Irish radio stations are all the same!!!

giveth

Apologies if there has been a recent thread about this but i couldnt find any.

Do other people also think that irish radio stations are crap, in that they are all the same and only appeal to those interested in popular music/culture.

Every time a new radio station comes along they claim to be better than their rivals, yet they play the same mix of pop music, maybe being slightly more 'daring' at nightime. Not only that, but they all have have news/sport bulletins and they're on at the same time (top of the hour). They even manage to time their ad-breaks so that all stations have their ads on at the same time. Also, they all seem to have some irish language programming.

I'm from cork, but i believe the situation is similar all over the country with dublin perhaps having some alternatives. But then the authorities see fit to close down any alternative pirate radio stations which are offering a service that legal stations simply are not providing.

It may not be entirely the fault of the radio stations but of the people who give out the licenses specifying conditions on the content that can be broadcasted. But either way I believe what we have in this country is 2fm and 2fm-clones on our airwaves and i'm sick of it! :mad:

Fudger

todayfm isn't to bad............. but the one thing that rattles my cage is the amount of adds on irish radio stations. I know they pay for the station and all that but its gettin to the stage that every two minutes there is another add or a traffic report or news.

Why do we need traffic reports in ireland.............

"there are loads of cars and not enough space so your all f*cked this morning a per every morning and now a few words from our sponsors"

grumpytrousers

well....firstly I wouldn't go and say 'Irish Radio Stations are all the same' and base your assertions on what you can hear in Cork, or Dublin. Jesus -you gotta listen to the Bog FM style stuff down here where they play both kinds of music - Country and Irish...

Unfortunately daring means nobody listens to it, and thus the commerical stations will have to rely on a staple diet of what the punters want, and if that's a diet of Mick Flavin, TR Dallas and Declan Nerney, then so be it. Or if you're in the city, then you better get to like that Maroon 5 song, Anastacia and the new Britney one that isn't as crap as the last 3. Most of us like 'comfort' and stuff that isn't TOO whacked out - and that's why Tom Dunne actually does quite a good job in that he'll play some new stuff that won't get airplay elsewhere, he'll follow up with a bit of Teenage Fanclub (who would be more 'critically acclaimed' than popular) and then a bit of Bowie. Mainstream - but the Maroon 5 gang mightn't switch him off.

However, he's an exception, and he's on in the evening. By day, it's sales reps, shopkeepers and housewifes listening, and as long as the market says that they want x, y, and z, then that's what they'll get

In fact -you could make the point that real public service radio - YES RTE, I'm talking to you - would almost entirely consist of the kind of unlistenable to ****e you'd never hear on a commercial station.

'You're listening to 2fm and now we have some jazz noodling by goat farmers of the hindu kush, playing their instruments underwater, but first here's Jeff with the traffic'

If you REALLY want 'all the same' radio, I suggest you try the USA, where you've got the syndicated thing going and with Clear Channel owning most of the stations, you'll really find it more bland than anything we can come up with here...

munkeehaven

yeah i hardly ever listen to the radio anymore, but did any of ye use to listen to j ahern on 2fm before?? he was american i think, and he was absolutely brilliant, he brought so many new and interesting bands to my ears..like calexico and dental....these days the guys i listen to would be donal dineen 12-2 on today fm, brilliant instrumental music and all sorts, cormac battle and jenny houston are quite good for the ''alternative rock'' category..and raidio na gaeltachta is good from around 10-12 with .. i cant recall his name but along the styles of donal dineen. there are some gems if you look..well listen hard enough.

Batbat

newstalk is ok

grumpytrousers

newstalk is ok

that's as may be...but still bog all people listen to it because...um...you have to listen to it. Consider Drive-time shows - they tend to up the talking on those 'cos an awful lot people are sitting down, either having breakfast/tea or driving to/from work.

but during any other time of day, if you want to listen to newstalk or any talk based station, you kinda have to stop what you're doing and 'listen' (not hear) what's being said for you to gain any entertainment/information value from it, and as I've said, the people listening all the other times during the day can't/won't do that.

which is one of the major reasons newstalk doesn't get a huge listenership and thus doesn't make a lot of money...and a mate says it's run by tossers as well...

Civilian_Target

If you're on the east coast or the border, you can get a digital radio and tune into BBC radio 6. That's what I plan on doing, sooner rather than later.

Lex Luthor

try Spin 103.8 FM
Their afternoon show is good with Jack & Ally....she has a real sexy voice...he's a yank but I won't hold that aginst him. Available only in the pale area

ChipZilla

That's the way commercial radio is these days. 2FM, TodayFM, RedFM, 96FM, FM104 - all sh*te. But sh*te sells. The punters want to hear Britney, etc, etc.

DAB ain't the answer 'cos 99% of the population have no way of getting a signal and anyway, most of the channels broadcasting on DAB like Virgin or XFM are just as sh*te as their Irish counterparts with the same Britney tunes played like clockwork.

The only hope is internet radio I'm afraid...

giveth

New radio licenses are going to be given out in an auction environment, instead of the current "beauty contest" system, according to todays Irish Independent.

