TXFM (formerly much missed Phantom) line up

syngindub

thats a load of sheeite to be honest. I'd give Nova the odd listen for a while but TXFM is a great station. Radio will spend a lot of time in off mode. sad day. Hope the lads get sorted job wise with something.

hullaballoo

They're playing amazing music today as a result of the announcement. If they had been able to play this sort of music instead of being forced by the licence or whatever to play so much pop, they might not be in this position now. Real life catch-22.

Canadel

That_Guy wrote: »

Well there goes the only decent radio station in Dublin.

qb123 wrote: »

Best station in Dublin for music disappearing - sad reflection on most radio listeners. Where do we go to now for good music and djs?

I only discovered txfm by driving through Dublin a year or two ago. Then I discovered I could only listen to it as far as Mullingar on the way back to Mayo. Been listening on-line ever since. It rewards and annoys in equal measure but the endeavour is what matters. And that's what txfm offers; honest ambition.

Birneybau

hullaballoo wrote: »

They're playing amazing music today as a result of the announcement. If they had been able to play this sort of music instead of being forced by the licence or whatever to play so much pop, they might not be in this position now. Real life catch-22.

Nothing to do with the licence, corporate ovelords more likely.

Sure they were playing Adele last year...

Redvaliant

Phantom was pretty white-bread and suffered from it for years. TX was leaner, a wee bit more adventuress but still trying to be a commercial formated indie station - an Irish Triple J type station, with a high rotate staple of what ever is hip in the indie press. What Dublin and Ireland need is a real alternative station, one run like a US college radio station, and one with a daring, diverse playlist and not the Red-Hot-1975-Coldplayed out formula that sunk this latest middling effort.

end of the road

soc160 wrote: »

In my opinion TXFM would have died off had it not been housed by communicorp.

to be honest, it would have been for the best. it clearly wasn't working. a licence like that cannot operate on a commercial basis, at least not on the BAI'S version of a commercial basis anyway.

soc160 wrote: »

Not enough was done to make it commercially viable when Phantom went under and they had alot of advantages that other stations wouldn't.

but what more could they have done? how could they have made it commercially viable? it was a niche market and too much was expected of such a station by the regulator. stations need to be able to downsize their business model when things get bad. the original owners of phantom knew how to do that but the current system and the nature of the licence did not allow them to do so. now, by the looks of it there will be no station. lets hope this is a wake up call for the BAI.

soc160 wrote: »

Be good if someone else outside of the main owners had a crack at making it work. If it can make a mark in dublin it might open up multi city in some way like 8radio.

you may not be aware but apparently nobody has applied for it.

ghostdancer

Redvaliant wrote: »

Phantom was pretty white-bread and suffered from it for years. TX was leaner, a wee bit more adventuress but still trying to be a commercial formated indie station - an Irish Triple J type station, with a high rotate staple of what ever is hip in the indie press. What Dublin and Ireland need is a real alternative station, one run like a US college radio station, and one with a daring, diverse playlist and not the Red-Hot-1975-Coldplayed out formula that sunk this latest middling effort.

broadly agree, although i'd say that TXFM was far less adventurous than Phantom during the daytime. heavy rotation of the most mundane "indie-pop" rubbish that other stations like Today FM and 2FM were playing had become the order of the day over the last few years.
Phantom was far more adventurous and diverse until the last couple of years.
TXFM was far from whatever was "hip in the indie press", at least during 7am-7pm anyway.

i agree that a proper diverse station is needed. Phantom/TXFM started playing the same dull MOR indie all the time, people stopped listening, then they kept going down that route and ended up with even less people listening. people were constantly complaining about the musical direction, they kept losing listeners, and yet they kept on going

some people say "oh well they're a commercial station so they have to play that stuff now", which is complete bollox really. it didn't win them new listeners and it lost them plenty, so ultimately that strategy was a complete failure.
advertisers want listeners, they don't really give a **** whether they're listening to Sufjan Stevens, Aphex Twin and Natalie Prass, or Coldplay, Adele and Kodaline.

Big Nasty

I'll be honest and say I was critical of both Clare Beck and Joe & Keith in the early days. I was also critical of English Richie on Phantom.

