2023 (we spoke to the campaigners fighting to save Long Wave 252)

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 spoke about RTE’s plans to shut down their Radio 1 service on 252 Long Wave. After we published, we were contacted by the campaign group Save RTE LW 252, who’s aim as the name suggests is to, well, Save RTE LW 252.

We asked the group to answer some questions explaining how they respond to some of the justifications used by RTÉ. They provided some interesting responses, which you can read below.

1. RTE have estimated that continuing to support LW would cost approximately €400,000 a year. Why should this go into supporting LW instead of more modern digital platforms and content?

We are only seeking to extend the longwave until there is a better alternative for the audience. The Consultative Group of key stakeholders on this issue recommended in 2017 that RTE establish a replacement service on DAB+ digital radio in Britain. The shutdown is premature, because this has not happened – but it could be on its way: The Media Bill 2023, published on 29 March and currently working its way through the UK Parliament, would specifically allow for Irish broadcasters like RTE and others to apply for broadcast licenses in Britain.

Until then, the €250,000 RTE has said it will cost this year should be set against the value it provides. The people who are most reliant on the longwave service are the emigrants of the 1950s and 1960s who left Ireland to work in England and send money back to feed and house their families – it’s estimated these emigrants sent back the equivalent of 5.7 billion euro in today’s money between 1940 and 1970. That is money that these people didn’t put away for themselves, and many of them are isolated and vulnerable now. A tenth of one-percent of RTE’s budget is a small price to pay to keep our citizens in touch with their home.

Shutting this down prematurely, before appropriate alternatives are in place, will likely have significant mental health impacts on the population that relies on it – for some, increasing their isolation and loneliness as it severs their link with Ireland forever. It would be impossible to come up with a budget for other supports that could make up for the impact it will have on this community. And what a message for Ireland to send to the global Irish diaspora: we’ll take what you can give, but we’ll forget your sacrifice when it might cost us a fraction of your generosity to return the favor.

2. LW is using 2.5% of RTE’s electricity. Outside of the financial cost of this, RTÉ also mention the impact of this on their climate targets. How would you respond to this?

We understand the environmental concerns, and we certainly support long-term solutions that will address them. In the short term, however, we still need to make difficult choices between environmental and social concerns; this is one time where the social concerns need to take precedence until there are environmentally-friendly alternatives in place.

3. Radio 1 is widely available in the UK on both digital platforms and television services. Why isn’t this enough?

It’s important to consider the needs of older people with few resources, who are likely to be in most need of this service. People really value the accessibility of ordinary radios. We need to take into account the digital divide, and how it affects this population – Age UK estimated in 2022 that 40% of people over 75 in Britain have no access to the internet. The television services are useful but they are not practical for the same kind of listening as people of all ages and tech capabilities do with a portable radio – moving from room to room, having it available in the car.

The Department of Foreign Affairs funded a study into the listenership in 2016. The researchers were overwhelmed by the number of responses they got, with over 3,000 listeners phoning in to report how valuable the service is – most of them saw it as a lifeline, with 92% listening every day. Over half of them reported they weren’t confident they could access the radio on a digital device – 61% said they would need help, and 68% of them said they had no one to help them. Only about 40% of them were in touch with Irish organizations in Britain, so it will be very difficult to reach these listeners.

4. do you see a time when it will be acceptable for RTÉ to end the service, or should it be maintained indefinitely?

We are seeking a postponement – we believe a better solution is imminent. This is the reasonable solution – to hold off until the British legislation is passed, and RTE is broadcasting through DAB+. The Irish government commited in 2017 to an awareness campaign for the transition, so that will be an essential stage in the process – once everything is in place, scheduling the shutdown would be appropriate

5. Finally, this campaign was successful back in 2014. Do you think you will have the same success this time? And are you preparing for the possibility of the campaign not being successful?

We are extremely concerned about being given only two weeks’ notice of the shutdown. This simply isn’t enough time to get the word out about the shutdown and to help this audience – and it’s nowhere near enough time for RTE to fulfill its promise of working with the Department of Foreign Affairs to help transition this audience. We would really encourage everyone who cares about ths community to sign and share our petition, contact their politicians, and also to reach out to any listeners they may know to spread the word.

Do you agree?

There are really strong points on both sides of the debate, so thankyou to the Save RTE LW 252 group for reaching out.

The group was successful back in 2014, but can they do it again nearly 10 years on? We’ll need to wait and see.

The campaign group are asking people to sign a petition if they support their aim. that petition is linked below.

Sign the petition or get more info here

In other news this week, ⁨Coimisiún na Meán⁩ have announced the final Sound And Vision funding decisions made by the BAI before they got replaced.

