2023 (broadcaster found not guilty of defilement of a child)

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

Here’s What Happened

An Irish broadcaster has been found not guilty of the defilement of a child. The broadcaster was found not guilty following an 8 day trial, where after 5 hours of jury deliberation a majority verdict from 10 or more jurors was accepted.

The broadcaster who’s now in his forties was accused of having sex with a girl back in 2010, when she was 16. The girl acknowledges she originally said she was 18, but had claimed that the accused knew her true age by the time they first had sex at his workplace. The acused denied all three charges. Both parties had remained in touch until 2020.

The woman was unable to identify the house where she alleged a sexual act had taken place on two occasions, whilst the man corrected the record once it was pointed out that the restaurant where he said he met the girl in January 2011 hadn’t opened at that time.

In closing statements both sides agreed that “the girl doesn’t have a grudge against the man and did not say a bad word about him in her evidence”. The case effectively came down to the word of one vs the other.

The man was found not guilty on all three charges. He reportedly became emotional outside the court following the trial, embracing his parents.

It’s hard to know if the man will be able to rebuild his career following such a high profile case, but time will tell.

If you or anyone you know needs support on subjects discussed in this story, there are many services available Here.

Read the story here

An article published on the GCN website this week was highly critical of how Irish media reports on the trans community, with particular criticism being aimed at RTE, The Irish Times, and the Irish Independent, which was described as “The highest-selling broadsheet conservative newspaper”.

References were made to the Joe Duffy LiveLine controversy from last year, as well as articles from other media outlets. The article points out that searching for trans on the Irish Times archive gives you more articles than there are people who have legally changed their gender,

It’s an interesting article, Trans people do have an awful time of it in sections of the press, but I wouldn’t necessarily have considered the named outlets to be the worst offenders. That’s me speaking as a total outsider though which has to be acknowledged.

It’s tough as some believe the role of the media is to give everyone a voice, while others believe the role of the media is to simply report facts.

Where you land on that ultimately comes down to your personal opinion, and you’ll never have 100% agreement on it.

Have a read of the linked GCN article below and remember you can share your opinion with us on social media. please remember to keep things respectful.

Note that this article was in the GCN print edition back in April but was published online this week.

Read the story here

Finally for now, it emerged this week that nearly 700 workers at Rte may have been wrongly classified as contractors instead of staff, and as such didn’t get pension contributions, sick leave, and all those other entitlements that employees get.

RTE has set aside less than €20 million to correct the issues, but now questions are being asked around how Rte will compensate those impacted.

RTE isn’t the only business impacted by this kind of issue. Karshan (Midlands) Ltd who trade as dominos Pizza, this week lost a Supreme Court case with drivers who should have been classed as employees. These kinds of contracts are very common in media, and it will be interesting to see if this decision from Irelands highest court changes that.

The domino’s pizza case will have wide reaching impacts, and Rte is just one of the organisations facing the prospect of very expensive worker lawsuits.

Read the story here

Quick Bits

Radiocentre Ireland released a new study exploring why audio entertainment is growing

RTE is launching ads to promote its irish language services

The Cash Machine has a bonus competition running until the end of the month

There was an interesting article on internet community radio published by RTE

The Zebbie Awards took place this week celebrating writing for Stage, TV and Radio

RTE Media Sales attended and sponsored the Effie Awards this week

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 14/10/2023 (it’s a disastrous situation at RTE)

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

Here’s What Happened

RTE is on the verge of running out of money, with Kevin Bakhurst saying the broadcaster would be insolvent by spring if it doesn’t get a cash injection from the government.

RTE can’t afford redundancy payments to reduce the staff count, and the government are holding off on a €40 million funding provision recommended by New Era.

Kevin Bakhurst has spoken of good commercial performance, but the huge drop in licence fee revenue means that RTE is now in a bit of a disastrous situation.

Rte has tried to diversify its income in recent years, but it’s had mixed fortunes. commercial venture GAA Go looks to have performed well and will provide much needed funds for the broadcaster, but ventures like Toy Show The Musical have been far less successful. No matter how successful RTE is commercially, there isn’t going to be nearly enough cash to cover the drop in licence fee revenue.