I grew to really enjoy Richie Ryan and miss him on Saturdays even though I've no interest in football.

Cathal Funge isn't the most polished presenter but I've plenty of time for him.

Clare does a very good job and is very knowledgeable if a little over enthusiastic.

I really, really like Joe's afternoon show. Him and Keith were shockingly bad together but Joe is an excellent presenter on his own.

I really hope Simon Maher picks up the slack but I'm really gonna miss TXFM.

Liam92

It's a sad day for Irish radio, and for alternative music in Ireland. The presenters they kept on from Phantom made it an easier transition, with the likes of Kelly-Anne, Cathal, etc, kept on.

Ultimately, those in charge of the playlist really disappointed over the two years. On Phantom, there was a regularly-updated playlists for weekday shows, and then these playlists were abandoned after 7pm. Then the playlisted-music was much looser on weekend shows, such as on Stadium Rock. I loved tuning into the Weekend Extender shows on Phantom on Friday & Saturday where they played great music.

But on TX, playlists are adhered to for too long. Why should I expect to hear the likes of that annoying Jack Garratt song on 'Indie' Anthems on a Saturday night getting ready to go out? Proper anthems should be played, considering it's the name of the show.

If another alternative station takes the license, they need to listen to listeners. They need to update the playlist constantly.
It's sad because the presenters are not to blame.

Canadel

Liam92 wrote: »

Why should I expect to hear the likes of that annoying Jack Garratt song on 'Indie' Anthems on a Saturday night getting ready to go out?

I was going to mention how awful that track is. Desperate. Truly desperate. What is it even? I don't know what it is. It's certainly not a song. It reminds me of some kind of sh*t stage soliloquy. Horrific. No offence to the guy.

Twizzler

Canadel wrote: »

I was going to mention how awful that track is. Desperate. Truly desperate. What is it even? I don't know what it is. It's certainly not a song. It reminds me of some kind of sh*t stage soliloquy. Horrific. No offence to the guy.

That's that 'Tell her I owe it to her' rubbish, right? The only quibble I had with TX recently was what others have called the Spin music (I don't listen to Spin, so I can't say) - very poppy stuff that I really don't like. But it was a small price to pay to then hear the likes of Leftfield's Inspection Check One.

On another note, I turned the radio on the other morning (Fri, I think) and Cathal was playing Master of Puppets. I nearly lost my life with the joy of hearing it unexpectedly!

Twizzler

Big Nasty wrote: »

I'll be honest and say I was critical of both Clare Beck and Joe & Keith in the early days. I was also critical of English Richie on Phantom.

I grew to really enjoy Richie Ryan and miss him on Saturdays even though I've no interest in football.

Cathal Funge isn't the most polished presenter but I've plenty of time for him.

Clare does a very good job and is very knowledgeable if a little over enthusiastic.

I really, really like Joe's afternoon show. Him and Keith were shockingly bad together but Joe is an excellent presenter on his own.

I really hope Simon Maher picks up the slack but I'm really gonna miss TXFM.

Agree with lots of this. Cathal's charm is in how genuine he comes across, I think. And he kind of stumbles over words sometimes, but I would be no better in the morning myself! Love Joe's show. Really hope they all pick up other stuff easily enough.

This birthday tomorrow will be.....interesting....I hope they pick the most obscure suggestions they get in!

Declan A Walsh

It is sad news alright that TXFM will be no more next October. It was good to have a station that was dedicated to alternative music, even if it did not always hit the spot.

It is also sad to say that this is not exactly a total surprise. Ever since Phantom (as it originally was) started its full-time license, it has struggled to succeed financially. What worked as a pirate no longer seemed to work with the cloak of respectability.

In my opinion, Phantom/TXFM got more stuck in the mire the more it tried to appeal to a wider listenership. It seemed to be the case that some of the hardened "indie" listeners left and were not really replaced by others, who could get their music fixes on Today FM or 2FM or even Spin103. The deepening recession did not help either. Then the arrival of Radio Nova really put the cat among the pigeons as rock fans were no longer reliant on Phantom for regular rock music, particularly if their tastes were more catholic or mainstream.

