Lots happens in the radio industry each week so here’s a summary of the week we just enjoyed.
Here’s What Happened
Newstalk have signed a new sponsorship deal for The Hard Shoulder.
MG Motor Ireland are the new partners for the show fronted by Kieran Cuddihy, with the deal negotiated by Media Central which is owned by Newstalk parent company Bauer Media.
The deal includes sponsorship of the main show, and there are also elements of social media co branding and additional activations throughout the year.
It’s always good to see brands spending money in the radio industry, as that’s what ultimately pays the bills. Hopefully we’ll see some creative activations throughout the year.
Coimisiún na Meán are looking for the publics thoughts on two new funding schemes.
€5million will be allocated as part of the schemes, with one dedicated to local democracy and the other to court reporting. These funding opportunities are open to broadcasters, but unlike schemes in the past they will also be open to Print and online publications.
The schemes will be available in both Irish and English, and will launch after the public consultation to finalise how they should work.
This all comes following recommendations from the future of media commission, so it’s great to see that some of these suggestions are now being acted upon. More information about the schemes and consultations can be found below.
Finally for now, Rte is still not having a great time.
Things haven’t been quite as loud over the past few weeks, but RTE is still having some problems. One of those longstanding issues relates to the misclassification of some workers as contractors, while they should have been classed as employees.
The former host of 2FM breakfast Keith Walsh is one of those people, and he’s now looking for compensation from the broadcaster. RTE has already paid €1.2million to revenue as part of these misclassifications, but things might get a lot more costly. RTE has reportedly set aside €20 million to deal with the issue.
It’s all a bit of a mess really. RTE isn’t in the spotlight as much in the last few weeks following the fallout from the resignation of board Chair Siún Ní Raghallaigh, so hopefully things can start to recover a bit over the next few months.
Let us know your thoughts on social media. Just search Radio Land Ireland.
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.
Lots happens in the radio industry each week so here’s a summary of the week we just enjoyed.
Here’s what Happened
We touched on it in Quick Bits last week, but it’s one worth looking at a bit more. RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta is running ads.
This is the first time in its 50 year history that advertising will be heard on the Irish language service, with the station set to generate much needed revenue for RTE.
I listened to one or two shows on the station and haven’t heard an ad break yet, but when they do air all ads will be in the Irish language. Under recently introduced rules government agencies must spend 5% of their ad budgets on Irish language media, so RnaG will join TG4 in taking some of that cash.
Because the RnaG audience is comparatively small, this may provide a lower bar to entry to brands wanting to get into some radio advertising. I could certainly see large TG4 spenders like Ros Na Run sponsor XL Ireland buying a few ads to test the waters.
I wouldn’t expect this to be a massive revenue generator straight away, but it is good news in many respects. Every little bit of extra cash is of help to Rte right now, and this new small income may lead to RTE paying a bit more attention to RnaG, giving it a little more TLC.
It would be cool to see RTE Gold get the same treatment, as there really is no reason for RTE not to monetise their services. We are one step closer to a more sustainable RTE, so I think this is definitely a move in the right direction.
In an interesting move, a number of Bauer owned Irish stations broadcast the brit Awards as part of a licensing deal across Europe.
Today FM, SPIN south west, Spin 1038, 98FM, Red FM, iRadio, and Newstalk joined stations from a number of other European markets to broadcast coverage of the event across their platforms, showing the huge reach Bauer can bring.
This probably wouldn’t make sense for the Irish stations on their own, but having the European broadcasters offers a level of scale that simply can’t be competed with.
Between wireless Group and Bauer, it’s becoming a tough market for independent players, which is a really interesting situation to see. Multinationals buying up event and sports rights is an interesting prospect, and something we’ll probably see more in the next few years.
Finally for now, Former BBC and Rte presenter Nick Sheridan has passed away.
He was only 32, and died following a short illness. Nick had worked on a number of shows on BBC Scotland, but from an Irish context he was best known for hosting News2Day, an rTE news programme for kids.
