2023 (Bye Bye BAI)

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

Here’s What Happened

This week marked the end of the road for the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland. The BAI has now been dissolved,, and it’s remit has moved over to the new media regulator, ⁨Coimisiún na Meán⁩.

In case your like me and haven’t a notion how to pronounce that, here’s an audio clip of one of the commissioners saying it.

I really do wish I was better at Irish.

Anyway, the new regulator takes all the media regulation stuff from the BAI, and adds on some online regulation to create one big regulator of all media. There’s still a lot we don’t know, but it’s an exciting time ahead. Will it change the industry for better or worse? We’ll need to wait to find out.

The new website CnaM.ie isn’t fully ready yet, so the old BAi site remains for now, but you can read a message from the four commissioners on the new site so it’s worth a look.

With all that said, the very best of luck to everyone at Coimisiún na Meán⁩. It’s a time of change in the industry so I hope that they do a good job in supporting radio in ireland.

Check out the new Coimisiún na Meán⁩ website here

Usually when we hear on air giveaways we expect cars, holidays, or cash. However, Midlands 103 are doing something that I’ve never heard being done before.

The station announced this week that they will be giving away a round of fertility treatment as part of a partnership with a company called first IVF. It’s hoped that the partnership will raise awareness, and of course it might, hopefully, change some lives.

The station do seem to be taking the sensitivity of this subject into account, and they don’t appear to be using the typical words you’d hear around radio promotion such as win or prize. The station haven’t said anything on this, so that’s purely an observation on my part.

I’d be really interested to hear people’s thoughts on this concept as it’s so different to what we’re used to. Is this radio at its best helping its listeners? Or do you think IVF treatment is something that shouldn’t be given away as part of a radio promotion? Tell us over on our Instagram story now.

Read the story here

Finally this week, a story that’s mainly related to television, but also brings up some interesting radio bits.

Ryan Tubridy is leaving the Late Late show. You knew that already though so I’m not going to bore you with the details, if you’ve no idea what I’m talking about then fair play, that’s next level living under a rock.

There are two interesting things about this from a radio point of view so let’s discuss.

We got to see Claire Byrne using a fancy new radio studio
Could the replacement lead to a shake up at RTÉ Radio?

Right, first things first, the studio

Wide shot of studio. Claire is sitting in a presenters seat on the right, while Ryan is at one of 3 guest seats on the left.

Guest camera which is focussed on Ryan Tubridy

We’ve discussed RTE’s new studios for Radio 1 before, but this is the first time we’ve seen them used to their fullest potential.

After RTÉ made their announcement, Ryan joined Claire for an interview in studio. Like a well oiled machine, the audio went up as a podcast on Radio Player, the video went out across all the main social media platforms, and an article went onto the RTÉ News app and website with a video version of the interview attached. it really showed how these new visual studios could be put to work to generate content that was useable across all platforms.

I do think the clip should have also gone to YouTube, but it was still amazing to see how much mileage they got out of 1 interview in the new high tech studio. hopefully they continue to take advantage of this incredible setup more going forward as it really is the way to go for a quality digital broadcaster.

The other interesting thing about Ryan’s move from a radio point of view is how it might impact the schedule on RTEs radio stations.

Many of the names that have been mentioned in connection with the job are radio presenters with RTÉ, and if they take on the Late Late they may decide to quit the radio show.

It’s fun to speculate on who’ll get the gig but we’ll need to wait for RTÉ to make there announcement in late summer.

Big changes over at RTÉ, but it’s all very interesting to follow. Best wishes to Ryan on his next adventures from us at Radio Land.

Read the story here

Quick Bits

Newsreader Pearse McCarthy has pleaded guilty to the sale and supply of drugs

Radio Nova found irelands best band as part of their Shamrock Referendum

Huge congratulations to PJ Gallagher who is expecting twins with his partner Kelly

Gareth O’Callaghan was injured in a serious road collision

How have the accents in Irelands radio ads changed

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.

