2022

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

Here’s What Happened

This is obviously not an official Talksport Logo

It seems that Talksport is moving further into the Irish Market. As of now, News UK who own the brand refer to Talksport Ireland on their job listings, and the brand has this week announced a deal with cricket Ireland.

Interestingly, in job ads for Urban Media, the service is actually listed as a station.

As for the Cricket Ireland deal announced this week, Talksport will broadcast a number of mens fixtures This summer, and will also create content on social media and VOD services like YouTube. There’ll be expanded coverage on all the News UK stations here in Ireland, as well as on Talksport 2 in the UK.

Ultimately it will be interesting to see what becomes of Talksport ireland. Will it just be a UK simulcast with a few opt outs? Or will it be a bit more like OTB, creating something more ireland specific? Time will tell.

Read the announcement here

Midwest Radio are holding an outside broadcast as part of the Home to Mayo Tradfest. It’s really great to see broadcasters getting out and about again post pandemic, and hopefully this should result in a bit of extra revenue for stations.

The 2 hour broadcast will take place from 6pm on the 28th of may from the Merry Monk in Ballina. The broadcast is apparently sponsored by the venue so it sounds like a win win for all involved.

All the details on the event can be found below. With a bit of luck we’ll see more and more outside broadcasts like this over the coming months.

Read the story here

Finally this week, Ireland is in trouble, and that might result in the Media Commission being created a bit sooner. Let me explain.

Long story short, the European commission has referred Ireland as well as a few other countries to the EU Court of Justice for not implementing a piece of legislation called the audiovisual media services directive (AVMSD),

what this legislation does, is place new standards on regulators of television and online video platforms, making sure that they are regulated in the same way across the EU. The thing is, we didn’t pass the law in time, and now the EU has told the court about it.

Without getting too technical, the law that needs to be past in ireland is called the online safety and media regulations bill. This is the bill that will replace the Broadcasting Act 2009. When this bill passes, the BAI will be gone and we will all then be regulated by the Media Commission (Coimisiún na Meán)

Now that the EU are getting more involved, we might see the end of the BAI sooner rather than later. Lots of interesting changes ahead. If this is an area your interested in, the linked article from RTÉ has some good information.

Read the story here

Quick Bits

Radiocentre Ireland have launched their insights page with lots of interesting info

Fáilte Ireland are spending €700,000 on a national radio, print, and online advertising campaign to try reduce staff Shortages in the tourism sector

Applications have closed for the latest round of sound and vision

Is it normal for Irish people to leave the radio on to deter Burglars? Reddit was discussing that this week

Here’s an article about the early days of radio in Dundalk

Radio Days Europe took place this week

The Irish Catholic Newspaper has a review of Radio Maria. Unfortunately it’s a paid article but the headline suggests they were happy

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 14/5/2022

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

Here’s what happened

Beat are doing large scale promotions again🎉

We had a two year pandemic induced break, but we finally have promotions back on beat.

The station is basically using the fugitive formula, sending presenters on the run with a cash bounty. If you find the presenters, you win the cash.

The idea isn’t new in the Irish market as 96FM and c103 had a version of this concept back in the UTV days, but it’s great to see large scale promotions returning after so long. Hopefully Beat and other stations hold more promotions over the next while, it’s truly some of the most engaging radio when done right.

Also, it’s interesting to me that beat used the slogan “if you don’t ask, you can’t win”. Someone was clearly inspired by the 96FM fugitive which used the same phrase years ago.

Read the story from Radio Today here

Dublin radio station Near FM has reportedly started charging people to be apart of the station, resulting in some long term contributors deciding to leave.

According to Dublin Live, presenters are now required to join a media Co Op for a fee of €5 per month. Radio Land hasn’t had time to independently verify this information before publishing, but we have no reason to doubt the info.

This raises an interesting question. Is volunteer radio more of a job or an experience?

On the one hand, running a radio station is expensive and it could be argued it’s providing an experience to its presenters. Kind of like a club. On the other hand, these people are volunteering their time free of charge to the station who is benefiting from that time.

It’s an interesting question, as depending on your view it can be anywhere on a spectrum from totally okay to deeply unethical.

