Rock radio in Ireland...or lack thereof

sentient_6

So i was out across the broad atlantic foam there recently & one of things i found cool on massive road trips was the abundance of classic rock stations. Even when you'd lose one, a quick search & in 10 seconds later you'd have another. Always random good stuff, CCR, Hendrix, Rush, AC/DC, or whatever, anything really!

Now when driving here at home id always have the ipod, but id love the randomness & surprise of a descent station if there was one going. But there doesnt seem to be. A quick google & all i found was Phantom FM, which it seems cant be picked up outside of Dublin. & listening to it live on the internet now seems to be indie sh*te at the moment(i'm sure they've other programs).

So, are there any other options out there? & if not do you thing there should be? Would you listen?

GLaDOS

Radio Nova is the best option imo, though no idea if you can get it outside of Dublin (apart from online).

RayCon

Yeah, I love driving around the US listening to their Rock Stations - certainly play a lot more variety than anything you'd hear here - and not always the same ol' singles - you'll get album tracks too.
Radio Nova plays the odd "unexpected" classic Rock song (very rare though), but mostly I think their catalogue is "Now Thats What I Call Classic Rock Vol 1 & 2"

sentient_6

RayCon wrote: »

and not always the same ol' singles - you'll get album tracks too.

Ya that was cool, sometimes i might catch songs i might not be completely familar with but know the artist resonably well.

ScienceNerd wrote: »

Radio Nova is the best option imo, though no idea if you can get it outside of Dublin (apart from online).

Nice one will check it out, quick glance at the their site & there is something about a Rory G special so thats a good start.

mike65

www.zenithclassicrock.com the best station for a broad mix of 70s/80s rock music, all the way from Waterford.

jack presley

Internet radio's the way to go. You can get all those channels you heard when you were in the States

Slightly OT but does anyone remember "The Metal Show" on " 2fm Sunday nights between 8 & 10. John Kenny was the host. Fcuk me I listened to that religiously, was a seriously good show, often had great interviews with bands and previewed album material. Was class because he used to have on all types on his show, you could go from listening to Pearl Jam to Morbid Angel to Nine Inch Nails to Cradle of Filth. At xmas time they Zig or Zag (can't remember which one used to be on doing the top 20 tracks of the year or some lark like that, great show, badly missed.

cena

The Battle axe on 2fm on sundays is a joke.

Otis Driftwood

Belle Vast Rebellion wrote: »

Slightly OT but does anyone remember "The Metal Show" on " 2fm Sunday nights between 8 & 10. John Kenny was the host. Fcuk me I listened to that religiously, was a seriously good show, often had great interviews with bands and previewed album material. Was class because he used to have on all types on his show, you could go from listening to Pearl Jam to Morbid Angel to Nine Inch Nails to Cradle of Filth. At xmas time they Zig or Zag (can't remember which one used to be on doing the top 20 tracks of the year or some lark like that, great show, badly missed.

The soundtrack to my teenage years was provided by Mr John Kenny.It exposed me to so many bands.Best 2 hours of the week it was.



/wipes away tear of nostalgia.

chughes

Got my wish 10 years ago.

Was in Florida on holidays and while driving the I4 one day, Boston's More Than a Feeling was played on a local rock station. Cruising the freeway blasting out this song felt like heaven.

MickShamrock

Good rock radio is non-existent in Ireland. Internet stations are the way to go as someone else said.

peter1892

Driving in America is great, you tune the radio in to pick up a rock station and when that one fades, you find another one.

But its a big place with a huge catchment area for all kinds of music. I spent a summer in Long Island in the 1990's and there were all kinds of radio stations with rock and alternative music very well catered for.

Unfortunately our smaller population seems to mean that we have a much smaller choice.

Nova isn't bad, it certainly fills a large gap in the Dublin market but its very limited in what it plays. I don't think I've ever heard Iron Maiden played on it for example. Too much U2/Coldplay/Killers and other assorted shoe gazing nonsense, but in saying that I'll listen to it more than any other station these days.

