Is it the end of the road for 2FM as we know it?

Do you really trust the Fail?

I think its wages across RTE to be capped at 175k and 2FM sold off.

Agreed. Growing up listening to primarily 2FM but later tge independents, each presenter had their own personality and style and a flair. I think the independents were the start of the rot in that by 89 the people on air on those wouldn’t have done a lot of pirate radio. Still they were good and making a mark for themselves with a personality. Now I can’t tell the difference between most stations as they sound so similar with trendy young guy or girl bawling on about twitter or what the Kardashian’s are up to and contact them if you ever dropped the car keys down the jacks.

I know a good few have probably cut their teeth ion media courses or worse still been hired because they haddock loads of social media followers but it doesn’t make for good radio.

Back in the day there was genuine appointment radio. Fanning for all out indie. G Ryan fur a good variety of musuc shd craic and Cagney always sounded like he did a great show but I was still in my early teens so wouldn’t have gotten away with listening post midnight.

Let’s face it, even the music being played is homogenised now. Growing up 2FM played a wide variety of stuff. It was good fir me as a music fan. It got me into stuff I’d never have found on my own. Now you have to switch stations to find one dedicated to your style of music. Yesterday I had a listen to Pick of tge Pops on BBC R2. The chart to get covered was from 1978 but it was interesting. Punk sitting side by side with disco, east listening, oddball 70s novelty tracks and some hard rock. Much more varied than charts these days.

I think I was just lucky to catch the end of the golden age of radio.

The national youth license should be put up for sale and sold to Spin. Dan Healy already said last year that 2fm don’t try to compete in Dublin because of Spin’s dominance with the youth audience. Spin should be allowed to take a national youth license to provide radio that young people actually listen to.

as i have said before, selling off 2fm would be pointless and bring nothing new or worth while, it would simply be selling something for the sake of selling something to generate cash that won't last.

then there is the case of what exactly would be sold off?

the brand? who would want it.

the studios? will remain with RTE to be used for whatever.

the transmission network? would be stupidity to sell a national network.

change it's remit absolutely, that is clearly needed now, it can be a space for minority styles of music that won't be catered to legally.

will never generate a profit or have huge listenership certainly but will actually provide a public service.

50% at the very least.

For some reason the big American/English artists don't have the same appeal to me.

I may not be a fan of RTÉ 2fm - or, in fairness, part of their target market - but I think that for the national broadcaster to sell it off would both be a mistake (cutting out an important part of their service) and just not the solution to their financial problems.

Lottie Ryans freaking out as her meal ticket could be finally up

2fm is absolutely irrelevant, trying to appeal to a market segment that does not listen to radio. The future of all broadcasting really is the blue rinse brigade and people over 40, so it’s just going to get harder for various stations to survive. No one wants to listen to drivel anymore and 2fm is full of it. Sell it off, won’t be missed.

I remember seeing 150k touted before. Now that may have been on one of the many threads here over they years on RTE/2FM, I can't remember. But in light of recent events, would it be that surprising?

@squonk I just want to pick you up on one point you made in your post. In 1989, most of the people on air on music stations, both independent stations and 2FM, had come from pirate radio, and many of them had done a lot of it. Your statement would be a bit closer to the truth now in 2023 because so many of the younger presenters now did not come though pirates. That said, many of the older audience-leaning independents like Radio Nova, Sunshine 106.8 and Q102 would have quite a few presenters that came via the pirate route because of the ages of the presenters!

Otherwise, I would agree with most of what you said in your post.

This.

Young people don't listen to radio, unless they hear it in the background at home when their parents have it on, or in the car.

I want to know what Lottie Ryan does in a standard day at work. From all I can tell, she talks about one or two entertainment stories every hour. Finding a new story to talk about surely can’t take an entire hour?

Thanks Declan. It makes sense. Definitely the guys presenting on Clare FM back in 89 were very professional and had a style to each of them. Pirates weren’t a thing in the west of Ireland that I remember. I did hear them when visiting the cousins in Dublin so I think from my experience they wee confined to the cities. Thanks for clarifying!

and greed

I wouldn't be surprised if she also has a researcher or 2 working with her.

Any radio station has a massive problem attracting youth and the key advertising age demographic where advertisers pay well is 18-24.

No youth and 18-24 listen to radio unless they have a daily car commute. A lot of the younger generation don't drive, are poor college students, and probably don't have a radio where they live.

Many may have Bluetooth speakers or streaming TVs, none of which easily get 2FM. Times have moved on and the youth watch Instagram and whatever app is latest. Short clips have replaced long format. Even those really into music may have Spotify, those big into talk have podcasts. Myself an older man now listens to podcasts or YouTube converted podcasts while driving. I can't do a 1 hour drive and listen to news, news again, ads, talk, music, ads, "comedy" , celebrity gossip , and competitions on commercial stations.

2FM was created to hinder pirates.

They could sell the brand, (new owners would probably rebrand), the nationwide licence and frequencies and network, but I can't see much interest except from existing stations to expand their team and not keep any RTE staff beyond one or two names that draw an existing audience.

The comparison to BBC Radio 1 was very relevant, they are much more youth focussed, and much more cutting edge while being popular. That said their budget is many times 2FMs.

It's costing the public money to run, serves no purpose, and is dead already but being propped up by outside cash.

There is endless competition from the internet, streaming platforms, content creators and apps, and the battle is long lost. It's like having a youth newspaper in shops.

It's almost unsaleable at the moment. Loss making and no buyers

Bauer would not be allowed buy it

Newscorp would only play fire sale prices

Only other logical options might be Global entering the market, or the Irish Times buying it - they own WLR and Beat still.

Maybe 2FM and RTÉ Gold should swap, the former becomes a DAB station and the latter gets an FM license?

agreed, however i can't see those 2 possibilities happening either to be honest.