This Week In Radio 11/3/2023 long live LiveLine

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

Here’s what happened

Niall boylan podcast banner reading, The Niall Boylan Podcast, They Told Me To Shut Up. The branding is on a blue and yellow background.

Niall boylan is moving on from his daytime show on Ireland’s Classic Hits Radio. He’s not leaving the station entirely though, as he’ll be sticking around to continue hosting at night.

Niall’s show was sometimes controversial, but he has said in the past that he doesn’t consider himself a shock jock. The show has had a lot of awards success at both the PPI/IMRO Awards, as well as the New York Radio Awards,

Classic Hits are reportedly extending the night time show, and dropping the daytime talk show at least for now. Trina Mara has had her show extended to fill the gap left by Niall.

Niall is now moving into podcasting, so it will be interesting to see how he stacks up in the digital world.

This move is particularly interesting as it brings another Daytime phone in show to an end. It’s really just LiveLine and Lunchtime Live fighting for those ears now, so we’ll need to wait to see if they receive a bit of a Boylan Boost.

Best wishes to Niall and his team on their new endeavours. Love him or hate him, you can’t deny his impact.

Read the story here

The Sound Of Ireland and Radio Ri Ra logos sit side by side above blue text announcing the stations are back

Some temporary stations are returning to the FM band in the next while. The Sound Of Ireland went back on air this morning, while Irish language service⁨ Raidió Rí-Rá⁩ is back on air from Monday.

The sound of Ireland is broadcasting on FM in Dublin as well as online, with Raidió Rí-Rá⁩ broadcasting in a number of counties.

It’s great to see smaller stations taking a shot at FM, as it can be a good way to promote online offerings. While Raidió Rí-Rá⁩ is already a well established brand with 7,135 Twitter followers at time of writing, The Sound Of Ireland is much smaller with just 82. It will be interesting to see how much The Sound Of Ireland can grow with a week on FM.

Right, time for the frequencies. Where exactly will these stations appear you might ask?

Raidió Rí-Rá⁩

Dublin/Baile Átha Cliath – 105.2fm
Cork/Corcaigh – 106.7fm
Limerick/Luimneach – 105.5fm
Galway/Gaillimh – 87.7fm

The Sound Of Ireland

As for the Sound Of Ireland, they are broadcasting in Dublin on 94.3fm. They went back on air at 7am this morning so you should be able to hear them now if you turn the dial a little bit.

Wait, what, you wanted to hear this mornings launch? Your sad because you missed it? Don’t be sad little one, I recorded it just for you.

It’s nothing fancy, it’s literally just an ad and top of hour sequence. Fair play getting a government sponsorship with 82 Twitter followers by the way, gives me hope that I can get Radio Land a sponsor some day. Worth noting that Christmas FM and The Sound Of Ireland are linked so those connections probably helped.

I recorded the first link too.

Go give the stations a listen and let us know what you think over on Twitter.

Very best of luck to both stations going back on air. A huge amount of work goes into bringing a station to the airwaves, so very well done.

Details for Ri Rá are here

Details for The Sound Of Ireland Are Here

Finally this week, beat 102-103 has been named the best place to work at the SFA Small Business Awards.

Radio can be a tough business, but it really is great to hear of a radio station genuinely caring for the mental well-being of its staff.

Beat did a lot that impressed the judges. Here are just some of the great initiatives that helped them win the award.

They appointed an Equality, Diversity and Inclusion champion.
They recognised a trade union. This is really interesting as outside of journalists this would be fairly rare in radio.
Sustainability initiatives at the broadcast Center.

“Everyone who comes in to The Broadcast Centre comments on the positive vibe and great work culture. It’s brilliant for the team to be acknowledged in this way so a big thank you to the Small Firms Association. We’re thrilled to be selected as winners alongside so many fantastic small firms in Ireland.”
Gabrielle Cummins, CEO at Beat

It’s great to see Beat supporting employees like this, but what’s it like across the industry? You can now anonymously share your views over on our Instagram story, so tell us how you feel.

