2023 (more spin off stations)

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

Here’s what happened

Are you a fan of rock music? Today FM have launched a new rock show and rock station.

Ed Smith will host the show every Sunday from 10pm through to midnight, while the Today FM Rocks channel is available 24/7 on the GoLoud app.

Outside of the main station, Today FM now has 6 spin off channels. Today FM 80s, 90s, ,00s, Irish, Block Rockin Beats, and rocks. It would be cool to know if these spin offs make much money, or how are they viewed as part of the business.

It certainly seems to be a trend to have spin off brands, and they are being pushed more and more. We recently had Classic Hits 80s on FM, so perhaps this is an area the industry plans to develop over the next few years. We’ll need to wait and see.

An interesting space and perhaps an area worth keeping an eye on.

Read the story here

2FM Breakfast presenter Carl Mullen has spoken about how he feels nervous ahead of the JNLR’s. The next book is just 2 weeks away, so the breakfast show will be hoping to continue its streak of strong performances.

It’s always interesting to see the jNLR’s as it can be tough to predict a shows performance. we spoke last week about the advertising spend in radio, but it’s the numbers that decide how that money gets spent.

So, with new numbers just around the corner, this week we’re asking those of you in the industry what’s more stressful. The JNLR’s or the leaving cert? Vote over on our Instagram story now.

Read the story here

Finally this week, the Lineup for RadioDays Ireland has been announced. the event takes place at the Gibson Hotel on the 16th and 17th of February.

The events main sponsors are Learning Waves and the IBI, but other partners include the BAI, Skillnet, and IMRO.

So, who’s speaking at the event? Here are just a few of the speakers.

Pat Kenny, Newstalk, Patricia Messenger, C103, Fionnuala Corbett, iRadio, Brian Redmond, KCLR 96FM, Celene Craig, BAI, and Dan Healy, RTE 2FM, will present a panel on the resilience of radio.
Niall Power from Beat 102 103 will speak about the worlds 10 best radio promotions.
There will be a presentation on how you can monetize podcasts from Liam Thompson, The Smart 7 Podcast, Georgie Crawford, The Good Glow Podcast, Kiela Brodigan, Director of Digital, Bauer Media
There will also be loads of other presentations on how to better target and monetize listeners, as well as speakers on different topics from the USA and UK.

The event seems to be focused more on the business side of radio, so if that’s your thing you might enjoy it. It also serves as a networking opportunity which is always good.

Check out the details here

Quick Bits

Radio Land’s Twitter surpassed 100 followers this week. Thanks for the support🎉

Today With Claire Byrne has secured an 11 month sponsorship deal with Allcare Pharmacy

The Irish Times have a review of an Irish horror podcast

RTE celebrates Brendan Behan’s 100th birthday

Bauer are having a weekend of winning accross their network of stations. it’s a premium rate text competition

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 28/1/2023 (how much money does the radio industry make exactly?)

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

Here’s what happened

Let’s talk about advertising. Advertising pays the bills in radio a lot of the time, so it’s important to keep an eye on what’s going on in that market. The good news is Radio ad spend was up in 2022, so things are going relatively well.

Spend on radio ads was up 9%, but it’s important to remember we were stuck in a pandemic in 2021. As a result we can assume this is more of a correction than major growth, but still, it’s good to see.

A total of €158.1 million was spent on radio ads in 2022, that’s up 9%
We had a 20% boost in spend from retail. Every little helps and all that.
Ads from the finance category were up 11%. It will be interesting to see what happens in this sector for 2023, with banks closing, will ad spend go down?
Then we had the return of the industry’s that got hit during the pandemic. entertainment and media was up 53%, and travel made a great comeback, going up 54%.

It’s great to see things getting back to some level of normality, well, normality within reason. Trends have continued to shift, and ad spend on digital audio is continuing to grow at great pace.

€125.6m came from traditional spot revenue, up 7%
€27.1 million came from sponsorships and all those kinds of partnerships. OB’s etc
And digital continues to grow hitting €5.4 million. These numbers don’t include big audio streamers, but it’s good to see this number growing.

That digital revenue needs to grow in the industry going forward, so let’s hope 2023 sees digital services taken more seriously. all the big brands have quality apps now, so 2023 is the time to use them.

It’s fascinating to look at who’s spending ad money and how. Radio looks to be in a good place, so let’s hope these trends keep going.

Read the story here

As we just saw, sponsorship has a huge part to play in the radio industry, and some stations are already off to a strong start for 2023.

Life pharmacy are the new sponsors for Matt Cooper’s the Last Word on Today FM. The deal includes stings and promotions to help promote the 95 pharmacies across Ireland.

meanwhile, Supervalue Insurance have teamed up with 2FM to sponsor Drive It with the 2 Johnnies. We don’t have much detail about the deal but it’s great to see.

It’s deals like this help keep media going, so hopefully the sponsors want to invest more in radio over the next year.

