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RTE 2FM about to be bannisterd ?
Maggie_King
Posts: 381 Forum Member
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Someone who works in RTE was telling me that word around the place is that, 2fm is to get a Matthew Bannister style cull and relaunch in February. It's an odd station, It's meant to be the national youth station but its programing has always been a lot closer to Radio 2 than Radio 1.
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Yes, us Irish listeners are certainly unique. A lot of the ILR's still carry 'death notices'!
But this is what makes Irish radio so great in my opinion.
2Fm (or Radio 2 as was)is not a youth station, nor do I believe it was ever meant to be. It was a music station for a younger generation but not specifically for the "youth".
It does need to be "Bannisterised" imo. I've said that for the last 10 years or more.
A reorganisation of RnaG and Lyric and a new "Radio 2 " style station is required. Ronan Collins could come off Radio 1 and Larry etc off 2Fm.
You would actually have a very good station then.
Personally, I think RTE Radio 2 sounds very much "yoof" as it is now, with a couple of strange anomalies, like Larry Gogan for example, who's now into his 70's. Larry really should be on Radio 1 at this stage.
But RTE Radio 1 is very much a speech based station and much of the music it plays is for an age group older than myself i.e. late 60's/early 70's.
If it was down to me I'd revamp RTE Radio 1 with more music and make Newstalk a national station as opposed to quasi national to fill the gap.
The Last Word is on Today FM.
Still is good.
Just as long as it's not Jedward...
From iRadio?
Well the rumours are Keith from Phantom going to breakfast.
When I was growing up in the North of Ireland / Ulster during the 1980's, Rte Radio 2 (as it was called then) was a pleasant change from BBC Radio 1, mainly because there was less DJ talk between the records, no DLT, no Steve Wright, stuff like that,which is what I preferred myself personally.
Having said that, I did like John Peel in the evenings, again another personal choice.
For a while in the late 80s, due to the situation in the South, we did have a cupola good pirate stations beamed into the Beal Feirste audience, and I stopped listening to both BBC and RTE for a while.
Then in 1989, I had to ruin it all, by doing what all Padraigs do, and emigrate to County London for the work.
But for a while, there was the long wave and Atlantic 252 did what the pirates in the South had done for a few years before it became a bit s!!!e.
Nowadays, as I have said on another thread, I quite like BBC Radio 1 in the evenings, but otherwise I usually listen to my own recordings.
I sometimes listen to 2FM on the satellite, but really it is mostly old chat during the days with little music being played. Not my type of listen.
If it is going to get a make over, I will be interested but I doubt if I will listen regularly again mainly because I have got into the habit of playing my own music, rather than waiting to hear a song I may like from a radio station.
Crazy thing is that he started on Radio Eireann which became RTE Radio One. I remember his "Discs A Gogan" show on there in the early 1970s
Yep, it was good until somebody decided to Bannister it
Bit old for that, surely ?
Thought BBC Radio 1 was for the 16-25 age group ?
I think a lot of the ILR stations (particularly outside the cities) cater to a similar audience to that which the BBC Local Stations serve in the UK.
The Death Notices are an odd feature, but I know several people who would never miss them.
There were always stories of Irish nuns who used to listen to Terry Wogan on BBC Radio 2 - i guess the Long Wave signal would have covered Ireland pretty well?
Is there any reason why he has remained on radio two up to this point? After so long is he considered pretty much untouchable in the way John Peel became in the UK?
And, 2FM is not going to be Bannistered. Far too many vested interests and people with 'pull' for that.
The is, however, going to be a movement of Titanic deck-chairs.
It's a pity, it really needs a Bannistering; however the boss of 2FM, Dan Healy, while being a good guy, ultimately won't have the unequivocal support such a move would need.
A.
Radio 2 had a huge listenership in Ireland in the 70's. The Long Wave Signal was easier to pick up in Cork than the MW from Athlone or Tullamore. Most people I knew at the time stuck with Radio 2 until Gay Byrne came on at 10 on RTE Radio.
There were one or two complaints from relatives of mine when Radio 4 appeared on LW instead. However, It was still easy enough to get Radio 2 on MW with a decent radio.