Also,

The current news content requirement and Irish music quotas could be reduced for new niche stations, the report also says. Such a move is unlikely to be welcomed by established players, as the 20pc news requirement is one of the highest costs for independent radio.

Maybe things are set to improve????

grumpytrousers

I

Such a move is unlikely to be welcomed by established players, as the 20pc news requirement is one of the highest costs for independent radio.

I'm not too sure about the level of the percentage, but I actually like the idea of there being a quota of news requirement. Having lived in the UK and experienced local radio in London like XFM and C(r)apital where the news was delivered like a telegram...

e.g. 'Ministers are expected to grill top cops over heathrow terror alert'

for Gods sakes, leaving aside the notion that it's like having Sun headliens read out to you, if *that's* the level of news you're getting, then you might as well have none!

giveth

I think all radio stations should be specialised, so that you can select the station that you want, whether it be news, sport, pop music, classical music, etc. But as it stands most of the stations we have try to cater for all of the above and make a very bad attempt at it. You never know what you're going to get when you choose a station. Thats why i think there should be no quotas on the content that stations have to play.

Also, why are there licenses at all? Any one should be allowed open up a radio station. If it's a crap station or there is no demand for what its providing, it will close down, just like shops on a street.

grumpytrousers

I think all radio stations should be specialised, so that you can select the station that you want, whether it be news, sport, pop music, classical music, etc

I see your point, but Ireland is too small for that to work. For example, the Slipknot loving types don't have enough disposable income in toto for it to be worth an advertisers while to buy airtime on Radio Angst 103.

Okay - if you have a shop selling black hoodies, you might think it worth while, but the big hitters - the banks etc, won't want to advertise on it, so they'll not survive.

A sports based station - not a chance, at least inasmuch as one that would have round the clock sports news. Newstalk 106 are already findnig it hard to fill 24 hours a day with real news, so just limiting things to sport would be far harder, and just as expsensive...

RE*AC*TOR

This is why I listen to Newstalk - if Phantom was still on the air i'd give that a whirl now and again - but driving along on your own Newstalk is great.

The Earl

Check out Radio Na Gaeltachta late night....from 10.02 till midnight
they have a great alternative music programme,
the equal of 'Here comes the night' or 'Headphones' (I'm not kidding!)
Not just dedicated to any genre either, a nice mix.

BuffyBot

Also, why are there licenses at all? Any one should be allowed open up a radio station. If it's a crap station or there is no demand for what its providing, it will close down, just like shops on a street.

Because there is a limited spectrum. Having no organisation would mean that all stations could just broadcast over each other, and the one with the strongest transmitter wins.

Not a particularily good system that, is it?

ReefBreak

98FM104Spin103 (can you tell the difference) make me want to vomit whenever I accidently tune into them. Daytime 2FM and TodyFM aren't great but most generic commercial stations have to do bog-standard chart shows at some stage each day to pay the bills.

Dave Fannings talk-show can be sometimes entertaining, though he sometimes gets too many nobheads from the public on the show, e.g. "The Chillis were FAB! I'd never heard of the Pixies..." Tom Dunne's show is usually excellent. Cormac Battle on 2FM is pretty good too. Donal Dineen's late night slot after midnight is, in my opinion, the best radio show I've ever heard anywhere. He's simply superb, and many's the CD I've purchased after hearing a tune on his show.

As for talk-radio, I think Matt Cooper has improved in the last few months (he did my head in for a while after Dunphy left). I'm a big fan of David McWilliams on Newstalk106 in the mornings. I find George Hook to be very hit and miss.

All in all, I think there's a lot of good radio in the Dublin region, as long as you don't go looking for quality music during the day.

egan007

All those sunshine dublin stations should be burned
the only station worth talking about is the one who can't afford a licence - PHANTOM FM
Just 24hour sweet sweet music

If there happens to be any millionaires out there with nothing better to do with their money please give phantom a mil or two ( don't change a thing with it though)

ReefBreak

Originally posted by egan007
All those sunshine dublin stations should be burned
the only station worth talking about is the one who can't afford a licence - PHANTOM FM
Just 24hour sweet sweet music

If there happens to be any millionaires out there with nothing better to do with their money please give phantom a mil or two ( don't change a thing with it though)

I'm a big fan of Phantom, but I don't know if they should get a license. Not because I don't think it deserves one, but because I believe it would eventually turn into a commercial sludge station. Look at Spin103 now - it was supposed to cater for the Dance music sector of the market, but now it's just an even worse version of 98FM104. Of course, the fact that the Dance music scene went belly up just as the station was receiving it license didn't exactly help matters. I think Phantom as pirate station is probably the way to go... (Yes I do know they're off the air at the moment).

mike65

Newstalk got a mention, living in Waterford means of course I can't hear it. It sounds overall like the best station the country has if you want something like intelligent discourse. Must e-mail NTL and see if they could carry it.

As for music I've long since stopped listening to radio esp since Donal Dinneen went 12.00-2.00 am, which is of no use to me. So the interweb it is, live365 and Shoutcast have an exellent sellection of stations in all major and some very minor genres. Listening to a stauon right now that specialises in keyboard instrumental music.

