2024 (2FM shake up time)

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

Hears what Happened

2FM breakfast team on an orange background

2FM are set for a breakfast shakeup after Doireann Garrihy announced this week that she would be leaving the show to focus on her podcasts.

She originally hosted the show with Eoin McDermott, but in recent years has been joined by Carl Mullan and Donncha O’Callaghan. The 2FM breakfast show has been a major success by many metrics, performing really well in JNLR books consistently for quite a while now.

Doireann has indicated that she’ll be taking her podcasts Laughs of Your Life and Doireann and friends on the road in some form, which will likely be much more lucrative then 2FM breakfast. It just goes to show the power of podcasts, and how in many ways radio isn’t set up to compete.

The question now turns to who will replace Doireann on breakfast. RTE will likely trial people for a bit before making any definitive call, but there are some people they’ll definitely be looking at. Exciting times.

Doireann will host her last 2FM breakfast at the end of this month. Best wishes to her and the whole 2FM breakfast team for the future.

In other podcast related news, RTE are looking for a sponsor for their upcoming true crime podcast called the Real Carrie Jade.

When a young woman named Carrie Jade Williams asked RTÉ Doc On One to follow her through brain surgery, they jumped at the chance. But as time passed, they began to understand that not everything was as it seemed. She was lying to them.

RTE have had huge success with Doc on One podcasts before, producing shows like The Nobody Zone, runaway Joe, and Finding Samantha. The new 6 part podcast series will begin publishing in June, and a TV special is also set to air later in the year.

The podcast sponsorship also includes the sponsor logo on promos across RTE platforms, adding to the reach. I’ve actually come across Runaway Joe promos on buses before, so RTE love to promote their podcast content.

Promo for podcast series Runaway Joe on a bus

The sponsorship fee for RTE’s upcoming series comes in at €90,000, and could be a brilliant fit for many brands. Cool to see.

Wireless group which owns Irish station Q102, 96FM, Live 95 and others made another loss.

In recently filed accounts the company disclosed that they lost €2.78 million, despite a rise in Didgital revenue. The company had total revenue of €22.4 million, which is likely mostly made up from advertising on the companies various stations.

It’s not fantastic, but things could be worse. Wireless Groups parent company also operate the UK channel Talk TV. Talk TV made a loss of £54 million in its most recent accounts, showing that the business of radio is certainly a bit cheaper than telly.

Talk TV recently ditched their traditional broadcast channel, becoming an online brand focused on YouTube. That move looked to be going well this week, after one of the companies productions Piers Morgan Uncensored held an interview with a lady claiming to be the real Life Martha from hit Netflix show Baby Reindeer. The interview has now been seen millions of times.

Ultimately the one takeaway from this weeks Radio Land is really that the platform is becoming less and less relevant. It doesn’t matter if it’s radio, telly or online, if it has viewers, listeners, or people willing to pay then it can make money.

I won’t be rebranding to Podcast Land just yet, but the shift is undeniable.

Read about the Wireless group earnings here

Quick Bits

Run With Ray is returning to RTE Radio 1 later this month

Bauer’s Eurosong Radio is back online in Ireland for 2024

Today FM are giving away tickets to the UEFA Europa League Final In Dublin

Rte should learn a bit more about their funding situation soon

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 4/5/2024 (all about revenue)

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

Here’s what Happened

The Irish Times are reporting that the government are planning to replace the licence fee with a slightly reduced fee that will be collected by Revenue instead of An Post.

This is a rejection of what the media minister wants, as she reportedly wants RTE to be funded directly by the state, in a similar way to other state bodies like the HSE, or indeed TG4. This idea has significant opposition however from other members of government.

Ultimately if we want to keep RTE in its current form it will need state funding of between €200 million and €250 million a year, so it’s a lot of money. The question of how to pay that is frustrating as people generally don’t want to pay for it.

I would hope that if revenue does start collecting the fee though it changes to a more modern style of tax instead of the flat fee it is today. Just reducing the fee is kicking the can down the road, so I hope a sustainable solution can be found.

It’s been an important week for RTE as the minister received the outstanding reports related to the broadcaster. The Irish Times have some good coverage, so I’d recommend checking that out below.

Check out the Irish Times coverage of the reduced license fee and RTÉ reports here

Today FM have secured a sponsor for sports updates ahead of the Paris 2024 olympics.

Flogas have signed a 1 year deal to sponsor the updates airing across the station schedule, with stings initially set to focus on the companies support for Team Ireland,

The agreement was made by Bauer owned MediaCentral, Core Sponsorship and Today FM, and will include over 400 stings a month.

These sports updates will bring in a nice bit of revenue for Today FM, but media in general tends to get a big boost from the Olympics. RTE holds broadcast rights this time around following a deal with Warner Bros Discovery.

All media outlets will be trying to cash in on any slice of the pie they can get, and it looks like Today FM have got an early gold medal.

