Phantom FM no more

WellThen?

Did anyone else catch Richie & Richie's last show? It was emotional to say the least. They threw in that they were essentially being booted out. Sounds like the station will become more mainstream...vomit. The only station I loved. Devastated.

soc160

Sad as it is, the station was mismanaged for a while and never recovered, mainly because they have such a small potential pool of listeners and it made a small impact into that pool, the shine of it being a licensed station after a pirate wore off after a while, whether that was because it was becoming too mainstream or people just wern't that interested in and it's style.

Declan A Walsh

WellThen? wrote: »

Did anyone else catch Richie & Richie's last show? It was emotional to say the least. They threw in that they were essentially being booted out. Sounds like the station will become more mainstream...vomit. The only station I loved. Devastated.

I listened to the last 20 minutes or so. Ritchie McCormack, in particular, was struggling to keep his emotions in check - it's his last, while the other Ritchie has one more Stadium Rock this Saturday.

"There is a Light That Never Goes Out" by The Smiths was a great choice. The last song they played was "Thank You For the Music" by Abba and it worked very well in this context.

I am currently listening to the last Spiral Stares with Laura Lee Conboy. She and her guests (including Will St. Ledger - last Weekender tomorrow) are in a mighty giddy mood!

nxbyveromdwjpg

I'll miss it, been one of the only stations I listened to since around 1997/98.

The thoughts of a second version of Today FM in its place is depressing.

Declan A Walsh

Brilliant rarely played song by The Cure is on now - Primary. Where will we hear this song again?

paulbok

Sad indeed, end of an era for radio in Dublin.

Time to unfollow their twitter and facebook, check out 8FM & load up the mp3 player.

room_149

The two Richies show was fairly emotional stuff last night. Richie mc was (understandably) struggling to hold it together.
The awful truth is that Joe Donnelly will remain on at Phantom/ Tx FM after his buddy Keith more or less laid waste to the place...
I genuinely dislike the man's demeanour & presenting style and am flabbergasted as to why he was shoe-horned onto a specialist music station like Phantom in the first place, having caught his Alan Partridge-esque spot on Today FM a few times prior to that.
Also, it's Charlotte Flood's last day there yet he's on the Breakfast show now telling people to tune into 105.20 FM next week for exciting new developments.
A proper Communicorp stooge.

RIP Phantom.

Birneybau

room_149 wrote: »

The two Richies show was fairly emotional stuff last night. Richie mc was (understandably) struggling to hold it together.
The awful truth is that Joe Donnelly will remain on at Phantom/ Tx FM after his buddy Keith more or less laid waste to the place...
I genuinely dislike the man's demeanour & presenting style and am flabbergasted as to why he was shoe-horned onto a specialist music station like Phantom in the first place, having caught his Alan Partridge-esque spot on Today FM a few times prior to that.
Also, it's Charlotte Flood's last day there yet he's on the Breakfast show now telling people to tune into 105.20 FM next week for exciting new developments.
A proper Communicorp stooge.

RIP Phantom.

You know what, we should start a campaign to get as many people to unlike Phantom on Facebook and stop following them on Twitter. I'm glad John Caddell and to a lesser extent, Clare Beck are staying but jeez, Joe over the 2 Richies or any of the specialist shows? For shame.

Tabnabs

Declan A Walsh wrote: »

Brilliant rarely played song by The Cure is on now - Primary. Where will we hear this song again?

If you're not listening to BBC6 Music you don't know what you're missing out on. What Phantom should have sounded like...

furiousox

I just switched on BBC6 and they're playing 'Jesus Built My Hotrod' by Ministry!

Big Nasty

Very disappointing.

Best of luck to the two Richies, Derek, Charlotte, etc.

