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 31/8/2024 (quick, stop talking politics)

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

Here’s What Happened

As many of you know, broadcasters are not allowed chat politics on election day. In fact, all chat of campaigns and policies must stop from 2PM the day before any big national vote.

This restriction only applies to broadcasters, but the internet in all its glory is still a free for all. This has resulted in some risks, with broadcasters unable to counter false information spreading on election day.

⁨Coimisiún na Meán⁩ took note of this and are currently running a public consultation to examine what should happen with this moratorium. Does it get scrapped or do we try to evolve it?

The commission have put a number of options on the table, one of which is to remove the restrictions completely. RTÉ have now voiced support for this option in a submission to the consultation.

This makes a lot of sense assuming all broadcasters are responsible, but will all broadcasters be responsible? We’ve seen a lot of politicians hosting shows on tv and radio in the UK, and while that’s not the case in Ireland at the moment, it’s definitely not impossible.

What’s to stop a political broadcaster showing up on Irish airwaves? While there are risks to having no moratorium, it makes no sense to have licensed broadcasters restricted while political parties can continue campaigning or even broadcasting online if they wanted.

What do you think? Let us know your thoughts on social media now.

Read RTÉ’s coverage on the submission hear

The IMRO award nominations are out boys and girls, it’s almost time to party.

The IMRO Awards is that one night of the year where radio people come together to celebrate the best the industry has to offer. This years nominations were announced on Wednesday, and already people are getting excited.

We’re not going to cover all the nominations here, but instead I’d recommend checking out the awards X account. All the nominations are covered over there, and there’s lots of reaction too.

Massive well done to everyone nominated. Even getting that far is a huge achievement.

Check out the awards X account here

Finally for now, a massive radio multinational is arriving on Irish soil, but they are not making radio here just yet.

SiriusXM are to open a base in Dublin, focusing on software development, analytics, and ad tech. The broadcaster provides satellite and internet radio services targeting the American market, with its most notable host being popular presenter Howard Stern.

As well as traditional radio, SiriusXM also owns the music streaming service Pandora, and claims to have a massive 150 million listeners.

The company will start by hiring 19 staff, with the Irish expansion being supported by the government through the IDA.

Who knows if we’ll ever see the business bring on some Irish staff in content focused areas, but it’s certainly an interesting move to keep an eye on.

Check out the SiriusXM story here

Quick Bits

RTÉ have launched their new season of TV and Radio

The Irish media and entertainment sectors are expected to grow by €1billion by 2028

Jennifer Dollard who previously worked at Today FM has been promoted at Acast

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 8/6/2024 (€10 million? Irelands Classic Hits? The 2 Johnnies? Let’s talk about it)

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

Here’s What Happened

So the owners of Classic Hits Radio (Bay Broadcasting) have written to the minister and the RTE DG, offering to buy 2FM for €10 million.

They state in their letter that they feel the service should be privatised, but RTE are fighting back saying that 2FM is not for sale. Kevin Branigan, who runs Bay Broadcasting has also said he’d be open to chatting with the 2 Johnnies if he purchased the station.

Bay broadcasting seem to be desperate to get a slice of RTE recently, but this trend isn’t new. They were talking about offering Ryan Tubridy a job last year, and a number of years back they wanted to take over the RTÉ DAB multiplex to take Nova National.

The question of privatising 2FM is an interesting one, and Bay Broadcasting seem to want it. Bauer would almost certainly like a slice too. Time will tell if this goes anywhere, but I’d doubt it. This to me feels more like marketing than a serious push to buy 2FM, but who knows.

Host Brian Dowling is taking a break from 98FM over the summer as he and husband Arthur Gourounlian prepare to welcome their second child.

Brian hosts alongside Suzanne Kane on 98FM, as well as having a large social media audience. Another popular social media creator and tv presenter is joining Suzanne for the summer, as James Patrice is set to cover with Suzanne in the slot.

The show airs 10am to 1pm on the Bauer owned station. James has filled in for Brian before, but it’s always interesting to see how a pairing goes on a longer term basis.

Best wishes to Brian and Arthur on the new baby, and to James and Suzanne with the show.

Quick Bits

Irish Presenter Ronan Keating is leaving Magic Radio Breakfast

License fee payments for the first 5 months of the year are down a reported 15%

Paul Byrne has left Virgin Media, he’s previously covered on Red FM in Cor

This Week In Radio 18/5/2024 (latest listenership from JNLR

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

Here’s what happened

New JNLR numbers came out this week so let’s take a look and see how things are going for the countries main stations.