Quick Bits

Dee Forbes has said credible media may die out if the government don’t reform the funding model

Did you know that 20% of ads from government agencies must now be in Irish?

Its4Women have been announced as Today FM’s traffic sponsor

RTE are adding to their collection of sports podcasts with a new running podcast

RTE have a problem with rats in the canteen

The head of the BBC has spoken about the cuts at BBC NI

Corks Red FM are hosting transition year students thanks to funding from the BAI

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 21/1/2023 (big money ads, the future of RTÉ, and the battle of the radio news sites)

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

Here’s What Happened

Radio Nova are planning to spend €250,000 on an advertising campaign this year. That’s no small amount of money.

The campaign will focus on promoting the stations Morning Glory breakfast show, hosted by PJ and Jim. Between cinima ads, outdoor elements, and even tv spots, this is set to be a huge campaign especially when you consider that Nova is for the most part just a Dublin station.

Radio Nova campaign poster — You might be seeing something like this around Dublin over the next few months.

“We’ve planned a consistent, always-on, campaign that will run throughout 2023, showcasing ‘Morning Glory with PJ & Jim’ across multiple formats throughout Dublin city, county and commuter belt. The show is the embodiment of what Radio Nova represents – fun, relatability, irreverence and chockablock with Nova’s trademark seriously addictive music. It’s a show like no other and you’d want to be a stone to not find yourself experiencing belly laughs throughout the morning.”
Nova CEO Kevin Branigan, source Radio Today

Radio Nova make no secret of their ambition to go national, so will this boost the audience enough to make the Media Commission take note? We’ll need to wait and see, but it’s certainly a large campaign so Nova will really be hoping for a return on investment here.

Read the story here

RTE director of strategy Rory Coveney has said that some form of household charge decoupled from TV ownership should be introduced to sustain the broadcast sector.

The government didn’t agree to the future of media commissions recommendation to fund RTÉ through exchequer funding, but RTÉ say the current system is not working, costing them approximately €65 million per year.

How to fund public service broadcasting is always going to be a tough question to answer, but how do you think it should work? Go let us know over on our Twitter.

There has been a lot of chat about the future of media this week as all the main broadcasters were asked questions by a committee on the subject. We won’t be able to cover everything, but there has been great coverage from a number of services over the past few days. If this interests you, I’d recomend taking a look.

Read the story here

Adding this logo feels in some way sacrilegious

Finally this week, Radio Today looks, different.

Radio Today, which for the avoidance of doubt has nothing to do with us at Radio Land, introduced a new simplified website design this week. The site still has all the same articles in a similar style to before, but everything now has a more streamlined design.

In fairness to the team over there they have done a great job, so we’ll say well done through gritted teeth.

So, for the laugh, which radio news site has the best looking website? Do you prefer the beautiful blue tint of Radio Land, or that fresh green logo of Radio Today? Go vote on our Instagram story now.

Check out the Radio Today website here

Check out our Instagram

Quick Bits

An action plan for the implementation of the future of media report was published this week

Louise Duffy needs a sponsor

The 2FM 2023 Rising List has been announced

Dermot Whelan has spoke about losing his mom to dementia

The commissioners for the new Media Commission have been announced

The Irish sponsorship market is set to grow by 9% this year

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 14/1/2023 (have you heard the ads?)

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

Here’s What Happened

RadioCentre Ireland have launched a new ad campaign to promote the RadioPlayer App. the ad is the first of many for Radio Centre in 2023, with the campaign being developed by agency Boys + Girls.

The ad itself was created by audio design company folding waves, and is basically made up of audio clips from different radio stations, that when edited together can describe the RadioPlayer app. It’s all edited nicely as if someone was flicking through radio stations on the FM band.

It’s interesting to see the industry promoting RadioPlayer now when most of the main companies have already built their own audio platforms, but I guess anything that pushes radios digital transition forward is a good thing.

What do you think of the Irish RadioPlayer? Have you ever used it? Let us know on our Instagram story now.

Read the story and hear the ad here

RTE are trying to find a new sponsor for Drivetime time checks. So let’s take a look at what you get and how much it costs.

The spots air 6 times a day, informing the listener of the time at both Breakfast and Drive. This slot has a history of large brand attachments, with the likes of Centra and ExpressWay as previous sponsors. But how much will it cost? Well…

3 months come in at a cost of €50,000
You can be shouting the time for 6 months for just €85,000
And if you want the full year it will cost you €140,000

Obviously an expensive partnership, but one that might be worth it for a brand trying to reach younger audiences.

It’s always interesting to see how much these deals can cost, so hopefully we’ll see more sponsorship ads like this throughout the year.