I would say the mgt at Nova are happy out. They'll surely pick up a few thousand more listeners now.

ghostdancer

soc160 wrote: »

Sad as it is, the station was mismanaged for a while and never recovered, mainly because they have such a small potential pool of listeners and it made a small impact into that pool, the shine of it being a licensed station after a pirate wore off after a while, whether that was because it was becoming too mainstream or people just wern't that interested in and it's style.

bit of both really IMO.

the management turned it into a repetitive, more mainstream station musically, which had listeners turn off. can't imagine many listeners from years ago want to hear Kodaline, Adele, and whatever tripe that is on TodayFM at the same time.

added to that the emphasis on chat and "wacky banter" and the presenter choices over the last few years. people like Jason Byrne and Eamon Fennell clearly had no interest in the music Phantom played so were daft choices, and the less said about Keith appointing himself and his mate Joe as breakfast presenters the better.

it's like Communicorp (and the others) took over and said to themselves "hey, lots of people listen to TodayFM, lets try replicate that on Phantom", which just alienated long-time listeners and brought in no new ones.
despite the constantly falling listenership numbers, they doubled-down on this route every year, despite it clearly not working....and now here we are, with the CEO that has presided over this mess still in charge, banking on Joe Donnelly to be one of the main people to change Phatom's fortunes :rolleyes:

end of the road

in my view communicorp have ruined the reputation of what was in its days as a pirate a very successful radio station, the station should have its licence revoked for in my view deliberately failing to deliver what it was supposed to (a blame which i hold on communicorp and not the previous owners) who in fairness did have to operate in the BAI/BCI rules and the commercial realities of running a business, if their was any justice communicorp would relinquish the phantom brand so the original owner could use it again but it won't happen, R.I.P. phantom, i wasn't a fan of your music but by hell i respect what you did both as a pirate and the first few years of being a licenced station, i will never forget you, best to shut up shop now and let someone who actually wants to provide an alternative and indie service have a go

soc160

end of the road wrote: »

in my view communicorp have ruined the reputation of what was in its days as a pirate a very successful radio station, the station should have its licence revoked for in my view deliberately failing to deliver what it was supposed to (a blame which i hold on communicorp and not the previous owners) who in fairness did have to operate in the BAI/BCI rules and the commercial realities of running a business, if their was any justice communicorp would relinquish the phantom brand so the original owner could use it again but it won't happen, R.I.P. phantom, i wasn't a fan of your music but by hell i respect what you did both as a pirate and the first few years of being a licenced station, i will never forget you, best to shut up shop now and let someone who actually wants to provide an alternative and indie service have a go

Ye all that is a sensible way of looking at it, but I have made the point that it quite conceivable that there just isnt a market for that kind of station. If it was not owned by a bigger investment group it would have folded before now. Personally I would like the license to go somewhere else with less requirements, but on the other hand i'm not sure if the appetite is there. Even the amazing BBC6 Music has had problems ...

Shammer16

Does anyone know when the last ever broadcast on the station is?

Kensington

I don't know but it's been just wall to wall music since midnight - no jingles, no ads, the online streams are dead, nothing to identify the station bar the RDS display on the car radio on the way home...

mightybashful

Shammer16 wrote: »

Does anyone know when the last ever broadcast on the station is?

Sunday night. Finishes at midnight. There's a couple of special shows on leading up to the close

suicide_circus

they went to shyte as soon as they got the licence. havnt listened to them in maybe 8 years. sympathy to the staff though.

Declan A Walsh

suicide_circus wrote: »

they went to shyte as soon as they got the licence. havnt listened to them in maybe 8 years. sympathy to the staff though.

The went live with their license on October 31st 2006. That's just shy of 7-and-a-half years ago. Eight years ago was March 2006, when they were making their preparations. They ceased broadcasting as a pirate May 2003, nearly 11 years ago, and had two temporary licenses during 2003 and 2004.

So your statement is a bit bizarre!

suicide_circus

Declan A Walsh wrote: »

The went live with their license on October 31st 2006. That's just shy of 7-and-a-half years ago. Eight years ago was March 2006, when they were making their preparations. They ceased broadcasting as a pirate May 2003, nearly 11 years ago, and had two temporary licenses during 2003 and 2004.

So your statement is a bit bizarre!

I'm rumbled! good work kojak
I guess they went to shyte prior to getting their licence.

paulbok

Birneybau wrote: »

You know what, we should start a campaign to get as many people to unlike Phantom on Facebook and stop following them on Twitter. I'm glad John Caddell and to a lesser extent, Clare Beck are staying but jeez, Joe over the 2 Richies or any of the specialist shows? For shame.

