It's Been Fun.

Well, I'm outta here !
Updating and maintaining this blog has been fun, but due to time pressures, I find that I'm not able to devote enough effort into the heart of the thing - so for the time being, I have to say Adios to blogging.
Thanks for reading it and thanks for the positive comments.
The whole idea behind this blog was to highlight the good in radio and purposely avoid the negative. I hope it managed to do that.
If you still want to read some of my stuff then you can subscribe to the weekly Ezine or hook up on Twitter. If not...hopefully I'll see you around.
Thanks again.

Cheers,
B.

It's good :-)

Saw this liked it...passing it on.

Billboard for KissFM Boise, idaho.

UK Radio Player.

What are the odds that this will be avaialable in Ireland?

A website that offers all UK stations will be running by Christmas and should be available to listen to by the middle of next year.

There are a couple of decent articles explaining it:

here:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/tv-radio/single-website-for-all-uk-radio-stations-by-early-next-year-1809420.html

and here:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/6436051/Website-to-offer-all-British-radio-stations.html

The Mirror has a write-up about the fact that it could go mobile as well:

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/technology/2009/11/19/bbc-uk-radioplayer-coming-to-mobile-115875-21835259/

Glasgow.

Robin Banks and Ali Mak from Virgin Radio in Dubai after our Workshop in Glasgow.

Glasgow.

Thanks to everyone for coming along to our Workshop in Glasgow on Saturday. It was a great day.
I arrived at the venue pretty early and was sitting by a window having a coffee and catching my breath when - Bam Bam Bam!! There's Robin Banks banging on the window at me with his big wide smile and infectious enthusiasm! So the day began and so it continued.
There were people there from all over Scotland, from London, Ireland and Dubai. All levels represented too, from rookie to 30 year radio vererans.
There were dis-agreements and debates but most of all lots of laughing and lots of fun.
Oh and sambos too.
There's more about it in this week's Ezine...just email me if you would like a copy sent to you.
So this note today is to acknowledge everyone we have met in the past 12 months across Ireland and the UK and to say 'thanks'. Been a hell of a year and I've enjoyed every bit of it.
This radio lark could catch on y'know ?!

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

Xtreme Change.

Absolute Radio are pretty innovative when it comes to their online product - and they continue to be with the news of a re-brand for their Xtreme station. Actually, Xtreme is on the way out and will be replaced by an new 80s station, 'Absolute 80s',from next month.

So they will have Absolute Classic Rock and the new Dabbl on board as well.

Only negative is that '80s' will be presenter-free.

Pity.

www.all80s.ie showed that using presenters in this format can sound great.

Two Things.

1. Robin Banks is back on the radio. As I write this, he is flying away on his first gig on BRMB from Birmingham and networked to Mercia FM, Wyvern FM and Beacon Radio Shropshire & West Midlands and will be every weekday evening from 7-10pm.

Have fun young man :-)

http://www.brmb.co.uk

2. Real Radio Dublin finishes up it's month long run tomorrow. It certainly has been something new in the market, bringing 'Hot Talk' to the dial for the first time. What did you think of the format? Does it have legs here? I know the people behind the station are very keen to pursue a full time licence and good luck to them with that.

Listen for the final day on 100.3 in Dublin.

Can't be long before Christmas FM is back on the dial, eh?

http://www.realradio.ie

Party On !

RadioInsight are reporting that the 87.7 FM freq in new York that was recently the home of Pulse, will be taken over by Long island based WPTY (Party 105.3) tomorrow (Monday), formatting the same product as Pulse - ie Dance.

The station will be called 'Party 87.7'.

That was fast !

Here's how they look right now:

http://party105.mfbiz.com/#/home/4532194844

No Pulse.

New York's 'Dance Music Leader' Pulse 87 is now more.

As of 5pm yesterday local time, the station went silent.

The web page is still up and running at http://pulse87.com

In it's 20 months on air, the station pulled in one million listeners in the New York area and their main claim to fame has been the launch of Lady GaGa's career.

Here's how New York's Daily News reported it:

http://tinyurl.com/yb54xmp

Glasgow venue.

The months are flying in - I can't believe we're nearly at the final Workshop for 2009...but we are !!

November 21st, it's Robin Banks and myself in Glasgow for the day. I'm really looking forward to this one as the response from Scotland to our Workshops has been brilliant.

We have confirmed the venue as the Novotel in the city centre - nice modern facility and right in the heart of things.