Kevin Bakhurst is really in an awful position as RTE needs drastic changes, but the money isn’t there to do what’s needed.

Time will tell how everything plays out, but it’s not looking good for the future of Public Service Broadcasting.

Read the story here

98FM are taking their listeners to the zoo.

The Wild Lights Christmas instalation is back at Dublin Zoo this year, and 98FM are holding a listener night allowing people to check out all the fancy Christmas lights before anyone else.

Events like this have great value for broadcasters as they tick so many boxes. You can give tickets away on air and online, you can treat your staff, and invites are also often given to ad agencies to keep the ad buyers happy.

Lots of these events were stopped during the pandemic, so it’s cool to see them up and running again. You can apply for 98FMs listener night tickets on the station website now.

Read the story here

Freedom FM is hosting outside broadcasts with its own branded vehicles and everything.

What started as a simple online station has really grown into a big operation with a yearly temporary licence, filled with live programming and outside broadcasts. The station was live from Rascals Pizza Restaurant this week, and is currently broadcasting on FM across much of Ireland.

It’s impressive to see an internet station reach such a scale. It seems blending a good format, strong online presence, and consistent quality output on a temporary service can be a winning formula for stations.

We’ve seen 8Radio, Christmas FM, and freedom build strong online audiences through temporary licences, and we’re seeing commercial operators like Classic Hits Radio try replicate that success. It’s fascinating to watch this blending of online and traditional terrestrial broadcasting.

Freedom FM in particular have come a huge way in such a short period of time.

Fair play to everyone involved and best wishes for the future.

Read the story here

Quick Bits

Here’s an immensely detailed analysis of the people appearing on Brendan O Connor’s Newspaper Pannel

The trial of an Irish celebrity accused of the defilement of a child has been taking place this week. He cannot be named for legal reasons

⁨Coimisiún na Meán⁩ are getting a fancy new office that can accommodate 200 people

The irish Pirate Radio archive have called for a dedicated broadcasting audio Archive & repository for donations

This Week In Radio 7/10/2023 (the IMRO awards took place last night)

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

Here’s what Happened

Last night was IMRO Radio Awards night. Those working in the industry made the annual journey to the Lyrath Estate Hotel in Kilkenny, all excited to see who would win big.

Let’s take a look at the big three winners from this year.

Clare FM won local station of the year, crushing the dreams of WLR who were hoping to make it a 5 year streak. It’s interesting to see that it’s the smaller broadcasters who are winning this award year after year. Maybe the bigger players could learn a thing or two. Well done Clare FM, one to be very proud of.
Spin1038 won music station of the year, snatching it back from Red FM who stole it from them last year. Music is a huge part of radio especially for younger audiences, so Spin will be happy with this.
Finally it’s full service, wait, no, scratch that, national station of the year. This renamed award went to Newstalk. A recently rebranded station winning a recently rebranded award. How bad.

It felt like the IMRO Awards social media hype has cooled down a bit since its pandemic peak. The event was still trending last night, but it failed to hit that number one spot. Sure the Late Late Country Special is partly to blame, but there seemed to be a lot less excitement compared with other years.

For those in person though it seemed to be a great night. People were having fun well into the morning hours, which is always a good thing.

Congratulations to all the winners on producing great radio over the past year. Can’t wait to hear what happens on air in the next 12 months.

Read the winners list here

It’s time. We haven’t got to have one of these for ages. Yep, it’s time for

Jingle Review

96FM have gone with a new package from TM studios, following a station schedule shakeup making the old package redundant. A good chunk of the core production elements sound the same, with no change to the stations tagline or sonic logo.

Honestly when you listen to the intro for news and sport it’s hard for me to even say with 100% certainty that they’re different. To be clear I think they have changed slightly, but the differences won’t be noticeable for an average listener.

The new breakfast show sounds good with solid production, and there are slight changes to the melody from before. Everything has a definite TM Studios feel to it so if you’re a fan of that you’ll be happy enough.

Overall it’s hard to know what to say about this package. It really just feels like a slight modification to the previous set, rather than something exciting and new that will make you say yay, new jingles. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. 96FM has had solid imaging for ages as shown by their bronze win for best imaging at last nights IMROs, but they’ve certainly made the call to play it safe for this round.