Skip the JNLR stuff by clicking here

RTE Radio 1

It was a mixed bag for radio 1 this time around, but things didn’t look great on weekdays for sure.

Morning Ireland took a dip in this book after a major jump last time. The show now has 469,000 listeners, down from 486,000 in the last book. That’s a drop of 17,000 which isn’t great, but it doesn’t undo its gains from last time so could be worse.
330,000 listen to The Oliver Callan Show. that’s a 13,000 drop, and the second drop in a row for the slot. I wouldn’t panic just yet, but definitely worth keeping an eye on.
Claire Byrne didn’t have any change this book and still has 341,000 tuning in.
It’s up 4,000 for Louise Duffy, who now has 218,000 listeners. She’s gained 1,000 in the passed 2 books, so the last 3 bring her up 6,000.
Bryan Dobson leaves the news at 1 with 301,000. That’s a 5,000 listener drop, but the show is still in a healthy place over 300,000. It will be interesting to see if Bryan’s retirement has much of an impact.
Joe dropped 2,000, and now sits level with news at 1 on 301,000
5,000 left Ray Darcy who now sits at 181,000. Rays show has traditionally benefited from the significant promotion of Operation Transformation, so time will tell if the show can find something else to attract an audience.
220,000 now listen to Drivetime which is down 1,000. Nothing too bad really.

This book looks rough for Radio 1 in parts although the weekend lineup did perform better. One needs to wonder if all the recent controversy has driven some listeners away, but there’s no way of saying that definitively.

No need to panic yet, but certainly could have gone better.

RTE 2FM

Tracey holding up the fort nicely here, with the 2 Johnnies and Game On also getting a boost.

Ahead of the big shake up, 2FM Breakfast with Doireann, Donncha, and Carl has 143,000 listeners. That’s down 3,000. The show has lost 6,000 in the past 2 books combined but the show has had an incredible run overall. It’s going to be very interesting to see what RTE do in the breakfast slot here.
Jennifer Zamparelli is down 1,000 and now sits at 135,000. Still a very respectable number.
Tracy Clifford is a highlight for 2FM this book, up 8,000 to 121,000
The 2 johnnies continue a great run on the station adding 1,000 to sit at 151,000. That’s a good number.
Interestingly, Game on is up 5,000 listeners and now has 37,000 each evening.

Overall it’s an okay book for the station. Some small losses are mostly offset with some nice gains. Definitely could be worse.

Today FM

There’s no other way to say it. This wasn’t a great book for Today FM.

216,000 tune in to Ian Dempsey, that’s a drop of 12,000.
228,000 tune in to Dave Moore, based on Bauers numbers that’s a drop of 2,000.
Louise Cantillon is down 1,000 and now sits at 139,000. Still a good performance though.
161,000 tune in to Ray Foely that’s down 2,000
Matt Cooper completes the schedule with 181,000. That’s down 5,000, meaning Bauer lost listeners for all daytime shows.

Things really could be better for Today FM, but this is the first bump in a series of good books. Is the appeal of the cash machine decreasing? We’ll need to wait and see.

Newstalk

Things were a bit better over on Newstalk with some nice listenership gains in the morning at least.

157,000 listen to Newstalk breakfast, a really nice increase of 8,000.
13,000 extra listeners tune in to pat Kenny, who now has 229,000.
Lunchtime Live moves from 113,000 to 118,000 this book for a jump of 5,000. Can’t really complain about that.
Moncrieff is down 11,000 landing at 104,000. Could be worse, but certainly not great in an otherwise good book.
147,000 tuning in to the Hard shoulder. The numbers here were a mess last time, but appear to be down 6,000.

Bauer will definitely be happy with the first half of the day here. Second half could have gone better, but it’s not a disaster either.

Overall

As always a mixed bag, but no disasters. You learn quick enough that individual books aren’t important. Trends are what really matter, and there’s nothing concerning here for now at least.

Check out coverage from other sites below.

Radio Today

AdWorld

Independent

In other news

It will come as no surprise to anyone that RTEs reputation has been badly damaged, but just how bad is it?

In a study exploring the attitudes to 100 companies and agencies by Irish consumers, RTE ranked 99th marking the biggest fall of any organisation.

The only brand with a worse reputation was Elon Musk owned social media platform X which came in the 100th slot. RTE has dropped from 67th place in 2010, so it just goes to show the true scale of the damage.

