[Bill Clinton]

I was in the north west coast of Wales and picked up a very full dial of Irish stations, I soon realised that not only were there a lot of stations, there was a lot more interesting radio on the stations, it made the typical choice of a spot in the UK seem very bland in comparison, I've written my thoughts and now just lament that we can't seem to match Dublins much more eclectic and listenable radio output outside the BBC.

RTE Radio 1 (RDS "RTE R1")
RTE 2fm RDS (RDS "RTE 2fm")
RTE Lyric (RDS "RTELyric")
RTE Rnag (RDS "RTE RNAG")
LMFM (RDS didn't get)
Today FM (RDS "Today FM")
East Coast FM (RDS "ECoastFM")
South East FM (RDS "Sth East")
98FM (Dublin) (RDS "98FM")
Beat (from County Wexford) no RDS
NOVA (RDS "NOVA")
Dublin's Q102 (RDS "Q102")
Dublin City FM (RDS "DUB CITY")
SPIN103.8 (with a really good lunchtime talk show) (RDS "SPIN1038")
FM104 (RDS "FM104")
Phantom (RDS "Phantom")
RNA Life (RDS "RNA LIFE")
Sunshine (RDS "Sunshine")
Newstalk (RDS "NEWSTALK")

Also
Cool FM (Belfast) on 97.4
Manx Radio (97.2)
THREE FM (Isle Of Man) (106.2)

Local
Heart Cymru (RDS "HEART")
Real Radio Wales (107.2, 105.7) (RDS "REAL")
BBC Radio Wales (94.8) (RDS "BBCWales")
BBC Radio Cymru (93.5, 94.2) (RDS "BBCymru.")
.
I think the Irish choice of stations is much better than ours, we have the really good BBC but outside that even as a fan of commercial radio what we have in the UK is very poor, but on the Irish stations they were talking about loads of interesting topics, they had a much wider array of music they were willing to play, everything about the stations felt much more friendly and down to earth, ours are much more austere and basic, even in the capital of London, unfortunately it says much about our culture or who is allowed to own and run the stations.

SPIN 103.8 it was a youth hot hit music station, but they were talking about issues like people putting their own rubbish in street bins and what stereotypes people had about travellers, it was much more like radio for company then radio for the same old music, even though that's what they also did. I guess you'd also have to say that often US stations are just as bland and generic as we have in the UK, but it shows you what we could be getting out of our radio and what we're not getting out of it. Here in the North West the dial is generally awful, although I listen to City96.7 and 97.4 Rock FM the most, they feel cold and distant and are not radio stations for company, they are sort of "hot" output, Pete Price is an example of good local output even though it's comtemptuous of callers and a phone-in of right wing views, City could be so much more, it's good for dance as a bit of character on the station, but doesn't offer anything else more eclectic than the sport outside the music. Liverpool output could learn a lot from Dublin, Manchester is a bit better because they have a wider range of quite eclectic community stations which don't exist in Liverpool, but Key 103 is hardly the voice of the city particularly as they haven't bothered to replace James Stannage long term. Sadly radio is increasingly hard to be into these days, am I just going to have to say, I give up I'll stick with the BBC!

[Bill Clinton]

I was so impressed with some of them, that I've added them to my phone and am probably going to drive round with them over 3G.

[dpb]

Originally Posted by Bill Clinton

<snip>

I think the Irish choice of stations is much better than ours, we have the really good BBC but outside that even as a fan of commercial radio what we have in the UK is very poor, but on the Irish stations they were talking about loads of interesting topics, they had a much wider array of music they were willing to play, everything about the stations felt much more friendly and down to earth, ours are much more austere and basic, even in the capital of London, unfortunately it says much about our culture or who is allowed to own and run the stations.

SPIN 103.8 it was a youth hot hit music station, but they were talking about issues like people putting their own rubbish in street bins and what stereotypes people had about travellers, it was much more like radio for company then radio for the same old music, even though that's what they also did.<snip>

I believe the Irish stations have a requirement for 20% of their output to be news and current affairs, someone will be able to confirm the exact term no doubt, which is why they have these speech-led shows during daytime. Even the "more music, less talk" Q102 has a drivetime current affairs show.

[vinnielo]

Originally Posted by dpb

I believe the Irish stations have a requirement for 20% of their output to be news and current affairs, someone will be able to confirm the exact term no doubt, which is why they have these speech-led shows during daytime.

Well, good to see them executing it properly and with effectiveness.
If they were UK stations, they'd probably have just sneaked in the absolute MINIMUM efforts of their licence-required output into the early hours of the morning or something.

[dpb]

Originally Posted by vinnielo

Well, good to see them executing it properly and with effectiveness.
If they were UK stations, they'd probably have just sneaked in the absolute MINIMUM efforts of their licence-required output into the early hours of the morning or something.

From what I remember reading about this (which was at the time the 105.2 Dublin frequency was being advertised for a modern rock service so a few years ago) I think the 20% has to be within daytime.

[Martin Phillp]

Spin also has ex 2FM presenter Nikki Hayes on mid-mornings, I've noticed when I've dipped into her show that she'll even have a current affairs discussion with the presenters of The Spin who follow her with their topical speech output.