With a new breakfast and drive time show on air it made sense to give everything a refresh, and sticking with something tried and trusted seems to be the aim of the game.

The most interesting move here is the choice to go with TM Studios. Most stations trying to get younger audiences seem to go with Wisebuddah by default. In this case I think 96FM can be happy that this call paid off.

It’s a nice sounding package, although it’s not exciting in my view. I’m sure it will do exactly what it’s designed to do which I guess is all that’s needed at the end of the day.

Listen to the package here

It’s not the best ever 96FM package or the best TM Studios Package, but it feels instantly familiar which I guess is what Corks 96FM wanted following all the shake ups.

Let us know what you think of the package over on X. You can find us by searching Radio Land Ireland.

Read the story here

Imagine you go out to do a small renovation job on your shed. Maybe you’re turning it into that home studio you’ve dreamed of, maybe it’s simply to clear up some space, or maybe it’s just because you want a little DIY project to get stuck into. Now imagine as you do that you find some war of independence era explosives and you need to get the bomb squad out, yeah, that’s a thing that can happen apparently.

Former RTÉ journalist Fergal Keane came across a stockpile of explosives this week when in an outhouse on his farm. Between 160 and 180 sticks of gelignite were found, which in the end resulted in three controlled explosions being carried out.

Fergal spoke of little sticks in an earthenware jar, with dozens more sticks in the wall and on the ground. He knew from his time working in Northern Ireland how unstable they could be, so he called the guards who called the defence forces. It just goes to show you never know what could be hiding right in front of you. Crazy stuff.

It’s a cool story to tell and certainly one that won’t be forgotten today or tomorrow. well done to everyone involved for getting this resolved safely.

Read the story here

Quick Bits

The workplace relation commission has found Rte is not liable in the €300,000 case taken by a journalist who was sexually harassed while working at the broadcaster

Glenda Gilson is hosting a weekly show on Freedom FM, and says she wouldn’t mind getting back into TV or radio

There’s something in the Today FM kitchen, but the email wasn’t very clear

Former RTÉ journalist and presenter Nicholas Coffey passed away this week aged 78

Beat 102 103 is looking for transition year students to take part in work experience with the station

This Week In Radio 30/9/2023 (Gavan has left)

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

Here’s What Happened

Gavan Reilly has announced that he is leaving Newstalk, after hosting weekend show On The Record since 2019.

He will be continuing in his role as political correspondent for Virgin Media News, and suggested in his final Newstalk link that this decision has really come as a result of wanting to spend time with his young family.

Stressing that this was totally his own call, Gavan emotionally thanked his managers at both Newstalk and Virgin, and also thanked the contributors and team behind the scenes who made On The Record what it is.

⁨Seán Defoe⁩ will be filling in on the show for the next 2 weeks, with a permanent replacement set to be announced at some stage soon.

Really I think Gavans last link tells this story better than any text can, so I’d really recommend having a listen to the podcast clip linked below. The very best of luck to Gavan going forward, he’s probably one of the biggest voices in irelands independent broadcasting sector so it’s going to be interesting to see what comes next.

Listen to the podcast clip here

Broadcaster Bob Brolly has left his bbc job after more than 30 years. He hosted Bob Brolly’s Irish Show on BBC local radio in the UK, but this show came to an end on BBC during the pandemic.

Bob alleges he was asked to audition for a new contract, something he refused to do. After expressing anger about this on his show the show was pulled, with his contract left to expire. That contract expired this week.

The bbc dispute this somewhat, saying nobody was asked to “audition”. In a statement they said “Last year we announced there would be changes to all local radio schedules across England, to achieve this fairly we followed our usual recruitment policies for interviewing candidates for presenter/producer roles in local radio,”.

BBC local radio has been going through huge cuts recently and bob is far from the only one to lose his show unfortunately. Bob is in fact one of the lucky ones as he’s announced this week that he’s bringing Bob Brolly’s Irish Show to a new station in the form of BRMB. BRMB relaunched in Birmingham earlier this month after the station which originally used that name became FreeRadio 10 years back.