As said elsewhere - Internet Radio really is the way to go for Rock & Metal music.

nyarlothothep

Rock isn't popular in Ireland because it rocks the boat too much.

sentient_6

Thanks for the responses. Although i ended up listening to radio nova what is yesterday afternoon now(& it might continue to get a listen as long as i'm sitting at the computer) & i see internet radio has got a few mentions, it still doesnt answer the car issue. I dunno why but i was hoping for some bolt out of the blue that i wasnt familar with & would answer my question, even though i knew really if it was out there id probably already know about it.

Ah well, back to the ipod.

johnmcdnl

ScienceNerd wrote: »

Radio Nova is the best option imo, though no idea if you can get it outside of Dublin (apart from online).

I can get it in the car around Cavan sometimes... can be pretty dodgy if there's hills though..

only thing I use the radio for at all tbh... used always be iPod but I give it the chance now when I'm in the car... not always the best but so much better than pretty much every other station in the country that I've come across

Kensington

Hopefully if/when digital radio (DAB) takes off in this country, we'll see proper niche stations that cater for genres like rock music much better, not just a bunch of "greatest hits of x, y and z" CDs played on shuffle repeat. The requirements and conditions of an FM licence in this country mean that if you're to remain viable, you have no choice but to stick to the middle-of-the-road Top-40 format in your particular genre to try and attract as many listeners in a tiny market as possible.

DAB, if done right, would allow stations to operate at a fraction of the budget for FM - that's of course assuming the BAI allow them to operate as dedicated music stations and don't come along and slap that silly 20% news and current affairs requirement on a DAB licence too :rolleyes:

We have no dedicated rock, urban or dance/electronica stations unlike practically all other markets across Europe simply because we're too bloody small. Until then, internet radio is your only real choice!

mikedone

Personal fave Absolute Classic Rock which you can get on Sky 0201 or online. It's not Irish of course but has great music and on the website there are interviews with people from John Densmore (Doors) to Spinal Tap

http://absoluteclassicrock.co.uk/listen/

Grid.

I listen to this alot, not based here ..but good range of stuff..

http://http://www.planetrock.com/

Blondie919

Gridlock wrote: »

I listen to this alot, not based here ..but good range of stuff..

http://http://www.planetrock.com/

This is the only station I listen to. It rocks!!

Motley Crue

I would have loved to see a collection of stations dedicated to hard rock, heavy metal, AOR and classic rock in Ireland - it did no good for my career not having them.

I tried a few times, and succeeded, in presenting community radio type shows dedicated to this type of music and it was well received. But without funding and basic knowledge there was little we could do.

Phantom was supposed to be the alternative but rather then stick it out they decided to cave pretty fast and played Indie Rock and Mod. Rock - more shame on them

Kensington wrote: »

The requirements and conditions of an FM licence in this country mean that if you're to remain viable, you have no choice but to stick to the middle-of-the-road Top-40 format in your particular genre to try and attract as many listeners in a tiny market as possible.

You're forgetting that this is from a country who didn't have more then one National Broadcasting Station until 1997! 2FM was supposed to the voice to the alternative, for younger people, when it started in 1979 but Pirate radio just took the wind from it's sails.

They say Pirate Radio in Ireland would be irrelevant, but I reckon, a good Pirate station playing this kind of stuff would highlight the case and is exactly what is needed. Just for someone to have the time, resources, money and know how to do it.

ray mcgowan

I host a Metal show on Phantom105.2fm. Mondays at 10pm !
Check out the website
http://www.phantom.ie/djs-show/metal-notesray-mcgowan.html

i have playlists to give you an idea of the stuff i play.

give it a blast ..

Cheers,
Ray

Joe_Dull

To second Ray's post, it's actually a really good show. He takes requests and there's a decent variety of material from across the metal spectrum. Just a pity it's only once a week at a rather unpalatable hour!

(I am not a sock puppet, I swear)

120_Minutes

to solve your car issuse, get a smartphone with a data plan. I use the the tunein radio app which gathers a lot of both local national and foreign stations, including my current favourite 181.fm The Eagle

I'm aware of Ray's show on phantom, but wasnt there another on Friday nights that catered to a more modern metal audience?