There’s a poll over on our Insta story so why not tell us where you land? We’d also love to hear from anyone with experience of this situation, so feel free to DM us.

Vote on our story here

Read the story from Dublin Live here

Finally this week, RTÉ have been publishing articles explaining why public service media matters. The articles are written by department heads in different content categories, and there’s also an article from director general Dee Forbes.

I really enjoyed reading these, and even though it’s not radio related I can’t not share how excited I am that another series of hidden assets is in development.

I don’t know if more article’s will come over the next while, but something about getting to read the thoughts of those managing our biggest broadcaster is really interesting to me. Hopefully we see more openness like this going forward.

You can read the articles here

Quick bits

Three new journalists have joined Beat 102 103

Brooke scullion called for radio stations to support her Eurovision effort. She’s since been eliminated

The RTÉ trade union group wants more information about a new well paid editorial role

The CEO of East Coast FM, Ciara O’Connor, has joined the board of a station on the Isle of Man

Danny Denton spoke this week about his new book which was released in April, the story is set at a fictional Cork radio station

Blast 106, a radio station in Belfast has apologised after posting an insensitive meme

The Ryan Tubridy Show is available for sponsorship

Here are the results of our misinformation poll from last week, shame we didn’t get much of a sample size as the poll proved inconclusive

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 7/5/2022

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

Here’s what happened

A total of €10.5 million in additional funding for the sound and vision scheme has been announced this week. The funding is split into a few categories, and should fund some quality content over the next few months.

For those of you who don’t know about Sound and Vision, it’s an awesome scheme from the BAI allowing independent producers to seek funding to assist them in making content for radio and television. It’s usually funded by 7% of the Licence Fee, but the funding announced this week is in addition to that.

So, here’s the kind of stuff that can get funding over the next while.

€5 million is for programming in relation to climate change. I’m really interested to see how radio stations use this potential funding as I’m sure there are some quite creative climate change projects that could work on radio.
€2 million is for live music broadcasting productions. Last year we saw initiatives such as Irish music month get BAI funding. Hopefully we might see some collaboration again this time.
€2 million has been allocated for Irish language programming. It’s exactly what it says on the tin. An Mhaith
Finally there’s €1.5 million for general sound and vision stuff. Always handy to have. (Apparently some of this general funding was used already in round 42, but it’s only been acknowledged this week)

I’m personally delighted with this news. Any additional funding going towards quality broadcasting is a good thing in my book, hopefully this funding can be put to good use delivering great content for viewers and listeners.

The plan is for the BAI to announce details of the sound and vision climate change round in late may, with the Irish language and live music rounds opening during the summer. Keep reading Radio Land as we’ll include the details when they’re announced.

Read all the details here

A new report from learning waves has found that independent stations played an important role in debunking misinformation during the pandemic.

According to the report, almost 100% of stations surveyed said they made it their responsibility to combat the spread of misinformation and educate the public by sourcing credible and qualified contributors and challenging contrary views. It’s interesting to see them use the word almost here as that would indicate to me that one station didn’t indicate this, I’d love to know what station, but ultimately that’s just me being nosy.

The report also highlights other important stuff, such as the financial hit to radio stations during the pandemic, as well as the impact that it has had on those working in the sector.

Do you think the radio industry did enough to debunk misinformation throughout the pandemic? Or could we have done better? You can let us know in our Twitter Poll.

Read the story from Radio Today

Check out the report here

Just so you know, our final story this week is subject to some reporting restrictions. While we often desire to know every detail of a story, sometimes it’s fairest for some information, in this case the names of the accused, to remain private.

With that said, here’s what we know.

Bláthnaid Ní Chofaigh, who is most well known for her work on a number of RTÉ TV shows, has alleged she was sexually harassed and victimised while working for the broadcaster.

She has lodged a discrimination complaint under the Employment Equality Act, and the matter is now before the workplace relations commission.

Mairéad McKenna BL, who was representing RTÉ at a preliminary hearing said, “We absolutely deny all allegations against RTÉ,”

For more detail’s on the proceedings, I’d recommend you check out the linked article from the Irish Times. That provides a bit more information about the situation.