Phantom tried different music mixes and schedules over the years, but it was after Communicorp became a major shareholder that a number of big shakeups took place, including letting go Phantom''s original founder! The biggest (and ultimately final) roll of the dice was the station's rebranding as TXFM. I am sure many suspected at that stage that this day would come sooner or later.

The only consolation is that this will not be sudden like previous shakeups (such as the period leading up to the rebrand), where people did not get much warning of their redundancies. So, hopefully, those still left in TXFM will be able to plan for their futures. Jack Hyland, a victim of the last shakeup, has since managed to secure regular gigs with Radio Nova. He picked himself up and moved on after being one of the original presenters on Phantom way back.

I am sorry it has come to this and for those affected. It was a good musical experiment, if nothing else.

The_Captain

Well we got what we wanted

I think this thread is a perfect example of why it failed though. Half of us want Young Fathers, half of us want Pixies. Their playlists during the day were so bad, and I'm amazed they never pushed Nialler9 into a daytime slot.

They don't have the listenership to succeed unfortunately. We don't have the market for a full time commercial alternative station

loyatemu

The_Captain wrote: »

They don't have the listenership to succeed unfortunately. We don't have the market for a full time commercial alternative station

Isn't it supposed to be a community of interest license, not a full local commercial station? Somebody mentioned earlier that it would be unfair on the commercial stations if the likes of TX didn't have to run news and current affairs, that's nonsense, provided they're sticking to their genre remit there shouldn't be much crossover. We have Newstalk, Radio1, Today FM - there are plenty of places for people to listen to talk radio if they wan't to. Spin is supposed to be a dance station, TX - alternative rock, Sunshine - country; why force them to stop playing music for x hours of the day? The radio license news requirements date from the 90s, nowadays everyone has access to news 247 via their phone; the requirements are an anachronism.

Surely someone running as a "legal pirate" on very low overheads could make a go of it - I can't believe in a city of over a million people with 4 universities there isn't a market for an "alternative" music station (not just guitar indie rock, which Phantom was overly reliant on, but more akin to BBC6's music mix).

room_149

The_Captain wrote: »

They don't have the listenership to succeed unfortunately. We don't have the market for a full time commercial alternative station

Pity the license was for the Dublin area only. Maybe I'm being naive but surely a commercial Alt station would have a better chance if it hit all the regions & provincial cities too?

ButtersSuki

Sad news.

Irish Radio's march towards the safe middle continues. Next we'll have a simulcast of X Factor across all stations on Saturday nights.

L1011

loyatemu wrote: »

Isn't it supposed to be a community of interest license, not a full local commercial station?

Its a full commercial licence.

room_149 wrote: »

Pity the license was for the Dublin area only. Maybe I'm being naive but surely a commercial Alt station would have a better chance if it hit all the regions & provincial cities too?

There is insufficient bandwidth for another national station.

Twizzler

This Thursday Takeover is really enjoyable so far! Cathal is handling it like a pro.

Howard the Duck

L1011 wrote: »

Its a full commercial licence.


There is insufficient bandwidth for another national station.

Could they do have a multi-region station that operates at different frequencies depending on the area? Just an idea, something like that do with the temporary licences they give out. The licence could be for Dublin Cork Galway, something like that.
I think they still need a Alt Station but they have to find a way to make it commercially viable. I refuse to believe there isn't a big audience for a station like this.

L1011

Howard the Duck wrote: »

Could they do have a multi-region station that operates at different frequencies depending on the area? Just an idea, something like that do with the temporary licences they give out. The licence could be for Dublin Cork Galway, something like that.
I think they still need a Alt Station but they have to find a way to make it commercially viable. I refuse to believe there isn't a big audience for a station like this.

They would need to use the frequencies allowed for temporary licences - there just isn't capacity available otherwise.

ongarite

loyatemu wrote: »

Surely someone running as a "legal pirate" on very low overheads could make a go of it - I can't believe in a city of over a million people with 4 universities there isn't a market for an "alternative" music station (not just guitar indie rock, which Phantom was overly reliant on, but more akin to BBC6's music mix).