Quick Bits

Michaela Hayes is taking over daytimes on Spin

Limerick City community radio is back for another 100 days

Corks Red FM is celebrating 21 years on air

RnaG has a new series on the way about the Irish State

Mairead Ronan is starting a new podcast with Jenny Kelly

Applications for Irish Music month have started showing up ahead of March

A radio presenter from Northern Ireland is taking over hosting Countdown on Channel 4

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 Year In Radio 2022

It’s been another crazy year in the radio industry, but now that year is coming to an end. Let’s take a look at the biggest stories of 2022 and see what’s changed in this industry we love.

In January we saw the start of a story that would go on for months

Well, it wasn’t exactly the start, but this story dragged on so much everything just kind of blurs together at this point.

South east radio and Wexford county council had a falling out over ad spend. South East Radio claimed that the council was using its power as the stations biggest advertiser to pressure the station and get involved in its editorial direction.

It got spoken about by the Taoiseach, had a standards in public office investigation, there was no slowing it down. There’s a dedicated section of the site with all our coverage so I’d recomend checking that out if your interested.

The freedom of the press is very important, so it’s good to see this story got good traction. Hopefully it’s something we don’t need to discuss again in 2023.

February saw us post our biggest story of the year

In a bonus post in February, we asked if Irish radio should have an Irish music quota.

Both sides aired their views, and the department gave their view on the matter too. It quickly became our most popular post of the year, a position it’s held since.

Not bad for a Bonus post

March saw the 2 johnnies attempt a second launch of there Drive Time show, after attempt one went a bit, well, shite.

2FM went all out. New jingles, huge hype, and it all lasted just 3 days. After a sexist segment in their podcast the 2 Johnnies had their new Drive Time show paused in February, but March saw them return for round 2.

Thankfully the second attempt lasted a bit longer, and the show now continues with healthy JNLR numbers to boot.

I mean, that’s one way to launch a show.

RTE was getting sued left right and centre in April

Both the leader of the opposition Mary Lou McDonald, as well as MEP’s Mick Wallace and Clare Daly started legal actions against RTÉ this month.

RTE is being sued a lot at the moment between a number of Fair City actors, journalists and politicians. It will be an interesting one to watch in 2023, but we’ll say no more than that for now as proceedings are still ongoing.

May was a month with money

In may the BAI announced a number of Sound And Vision rounds, with funding amounting to €10.5 million

The Sound And Vision scheme is fantastic as it not only provides funding for quality public service broadcasting, but it also gives us a look at what we can expect on air over the coming months.

I’d be hoping sound and Vision continues in some form when the BAI is replaced by the Media Commission in February. We’ll need to wait and see.

We had a break up in June

June was the month that RTÉ and Dublin Pride had their break up. It all started with a discussion about trans people on LiveLine that annoyed a lot of the LGBTQ+ community. Dublin Pride ended their relationship with RTÉ after the show, which resulted in the story going full nuclear.

The wireless group then launched Pride Vibes, a radio station which now seems to have ceased broadcasting.

It’s always a shame to see organisations arguing like this, so hopefully this valuable relationship can be rebuilt in 2023. Bridges seemed well burnt for a while but who knows what the future brings.

July is for JNLR

It was a mixed bag of numbers this book with everything remaining relatively stable. Afternoons on Radio 1 showed the first signs of trouble, with questions being asked about Ray Darcy in particular.

While everyone wasn’t up by any means, it certainly wasn’t a total disaster. it’s only when you have a downward trend you need to be very concerned, and for the most part we’ve avoided that.

August was quiet enough, but RTÉ launched a new Radio Player

GoLoud has been around for a while now, and RTÉ knew they needed to catch up if they were to compete in the digital age. In august they launched the new Radio Player, which serves as a hub for all audio content across radio, podcasts and news.

If your interested you can check out our review of the new app on YouTube.

Watch this video on YouTube

September brought us one of the years weirder stories

Imagine having a text number so close to a radio stations, that people started texting you by accident.

@travelwithaine on TikTok has been receiving messages from FM104 listeners for years now, with people sending music requests, and justifying why they should win Westlife tickets.

On one hand it sounds fun, but on the other it also sounds very annoying. I think I’ll pass.

October was the month of the IMRO Awards

The IMRO Awards went back to an in person event in October, with loads of people making the journey to the Lyrath for the annual radio get together.

Loads of presenters and stations received awards, so congratulations to everyone involved. It’s great to see everyone united at one big radio event.

Red FM got baught by Bauer in November

Corks Red FM agreed a deal to be purchased by German media group Bauer in November. The deal which is still subject to approval will likely see Red FM join the GoLoud network, and start syndicating the likes of the Cash Machine.

It’s going to be very interesting to watch the cork market in the next few months and years, as all local stations now have big parent companies. We’ll need to wait and see if this leads to more investment, or a major downsizing. Time will tell.

And that’s about it

We’re now in December and 2022 is coming to a close. We’ve covered loads of stories each week for the past year, so this is only scratching the surface, but it’s still good to take a look back at the year gone by.

Have a very merry Christmas from us at Radio Land and we look forward to bringing you more Radio News in 2023🎉