It’s sad to see what’s happening in the world of UK radio, and we can only hope we don’t see a repeat of that over here.

Read the story here

Beat 102 103 presenter ⁨Megan O’Regan Byrne⁩ is taking part in irelands answer to Love Island Grá ar an Trá. I watched the first episode and it’s legitimately really good.

Basically the singletons live in the Love Teach (Love House) with one half of each couple tasked with teaching the other Gaeilge. Gráinne Seoige keeps an eye on proceedings, deciding which couples stay, and which are going to have to take their pack of Tayto and hop on the bus home. At the end the couple with the most focail win €10,000, and hopefully fall in love.

Megan was coupled up with Sean, who is a big fan of flirting as Gaeilge. Megan on the other lámh only has a cúpla focal, but loved Irish in school. They already seem to be settling in well so who knows what might happen.

It would be cool to have someone from the world of radio do well in the show so we’ll be hoping it went well for Megan and Sean. The show is prerecorded and only airs once a week unfortunately, but if you’re looking for something fun to watch you can catch up on Virgin Media Player.

Watch the show here

Quick Bits

Bauer has got a new boss for its audio business

Freedom FM is back on air today

Today FM’s Alison Curtis has said she feels sorry for Ryan Tubridy

An Irish times poll shows many people simply won’t pay for RTE

Rte is looking for sponsors for sports and Playback

This Week In Radio 23/9/2023 (you better get good at Gaeilge)

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

Here’s What Happened

Going forward commercial stations renewing their licenses will need to agree to more Irish language, programming, following a decision made by ⁨Coimisiún na Meán⁩ in July.

The Irish times report that when agreeing new licence terms for Galway Bay FM, the board of the regulator introduced two new conditions. “ a requirement to review and update Irish language programme commitments, and that the station collect data and, on request, report to the commission about their performance on the Irish language, media literacy and sustainability.”.

This comes ahead of an expected review of Irish language services to be carried out by ⁨Coimisiún na Meán⁩ in 2024. We don’t know the full scope of this review, but ⁨the regulator seem to be pushing forward with a plan to get more Irish language content on air.

It’s been a relatively good time for Irish media recently following the launch of a new dedicated kids TV channel broadcasting in the Irish language. Recent rule changes have led to more Irish advertising, and we’ve also heard rumblings of a new Irish language youth music service.

2023 has been a big year for Irish, and it’s looking like there are plenty more changes to come.

Read the story hear

I haven’t even started my Christmas shopping yet, but we got another sign this week that the festive period is just around the corner.

2FM are looking for a brand to sponsor the sound of Christmas, with a 10 second sting before each Christmas song played on the station this December. It’s the first time this deal has been on the market in 4 years, so demand will probably be high for such an important advertising opportunity.

The sound of Christmas will kick off on Friday December 1st, with 12 songs played on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. From Monday 4th 24 songs will be played in total each day that’s a total of 2 per hour. This will basically continue until Christmas Eve.

If you want a slice of the Christmas pudding that will set you back a cool €60,000. It sounds pricey, but 540 highly prominent stings is a big deal right before Santa comes. Exciting stuff kids, 93 sleeps to go.🎄

We’ve seen the Christmas ad opportunities for the toy show and Christmas RTE Guide hit the market too, so even if you feel it’s too early, reality tells us it’s nearly time. So, stop being a grinch.

Read the festive story here, and you might make the nice list

Unfortunately we’re ending on a sad note this week. RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta presenter Rónán Mac Aodha Bhuí has passed away at the age of just 53.

The presenter hosted many shows on both TV and Radio over the course of his career, but was probably best known for Rónán Beo on RnaG which started in 2006. He was a well respected name in Gaeltacht communities.

He was sadly diagnosed with cancer a number of years ago, and he went through many rounds of chemotherapy as well as 2 surgeries. You might remember we covered a fundraiser for Rónán earlier this year which raised over €171,000 for further treatment.

He’s a voice that will certainly be missed by many, with tributes being paid by everyone from Kevin Bakhurst to Michael D. Higgins.

You can read some of the tributes in the journal article linked below.

May he rest in peace.

Read the story here