Radio News

Christmas FM returns across the country for 2019 on FM

Annual fund-raising festive radio service Christmas FM is back on-air for 2019. The station, broadcasting from its usual space inside the Ballsbridge Hotel in Dublin, launched at 1pm Thursday afternoon. The station has partnered with Barretstown for this year, as it aims to raise over €250,000, which will go directly towards Barretstown’s mission of rebuilding people’s lives through therapeutic programmes. The primary sponsors of the station are Coca Cola, Cadbury and An Post...

iRadio wants to send listeners to London, Paris and New York

The latest promotion on iRadio will see three listeners go on an all-expenses-paid holiday to London, Paris and New York. During 321Go, listeners need to ‘check-in’ at one of the iRadio 321Go boarding gates which are located in 68 participating businesses around iRadio’s 15 counties. Each of the business partners has received a giant iRadio 321Go boarding gate to hang in their stores. Listeners need to take a selfie in front of the boarding gates and upload the picture to iRadio’s website. The winners will also get €3000 spending money to spend between them...

RTÉ to close its DAB digital radio stations in major strategy change

RTÉ is to close its digital radio stations including RTÉ 2XM, RTÉ Pulse, RTÉ Gold, RTÉjr Radio & RTÉ Radio 1 Extra as part of a major revised strategy to address key issues facing the organisation. It says costs will need to be reduced by €60 million over three years (2020-2023), in addition to the reduction of 23% delivered by RTÉ between 2008 and 2018. RTÉ says fees paid to its top contracted on-air presenters will also need to be cut by 15%, in addition to the 30+% cuts as agreed in previous years. Over 200 people will need to leave in 2020...

Radio Nova wants to take over RTÉ’s national DAB frequencies

Following the news that RTÉ is to close at least five DAB digital radio stations, Radio Nova has told RadioToday it will happily take over the frequencies. The public broadcaster has not announced any timescales, or if the national multiplex it runs will be closed as well. Radio Nova’s Kevin Branigan says: “We have made no secret in recent years of our desire to bring Radio Nova national. We’ve made weighty submissions, backed up by strong independent research, to the BAI that shows we can bring more choice and diversity to listeners outside the Dublin commuter belt area and create new jobs in the radio industry...

Tributes paid to broadcaster RTÉ radio and TV broadcaster Gay Byrne

Listeners and colleagues across the radio industry are paying tribute to RTÉ broadcaster Gay Byrne who has died at the age of 85. Gay started work as a newsreader and continuity announcer on Radio Éireann in the late 1950s before moving to Granada Television in Manchester, where he worked on a variety of shows, interviewing acts including The Beatles. For a time he commuted between Dublin and UK, working for both the BBC and RTÉ, but came back to Ireland full time in the late 1960s as presenter and producer of The Late Late Show. The programme went on to become the world’s longest-running chat show...

Newstalk wins Commercial Radio Programme of the Year award

Splac, Newstalk’s Irish language programme has won the inaugural Commercial Radio Programme of the Year Award at this year’s Gradam Cumarsáide an tOireachtas. The winners were announced at a ceremony in the Citywest Hotel on Wednesday October 30th. The award celebrates the diversity, creativity and broadcasting ability of Irish language broadcasters on independent radio stations. IBI Executive Director Lisa Ní Choisdealbha told RadioToday: ...

Colm & Lucy to broadcast the Breakfast Show from Japan

Colm Hayes & Lucy Kennedy are going to the Tokyo Stadium to support Ireland taking on New Zealand this weekend. They will be broadcasting live from Japan this Friday, Saturday and Monday to cover the game and bring the atmosphere back to listeners at home. Brent Pope and Pat Courtenay are also going big on the event with the weekly Rugby Live @ 5 show, which airs every Thursday from 5-7pm. Nova’s Kevin Branigan said: “We’re gone all out to bring our listeners coverage of the Rugby World Cup this year. We love...

Meghann Scully replaces Owen Larkin at Classic Hits

Changes to the Classic Hits weekend schedule are coming at the end of October as Owen Larkin departs. Meghann Scully will take over Owen’s Saturday lunch time slot, from 11am till 2pm, in addition to her Sunday night Guaranteed Irish show. The former SPIN Hits presenter joined Classic Hits earlier this year. Owen has been part of the Classic Hits schedule for over six years, but will be leaving to take on a new full-time role at Downtown Radio in Belfast.

New voices for Today FM’s weekend schedule

Today FM has announced a new line up of voices to its weekend schedule including Anna Geary, Pamela Joyce and Claire Beck. Anna Geary will join Declan Pierce to co-host a brand-new show called Pumped up Kicks (Saturdays, 2-6pm) kicking off on Saturday, 26th October. Pamela Joyce, who joined the station last year, will now present three shows across the weekend: Friday Night Anthems (10pm-12am), Saturday (11am-2pm) and Sunday (1pm-4pm). Speaking about the new schedule...

All the winners from the IMRO Radio Awards 2019

The winners for the all-Ireland IMRO Radio Awards 2019 have been announced. They include Newstalk getting Gold in the Full Service Station of the Year category, 98FM winning the title of Music Station of the Year and WLR FM coming out on top as Local Station of the Year. Hundreds of radio industry folk watched the event unfold on Friday night at the Lyrath Estate Hotel Kilkenny. The Outstanding Achievement accolade was awarded to Beat 102-103 Chief Executive Officer...