Radio News

Deadline nears for IMRO Radio Awards 2020

With just over 24 hours till the closing date for this year’s IMRO Radio Awards, we catch up with Chair of Judges Peter McPartlin and Keith Johnson from IMRO. Make sure to submit your entry by 5pm Thursday to be part of it. RadioToday: Radio has been at the heart of the nation during COVID-19 lockdown, what do you predict we will see in the 2020 entries – trends, content etc Peter: “I think we’re likely to see a lot of stations use the opportunity of the awards to demonstrate the initiatives that they put in place to keep listeners informed and connected throughout the pandemic and also how the managed with their staff to keep a fully-fledged service on-air even though many of them were working remotely. Awards entries are a perfect way in which the strength of our radio network can be shown during times like this.”...

Jim-Jim and Nobby ban Lady Gaga’s latest hit

Strawberry Alarm Clock hosts Jim-Jim and Nobby have declared that Lady Gaga’s hit ‘Rain On Me’ is banned from FM104 until the weather cleared up a little. The ban comes after listeners voted the song as their favourite summer song over the last decade. “We went from BBQ weather to umbrella weather in a matter of days. We miss sitting out the back sunning ourselves with a bag of cans, we miss the BBQs and we miss the good drying!” said Jim-Jim. Nobby added: “We’ve decided to pull the song from our playlist for a few days to see if it will stop raining. From Thursday morning at 9am until Monday morning at 8am you WON’T hear ‘Rain on Me’ on FM104. If you do hear it, we ask that you whatsapp, Instagram, tweet or facebook us to let us know!”...

Christmas FM returns for one day in July

Festival radio station Christmas FM is preparing to broadcast online this week for one day only. It will be live from 7am till midnight on Thursday, 9th July 2020. The station wants to hear about “Christmas Magic Moments” from listeners. Sharing on the Christmas FM Instagram gives them a chance of winning one of five €100 One4All gift cards. Christmas fans can enter by following Christmas FM on Instagram and sending a video, photo or audio clip telling the station about a “Christmas Magic Moments”...

RTÉ refuses to air television advert for Newstalk

Communicorp Media has accused RTÉ of double standards after refusing to air an advert for its national speech station Newstalk. The radio group has called on Minister for Media, Tourism, Arts, Culture, Sport and the Gaeltacht Catherine Martin TD, to take action to drive reform of RTÉ. Communicorp says RTÉ told them it will not run the advert on-air but has already allowed it to run on the RTÉ Player. The advertisement to promote The Pat Kenny Show on Newstalk was submitted to RTÉ on Friday 3rd July for broadcast on TV. Confirmation of its refusal was received by Newstalk yesterday, July 7th...

Communicorp Media suspends advertising on Facebook

Communicorp Media is to suspend all paid advertising for its brands on Facebook platforms for the month of July, in support of the “Stop Hate for Profit” campaign. The suspension is in solidarity with the growing number of global and domestic advertisers taking a stand against the failure of Facebook to control the publication of hateful and misleading content on its platforms. Commenting on the move, Communicorp Media Group CEO Adrian Serle said: “Communicorp Media is committed to the promotion of equality and inclusion. We are taking this stand to send a message to Facebook to do better and be better...

Bauer targets listeners and advertisers in ROI

Bauer Media Northern Ireland has enabled online listening across the whole island. For the first time, Republic of Ireland consumers will be able to listen live (or listen later) to Cool FM, Downtown Radio and Downtown Country through its branded mobile apps, on computer and on smart speaker. Recently appointed Managing Director of Bauer Media NI, David Tighe, believes the move is a key development for the stations: “We’ve been clear that we are keen to explore opportunities across the Island-wide market and this marks another important step forward for our business,” said David...

New sponsor for Today with Sarah McInerney on Radio 1

RTÉ Radio 1’s Today with Sarah McInerney has a new sponsor from today as Hidden Hearing joins for the summer. Sarah McInerney has been the host of the show since May and has been praised for being “forensic, relentless and fierce” since then. The summer sponsorship consists of 6 x 10” sponsor credited stings per day and 7 x sponsor credited promos across the RTÉ Radio 1 Schedule per week, as well as homepage and podcast sponsorship. The sponsorship deal was brokered by Initiative. Tara Farrell, Radio & Audio Sponsorship Manager, RTÉ Media Sales commented: ...

Today FM hosts virtual concerts during the summer

Today FM listeners will now be able to experience ‘Virtually Live’ concerts for an hour a week every Saturday night. The gigs will feature artists which have plans to perform in Ireland this year but were cancelled due to coronavirus and the restrictions on mass gatherings. From the upbeat anthems of Dua Lipa, to the dulcet tones of Dermot Kennedy straight through to throwback hits from Green Day, every weekend for 13 weeks, Today FM will dedicate an hour of its Saturday night schedule to broadcast live music from a list of specially chosen artists...

IMRO Radio Awards go virtual for 2020

There’ll be no gala dinner in Kilkenny this year for the IMRO Radio Awards due to the coronavirus, but the event will still go ahead online. Full details of the virtual event will be announced in the coming weeks but entries are opening today with a closing date of 5pm on Thursday 23rd July 2020. Main sponsor IMRO remains, along with secondary sponsor the BAI. There will be some changes to the event though, including the introduction of the Gay Byrne Award which was previously the Newcomer award. A new Podcast of the Year category will also be awarded for the first time...

iRadio to share a €40,000 iGrant with businesses

Twenty businesses have been chosen as shared winners of iRadio’s €40,000 iGrant prize. The successful applicants have been selected by an independent expert judging panel including former Ireland international rugby player and businessman Jamie Heaslip. Each iGrant recipient will receive a €2,000 advertising package from iRadio. When iRadio initially announced the iGrant competition in February it was earmarked as a €20,000 prize to be awarded to one business...