It’s always good to see quality broadcasting getting funded, so let’s take a look at what got money.

There were two rounds of Sound and vision, rounds 47 and 48. Round 47 was the normal sound and vision style format, where production companies applied to make shows for broadcasters. Round 48 however was a dedicated round for community broadcasters.

In round 47, 96 projects got funding, with a total value of approximately €7.29m. Here are some of the projects that got funded.

The fantastic kids audio drama Nero’s Class is getting a second series. The project has been awarded €13,444 for 10 episodes.
To Heaven or Gubacreeny is a drama for Newstalk. It’s receiving €10,320 from the scheme.
A Rare Kingdom is a science and nature documentary for Radio Kerry. €11,354 has been allocated by the scheme for the project.

As for round 48, 16 community broadcasters got support. They were.

Athlone Community Radio – €40,000.00
Community Radio Castlebar – €21,000.00
Connemara Community Radio – €39,473.00
DCTV – €74,856.00
Dublin South 93.9FM – €36,000.00
Flirt FM – €29,842.00
Liffey Sound FM – €16,991.00
Phoenix FM – €35,968.00
Raidió na Life – €30,000.00
Community Radio Kilkenny City – €37,367.00
Cork Community Television – €75,000.00
Dublin City FM – €40,000.00
Dundalk FM – €36,000.00
Life FM – €30,000.00
NEAR 90fm/Near TV – €40,000.00
Raidió Corca Baiscinn – €35,765.00
Ros FM – €36,000.00

It really is great to see media being supported in this way, but we’ll need to wait and see how ⁨Coimisiún na Meán⁩ evolve the Sound and Vision scheme going forward.

Read the story here

Waterford station WLR have decided they are changing up their breakfast show.

The show has been hosted by Vinny and Aoibhin ever since Vinny made the move from Beat 102 103, but now WLR are changing things up.

All the details of the move are a bit unclear at this stage, but it looks like Ollie Carroll is returning to host the show alongside contributions from the WLR News team.

We don’t know where Vinny and Aoibhin are off to, but it is clear that their time hosting WLR breakfast has come to an end. We wish them, and the new WLR breakfast team the very best of luck from us at Radio Land.

See the Facebook post from the last show here

Quick Bits

Here is an interview with a community Radio volunteer

RTE aren’t yet making plans for what will happen if Claire Byrne leaves Radio 1

The Ireland for Ukraine campaign has come to an end with €7.5 million raised

QRadio has a new partnership with Ulster GAA

Stephen Byrne has said he has no plans to return to 2FM

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.

Transparency

This post was updated to replace an old petition link with the correct link for the current campaign.

This Week In Radio 1/4/2023 (it’s April Fools Day)

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 RTÉ announced the end of Radio 1 on Longwave. The station had been broadcasting on 252 for years, but all that ends next month.

The only reason the service still exists was to support Irish people living in the uk, but in RTÉ’s view that is no longer worth the huge cost. RTE argue that people can now listen to Radio 1 online, and through a number of TV providers, so the cost of running a long wave transmitter can no longer be justified.

Electricity costs for the service alone cost approximately €250,000 in 2022, amounting to around 2.5 percent of the organisations electricity usage. RTE recently released an all new Radio Player App, so spending this kind of money on a legacy service is hard to justify. Instead of RTÉ spending an estimated €400,000 on electricity for an old transmitter, this money can now be spent on digital services.

A campaign explaining all this will be launched on the LW service and in newspapers for Irish people in the UK, while information will also be distributed by Irish organisations based in Britain. Much like the DAB shutdown, people are being directed to the RTÉ.ie/keep listening page for more information.

In many ways it is the end of an eara, and some will certainly be disappointed with this news. While something is being lost, it’s important to look at the positives. We are getting a more efficient broadcaster out of this, and hopefully it will lead to investment in new content.

All the information you need can be found here if you want to keep listening to Radio 1

The word defamation written in white text on a red background

It looks like Ireland is getting updated defamation laws in what could be good news for journalists.

Irelands defamation laws have often been criticised by the press for being over restrictive. While part of this is as a result of unpredictable high payouts, defamation lawsuits can limit the press without them even defaming someone. This enables powerful people to use the laws as a weapon against the media, which is bad news for obvious reasons.

This was explained brilliantly in an article from the Irish times this week

So what’s actually happening?

Firstly it’s important to note that these changes aren’t guaranteed, but they have passed cabinet which is a big step.

Here are just some of the things included in the new proposal.

No more jury’s in high court defamation cases
If a person is libeled, the correction would get equal prominence to the original defamation.
Solicitors would need to tell clients to consider alternatives to defamation proceedings sutch as mediation.
This is a big one for many Radio Land readers, There will be stronger legal protection for journalists working in the public interest, while new measures will aim to tackle SLAPP suits
There will be more grounds to defend live broadcasts where a contributor unexpectedly makes a defamatory comment. This has been a bit of an issue in the past.

