial pressure, so every partnership like this helps. Who knows what other sponsorships we’ll see this year, but it’s clear RTE and Virgin Radio are off to a good start.

Read the story here

What were the most played songs on Irish radio in 2023? Research from campaign group Why Not Her reveals the answer.

We’ve covered the Why Not Her campaign a lot in the past, and you can read their statement on the findings at the link below. For now, let’s look at what we listened to on radio in 2023.

The top 5 songs played on Irish radio were:

Miley Cyrus – “Flowers”
Niall Horan – “Heaven”
Calvin Harris – “Miracle”
Dua Lipa – “Dance The Night”
Taylor Swift – “Anti-Hero”

As for the top Irish artists being played, we had:

Niall Horan – “Heaven”
Jazzy – “Giving Me”
Cian Ducrot – “Heaven”
Cian Ducrot- “I’ll Be Waiting”
Dermot Kennedy – “Kiss me”

Big year for Cian Ducrot clearly. Well done to everyone who made the list. Hopefully we’ll see more quality Irish artists rise to the top in 2024.

Read the story here

Quick Bits

The team at WLR raised €100,000 for charity in their Christmas appeal

Classic Hits 80s has returned to FM

Brian Greene is leaving Phoenix FM

How will radio evolve in 2024

In a now deleted tweet, Joe Duffy took a dig at Bauers Cash Machine

I'm baffled - for at least a year - about the @bauermediaIRL@bauermedia #cashcall so called competition on your 15 Irish radio stations. What are the odds.? How many entries? If you claim to have given out €5m in prizes?
How much was gambled?
@cormacbourke @declynchwriter — Joe’s deleted Cash Machine Tweet

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 16/12/2023 (Wexford is wild)

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

Here’s what Happened

Last week we covered how South East Radio accused the chief executive of Wexford County Council of verbally assaulting presenter Alan Corcoran, this resulted in Alan receiving medical attention and the chief executive being banned from the stations studios.

This week, Wexford GAA accused South East Radio of excessive negative coverage, revealing they lodged a complaint with ⁨Coimisiún na Meán back in August⁩. Wexford GAA missed a follow up email from ⁨Coimisiún na Meán⁩ though, so the case was closed.

South East Radio have now accused Wexford GAA of contravening the GAA’s own Code of Conduct regarding mental health, and demanded an immediate apology. The Managing director of South East radio sent a letter to Wexford GAA saying.

“I find it unconscionable that you chose to target Alan specifically with your criticism, particularly on the same day that he took the brave and highly publicised decision, live on air, to share the mental health difficulties that he is currently experiencing as a result of a traumatic workplace incident.”
Managing director of South East Radio

This insinuation was strongly rebuked by the chairman of Wexford GAA, who offered to sit down with station representatives. Wexford GAA are seeking clarity from ⁨Coimisiún na Meán⁩ on the status of their complaint.

You can read more about all of this at the link below. It’s a wild story and it’s hard to know what to make of it all.

Read the story here

The cash machine has been going into overdrive. Ever since Bauer bought Iradio the Christmas cash machine has been giving away huge money left right and centre.

We covered the station giving away the biggest prize in Irish radio history twice, and now they’re doing it for a third time just before Christmas.

On December 22nd the GoLoud network will give away a crazy €200,000. Bauer will be hoping that the added audience from Iradio, the extra radio listening over Christmas, and the publicity of such a moment will pay off in revenue from entries and listenership/advertising jumps.

The game costs €2.50 to play so if Bauer earn €2 from each entry then it would only take 100,000 players to break even. The publicity of the event also pays dividends,. The word of mouth publicity and a few articles in newspapers make people more likely to tune in to a Bauer owned station, boosting ad income.

Best of luck to anyone playing for the €200,000. It’s a life changing amount of money for whoever wins.

Check out this Iradio promo video for the cash machine

Animated radio studio with Christmas trees

Finally for now I wanted to wish you a happy Christmas. I’m going to take a break over the Christmas period, but Radio land will be back on Saturday January 6th.

It’s been a wild year in radio, Bauer bought two more stations, a few presenters made big moves, and RTE, well, they had a disaster of a year. It’s been a tough time for the industry and we’re already heading for big job losses in 2024.

Ultimately I’m hopeful that the media industry will recover somewhat next year, but the challenges that radio faces as a whole need to be acknowledged.

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading my radio ramblings over the past year, and I look forward to bringing you more radio news in 2024.

For now, have a very merry Christmas and a happy new year, and best of luck to everyone hosting shows over the festive period.

Quick Bits

Radio Land is now on Threads

Ryan Tubridy was paid over €25,000 by Rte before they ended contract negotiations

2FM are airing a nativity radio drama

There was a great interview with Ian Dempsey about all things radio

RTE staff have requested a number of improvements in new staff surveys

This week In Radio 2/12/2023 (Santa Claus is coming to town)

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 December already , which means that Irelands Christmas station is back once again. Christmas FM is now broadcasting across Ireland on FM.