Read about the Flogas sponsorship here

Finally this week, lyric FM has turned 25. The station launched all the way back in 1999.

The broadcaster celebrated with a concert in limerick this week which was also broadcast on the station. Lyric has built a very loyal audience in its 25 years on air, and is unlike anything you’d hear on commercial radio.

It has fans all around the world as we discussed in our last post, and has a huge following closer to home too. Michael D. Higgins congratulated the station with a message this week, summing up its significance really well.

“Over the past quarter-century, lyric fm has truly enhanced the cultural landscape of Ireland, showcasing the beauty and diversity of not just classical music but also such a wide range of music that includes traditional, jazz, world music, musicals and film scores.
Michael D. Higgins

It’s a huge achievement for the station, and hopefully they’ll be on air for another 25 years and more. Congratulations to all at Lyric FM from us at Radio Land.

Read the lyric FM press release here

Quick Bits

RTE’s Bryan Dobson has retired after 37 years with the broadcaster

An Irish presenter had her voice cloned by AI, and it was then used to scam a business out of £20,000

The Dawn Chorus takes place tonight

FM104 are giving away a Jeep Avenger on their breakfast show

What’s your favourite Gift Grub character of all time

Yesterday was press freedom day, and there were calls for new defamation legislation

This Week In Radio 27/4/2024 (Boylan fights to go to Europe)

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

Here’s What Happened

Broadcaster Niall Boylan is running in the upcoming European Elections, and has stepped down from his show on Irelands Classic Hits radio.

Niall is running for the independent Ireland party, which doesn’t operate a strong party whip system. Niall for his part is running with the tagline “ it’s time to stand up to Europe”.

It’s time Ireland stood up to the EU and we stop handing over our sovereignty and ability to control our own borders, protect our agricultural sector and so much more. I’ll stand up and be The Real Voice For Dublin And Ireland.
Niall in an X post promoting his campaign.

Following the announcement, there were changes in Nialls slot on Classic Hits Radio. Gareth O’Callaghan stepped in to host, with a statement first played from the radio stations CEO Kevin Branigan.

Kevin Branigan, Irelands Classic Hits Radio CEO

Niall then sat down for a non political interview with Gareth in which Niall discussed his career and spoke to a few listeners.

Niall isn’t after completely ditching the broadcast world, as for now at least he’s continuing to host his live phone in podcast, which of course isn’t subject to the same election coverage rules.

Time will tell if Niall can convert listeners to votes. Gareth O’Callaghan continues to cover the night time talk slot for now, and who knows where we’ll go from there.

Best wishes to Niall on his future career.

In other news revenue continues to grow in the radio industry.

According to numbers from Radiocentre Ireland, the radio world made €39.6m for Q1 this year. That’s up 2% on the same period last year. It’s small growth, but growth all the same.

Spot advertising was flat which is somewhat concerning, and digital revenue only grew by 3%. Digital revenue made up just €1.8m which seems really small all things considered. definitely room to improve on that.

Sponsorships and partnerships are performing well though as it seems brands want more integrated solutions. €7.1m came from these sorts of partnerships in Q1, that’s growth of 10.8% which is very healthy.

There’s no drop which is good, but it certainly could be better. Radio really needs to modernise didgital advertising for a start, as the default now for small businesses is just to advertise on Facebook or Google.

It’s good as always that Radiocentre are transparent about these numbers. Hopefully we’ll have strong performance for the rest of the year.

Quick Bits

Simon Delaney has spoken about hosting in Gay Byrnes Lyric FM slot

Ireland was featured on the Global countdown

An Taobh Tuathail is turning 25

Bauer have become gold standard certified from the Internet advertising bureau

Lyric FM are celebrating 25 years of Movies and Musicals

This Week In Radio 20/4/2024 (more networking)

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

Here’s What Happened

More networking is on its way, with Wireless group set to simulcast another show across some of their stations.

FM104s Freaks on Friday, hosted by DJ Al Gibbs, will now be known as ‘Freaks with Al Gibbs’, and is going to be airing on Saturday as well as its long running Friday show.

The Saturday show looks to be remaining an FM104 exclusive for now, but between 8pm and 9pm on Fridays the show will be joined by listeners in Cork and limerick, with 96FM and Live 95 joining the party.

We also heard this week that Angela Scanlon is joining Virgin Radio UK, but there’s no word on that show being carried by the Irish network just yet.

The consolidation of Irish radio and media in general continues at a rapid rate, and there’s no way of knowing what the future holds.

Read the story here

Ryan Tubridy launched his new podcast this week in association with Eason.

The Bookshelf is available on all the main podcast apps as well as on YouTube, with the first episode featuring author and former Britain’s Got Talent judge David Walliams.

The show has a simple yet nice set, and is uploaded to the YouTube channel of NK Productions. That’s the YouTube channel of Ryan’s agents NK Management.