Overall this looks like good news. The freedom of the press is very important, so any updates to the law to help that are good to see.

The plan is for the new law to be past by the end of the year.

Read the story here

Today is a very weird day to try do radio news. Loads of stations are doing weird stuff for April fools day, and it’s impossible to tell at times what’s real and what’s not.

Are Classic Hits going back to imaging from years ago? Is Dermot Kennedy joining Dermot and Dave on Today FM? Who knows. I did a link on radio in Cork this morning discussing plans to turn Cork City Hall into a beach, and the whole thing was 100% legit. I’m beyond knowing what’s real or not at this point so I’m just rolling with it.

There are some who feel that April fools day should become a thing of the past, and it certainly seems like less media organisations are participating in recent years. All the concern around fake news has probably played a role in this, but it’s interesting all the same.

I’m a bit of a fan of the day personally, but I’ve never done anything for it with Radio Land. Who knows what the future brings for the day, but we should certainly remember the fun pranks of times past.

What are your favourite April fools day jokes played on Irish radio? Let us know over on Twitter.

Quick Bits

A man has been charged with dangerous driving causing the death of Paudie Palmer

Ed Smith is going to be hosting a new podcast for GoLoud

There was an article published this week discussing Marty Whelan’s renaissance

Ryan Tubridy is taking his holidays

Sarah Power is taking over Beat 102 103’s Cool 2 School

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 25/3/2023 (look who’s got new vehicles!!!)

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

Here’s what happened

98FM have signed a new partnership with Toyota ireland to become the stations official car partner.

As part of the two year deal, Toyota Ireland have provided 98FM with three Toyota C-HR hybrid electric SUV’s which will be used by the stations Thunder Team, their name for the street fleet or promotions crew.

In return, Toyota will get a spot advertising campaign, weeklong promotions, weekend sponsorships as well as promotional stings accross the stations output.

Toyota have been on a role with media sponsorships recently, as they also secured The Graham Norton Show on Virgin Media. They seem to be looking for lighter entertainment sponsorships, so it would also make sense for them to snap up Claire Byrne’s new game show or even love Island.

It’s great to see sponsors putting money into quality media like this, so fair play to Toyota on supporting shows on Irish TV and radio.

Read the story here

Radio presenter Dave Duke this week joined the podcast universe. He announced the Dave Duke podcast which is available on all the main podcast platforms.

It’s not new to see established presenters with podcasts now, but it feels like the podcast train is moving even faster than before. Niall Boylan, Dave fanning, and Dave Duke have all announced podcasts recently despite being established names.

This week we wanted to see how you feel towards traditional radio, so we’re asking over on instagram. Is radio cool? Or have podcasts, social media, and internet radio made the traditional side of media less exciting?

Radio has traditionally had fancy studios and high production values, but in a world where anyone can start a station from home is all that still interesting to you? Share your thoughts over on Instagram.

Check out Dave Duke’s podcast announcement here

Finally this week we have a bit of a sad story but a story that ultimately shows how kind people are.

Rónán Mac Aodha Bhuí, host of Rónán Beo on Raidió na Gaeltachta is sadly suffering from stage 4 Colon cancer with metastases to the liver and lung. He has been receiving treatment for this, but unfortunately these cancer treatments are hugely expensive.

This has led to a major fundraising effort being launched, with support coming from all over the world. Events were even held by the Irish American community in New York to support Rónán.

A GoFundMe has been set up to help with the fundraising. The goal was to raise €120,000, but at time of writing that has been well surpassed. The current total sits at €151,863 and it keeps on growing.

This really shows the generosity of people around the world. Sometimes we can be swamped with news of people doing bad stuff, but it’s also important to point out the good.

The very best of luck to Rónán and his family at this tough time.

Check out the GoFundMe here

Read the story about the events in New York here

Quick Bits

The Cash Machine has made its way to Red FM after Bauer bought the station

Radio presenter Claire Byrne is hosting a new game show called Ireland’s Smartest

An Irish celebrity who can’t be named for legal reasons has been sent forward for trial as a result of child defilement allegations

2FM breakfast host Carl Mullan has won Dancing with the stars

Bauer are launching a new audio platform called Rayo, but it’s not in ireland yet

The boss of Irelands Classic Hits isn’t happy with RTÉ Gold hiring people who could be on his stations

⁦‪@AoifeOC_‬⁩ oin Twitter has been asked to cover the Women’s Six Nations for Red FM and Newstalk

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 18/3/2023 (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 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.