The station returned on Tuesday with broadcast partners including Coca Cola and Tayto. Interestingly when asking our smart speaker to play Christmas FM yesterday we instead got News Corps 96Mas, but saying Open Christmas FM gave us the correct station. There’s also competition from Bauer with GoLoud Christmas, so the station will be competing against rivals with much larger budgets.

Instead of one charity partner, the station is instead raising money for the Magic Of Christmas Appeal, introduced for the first time last year. This Appeal supports a number of charities, in much the same way as RTE’s toy show Appeal.

The extensive list of frequencies for the station are below. Why not tune in and get into the Christmas mood.

Cavan 92.8 FM
Clare 105.2 FM
Cork City, Part County 106.7 FM
Cork North, Part County 87.7 FM
Drogheda & Dundalk 104.2 FM
Dublin City & County 105.2 FM
Galway City 87.9 FM
Kildare North 88.1 FM
Kilkenny City 104.3 FM
Letterkenny 106.2 FM
Limerick City 105.5 FM
Longford 99.8 FM
Sligo Town 95.0 FM
South East 103.8 FM
Tralee/Killarney 105.0 FM
Waterford City 105.9 FM
Wicklow – Bray area 99.5 FM
Wicklow – Wicklow Town 106.6 FM

Best of luck to everyone involved from us at radio land.

Read the story here

The IBI has called on politicians to reform the funding system for public service broadcasting, saying these reforms need to be about more than just RTE. They are asking for funding supports for local news and current affairs, claiming disruption by unregulated online and social media platforms has made local news and current affairs unsustainable.

The Local Democracy Reporting Scheme is stuck going through EU state aid approval, so something needs to be done in the meantime. Rte recently got funding supports following large scale licence fee evasion, but the IBI say a package of measures for independent radio also needs to be agreed upon without delay.

Supporting local journalism makes a ton of sense. It’s important that any money in a scheme like this benefits listeners and not just the shareholders, but safeguards could be put in place to ensure this.

It’s an important topic and one that certainly needs more societal discussion. Hopefully we’ll see independent radio producing more public service content in the coming years.

Read the story here

More budget cuts have been announced at RTE, with significant changes to TV Schedules and the creation of a podcasting unit postponed

RTE will have significant expenses next year as a result of the olympics and local/European elections, so they had to cut costs in order to be able to afford these events. Here are some of the biggest cuts.

Fair City is going to reduce transmission to 3 episodes a week instead of 4, while a third season of game show The Money List won’t be produced next year. RTE will not produce a Sunday night summer factual series, or a Saturday night entertainment series for spring.
Budgets for acquired programming will be cut, as will budgets in news and sport.
A planned brand refresh has been postponed, as has the creation of podcasting and short form content units.
A number of other cost cutting measures, including a voluntary exit scheme will take place.

It’s a shame in many ways as RTE know they need units for podcasting and short form content, but they simply can’t afford it. We can only hope things go better for RTE in 2024.

Read the story here

Quick Bits

Marc O’Driscoll has joined Morning Ireland

Dave Mac is covering shows on Classic Hits Radio over Christmas

New digital advertising options are available at RnaG

David Tighe is leaving Bauer in Northern Ireland

2FM presenter Doireann Garrihy has got engaged

The RTE Concert orchestra is looking for a sponsor

This Week In Radio 25/11/2023 (big big money)

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

Here’s What Happened

The Cash Machine has once again given away the largest ever prize in Irish radio. The big total this time was €133,456,77, which is truly life changing money.

Sinead Mullins from Salthill was the big winner, with her kids even thanking presenter Barry Dunne following a prompt from their mam. It’s a lovely radio moment and one that will hopefully make a big difference to Sinead and her family.

We’ve talked before about how the cash machine is networked, but like it or not people are clearly playing. Texts to play cost €2.50 and you need to remember the cash amount to win.

Well done to Sinead on her big win from us at Radio Land, it’s only a matter of time before Bauer set an even higher record, and time will tell if it hits the €150k mark.

Read the story here

New restrictions on alcohol advertising on TV and radio will be introduced from January 2025.

In short, no alcohol ads will be allowed on television before 9pm, while on radio ads will only be allowed between 10am and 3pm.

In theory this should reduce the number of ads being seen and heard by kids. On tv the kids should be in bed by the time the ads air, and on radio the little ones should be in school.

It’s probably frustrating for broadcasters who will miss out on a handy source of revenue, but it is definitely better for society. It would be cool if there was a fund set up to cover the hit to broadcasters by purchasing public health ads, but it looks like broadcasters will just need to take the hit.

Ultimately this is good news for public health, even if it hits broadcaster revenue a bit. It’s still over a year away but it’s an interesting story even so.

Read the story here

Finally for now, The Waltons RTÉ lyric fm Music for Schools Competition is back for the first time in four years.