Hopefully we see more good news like this again soon. Well done Beat, keep up the good work.

Read the story here

Quick Bits

Ronan Collins is now hosting a daily 3 hour show on RTÉ Gold

The BAI has published a review of its gender action plan.

Laura Fox has spoke about how pageant’s helped her get connections in media

There was a great article profiling three talented women in radio

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.

This Week In Radio 4/3/2023 (some good, some bad, it’s all inside this Radio Land)

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

Here’s what happened

Ian dempsey in front of a yellow today FM microphone

We recently covered Today FM’s big Busk for focus Ireland in Quick Bits, but they are doing something really cool that is worth looking at in more detail.

Today FM are looking for local business’s to bid for the opportunity to have the Ian Dempsey breakfast show broadcast live from their premises.

Bids start at €5,000, with all funds going towards Focus Ireland. Obviously brands pay for OB’s all the time but the fact that this is for charity ads to the whole event.

Will brands be willing to pay more knowing that it’s going to charity?, and that this will help brand image more than just a standard OB? We’ll need to wait and see. To me this is a fun unique way for radio to be used for good, raising vital funds for a worthy cause along the way.

Best wishes to all the bidders, I look forward to hearing the final bid amount.

Read the story here

Corks 96FM and C103 newsreader Pearse McCarthy has been charged with drug offences. He appeared before Bandon District Court this week on nine charges.

Pearse has been a newsreader on the station for many years, and has also filled in as presenter of the Arts House. Separately from the radio Pearse also hosts the 4Play podcast, where artists speak about the four songs most personal to them. He also works as a producer for TalkSport Ireland.

Pearse faces three charges of possession of drugs, three charges of having drugs for sale or supply, and one charge of having drugs worth more than €13,000 for sale or supply. All these alleged incidents are from 2017. He also faces 2 charges from 2021.

MR McCarthy has been released on €5,000 bail. He is subject to certain conditions, such as signing on at a Garda station three times a week, not applying for replacement travel documents, and being contactable by Gardai. He has already surrendered his passport.

If you want more information on this story you can check out the link below.

Read the story here

Finally this week we’re sticking with Cork. Red FM is now officially part of Bauer. The deal has now gone through, and we’re already seeing changes, Jesus Bauer, slow down a bit.

The changes started last week before the deal had even went through. The Red FM mobile app was updated with a new look. it now has a much more modern design.

The station has also been added to GoLoud, which really is the signal for the start of changes at RedFM. We haven’t seen new imaging or anything yet, with no mention of Goloud or Off The Ball in RedFM’s branding so far. It’s likely things won’t all change instantly, but we would expect to see things like Cash machine arrive in Cork over the next few weeks and months.

We’ll need to wait and see how all this plays out, but it’s going to be interesting to watch over the next while.

Do you think Bauer buying RedFM is good news? Let us know over on our Instagram story now.

Read the story now

Quick Bits

TODAY FM DJ Declan Pierce is making a full recovery after suffering a brain hemerage

DJ Frankie Beats, who hosted a show on Kiss FM in the Algarve was in court this week for harassing a Garda and a hotelier

Brian Dowling is joining Suzanne Kane on the 98FM Daytime show

Irish Music month gets underway on the 12th of March

Redacted Lives from The Journal won best podcast at last nights Spider Awards (I was at the event and it was a fantastic night, well done to all winners)

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.

This Week In Radio 18/2/2023 (might ireland get a new station soon?)

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

Here’s what happened

We got an interesting insight into earnings at RTÉ this week, as they released the earnings of their 10 highest paid presenters.

Some of the names on the list you’d probably expect, but others perhaps not so much. Let’s take a look at who’s earning what.