In terms of the top 3 this year, that went to credit unions, Lidl, and Boots, with An Post ranking highest on average over the past 15 years. The highest scoring media brand was the Irish Times, which came in at 53 on the list.

RTE is going to have a tough job rebuilding their reputation, and it’s going to take a lot from both the broadcaster and the government. They seem to be on a strategy of avoiding risks right now, as their controversial health event Operation Transformation was ditched this week despite high engagement. RTE share rights to that show in the international market too, so it seems they are willing to make hard decisions to try satisfy the audience.

Things like the licence fee will likely be a roadblock to improving reputation, but time will tell if they can pull it off.

Quick Bits

There’s a rumour that 2FM could swap the 2 Johnnies to the 9AM slot

2FM gave away €5,000 with the Autotune Fortune this week

Pat Kenny’s media company made a profit of €99,415 last year

This Week In Radio 13/1/2024 (Cash Machine under Fire)

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 in Quick Bits, we covered Joe Duffy’s criticism of Bauers Cash Machine in since deleted posts on x.

Joe duffy’s x post criticising the cash machine.

The subject came up for discussion on LiveLine this week, with the competition coming under serious fire.

First a few key points.

When you enter the cash machine, you sometimes receive an offer encouraging you to send a second entry. They occasionally offer buy two get 3 or buy 2 get 4 offers, encouraging players to send 2 texts for €5 instead of the €2.50 for one text.
Bauer cap each player/number at 12 entries per game, or a total of €30.
Bauer would not disclose how many played the game in 2023, only reiterating the amount they gave away.
If you don’t play the game on a given day, Bauer sometimes text the player the amount reminding them to enter.

Many of those who spoke with Joe were of the view that the cash Machine was a form of gambling, but Bauer dispute this. One listener told Joe how she was spending €250 a month on the competition, with this leading to conversations around the Cash Machines attractiveness to those with gambling addictions.

Others were concerned by the mental health impacts on those who receive a cash machine call and get the amount wrong. One listener spoke of a player receiving a call and missing out on life changing money because they got the cent amount incorrect.

The conversation took place over two days, with no regulator really taking responsibility for the competition.

The cash machine also got coverage on drive time this week, as well as the Irish times and Irish Independent.

Do you think the game is gambling? Should it be allowed? Share your thoughts on our social media.

Read the story here

Today FM are introducing a new weekend schedule from today. Breakfast presenters from other Bauer owned stations will take up weekend slots, with Red FM breakfast host KC taking the Saturday 2-6 slot, and Spin 1038 Fully Charged presenter Emma Nolan taking on Sunday Evenings.

KC will be hosting his show from studios in Cork, although it won’t be networked on his regular home of Red FM. It’s a return to Today FM for KC, who hosted on the station before leaving for the Cork market 10 years ago.

Emma Nolan has also hosted on Today FM in the Past, and has already been a regular voice on the weekend schedule.

Best wishes to both broadcasters with their new shows. Today FM have a really strong schedule already, and this further enhances their offering.

Read the story here

Finally for now let’s talk about Tubridy. I’m not going to do this every week as that would get old very quick, but where there are actual updates of significance I will cover them.

Right, here’s a list of all the main Tubridy news this week as far as radio is concerned.

The Q102 and Virgin Radio apps received a combined 8,000 downloads in the Irish market on the week Ryans show launched.
Ryan’s weekend show launched last Sunday in a two hour slot. The show is pre recorded, and ⁨Coimisiún na Meán⁩ were made aware of that before it went on air.
Cork County Council were very disappointed that Ryan’s show cut Derry O Callaghan’s extremely popular Oldies and Irish show in half. They agreed to write to the government on the matter, with some politicians suggesting that if Ryan’s show is within the rules then the rules may need to change.
This was a view shared in Limerick, with LABOUR Party councillor Conor Sheehan speaking out on the matter too.

It’s an interesting situation. Time will tell if this backlash has any impact, but for now at least ⁨Coimisiún na Meán⁩ seem satisfied.

Read the story here

Quick Bits

Ryan Tubridy is going to be writing a new column for the Irish Mail on Sunday

2FM presenters The 2 Johnnies generated box office revenue of €465,514 for their gig at the 3 Arena in December 2022

Annie Nightingale, the first female presenter on BBC Radio 1, has died aged 83

Aoife Kearns is the new news and sports editor at Beat

Corks Red FM have a new jingle package and tagline, ”Corks Good Times”