Read the story here

Quick Bits

Alan Tyler is RTEs new Group Head of Entertainment and music

Radiocentre ireland had its first big event this week

96FM are looking for responses on their music pannel

Muireann O’Connell has said Losing her Today FM gig was the best thing that ever happened

Here’s an article about the Donegal man who won silver for a podcast production at the New York Radio Awards

Kathryn Thomas has a head cold, and she’s filling in for Ray Darcy next week

KCLR turned 18

New stations

We don’t normally cover community radio, but it’s worth knowing that the BAI are looking for applicants for two new community radio licences.

The BAI are looking to grant a License for a community radio station in Athlone

And one in South Dublin

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 30/4/2022

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

Here’s what happened

The leader of the opposition, Mary Lou McDonald, is taking legal action against RTÉ.

The Irish Times are reporting details of the case, but we at Radio Land have not been able to verify their information. We don’t have any reason to doubt their reporting, but we want to be very careful as legal proceedings are ongoing.

This story has been well reported, so we’re going to provide links to a number of sources covering the story. The Irish Times has the most detail, but you might find it interesting for example to see how RTÉ are covering the legal action against themselves.

Here are a few of the reports:

The NUJ (National Union Of Journalists) have also commented on the situation. you can read that at the link below.

All we can really do with stories like this is wait and see what happens. Hopefully things can be resolved quickly.

Read the story about the NUJ response here

It’s got a backstory longer than Taylor Vs Serrano at this point, but the drama between south east Radio and Wexford county council has more updates.

Missed our previous coverage?

For a basic recap of everything check out instalment Three.

What’s the latest

The long and short of it is that the head of south East Radio, Eamonn Buttle, has asked for an independent enquiry into the matter. He has also asked for an apology after he feel’s he was defamed by David Minogue, Wexford county council secretary.

The apology request comes as a result of Minogue accusing Buttle of leaking emails to the press. Minogue now excepts this isn’t what happened, resulting in Buttle saying, “I await your apology in this regard.”

So, that’s one side of the story, the other side is the enquiry.

Minogue apparently reiterated his requests for a service level agreement with the station, a request that again received a strong rejection from Buttle.

Following Buttle’s email, Minogue, who is also the ethics registrar, forwarded on buttles complaint to the cathaoirleach of Wexford County Council as well as the council’s chief executive.

After Minogue forwarded the complaint about himself, The cathaoirleach of the council contacted Buttle to inform him that she was considering further action under the terms of the Local Government act 2001.

Buttle then requested the independent enquiry.

The amount of back and forth in this story is insane, but the Irish Times have done a great job once again covering the situation. While I have covered everything, I have had to simplify somewhat, so I’d recommend reading the Irish Times coverage for all the details.

This is a very serious story so it’s one we’ll continue covering as things develop. It’s not the kind of fun radio stuff that I enjoy covering, I’d much rather we were discussing jingle packages honestly, but being aware of this situation is very important.

Read the Story here

A new social networking platform has launched dedicated to those in the radio industry, or those with an interest in radio.

The Radio Space has been created by Nails Mahoney and Tracey Lee who some of you may know from OnAirCoach. The space is built on the Mighty Network’s platform and is already growing fast.

The reason we started The Radio Space is because, no matter how many Groups people join on Facebook etc, they never fully get to be ‘radio people’ on there. So, we figured – a place only for radio people. Where our terms are understood, our quirks are enjoyed and our knowledge is valued. This is social media for radio people. No one else! Also, with no algorithm, you get to see who and what you want..not what the site hands to you. That’s a big plus. We’re very excited for what this can become and also really thrilled at the amount of people who signed up at the launch. Radio is alive and kicking!!
Nails and Tracey from OnAirCoach/ The Radio Space – speaking to Radio Land

It will be interesting to see how this space grows over time, but I do think the concept has lots of potential.

If you’d like, you can also now follow Radio Land on The Radio Space. We plan to experiment with posting our news posts to the platform over the next few weeks so why not give us a follow?

Very best of luck to the team with this new project, this will be really interesting to watch over the next few months.