For this list we’ll look at the 2021 figures as they are the latest, and we’ll compare with 2019 to give an idea of how things are changing over time. If you want to see 2020s numbers you can find them at the link below.

Ryan Tubridy earned €440,000 in 2021, down €55,000 from €495,000 back in 2019
Joe Duffy takes second place with €351,000, he’s down from just over €392,000. That’s a drop of around €41,000
Claire Byrne is doing well after taking over the today slot on Radio 1. She earned €350,000, that’s up from €250,000 in 2019. It’s important to remember Claire was hosting her highly successful TV show in both these years, so her earnings are probably down a bit now considering she stepped down from that show.
Ray Darcy had a big cut, going from €450,000 down to €305,000. That’s down €145,000. His Saturday night TV show has ended which likely explains these cuts. It’s unclear if D’Arcy has a contract renegotiation on the way, but if he does he could see earnings fall further due to underwhelming JNLR numbers in recent books.
Next up, we have Miriam O’Callaghan. Miriam earned €263,500 in 2021, that’s down from €320,000 back in 2019, a drop of €56,500
Brendan O’Connor earned €245,004 in 2021, I’m sure that €4 at the end there was very important in negotiations. That’s a whole breakfast roll, and you wouldn’t be the dry one to refuse the lad his breakfast now would you? He’s up from €220,000 back in 2019, a boost of 25k and a breakfast roll.
Bryan Dobson got €209,282 in 2021, this is the same as his earnings from 2017 and 2018, but it’s up slightly on 2019 when he earned €196,961
Mary Wilson had earnings of €196,961 in 2021.
Darragh Maloney received €183,738
And rounding out the top 10 we have George Lee on €179,131.

It does seem RTÉ are sticking to their plan of reducing salleries of the biggest presenters. This does mean we might see some Pat Kenny style poaching attempts , but we’ll need to wait and see.

It’s interesting that no 2FM presenters made the list, it would be fascinating to compare these salleries with the likes of Today FM or Newstalk.

All that aside, these numbers are interesting to see. Hopefully we get numbers for 2022 soon.

Read the story here

Is Ireland about to get a new radio station? The minister signaled her support this week for the launch of an Irish Language youth service.

This follows the BAI doing research into the concept, which resulted in interesting findings.

35% of young people would be likely to listen to an Irish youth station at least once a week. This goes up to 70% when content feels relevant to the audience.
15-34 year olds are increasingly digital only content consumers
People felt there was a lack of Irish language content for young people. It was felt that this was a gap in the market.

It’s an interesting idea to think about. Could this be a project for RTÉ or TG4? Is this Ri Ra’s moment to shine? It could be cool to have a new station on air, especially one that is clearly providing a service to an underserved market.

Who knows if it will happen, but let’s wait and see. Let us know what you think over on our Twitter, @RadioLandIRL

Read the story here

The IMRO Awards took place this week, no, seriously.

We’re not talking about the IMRO Radio Awards now, these are just the IMRO Awards. The no radio in the title IMRO Awards took place at Radio Days this week and saw some awards for broadcasters. Let’s take a look at who got what.

The awards focused on those who had shown great support to the Irish music sector. Those receiving awards were

Corks Red FM
Claire Beck of Today FM
Ronan Collins from RTÉ
Ray Colclough who’s with WLR
Louise Tighe at FM104

IMRO also gave special recognition awards to the founders of Hot Press Magazine, Niall Stokes and Mairin Sheehy.

Finally, the IBI presented an award to the former chief Executive of the BAI Michael O’Keeffe. This was for his services to Irish broadcasting since the beginning of legal independant radio in ireland.

Congratulations to all those recognised, keep up the good work.

Read the story here

Quick Bits

An Entertainer has been charged with defilement of a child, reporting restrictions are in place so this person can’t be named at the moment

Mayo Community Radio has a new manager

Broadcaster and author Deirdre Purcell has passed away aged 77

Profits are up at a company representing many big Irish broadcast names

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.