The YouTube channel hosts other podcasts too including path to power with Matt Cooper and Ivan Yates, and Understanding Money with Eoin McGee. I have a suspicion these podcasts are all recorded in the same studio, but I guess we can’t be sure.

It’s the perfect sponsorship for Eason really, as it fits their brand in every way. RTE had secured a podcast from Tubridy as part of the €170,000 deal that would have seen him return to radio 1, but that deal unfortunately fell apart.

The podcast launched at number one in the Irish podcast chart, outperforming Journal Media’s hugely popular podcast the Stardust, which released an episode this week following the Stardust inquest.

It looks to be a good start for the Bookshelf, showing that Tubridy continues to perform really well outside of RTE.

Listen to the first episode of The Bookshelf here

Finally this week, we got the sad news of two RTE veterans passing Away.

Alf McCarthy passed away age 73 following a short illness. He was best known as presenter of RTE Radio 1 show Late Date, and RTE Cork show Corkabout.

Former Late Late show executive producer Larry Masterson also passed away this week, again aged 73.

Larry left a career as a social worker to join RTE, and worked on shows such as The Live Mike. He was well liked and respected in the industry and will be missed.

It’s a sad story. Hopefully both men rest in peace.

Read tributes from RTE Here

Quick Bits

WLR Gave away a trip to California

Irish presenter Nuala McGovern is joining the presenting team of BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour

Angela Scanlon is taking over weekends on Virgin Radio

SAMANTHA LIBRERI is the new Eastern correspondent at RTE News

This week in Radio 13/4/2024 (it’s all Bullsh*t at the end of the day)

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

Here’s What Happened

Dan Healy with his arms folded. He’s wearing a suit, and truly looks like someone who won’t take no bullsh*t.

Last week we covered the shocking news that jenifer Zamparelli was taking some holidays. Fresh after hosting Dancing With the Stars for RTE one television, Jen did the unthinkable, and took leave.

Apparently there were rumours going around that the 2FM mid morning presenter was in a dispute with the station, and this resulted in the stations manager Dan Healy issuing a statement to the Sunday world.

“She’s on leave. It’s bullsh*t. Bullsh*t, bullsh*t, bullsh*t. She’s on leave. It’s farcical,She’s brilliant, absolutely brilliant. On the breakfast show from the very beginning with Bernard (O’Shea) and Keith – she’s an absolutely brilliant broadcaster. She’s a superstar, absolutely brilliant. It’s absolute nonsense.”
2FM boss Dan Healy

Wise words from Dan here. I don’t know if jenifer is on good terms with her 2FM bosses, but at the end of the day it doesn’t really matter. It’s all Bullsh*t, and Dan truly knows what’s up.

Seriously though, who knows. Jennifer’s 2FM relationship is her business. All I know is that I appreciate the ever straight talking Dan Healy for this beautiful quote.

The Sunday world article also covers Joe Duffy allegedly playing the piano in a hotel during the beast from the east, so it really has something for the whole family. You can read all that below, or check out some piano covers of your favourite Irish tv and radio themes.

Do you think Joe Duffy is good on the piano? Give your predictions on our Instagram story now.

Article from the Sunday World

Piano covers of Irish current affairs themes

Today FM’s big busk for Focus Ireland took place yesterday.

We’ve covered the event a bit in recent weeks, but it really is fantastic to see radio being used for good in this way.

Notification from Revolut: "Donate to The Big busk... Tap to make a donation, and help Focus Ireland support thousands of people without a home."

Revolut users received a donation notification during the event to make donating seamless, in a similar way to RTE’s Toy Show Appeal. All in all I hope the event raised lots of money and we’ll see more events like this going forward.

This kind of event is actually a great example of where Bauer stations could come together to do some good. Well done to everyone involved.

You can still make a donation in the Revolut app or using the link below.

Donate to the big busk here

Finally for now, ⁨Coimisiún na Meán⁩ have announced recipients of funding under the Sound And Vision Scheme.

Sound and Vision is great as it gives funding to independent producers to create high quality public service broadcasting. Here are some of the projects that received funding this round.

Grá ar an Trá is back for season 2 on Virgin Media Television. We covered this show last year as we had radio representation in the love Teach (love House). ⁨Megan O’Regan Byrne⁩ from Beat competed last year, so who knows if we’ll see more radio representation in 2024. Macalla Teoranta received €500,000 to help make the second season.
Irish Music Month returns to independent radio for another year with Hot Press receiving €320,000 for the music event. It’s always good to promote Irish artists, so this can only be a good thing.
€155,000 has been given to Learning Waves for the running of TY Media Week.
Kate Butler is to make a 4 part documentary for RTE 2FM. This Is A Story About Control has received €20,258.

There are loads of fantastic projects getting funding this round, and there’s also funding in a separate scheme for Community broadcasters. It’s a great news story and hopefully we’ll see Sound And Vision continue long into the future.

Read the story here