Check out The Radio Space here

Quick Bits

Wireless Radio ROI LTD, who run 96FM, FM104 and a number of other Regional stations made a pre tax loss of €4,44 million

RTE won broadcaster of the year at the New York Radio Awards

The new Radiocentre Ireland website has launched

RTE’s Live Dawn Chorus is going to be simulcast with the BBC this weekend

Spin is the official radio partner for Longitude 2022

CSN student Tony Sayers won radio dj of the year at the student media awards

RedFM became EdFM to celebrate Ed Sheeran’s concerts in cork

Jennifer Zamparelli has said she has no problem sharing her sex life on radio

Rebel Prisoner, a new radio documentary airs tomorrow morning on 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 23/4/2022

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

Here’s what happened

More Music Ireland went off air last night, after the station failed to reach commercial viability. More Music Ireland was an internet station, but it was one of Irelands first serious attempts at moving internet radio forward.

Now that the product has been created, the next natural step is to make MoreMusic Ireland financially viable. This requires a fairly large amount of money to create a high profile, sustained, promotion and marketing campaign. Without going into detail, the backing for a push like this just does not seem to be there.
Mike Moloney,, station Owner, on the stations Facebook page

This wasn’t just another bedroom station, this was a good attempt at trying to build a business in internet radio, an attempt that simply didn’t take hold this time around.

Unfortunately the Irish Audience just isn’t ready for internet radio yet, and Mike is right. Solving that problem takes money. I do think the future of radio is online, we’re just not quite at that point yet.

It’s going to take attempts like More Music Ireland to move this space forward, but it’s not going to be easy. We also need the likes of RTÉ to keep up the fight with RTÉ Gold, even if it isn’t going to turn a profit for the next while.

I was watching Line OF Duty during the week and there was a really interesting and relevant quote, “sometimes you don’t lose, you just run out of time”. That perfectly sums up this story really, it’s just going to take time for Internet to truely take on FM.

Well done to the team at More Music Ireland, you might not have cracked it this time, but you can all be proud of a very respectable attempt.

Read the full Facebook post here

2 FM are looking for a sponsor for entertainment news, so let’s take a look at the costs, and what your getting.

The entertainment news airs each hour between 9AM and 4PM, so while your not really hitting breakfast or drive time, you are getting a nice chunk of the day.

As far as audience goes, the entertainment news airs across 3 shows.

Jennifer Zamparelli (141,000 listeners last JNLR)
Tracy Clifford (129,000 listeners last JNLR)
The 2 Johnnies (nobody really knows yet how many people are listening as the show only started last month)

So, here’s the costs

€40,000 for 3 months. That’s €13,333 per month
you can spend €70,000 for 6 months which brings your per month cost down to €11,666
And if your looking to go long term with a 12 month deal, that will set you back €120,000, a perfectly even €10,000 per month

I find it fascinating to look at costs like this as it gives you something interesting to compare. Unfortunately RTÉ Media Sales are one of the only sales teams to post this sort of stuff on the internet for nerds like me to look at, but I do hope that in future stations will be more open about their sponsorship opportunities.

Virgin Media Television have recently started publishing sponsorship prices again after taking a multi year break, so I hope some on the radio side follow suit.

Check out the details here

Finally this week, the IMRO awards are back as an in person event. That’s right, the radio industry are heading back to the Lyrath once again for the wildest night in the radio year.

The event takes place on Friday the 7th of October and stations can submit audio now.

Obviously not as many people will be able to attend the in person event as did online, so this raises the question, should the event go hybrid and stream the awards online as well as in person? On one hand, more people would be able to attend, but on the other hand, the argument could be made that what happens in the Lyrath must stay in the Lyrath for the love of all things good. You can cast your vote over on our Instagram now.

Read the story from Radio Today

Cast your vote over on our Instagram

Quick Bits

Here is our Twitter review of the new Midlands 103 breakfast show

The story of the Italian inventer that helped launch Vatican Radio, and his deep links to ireland

2FM Breakfast host Carl Mullan got married this week, Congratulations🎉

Nicky Byrne has spoken about putting his radio career on hold

The owner of Midlands 103 has passed away

Midwest Radio are holding a celebration of poetry to mark poetry day 2022

A tv programme celebrating 50 years of RTÉ RnaG airs tonight on RTÉ One TV

David Coverdale is hosting a 3 part series on Radio Nova

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.