Music groups of up to 40 members in primary or post primary schools have been asked to develop a performance piece based on the competitions theme, “Music Moves”.

6 primary school groups and 6 post primary groups will get to perform at the national concert hall before the winner is announced.

It’s great to see broadcasters working with schools like this to create opportunities for young people. Best wishes to everyone taking part.

Read the story here

Quick Bits

⁨Leanne Hanafin⁩ has a show on 98FM at weekends

It was announced during the Toy Show that podcast series Maddie + Triggs is coming to television in 2024

Emmet Dunlea is taking up the role of music producer at Red Fm/Bauer

Máiréad Ronan from Today FM wanted a holiday home extension from dermot Bannan, but they didn’t get planning permission

A listener to Irelands Classic Hits won €6,500 after working out what Lucy said to Colm

This week In Radio 18/11/2023 (job losses, and lots of them)

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

Here’s What Happened

A new direction for RTE document graphic

We got an idea of RTE’s future this week. There’s a lot to this, but let’s just go through 5 big points.

There will be a 20% reduction in staff, resulting in about 400 people leaving. 40 will go soon in a scheme funded by the RTE land sale. This is probably the biggest news in the plan. 400 people losing jobs is sad no matter how you look at it.
Radio 1 Extra, RTE Pulse, RTE JR Radio, 2XM, as well as RTE’s time shift TV channels will all close. This is a real shame. I do hope RTE continue to invest in things like Kids podcasts as these have resulted in some amazing productions in recent years. I’d imagine the main savings here will come from Saorview transmission costs, but it’s hard to know.
Some production will move out of Dublin. We should see an increase in cork quite soon. This is something we’ve seen UK broadcasters such as Channel 4 do in recent years, and it’s honestly probably a good thing.
The independent sector will make more shows for RTE, with plans to increase independent production spend by 50%. I’d love to see shows like Fair City go independent, as we’ve seen this model deliver brilliant storylines in the past for shows like Ros Na Run or Red Rock. As long as RTE retain their IP this has the potential to be a great step in my view.
There will be investment in new digital products such as upgraded news and audio apps, as well as RTE Player. This is an interesting one to me. I do think the audio app needs an upgrade, but the player and news apps are honestly fine in my opinion. I would focus on upgrading the backend and investing in content, as I honestly don’t see much need to change the user experience of the News app in particular.

Those are the basics. There are some other interesting bits like a salary cap meaning nobody earns more than the DG, and plans to explore a digital youth Irish language radio station.

This was never the ideal situation, but hopefully RTE can rebuild itself as a strong financially stable public service broadcaster.

They are asking for people to share their opinions in an online survey, which is linked below. Public service broadcasting is an important part of this industry so I’d encourage you to have your say.

Read the story here

Complete the survey here

Ryan Tubridy has got a new gig.

Last week we had a story in Quick Bits regarding a rumour that Tubridy was off to Virgin Radio in London. Well, turns out the rumour was true.

Ryan will host a show on the station from 10am to 1 pm each weekday, and it will be simulcast on Q102 in Dublin for good measure. In addition to this, a dedicated Irish Music show will be made for the wireless group Irish network. That show will air on 96FM, Live95, LMFM, and q102 at the weekend.

This is a big win for basically everyone involved. Ryan gets a fresh start at a new broadcaster, and Wireless get a presenter with appeal in two markets at once. Hard not to see this being a great move financially for all involved.

There will probably be small job cuts in the groups Irish operations as there’s no need for some shows now, but ⁨Coimisiún na Meán⁩ have accepted that this is how things work in the industry. This isn’t the first time a station has aired shows made internationally as ⁨Coimisiún na Meán⁩ correctly point out.

Who knows if this will open flood gates. This is a big signal of things to come, and it might mean local radio won’t be so local anymore. On the TV side Virgin Media has had success taking shows from ITV in the UK, so we might see many more UK shows on air if this strategy works.

It’s likely a great business decision, but the impact on Irelands radio Industry is harder to predict.

Best of luck to Tubridy on the new show, and best of luck to any presenters who lose their jobs in the move.

Read the story here

Finally for now, a story that isn’t directly about radio but is super important to the industry. a number of newspaper editors have spoken out about the issue of SLAPP suits by Irish politicians.

A SLAPP (strategic lawsuit against public participation) is basically what it says on the tin. It’s a lawsuit designed to censor, intimidate, and silence critics by burdening them with the cost of a legal defense until they abandon their criticism or opposition.

In the context of media, this is obviously very serious, and editors of many publications spoke to the Journal this week to share their views on the issue.

We’ve seen broadcasters like RTE get sued many times, with presenters like Claire Byrne forced to face the court room in the past. I’m not going to go into it too deeply as I’d encourage people to read the Journal article, but it’s good to see this important issue get discussed.

It’s expected that reforms to Irelands defamation laws are on the way so hopefully that helps somewhat. It’s an important story to newspapers but certainly impacts the radio world too.

Read the story here