Wait until it rebrands then unlike everything,

Infoanon

Summary article on journal.ie that is well worth a read

StaticNoise

For those looking to read the article about Phantom by Darragh Brophy (a former presenter) on The Journal:
http://www.thejournal.ie/phantom-fm-pirate-staff-off-air-1357156-Mar2014/

I have been following the station for many years, from the early days, and remember the enthusiasm very well from the North Wall Quay studios. It is a sad time to see people who have dedicated their lives to the station watch it crumble and fall apart, especially those from the early days and the shed in Ballybrack. Again, another piece of Irish broadcasting history ending prematurely.

I'll never forget Simon Maher joking to me how "We were so happy to paint the walls back from the pink that Spin 1038 left it like".


RIP Phantom.
It was bad management, big ambitions, Communicorp, and a small market that, in fact, killed the radio star.

Turn the radio on

This is what happens when the Irish people keep voting for the corrupt scum of FF and FG. They allow their corrupt friends (in this case fgs best pal DOB) control the media.

Declan A Walsh

That is a brilliant article by Daragh Brophy.

A couple of omissions though:
1. Phantom had another influential heavy metal guru during its pirate era - Tom Hayes.

2. There was no mention of the temporary licensed era of 2003 and 2004. During Phantom's two temporary license runs, one or two more names joined the station such as Sinead Ni Mhordha. Also, Steve Conway was Head of News, harking back to the type of role he had when he was with offshore pirate Radio Caroline.

3. What about Ger Rowe's Anorak Hour (briefly called Media Beacon during the temporary runs)? This pre-dated Phantom and kept going until April 1st 2007. This was an important link with the station's founders' anorak interests.

4. There was no mention of Brian Daly who left legal radio to join Phantom as a pirate and was to be their marketing director when it went commercial. He was another important figure in the station's history.

5. I think Aidan Lynch and Alcatraz is worth a mention too. He effectively set up the musical blueprint for Phantom when he left Simon Maher's Coast FM in 1994 to set up an alternative rock off-shoot called Alcatraz. Jack Hyland and John Caddell both came from Alcatraz. After Coast FM closed in February 1996, it was followed in July of that year by Spectrum. Spectrum was a combination of Coast FM and Alcatraz staff. As we know, this was to become Phantom. Aidan was part of the original management team when it became fully licensed and he was also the original presenter of Icon.

But, I don't wish to take away from the article as it still gives a very good account of the station's history. It is the most detailed one I have seen yet.

StaticNoise

Yes, it was a fantastic article, and we cannot forget Alcatraz or Coast. :-)

Infoanon

StaticNoise wrote: »

Yes, it was a fantastic article, and we cannot forget Alcatraz or Coast. :-)

Did Ger Roe initially come from another station , Melody FM ??? Which merged with Phantom ?

phantom fm went mainstream a long time ago, i still listened though as it was the 'less mainstream' than other stations.


RIP Phantom........

Declan A Walsh

Infoanon wrote: »

Did Ger Roe initially come from another station , Melody FM ??? Which merged with Phantom ?

Ger Roe came from Melody FM which merged with Coast FM.

marwelie

alternative radio will die at midnight tonight. young irish bands have no chance to get airplay in this country anymore. I hope those who are responsible for relieving the most passionate and knowledgeable radio presenters in this country of their jobs are pleased with themselves....

More Music

Turn the radio on wrote: »

This is what happens when the Irish people keep voting for the corrupt scum of FF and FG. They allow their corrupt friends (in this case fgs best pal DOB) control the media.

Let's not forget the real reason Phantom went through so many changes and ultimately this closure.

Not enough people listened, so it didn't make enough money as a commercial operation to stay afloat.

rmerrin

will the new station not have live programs or will it all be auto dj

gctest50

rmerrin wrote: »

will the new station not have live programs or will it all be auto dj

https://www.spotify.com/ie/ if you like auto


.

Max Headroom

Does this mean Nova has won........God help us........:rolleyes:

padd b1975

Advertisers were always going to be wary of a station that specialised in obscure album tracks from cult bands that very few of their target would have heard of.

Once listener numbers fell off a cliff, cold business decisions had to be made.

Five Lamps

padd b1975 wrote: »

Advertisers were always going to be wary of a station that specialised in obscure album tracks from cult bands that very few of their target would have heard of.

Once listener numbers fell off a cliff, cold business decisions had to be made.