This week in radio 11/2/2023 (JNLR and jingles, it’s like a radio lovers dream)

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

Here’s what happened

The latest JNLR numbers came out on Thursday so we now have a good picture of how things are going in the radio industry. JNLR figures are hugely important as listener numbers are what ultimately brings in the advertisers who pay the bills. So, let’s take a look at how things are going.

It wasn’t a great time for Radio 1

Is post pandemic news fatigue hurting Radio 1? That’s one theory being tossed around as the station suffered some tough losses. In fact, all of the peak time weekday schedule is down. That’s not good.

Morning ireland is still the most popular show in the country, but it has had an audience drop. 433,000 listen to the show according to this book, that’s down 18,000
Tubs chats away to an audience of 331,000, thats down 13,000 from last time
321,000 listen to Claire Byrne each day. That’s 10,000 less than Tubridy and 10,000 less than her audience from the last book too.
Ronan had a loss in his last book falling 10,000 to 222,000. We’ll need to see if the slot gets a boost with Louise at the wheel, and might some of ronans audience join him on the yet to be announced show on RTÉ Gold?
LiveLine is now heard by 310,000 which is a drop of 11,000
Darcy only lost 2,000 in this book going down to 177,000, but that’s still a low radio 1 audience.
208,000 listen to Drivetime. That’s down 4,000.

Overall not great news for Radio1. They did have further to fall as they had huge gains during the pandemic, but those in RTÉ will be hoping that this is the end of the downward curve.

2FM had some ups and downs

2FM had some ups and downs in this book. While key shows are going up, the big surprise will be the loss of listeners for The 2 Johnnies. it’s a small drop, but it’s worth keeping an eye on at the same time.

2FM breakfast will be happy enough. 129,000 tune in each morning which is a boost of 5,000 from the last book. Two out of the shows 3 presenters are currently involved with Dancing With The Stars on RTÉ One Television, so that might give the show a visibility boost over the next few weeks. We’ll need to wait for the next book to see.
Jennifer Zamparelli sits at 134,000 listeners which is an increase of 3,000. A small increase but every little helps. This is a part reversal for Jenifer who lost 7,000 in the last book
Losses are mounting for Tracy Clifford who now has 116,000 listeners. She lost 7,000 back in November, and has lost another 4,000 this time.
The 2 johnnies have had their first loss in this book, they fell 3,000 and now have 119,000. It’s a small drop as I said above, but worth watching at the same time. Things have been good for this show on other fronts though as it now has a sponsor, so it’s not all bad.

Bit of a mixed bag for 2FM but breakfast in particular has been doing very well in recent books. In general not a bad performance, just some bits worth watching.

Today FM will be happy campers

The Germans will be happy with a very strong performance for Today FM.

Breakfast is back over 200,000 with an audience of 203,000. that’s a boost of 4,000
It’s 207,000 for Dermot & Dave, that’s a great increase of 9,000
Pamela Joyce has had a nice boost of 4,000 listeners. She now has 134,000
It’s up a huge 11,000 for Foley who now has 160,000
8,000 new listeners for Cooper who now has an audience of 172,000

This is good news for Bauer, especially after the losses in November. Overall a great performance.

It’s mixed news for Newstalk

Some ups and downs for Newstalk. Here’s how things are going.

152,000 now listen to Newstalk breakfast, that’s up 5,000
Pat Kenny is down 3,000 to 174,000. Not ideal but manageable at the same time.
106,000 listen to lunchtime live. That’s down 2,000
It’s up 6,000 for Moncrieff with an audience of 96,000. That’s a nice boost bringing the show closer to the 100,000 mark.
The hard shoulder has 159,000 which is a 3,000 boost from last time.

Nothing too bad here really. Not a clean sweep but a good performance at the same time.

