Speaking of Christmas...

It's not always a good thing for you if you work on a station in North America and the format flips to Christmas music. I'm just saying.

This one has just been spotted and is the first one I've come across this year:

WNTR Indianapolis is now 107.9 The Christmas Station.

http://www.christmas1079.com

It's Christmas.

It's quite possibly been the most talked about and well received temp station in recent times (if the feedback I heard is anything to go by) and it's on the way back!

Christmas FM will return to the dial on November 30th - this time in Cork (on 106.7 app) as well as Dublin. Cork listeners will get a kick out of this station.

Christmas FM managed to attract a really top class range of on air people last time out and I know Garv and the team are making sure that this year's output is at the same level.

As Louis Walsh would say on 'X-Factor, "It's fun"!

People really took the station to their hearts last year and that's not easy in temp licence world :-)

From their website, herewere some of last year's presenters:

Keith Shanley ( Country Mix), Noel Mc Caul ( 4FM),Lynsey Dolan (County Mix), Bernie Jameson (4FM), Stephen Keogh (KFM Breakfast), Chris Murray (LMFM Breakfast), John Dunne (KFM), Hugh O'Brien (ex Nova, 2FM), Paul Scanlon (Ocean fm) Mike Moloney (ex Ocean FM, 2FM), Robert Walshe (Northern media group), Shane Pearce (Shannonside), Gerry Wilson (ex 2fm), Ollie Clarke (Northern Sound), Chris Maher (4FM).

Features and promos were voiced by the likes of Bob Gallico (ex Nova, East Coast), Enda Caldwell (Radio Riviera), Andrea Hayes (TV3), Gary Hamill (ex Nova), Dave Adams (Setanta Sports) and Daragh Roberts (98FM)

http://www.christmasfm.ie/

Ratings.

So the JNLR's came out yesterday. Hope everyone is pleased with their numbers. Although, we never fully are, are we.
In some cases if we go up we can feel as though we 'dodged a bullet'. Othertimes people will say "That's me employed for another three months!" and so on.
As Debbie Allen from Q102 puts it : It's like getting the leaving cert results every three months.
For high pressure shows like the breakfast gigs and big profile talk programmes, it is quite unnerving. The sightest movement can make all the difference. I've known some folk to have restless nights leading up to the book.
The JNLR isn't the world's greatest ratings system, we know that - but it's all we have, so we need to take notice of it as a barometer of sorts. Is the North American PPM system better (every month)? Who knows.
All I know is that radio is strong in this country and listeners are still talking about it. It's still relevant in this part of the world and that's down to presenters, producers, programmers and everyone involved in the business here.
Ratings? Sure they're important but they come and go. I'ver had some stinker books and then some amazing ones...and I'm still alive to tell the tale !
It's like anything in radio: some people will like you, some will dislike you and the rest are unaware of you. The unaware group is the one who's attention you want to get!
Anyway, no numbers breakdown from me this time - I'm sure you have sources for that.
Try here:
http://www.bci.ie

98.

So, Dublin's 98 hit the big 20 yesterday. Nice

I have a lot of great memories of working for that station. Back in 1998 I did the breakfast show (The Dawn Patrol) with Debbie Allen and Morgan Jones. I never laughed so much in my life...we were fired after three months ! You know what? They were dead right too. We were having a ball, but the show was awful! When they're right, they're right.

Then in 2000, I went back for more. Starting off with a year on the 1-4pm shift, then the guts of six years on afternoon drive (The Home Run) and the last year on the late night gig.

The great friends I have met in there include Dave Moore, Dermot Whelan, Hugh Cahill, Marty Miller, Adrian Barry, Johnny Lyons, Teena Gates, Brendan O'Loughlin, John Taylor, Liam Quigley, Barry Dunne, Debbie Allen, Lisa Sport, Tony Kiernan, Dee Woods, Cormac McDonagh, Robbie Fogarty, Tara Duggan, Claire Brock, Claire McCarron, Dara Quilty, Trina Mara, Emma McEvoy, Mark Byrne, Louise Hearghty, Toni Tenaglia, Matt Dempsey, Dan Healy, Mick Brady and on and on.

Of course there are some folks who don't know how to leave a place - such as Dara O'Beirne, who I first met in Sunshine 101 back in '86 and has been a fixture in 98 since day one!

Then there's Morgan Jones, who I went to college with (strange world sometimes).

To all the people who have worked on Classic Hits 98FM/98FM/Dublin's 98 - nice knowing you folks. To the real radio people who keep a station like this alive and kicking: great job :-)

Dusty has placed some audio on his website from the opening day...also, did you know that his DAP studio is in the original 98FM studio in the city? Take a look and listen here:

http://www.digitalaudioproductions.com/98-launch/

Obama Weather.

Always on the look out for funny and original ways to get the same message across?

I was on the KSON San Diego website and thought I better share this with you, if you haven't seen it already:

Obama Weather.

Instead of the usual blah-dy blah about wind and temperatures, they just show you what Obama would wear in this weather. Brilliant !

Today's Obama Weather.

I'm delighted to have the chance to take part in an A&O conference call across North America tomorrow with KSON morning man Cliff Dumas and legendary radio consultant Jaye Albright. If you are part of that call - talk tomorrow (literally) :-)

http://www.kson.com

4-i's.

WJLQ is an FM outlet based in Pensacola Florida. They have just switched from Hot AC to full on CHR and are now known as i100 (formerly Q100).

As with most launches and re-launches these days, they're doing a music marathon. In this case 2,000 songs in a row. No presenters yet and no ads...just the music and the imaging.

It's interesting to hear a raw format like this before the bells and whistles are added. The music is obviously there to convey their exact audience message and the imaging is the only clue to the station's personality right now.

Hopefully they add live presenters to the roster and allow that to compliment the music etc.

Artists played today include Lady GaGa, Flo-Rida, Taylor Swift and David Coo.

http://www.i100hits.com

There are now four 'i' stations in the States under the one company umbrella:

i106 Nashville

i93 Dallas and

i94 Indianapolis.

BigAppleAirchecks.

Lots of people are interested in Airchecks...we can always learn from other presenters and the best way is (of course) via their on air work.

So - have you been on this site?

Take a look around and have a listen. Lots to poke around in here:

http://www.bigappleairchecks.com/main.html