It's also worth noting that even the current affairs discussion is tailored to their target audience.

[AWradioUK]

DELETED (Double Post)

[AWradioUK]

Irish commercial radio is much more "full service" with commitments like the old UK ILR style of station mainly due there being no equivalent of our BBC Locals from RTE.
There are phone-ins even on the Hit Music format stations, more indepth news bulletins and even things like daily obituary notices.

[Martin Phillp]

A friend of mine regularly visits Ireland and tells me one of their rural ILR's even reads out death notices!

It sounds like some commercial radio in Ireland does the job of the local press in the UK.

[crusher19860138]

This does not surprise me one bit,i listen to RTE Radio 1 daily,and find it very listenable,RTE certainly knows a thing or two about quality entertainment!

[Martin Phillp]

With most if not all Irish commercial stations providing some form of full service PSB, how does that affect community stations with regards to their key commitments?

[RadioKnower]

Originally Posted by Martin Phillp

A friend of mine regularly visits Ireland and tells me one of their rural ILR's even reads out death notices!

You could imagine that priest with the really boring voice from Father Ted reading them out.

[GeorgeS]

Originally Posted by Martin Phillp

A friend of mine regularly visits Ireland and tells me one of their rural ILR's even reads out death notices!

It sounds like some commercial radio in Ireland does the job of the local press in the UK.

because they charge for it and its a very effective income stream given that people keep dying.

As regards Dublin radio, about 50% of these stations are loss making. Only the UTV group are actually making any profit. Take away the sugar daddy of Dennis O'Brien and the horizon will look very different.

[spanners]

Unfortunately quantity is not the same as quality with a lot of the commercial stations listed playing the same format. There are some distinctive stations on your list though, more than is available in comparable cities in the UK.
4FM is making some good in roads into the listening public and Today fm has picked up quite a few listeners from 2fm. There are quite a few pirates around too as with most cities but for some reason they seem to last longer in Ireland. There's one in Monaghan which can be heard clearly over the border - Radio Star Country that has been broadcasting happily for 25 years its plays a lot of Irish Country music and takes quite a bit of local advertising too.

[Jonathan_Gold]

Originally Posted by GeorgeS

because they charge for it and its a very effective income stream given that people keep dying.

As regards Dublin radio, about 50% of these stations are loss making. Only the UTV group are actually making any profit. Take away the sugar daddy of Dennis O'Brien and the horizon will look very different.

For someone who has being in ROI over a year and worked for many groups back in the UK including Heart, Radio in Ireland is very different from the UK. Here at Cork's Red FM like most Irish stations we have to have 20% News/Speech/local content, and also we have a minium of 20% of Irish Music, with the help of The Saturday's and The Wanted its doesn't change the music of a Hit Music format that much.

One thing to remember you can't compare UK and Ireland on the amount of stations. For example here in Cork & County' we have a TSA of around 600.000 and Cork is Ireland's second biggest City and the stations available are.....

RTE Radio 1
RTE 2FM
RTE Lyric
RTE Rnag
4FM -Semi National
96 FM - Local
Red FM - Local
C 103 - Local
Newstalk- National
Today FM- National

Spirt FM - Relgious
Life 93.1 - Relgious

CUH - Hospital radio
UCC - Uni radio
Cork CR - Comunity radio


The good thing about Radio in Ireland, not much Networking and mostly 24/7 local

[ney]

3FM from the Isle of man is quit good. I listen to that station every now and again via my Pure Sensia when im in. Not listened to the station for a week or so though.
Dublin's Q102 is an other station I have listened to once in a while also via the Pure Sensia.

Darren

[east_boy_16]

have to say that I do LOVE Dublin's radio output. Spin 1038 is a great youth station and then you also have Classic Hits 4fm and Radio Nova.

Nova and 4FM are both part of the same company and I was lucky enough to have a studio tour of both 4fm is like Heart but it also has a late night phone in show "The Late Show with Niall Borlan". I sat in on his show too!

Compared to some of UK radio, I'd swap the Dublin stations for here anytime. In Northern Ireland it's worth checking out community station Blast 106, that's a good listen with some fantastic dance shows at the weekend too!

[deepfroat]

How is this possible? ROI has a population of 4m to the UK's 60m and is reportedly bankrupt.

[david1956]

Originally Posted by deepfroat

How is this possible? ROI has a population of 4m to the UK's 60m and is reportedly bankrupt.

Money is not the issue. Imagination and producing radio for the listeners instead of for accountants is.

[overline]

Originally Posted by deepfroat

How is this possible? ROI has a population of 4m to the UK's 60m and is reportedly bankrupt.

Advertising rates could play a part in it, they seem fairly high on a cost per thousand to me, if the rate cards listed by UTV Radio Solutions (sales house) are anything to go by.

Looking at both Galway Bay FM & the south-east's Beat 106-107, both have a reach of just over 80,000 and 30-second daytime packaged spot rates are in the range of €46-63, which seem high to me.

The Joint National Listenership Research Survey

Rates for On-Air Advertising

I know one small station in the UK with a reach of about 20,000, that goes as low as £5 per spot, so for 4-times that reach it would be equal to £20.