Other stations

We aren’t able to go into detail on all stations, but here are 2 great sources if you want further reading.

The Irish Times

Adworld

It’s good to see that everything is still going strong in the radio industry. Some stations certainly didn’t have the best day ever, but like all things it’s a chance to learn and grow.

If you got JNLR results this week, let us know over on Twitter. @RadioLandIRL

Other News

It’s time for the return of a feature to Radio Land that we haven’t had for quite some time. It’s time for the return of…..

The Jingle Review!!!!

Tipp FM has some new jingles on air, but are they any good? Let’s take a listen.

First here’s the whole package

Overall I like the pack. It’s got a nice sound without being too punchy. I’m generaly a fan of sung jingles so the variety of lines for everything from breakfast to Christmas is right up my street.

At times I think there’s a bit of a disconnect between the sonic Logo of the station name and the rest of the jingle, but in general it’s a good package. Let’s look now at some specific jingles, starting with my favourite from the bunch.

Breakfast jingle

This breakfast jingle has a nice upbeat feel and I can hear exactly how it would fit into a breakfast show. I like how they have included two distinctive sung lines in the jingle but maintained a cohesive sound. Using a solo vocalist for the “good morning Tipperary” line really works, but at the same time if you had a version without that, a good presenter and desk operator could fit a nice good morning line of their own in that space. I don’t know if Tipp FM have that, but even if they don’t it’s a lovely sounding jingle that gives good flexibility to a capable presenter . Solid 8 out of 10.

Country Jingle

I mean look, it doesn’t exactly scream country, but it’s still a good jingle. Maybe a bit long at 13 seconds, but they use the time well. It feels like it could have been two seperate jingles for the tagline and show name, but I do still like it. 6.5 out of 10

General Jingle

I’m not really sure why, but this one doesn’t do it for me. It feels like it lacks cohesion somewhat. It feels like a resing where nobody was sure how best to use the time. it’s not awful by any means, but i think I’d get sick of it quickly. I’m not sure if it is a resing but that’s how it sounds, 5 out of 10

Christmas Jingle

Finally let’s get festive. This jingle has a great sound, but I have two small gripes. Firstly, half of deck the halls is missing, listen closely, the first two notes are like batteries in a dancing Santy, that’s to say they’re not included. Secondly, the station name feels like it was just tagged on the end with little regard for the other sung lines. In fairness I am being a bit of a grinch at this point, the singing in this jingle is great, and the idea to include Deck The Halls, well, half of Deck The Halls, fits the style brilliantly. It’s a good jingle with some small baubles out of place, so I give it 5.75 out of 10.

I generaly like the package so well done to everyone involved in creating it. I hope the team at Tipp FM enjoy using these over the next few months and years.

Read the story here

Marty standing holding a Lyric FM sign with a Spry Finance staff member

Lyric FM has a new partner for breakfast as Spry Finance have signed a deal to sponsor Marty in the Morning.

The sponsorship will last 6 months, with the brand getting 7 stings per show at 10 seconds each. Financial terms of the deal haven’t been announced, but RTÉ were previously looking for €35,000 for the 6 month tie up.

“Spry Finance is delighted to sponsor Marty in the Morning on RTÉ lyric FM as we feel it is the perfect fit for our brand and our customers. Our customers believe in living a greater life in later life and Marty brings the joie de vivre that we know is so important to our customers who enjoy the blend of news and travel updates from Marty.”
Ailish McGlew, Head of Marketing at Spry Finance

It’s great to see brands supporting radio in this way so hopefully the deal will go well for Spry Finance.

Read the story here

Quick Bits

Nobby is leaving the Strawberry Alarm clock on FM104

RTE are launching Kidcast, a new magazine show for kids

BBC Breakfast journalist Kate Varley is returning to Ireland for a job with RTÉ

Applications for the Irish media Literacy Awards have now closed

LiveLine was the most complained about show of 2022 on Irish Radio

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.