Many people have paid respects to Nick in both Ireland and the UK, including the Scottish first minister, and many people from the world of broadcasting.
It’s a sad story, but Nick certainly achieved a lot with the time he had. May he rest in peace.
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.
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 time once again to chat about JNLR numbers. Every 3 months we get a chance to see who’s up and down in the latest round of the radio listenership wars.
As always we can’t cover every station, but we’ll cover the main national players. Let’s get down to business.
Let’s begin with Irelands biggest radio station in the form of Radio 1. They seemed to have a generally good book this time, with only small dips in parts.
Morning Ireland had a really nice listenership jump this book and is up 23,000 to a huge 486,000. Could they cross half a million listeners? Time will tell.
343,000 tune into the 9AM slot which is down a small 4,000. This isn’t worth much concern for now as the slot just got a new host, and was up 13,000 in the previous book anyway.
Claire Byrne jumped 10,000 and now sits at 341,000. There’s an opportunity to grow that with the referendums in march, but time will tell how that plays out.
Louise Duffy gained 1,000 listeners which is the same as last time. She now has 214,000 tuning in each day.
News at One with Bryan Dobson has 306,000 listeners, which is 3,000 up from last time.
Joe Duffy gained 1,000 and now has 303,000 tuning in each day.
186,000 tune into Ray Darcy each day. That’s a 1,000 listener drop
221,000 listen to drive time. That’s up 2,000
Rte saw good weekend performance for Radio 1 also, so in all not a bad book. People tend to turn to Rte for big referendums and elections so maybe RTE can benefit from that, but we’ll need to wait and see.
Over on the young people’s station also known as 2FM, there were a few small drops. Everything is holding steady though so it’s nothing too concerning.
2FM breakfast is down 3,000 and now sits at 146,000. They had an incredible streak for a while and gained 11,000 in the last book, so this really isn’t too bad.
Jennifer Zamparelli hasn’t had any change from last time and now sits at 136,000 listeners
113,000 tune into Tracy Clifford, also unchanged from last time.
The 2 johnnies had a small dip, but are still doing great. they lost 1,000 and now have 150,000 listeners. That’s still the most listened to show on the station.
2FM had an exceptional book last time so this is standard enough. They had good weekend performance so all in all it’s a grand book.
Now it’s over to Bauer, which has become the most listened to radio group in the country thanks to its recent purchase of Iradio. Even though RTE had a great book across the board, Bauer now has a larger presence in the market.
Today FM are doing very well and are closing in on the 1 million weekly listeners mark.
228,000 listen to Ian Dempsey each morning. That’s up 3,000
There’s a glitch in the system for Dave Moore’s slot. Back in November Bauer, Goss, and ourselves here at radio land all reported a figure of 227,000. The new figures from Bauer claim an audience of 230,000, and a book on book jump of 2,000. The maths are wrong somewhere, but it’s not currently clear where.
Louise Cantillon has an audience of 140,000, that’s up 8,000
Ray Foley is down 1,000 and now has 163,000 tuning in
It’s up 4,000 for Matt Cooper who now has 186,000
Today fm was tough to calculate this time as they didn’t generally compare books. When they did it revealed maths errors somewhere along the line. All in all though things look healthy with that weekly reach of 1 million now looking very achievable.
It’s good news for Newstalk, with listener gains across the schedule. There’s really nothing to give out about.
149,000 Listeners tune into Newstalk Breakfast, which is a jump of 5,000.
The Pat Kenny Show had another incredible boost with an extra 11,000 tuning in. He now sits at 216,000
Lunchtime Live now has a very respectable 113,000 Listeners and is up 6,000
Moncrieff has 115,000 listening each day and is up 5,000. There appears to be an error in the Newstalk post about these numbers, but the 115,000 seems to be correct. Don’t undersell yourselves Newstalk☺️
More maths issues for the hard shoulder so I’m just going to use Newstalk numbers. 153,000 listeners which they say is up 6,000. They said he had 148,000 last time.