Mike.

RE*AC*TOR

Newstalk broadcast on the web! Problem solved...

mike65

Just tried, all I get is invalid format error message from Media Player.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=lang_en&ie=UTF-8&safe=off&q=newstalk+106+listen&btnG=Search

Found a link,

http://www.surfmusic.de/radios/newstalk106fmm.htm

this loads the player "in window" fashion.

Found another link this will load in Real Player10
http://62.25.96.7/newstalk

Mike.

ps thanks for the suggestion!

DerekD Goldfish

Most irish radio stations are crap since phantom went ive been listining to a 6music over the web a bit its damn good. A few of the late night shows on the 2fm,today fm arnt bad and ana livia have a good alternative show late night monday as well but in general the quality is fairly poor.

grumpytrousers

I've not listened to Phantom, but I'd think that the reason that it's a good station is that it's a labour of love, run by people who love music, for people who love music; the kind of people for whom the concept of a playlist is an anathema (sp?)

The only way they could go legit would be to join some consortium...at that point another media hitter or two would have to get involved, the type who'd presumably employ people like accountants, and market strategists and other oxygen thieving c***s who employ terms like 'core demographic penetration'

As soon as that bunch get involved, you can kiss goodbye to the 'freeplay playlist'.

Foolishly I signed up last year for a Virgin Radio thingum and they had me as part of their focus group. Every fortnight i'd get sent a mail with a link to a questionnaire where 30 second real-audio clips were played and I'd be asked if i liked the song/didn't like it, would it make me change channel etc.

I initally started off thinking 'hahah - by the time I'm finished Coldplay will never get airplay again' or somesuch idealistic twaddle. By the time I was on my fifth (and last survey) they had stopped with the 'do you like this' and gone onto 'how often would you like to hear music by this band'

At that point i said 'screw this'....

gurramok

Since most of the pirates are off the air, i have had the unenviable pleasure of trying to listen to some music from commerical radio stations.

I'd wish they play the same format of music, playing a great real rock\pop\metal song and playing a boyband straight after it is despicable

Bar from hooking up my mp3 player, I noticed that at least 5 stations all play adverts at the same time. Whether it's 1:43pm of 5:43pm, same ads.

Is this some way to stop you channel hopping ?
I smell consipracy.

Whats the requirement in UK for news content for a radio station?, 20% is far too much.

billy the squid

All irish radio stations are all the same just take a look at these websites

http://www.q102.ie
http://www.live95fm.ie
http://www.96fm.ie
http://www.103fm.ie

this is what happens when the same people own all the stations

BuffyBot

OMG...they have a unified look and feel across their websites..SHOOT THEM!

:rolleyes:

toblerone

have you ever listened to shannonside for a day ?
I think it proves the poin that not all stations are the same....some of them are worse again!!!
if ya really want something different try listening to RTE1 or lyric in the evenings at the weekend, not your typical "alternative" choice i know, but its DIFFERENT

grumpytrousers

have you ever listened to shannonside for a day ?
I think it proves the poin that not all stations are the same....some of them are worse again!!!

HAH - I'll see your Shannonside and raise you a MWRFM.

Seriously - the type of people who post on boards.ie aren't the 'target' audience for the more..um...rural stations. They're aimed at people who like 'Country'n'Irish' music, bucketloads of local sports news, death notices, 'audio noticeboards' for people who want a lift from Ballyhaunis to Athenry on Thursday morning etc.

Not big radio, certainly not clever radio, but the elderly folk love it. Commercial radio's main weakness is that it will tend to focus exclusively on the needs of the core demographic. Down the west, it's crap music, inane banter and a smidgin of lip service to the 'young people' come the Love Hour or something which is at an off-peak time.

In the more urban areas it's a wall to wall Britney-Pink-Aguilera-Maroon5-Ads-ScissorSisters-News-Weather-ads-Britney etc, with the more eclectic stuff (again) consigned to the off-peak hours.

sceptre

grumpytrousers wrote:

Seriously - the type of people who post on boards.ie aren't the 'target' audience for the more..um...rural stations. They're aimed at people who like 'Country'n'Irish' music, bucketloads of local sports news, death notices, 'audio noticeboards' for people who want a lift from Ballyhaunis to Athenry on Thursday morning etc.

Don't forget the Rosary - staple diet on Mallow's County Sound every Saturday evening for (at least) a few years after it got the licence.

Down the west, it's crap music, inane banter and a smidgin of lip service to the 'young people' come the Love Hour or something which is at an off-peak time.

I've limited experience of big city radio (living in Limerick as I do) but if I may highlight Dublin's FM104 for a minute, in the big schmoke it appears to be (mostly) crap (but a different kind of crap) music, inane banter (but only for half the hour as they don't say a word for five songs after the top of the hour) and presumably a smidgin of lip service to the non-yoof later on in the day. Actually the station seems to be far better after midnight.

billy the squid

Ah you cant beet the obituaries though

handy if your names on the housing list i say