There is no market for indie radio in Ireland but still plenty of people listening to indie music just not on FM.
Maybe I'm talking out of my hole here but I would imagine the majority of potential Phantom/TXFM listeners are tech savvy.
They listen to music when they want as they want through Spotify, Apple Music, Google Play, Deezer, Youtube, etc.

What devices do their potential market listen to music on? Not an FM radio I would guess. Smartphone or laptop being the top 2. Log onto music streaming of choice and listen to the music playlist I want at any time.
Why would a university student listen to music on the radio or through said radio station website with ads, news, playlists that they don't like when they can have the music they like from streaming services...

enda1

Spotify killed the radio star

Have to agree there's not much of a market for it here the way technoloy has gone.
I used to listen to phantom/txfm, stopped listening at home when i got a wifi radio, and stopped listening in the car when i got unlimited internet on my phone.

its not that bad a station but for me, there's not 1 reason to listen to it ahead of streaming 6 music

PaulieBoy

ongarite wrote: »

There is no market for indie radio in Ireland but still plenty of people listening to indie music just not on FM.
Maybe I'm talking out of my hole here but I would imagine the majority of potential Phantom/TXFM listeners are tech savvy.
They listen to music when they want as they want through Spotify, Apple Music, Google Play, Deezer, Youtube, etc.

What devices do their potential market listen to music on? Not an FM radio I would guess. Smartphone or laptop being the top 2. Log onto music streaming of choice and listen to the music playlist I want at any time.
Why would a university student listen to music on the radio or through said radio station website with ads, news, playlists that they don't like when they can have the music they like from streaming services...

100% agree but for all that you still can't beat a local station for content that is locality specific and the interaction between DJ and listeners. Not sure if there is a viable market though. Hope someone can crack it, it would be nice to have our "own" local alternative music station.

PaulieBoy

Howard the Duck wrote: »

Could they do have a multi-region station that operates at different frequencies depending on the area? Just an idea, something like that do with the temporary licences they give out. The licence could be for Dublin Cork Galway, something like that.
I think they still need a Alt Station but they have to find a way to make it commercially viable. I refuse to believe there isn't a big audience for a station like this.

Think different! A very good idea 😀

Infoanon

L1011 wrote: »

They would need to use the frequencies allowed for temporary licences - there just isn't capacity available otherwise.

Frequencies / Bandwidth can be found when required - the old chestnut of lack of capacity was trotted out before we had Phantom/4FM etc

However TXFM simply does not generate enough revenue to pay the overheads and the benefits of additional coverage is probably outweighed by the cost of the infrastructure required.

They could not cover the cost of six full time staff - tells you everything you need to know about the revenue being generated - confirmed by the lack of other bidders for the licence

paddylonglegs

I agree with the comments on music being available from so many different sources, and that is whats killing TX, but there is alot to be said for the hosts interaction with the listeners at a local level. I generally switch over from TX in the evenings if Joe Donnelly is off - i.e the DJ is the one thing keeping me as a regular listener. I do enjoy the music, and I have discovered some great bands based on the playlist and listeners suggestions. Taking the time to discuss a song or band indepth the way Joe does has added a whole new dimension to music that is played on the station. I hope the staff get sorted for the future, especially Joe, his show and presentation style couldn't have suited anyone else. sad face

L1011

Infoanon wrote: »

Frequencies / Bandwidth can be found when required - the old chestnut of lack of capacity was trotted out before we had Phantom/4FM etc

It wasn't, though. The BCI (its that long ago) had a licencing plan to use up pretty much everything available, and we got all the stations.

Any transmitters within about 100km of the UK - which is a lot of the country, remember - need international coordination. You don't just magic them out of a hat.

The only way to get even half-way national coverage on FM would be the approach given for Spirit - massive numbers of extremely low power sites. Which is hugely, hugely expensive.

end of the road

loyatemu wrote: »

Isn't it supposed to be a community of interest license, not a full local commercial station?

it is a full local commercial station i believe. a couple of us on here have said over the years it should have been a community of interest instead. same with sunshine/country mix.