Things look good across the board for Newstalk so I’m sure they will be happy enough. They like Radio 1 have a chance to gain listeners with referendum and election coverage, so the next few books will be interesting.
Other stations
Here are a few links so you can look at other coverage. All in all it seems like the industry continues to tick along nicely.
Coimisiún na Meán have announced the details of two new rounds of the Sound And Vision funding scheme.
Both will be open rounds and will provide funding for culturally valuable broadcast content. The rounds will also be open to broadcasters and producers looking to make shows in the Irish language.
It’s unclear if the recent drop in licence fee revenue will impact these rounds, but it will likely be something we see have some influence at least. It’s a shame in many ways, as Sound and Vision has traditionally resulted in some hugely valuable pieces of public service broadcasting.
Round 53 will open on the 9th of April and close on the 30th of may. Decisions for that round are expected in August. October 15th will see the opening of round 54, with it set to close on the 28th of November. if Christmas fm is on air, your too late. Decisions for round 54 are expected in February 2025.
Best of luck to those applying, hopefully we’ll get great content out of it.
Finally for now, Joe Duffy is not leaving RTE. Everyone can calm down.
Reports in the press this week stated that Joe Duffy had not asked for a new contract. This turned into Joe might leave RTE. It was all a bit of a fuss over nothing, as joes contract isn’t up until next year.
Joe had stated last year that his most recent contract renewal might be the last negotiation he has with RTE. He did not announce his departure or anything like it.
It’s amazing how a simple comment can turn into such a storm. For now at least you can continue to enjoy Joe on LiveLine, and we’ll see what happens next year.
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.
Lots happens in the radio industry each week so here’s a summary of the week we just enjoyed.
Here’s what Happened
Brian Dobson has announced his plans to retire from RTE at the end of April this year.
Bryan has worked at RTE for 37 years, hosting a wide variety of shows for the public service broadcaster. He currently hosts News At One on RTE Radio 1, but has also hosted Morning Ireland on the station. He’s hosted the TV shows One O Clock and Nine O clock news, as well as RTE’s flagship Six One. In short, the man’s done a bit of everything.
Bryan is unique in that he is an RTE Employee and not a contractor. His last known salary was €209,282, so his replacement will probably take a serious reduction. Bryan will still be around for the coverage of the upcoming referendums in March, but that will likely be his last big gig for the broadcaster.
Many people in Ireland grew up watching Bryan host Six One, and his name will be synonymous with Irish broadcasting for a long time to come.
Best wishes to Bryan, may he enjoy a well earned retirement.
Dobson wasn’t the only one leaving their role in the radio industry this week, as Des Whelan has announced he’s stepping down as CEO of WLR.
Des will be replaced by the current programming and operations director Michael Byrne. Michael will take up his new role as CEO on the 22nd of February.
WLR has seen huge success in recent times, winning IMRO station of the year for 4 consecutive years. That’s an incredible achievement that deserves massive recognition. The CEO has also been involved in Beat, Red FM, Newstalk And Nova, so has had a very successful radio career over the past 45 years.
Very well done to Des and best wishes for his next adventure, and good luck to Michael stepping into the CEO position. Big changes in the South East.
Radio Today had a great tribute to Des which you can read below.
Finally for now, Christmas FM have announced their fundraising total for 2023. In all the broadcaster raised €324,000, bringing the stations total funds raised to an incredible €3.5 million.
That’s an absolutely incredible achievement, and one the station should be super proud of. Between rTE’s Toy show Appeal and Christmas campaigns on stations like WLR, the broadcast industry made a massive difference over Christmas.
Irish radio does a lot for charity with many stations also taking part in Radio Bingo. which supports a number of different charities on stations across Ireland.
Well done to everyone involved in fundraising on radio over Christmas, and all throughout the year.
Do you think Bauer would have more cash machine entries if 50c from each text went to charity? Let us know over on our social media. Just search Radio Land Ireland.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
