Radio News

Minister supports radio during COVID-19 with €2.5m

Minister Richard Bruton is allocating €2.5 million to independent radio stations for the support of news, current affairs and information programming during the Covid 19 crisis. The IBI has welcomed the move saying it will make a significant difference in ensuring that independent stations can continue to broadcast throughout the current crisis which has seen a collapse in advertising revenue. The sudden reduction in revenue had threatened the continuation of news and current affairs programming at a time when the importance and impact of radio at a time of national crisis is widely acknowledged...

PJ & Jim move breakfast show on Classic Hits

Breakfast is moving later in the day for PJ & Jim on Classic Hits as they move their show to an 8am start. From this Monday morning PJ & Jim on Classic Hits will start two hours later than normal and be on-air till midday, Monday to Friday. Jim Mc Cabe told RadioToday: “We know our loyal listeners no longer have to put up with the morning commute to get to the desk anymore – some because they are working in the kitchen and some because their workplace has had to close up shop...

Simultaneous play of You’ll Never Walk Alone planned

You’ll Never Walk Alone will be played out simultaneously on a number of radio stations this Friday morning. NPO 3FM presenter Sander Hoogendoorn had the idea to bring all radio stations in the Netherlands together during the corona crisis, but now RTE Gold and dozens more across Europe are joining in. It’ll happen at 8.45am in the Netherlands, which will be 7.45am in Ireland. You’ll be able to hear it on Gold Breakfast with Will Leahy on RTÉ Gold, BBC Radio 1 and Radio 2 in the UK, and many more around the mainland...

Gabrielle Cummins marks International Women’s Day

Beat’s Gabrielle Cummins is marking International Women’s Day with a special article for RadioToday featuring ten women from the world of media and radio in Ireland. Gabrielle has personally interacted with each one and credits them with having made a positive impact on her and no doubt, many other females in the industry. She has deliberately compiled a list of women who do not currently work with her at Beat 102-103 because she points out that she has lots of talented female colleagues at the Broadcast Centre in Waterford so the list would have been too long!...

SPIN 1038 and SPIN South West to network daytime shows

SPIN 1038 and SPIN South West are increasing their shared programmes to include weekday daytimes. Breakfast and Drive will remain local to each area while mid-morning and evenings will become shared across both regions. Localised news, sport, weather and travel will be retained all day, every-day, on each station. It’s not know if there are any job losses as a result but RadioToday has contacted the group for clarification. The new shared schedule, across the SPIN South West Region and SPIN 1038 Dublin region will be:...

Rebecca Shekleton and Brendan O’Loughlin for 98FM breakfast

98FM is putting Rebecca Shekleton and Brendan O’Loughlin its Big Breakfast from March 16th. They replace Cooper and Luke who left last week. Best pals Rebecca and Brendan are two of the creators and hosts of superfan podcast, Shrine of Duty, an homage to the UK Drama Series, Line of Duty. The pair appeared on national television last year, to meet ‘Line of Duty’ star Adrian Dunbar who congratulated them on the success of their podcast...

Cooper and Luke disappear from 98FM’s Big Breakfast

Changes are happening at 98FM as Luke O’Faolain, one half of the Cooper and Luke breakfast show, confirms he has left the station. In a social post, Luke says last Friday was his last show and that he is absolutely gutted he didn’t get to say goodbye to listeners on-air. Co-host Steven Cooper was also absent from the show this morning, but he hasn’t posted anything online regarding being off. Evening show “The Fix’ presenter Ciaran O’Connor covered Breakfast this morning...

Beat listeners wins Experience of a Lifetime

A listener to Beat has won the experience of a lifetime after entering a competition without knowing what the prize was. The radio station and City Square Shopping Centre Waterford decided to create a promotion for Leap Day where listeners were invited to take a “leap of faith” and register for the competition without knowing any more details. The only information provided by the radio station was that the winner would have to be available on February 29th, with passport at the ready and suitcase in tow for one memorable weekend...

Radio NOVA’s Help Our Homeless Radiothon returns

Today sees the return of the annual Help Our Homeless Radiothon from Radio NOVA for the 5th time. The two-day event will see celebrities from across the entertainment, music and political spectrum lend their support live on-air. All funds raised will be donated to Focus Ireland to fund projects like its new Family Centre which works with families to help get them out of homelessness as quickly as possible. The money raised will also go towards Focus Ireland’s other 80 services nationwide which support people currently homeless or at risk...

Revamped weekend programme schedule for iRadio

iRadio is celebrating the start of its new 10-year licence with the launch of a revamped weekend schedule. Two new shows will be airing from this weekend – Aon Scéal with Brendan Bracken Saturday and Sunday mornings from 8.00am to 10am. Brendan will be having the chats as Gaeilge about music, showbiz, sport and more. The other brand new addition to the iRadio weekend schedule is iScore with Caradh O’Donovan...