If you are interested in joining us - just email and I'll fire off the details.

brian@bmacmedia.com

Rajars.

UK radio ratings came out yesterday...fun, fun, fun!
In London, Capital have a 5.6 share, followed by Magic at 5.5 and Heart at 4.7.
The ('all-important') morning shows has Capital followed by Heart and then Magic.
Radio 1 breakfast show went from 7.72 million listeners to 7.02 million(it's all relative, I guess).
Wogan's run on Radio 2 sees him go from 7.93 million to 7.76 million.

All the heavy numbers are here:
http://www.rajar.co.uk/listening/quarterly_listening.php

Paul Easton has a nice graphic of the London listenership here:
http://pauleaston.blogspot.com/2009/10/london-rajar-q32009.html

Competition Time.

They give away money??
The concept sounds unusual to this reporter from 1984. Nice turntables and carts etc.
Has it changed that much in the past 25 years though?

Buzzin' !

Northern Ireland based CHR online station Buzz FM is celebrating 10,000 online listeners each day just from North America.

Buzz have added features to the station output, but still stay true to the 14 songs per hour rule. That could be one of the reasons for the online numbers...very few actual interruptions, other than presenters working the format.

Buzz FM are launching a promotional campaign,initially happen across the North West of Ireland. This will be a fairly major campaign with 40,000 leaflets, free outside broadcasts from all major shopping centres, street promotions and newspaper advertising.

Good luck to them :-) Not too many pure CHR stations in this part of the world anymore.

http://www.buzzradio.fm/

Station of the Day.

Is this one of the greatest Classic Rock stations in the world?
It's a big statement, but in my opinion - Yes!

Rock 101 (CFMI) in Vancouver has been the city's Classic Rocker for decades and it broadcasts from the fantastic 'Black Tower' in the heart of downtown (sharing office space with 99.3 The Fox, CNKW98 and AM730).

What an on air line-up this station has:

Brother Jake is on in the morning. This man is a legend both on and off air. I remember when he first started at the station (it was weekend breakfast).

My friend in the city called me to say "Take a listen to this guy. He's unbelieveble"!!! (Yup, that was you Laddie). And he was. I was completely blown away. Didn't take very long before the move to mornings :-)

Robin LaRose is on middays. The Electric Lunch is the benchmark of all benchmarks...and that voice. Now there's a Classic Rock voice. That's what it's all about.

Afternoon Drive is Dean Hill and Graham Hatch...two more radio legends! Former morning guys on LG73, Dean & Hatch are household names and have earned that right through being consistently brilliant performers.
Dean & Hatch on location.
Oh , and the musics's pretty decent too !

Overall - it's one powerhouse of a station and displays what Classic Rock can sound like when the people believe in it.

http://www.rock101.com

5 Live.

More BBC news.

Wogan's off to weekends (he'll be brillinat there) and now 5 Live have a new weekday roster.

Starting off with Gabby Logan (her dad is Terry Yorath y'know - used to play for Wales)!

Well, she's gone and landed herself the mid afternoon gig from 12 to 2pm.
Gabby Logan.
Then, it's Richard Bacon taking over. He's finally been brought off the late nights. When I was working shifts last year, I tuned his way in the car driving home and got to like his style quite a lot. He'll be a nice addition to the daytime listen IMHO. Plus, his podcast pleas for the gig seem to have worked a treat ;-)

Richard Bacon.

So who takes Bacon's old gig? 5 Live fill-in man Tony Livesey (10:30pm to 1am). See...there is reward for filling in ! OK, so he'll have to give up the local BBC morning gig (!).

Tony Livesey.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/5live

Irish Twits ;-)

Some Irish radio people on twitter that you may be interested in following. These are the guys I mostly follow from the Irish scene. Why bother with Twitter? Well, you don't have to and to be honest, if you see it as a waste of time - then it probably will be a waste of time for you.
However I've managed to learna lot from these and lots of other people through this medium...so for me , it works!

Rick O'Shea RTE 2FM - @rickoshea
Nikki Hayes RTE 2FM - @nikkihayes
Dave Moore 98 - @Dublins98Dave
Dermot Whelan 98 - @dermotwhelan
Adrian Barry 98 - @AdrianBarry98
Niall Power Beat 102103 - @niallpow
Vincent Bradley Beat 102103 - @VincentBradley
Roddie Cleere WLR FM - @roddiecleere
Niall O'Keefe Real Radio - @niallok
Daniel Pitcher Real Radio/Phoenix FM - @Danphoenixfm
Ray Foley Today FM - @rayfoleyshow
Dusty Rhodes DAP - @dustyrhodes

If you have someone in the Irish radio industry that tweets, then let us know - email brian@bmacmedia.com or add the name to the list. Mind you...you could always just tweet it to us !