Seems to have been no issue in year one of Phantom when they had no figures to their name. Big advertisers like cool too which is why you hear more local than agency ads on Nova. Nova has the numbers but just isn't cool.

end of the road

this is the end result of phantom being forced to operate as a full commercial station rather then a community of interest station, plastic bubblegum pop music sells, alternative, rock, indie, doesn't sell as much, as for this TX fm, whats the point, if its going to be mostly automated then really is their any point in it being on air? i can't see it getting any more listeners then currently

soc160

https://soundcloud.com/phantom1052/phantom-good-times

The final broadcast, including the best bits of the station and the first broadcast.

thalia_13

I don't know if its just an effect of the fear after last night's drinking, but I got very tearful listening to that clip. I missed the last few hours, heard a bit of John Caddell, but as much as I could never stand Joe, I will miss the breakfast show in the morning. The last stadium rock put a lump in my throat, and the 2 Richies no longer on radio is hard to fathom!!
I can't begin to imagine what radio I will listen to now Phantom is gone!!

Declan A Walsh

thalia_13 wrote: »

I don't know if its just an effect of the fear after last night's drinking, but I got very tearful listening to that clip. I missed the last few hours, heard a bit of John Caddell, but as much as I could never stand Joe, I will miss the breakfast show in the morning. The last stadium rock put a lump in my throat, and the 2 Richies no longer on radio is hard to fathom!!
I can't begin to imagine what radio I will listen to now Phantom is gone!!

The brandname Phantom is gone but the station is not gone completely. It is in transition, currently using the name 105.2. It will be relaunched later this month as TX FM. By the way, neither John Caddell or Joe Donnelly have been let go. It is quite conceivable that Joe may still be doing the breakfast show.

This is the official situation, but it could be argued that the spirit of the station has gone. Time will tell.

former legend

padd b1975 wrote: »

Advertisers were always going to be wary of a station that specialised in obscure album tracks from cult bands that very few of their target would have heard of.

I don't think Phantom was ever like that. I'm guessing you didn't listen.

padd b1975 wrote: »

Once listener numbers fell off a cliff, cold business decisions had to be made.

No-one would argue with that, it's a commercial enterprise. I think what most people objected to was the fact that, when audience figures weren't good enough, they changed the format. But when figures kept falling, they just ploughed on in the same vein and digging themselves deeper into the same hole. So they lost their loyal listeners and gained no new ones. If you ever heard the Joe & Keith breakfast show, you'd know exactly what I'm talking about.

Infoanon

RDS now reads 105.2FM.....

StaticNoise

And in some cars, especially those with older displays, it looks like I05-2fm.

Whoops!
Maybe it is a secret plan from Dan Healy? An April Fools day prank from Denis? Fooling us all?

ThisRegard

Infoanon wrote: »

RDS now reads 105.2FM.....

The station info still has Phantom FM though.

StaticNoise

Where?

More Music

StaticNoise wrote: »

Where?

Radiotext maybe?

OldGoat

Listening to 105.2FM now and it's a joy not to have the banality and 'banter' that was the morning show playing.
Music on the radio again, 'tis nice.

Five Lamps

More Music wrote: »

Radiotext maybe?

Didn't notice anything scrolling on my receiver this morning.

RDS implementation is a bit sloppy though.

ThisRegard

ThisRegard wrote: »

The station info still has Phantom FM though.

StaticNoise wrote: »

Where?

More Music wrote: »

Radiotext maybe?

Yeah, radio text. I checked this morning and like Five Lamps said it's not there now. I got the message that no data is available when I went to check again.

marwelie

OldGoat wrote: »

Listening to 105.2FM now and it's a joy not to have the banality and 'banter' that was the morning show playing.
Music on the radio again, 'tis nice.

Your one now doing the morning show sounds like she's about ten and over indulging on helium. On at least occasions in the last two mornings she's incorrectly introduced songs too. Added to the fact that the delays in pressing buttons for adverts etc. It gives the impression of someone on work experience. The music is still good but bring back Joe and Charlotte Flood (I could listen to Floody reading the telephone directory. I hope she finds an outlet for her dulcet tones sooner rather than later.....)

rmerrin

have they took some of the djs over from frq.fm to cover the slots or it is a permanent thing