More Pizza?

I got great news today about one of (what I coinsider) the best talents on UK commercial radio.

The Pizzaman is coming back!!

That's right - Nick Jordan will be behind the mic on Real Radio next weekend doing a couple of overnight shifts 'Live'.

I can't wait to hear him back on air again - especially on a way bigger platform. His last fulltime gig was breakfast on Alpha Radio, but he has stations such as Kiss and Metro on the CV as well as a couple of CHRs in Canada....so he knows what he's about.

The show will come from Manchester and be heard on Real Radio North West, North East, Yorkshire and Wales (don't forget through Sky too)!

Give 'em hell Nick.

http://www.realradio.co.uk

Video i.

Latest video from the IRadio camp....

Hot 107.

It's been a while since we did a Radio Station of The Day thingy...so here goes.

I'm delighted that one of my old co-workers has landed his first major market PD gig. I worked with Russell James back on LG73 and Z95.3 in Vancouver in the early and mid-90s. RJ was always the 'new music' guy and just loved the industry and the radio life. I remember his passion for cars...he drove everything from a Porsche to a Hummer!

Now he's PD at Edmonton's Hot107, the new CHR in town and I hope it goes amazingly well for him. It should do, he knows CHR better than pretty much anyone I've met.

The station launched last week and is rolling out 10,000 songs commercial free to get things moving.

True to Russell's style, the station is very much involved in the Social Media side of things, with links all over the front page of the website to their Twitter feed, Facebook, YouTube and Flickr.

No presenters announced yet...the site says : "We’re making sure we find the HOTTEST DJs on the planet. Check back soon to see who we’ve found"!

Take a look around and a listen to their live stream for imaging etc.

Best wishes to all involved :-)

Hot 107 Webpage.

http://www.hot107.ca

Visitor !

Rory Bremner visited Jack FM Oxford recently...

WebCams.

What's your take on studio webcams?

If you are on air, do you like the thought that the listener can watch you go about your business, or is it something that gives you the shivers!

I've often thought it must be a bit of a let down for a punter - really all we are doing in the studio is sitting or standing there looking at computer screens. Nothing too exciting to look at really.

I also always had a problem with the fact that it can take the 'magic' away from radio. Now they can see you, so therefore they don't need to imagine you.

I've never had a webcam on in a studio I've been in, just because I would rather not. Personal preference.

But (!), having said that - I enjoy seeing other people's studios in action.

I got thinking about this after spending a while on the Real Radio site where they have a live stream from the studio cam and I have to say I found it sort of interesting. They've been mentioning the camera a lot on air as well - so it's sort of become part of the station's image. Occasionally the presenters even 'perform' for the camera during links. It's almost like a secret nod and wink to the viewer.

Real Radio WebCam.

Absolute Radio London.

BBC Radio 1.

It is strangely interesting, isn't it !?

90s Network.

I've been getting a few emails in the last 24 hours asking why The 90s Network website isn't live.
Well, the deal is that at the moment the station is using a '.co.uk' address while they wait for the regular dot com to come back online for them. That would explain that, wouldn't it?
Good luck to Mike O'Brien and his dedicated crew as they launch on another run of this station. It really started to develop an identity during the late stages of it's life last time and I know that the guys behind it have taken all of that experience and are using it to make this one stronger.
The presenters have been given lots and lots of support and encouragement, the programming team have a very definite plan in place and the imaging is top notch (have you noticed that imaging on temp stations is incredibly strong)?

So, head over to http://www.the90snetwork.co.uk and take a listen yourself.

Dabbl.

No, the heading is not a mis-spell. It's the name of the new DAB/Online station from Absolute Radio. It's name is Dabbl (very web 2.0) and has a few stand-out features.

First, they are broadcasting live sessions from the Absolute studios and are also airing live concerts. Lots of 'live' to start.

Then as things progress, they plan on playlisting the station through listener votes.

I'm not sure how that will work, but the Absolute people are very much on the leading edge at the moment when it comes to digital, so no doubt they have it figured out.

Screenshot.

If you're in the UK you can get them on DAB from 7pm-7am and then online at http://www.dabbl.co.uk