Cork Workshop.

I'll be hopping on the Ryanair down to Cork and back this weekend for the first of 2009's Radio Presenter Workshops. Looking forward to getting the show moving again!

Limerick is on the way and then Dublin and Manchester.

Robin Banks will be in Manchester with me on March 28th...that should be some day. We have folks coming from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland - it'll be great. I have yet to meet a person as passionate about radio (and life) as Robin.

Plus we will be able to announce our very special Guest Speaker soon (it'll be good).

But for now - to Cork and don't spare the horses !!!

Brian.

Capital Site.

I love to see this kind of thing, don't you?

No - not just celeb pictures (you can see them anywhere). I love when a radio station has a big name guest in the the studio and immediatly after posts pictures on the website. Now that's using your site properly. "Go to our website and take a look...", they say. 64 pictures in total on there from Paris Hilton and Russell Brand's visits.

Fair play.

You can still hit some station sites and they look as if they were updated last year...and I mean literally a year ago!

Good quality pics they are too.

Swines !!!!

http://www.capitalradio.co.uk/photos/breakfast-show-hall-fame/2701/

Rajar URL

Moyles Up, Radio 4 Up, Steve Penk's Revolution Up, Magic own London, Absolute Down........
All the info is here:
http://www.rajar.co.uk/listening/quarterly_listening.php

Hey, if you're looking for something entertaining and top notch next week, then take a listen to Today FM from 2:30-4:30pm.

Yep, I know that's Tony Fenton's regular slot, but Big Tone is away next week and filling in for him is the brilliant Marty Miller.

Catch him while you can..........

http://www.todayfm.com

Top 3 Podcasts.

Worth a listen...

Jonathan Ross BBC Radio 2

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/podcasts/ross/

The Tommy and Hector Show i102014 Galway
http://www.i102014.ie/

Adam and Joe BBC6Music

http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/adamandjoe

Dusty Is Positive.

This blog likes to concentrate on the good news from the world of radio. In my mind, that's a good thing (keeps me sane anyway)!

My pal Dusty (does a lot of work for char-ideee, doesn't like to talk about it) has written a very positive piece on his Digital Radio blog about the future and it's a sentiment I relate to whole heartedly.

Plus he hints at an upcoming multi-city temp licence on FM...hmmm.

Mister Rhodes' blog is at:

http://www.digitalradioltd.com/

Branson Goes To Ottawa.

Richard Branson makes a quick visit to Canada this week, taking in Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa. So what, you ask? Yeah, fair point. Well the thing is, if you log on line tomorrow you can hear him on the breakfast show at the new Virgin Ottawa. They flipped formats from 106.9 The Bear on January 9th and have been Virgin branded ever since. More Rock-y than their Vancouver name sake and definitely less pop oriented than Virgin Toronto, they sound pretty good overall.

Anyway, you can check out Mister Virgin himself at http://www.ottawa.virginradio.ca Breakfast show begins properly at 11am Irish/UK time.

Wossy's Back !

Jonathan Ross was back on air today on BBC Radio 2. How was it? Well, I heard him chatting with Graham Norton and playing a few choice tunes...pretty much the way he left it when he was suspended all that time ago (or so it seems). Laid back, bit cheeky and a few laughs. I for one am glad to have him back on the radio.

Done and dusted.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/shows/ross/

'Taster' on Pulse.

RTE Pulse run a Friday night show called 'Taster'. It's presented by Orla Feeney and is a devoted to Electronic Music (and all that that entails).

Orla is one of those people you look at and think "Very cool"!

She's been part of the set up in Spin and headlines gigs across Ireland and abroad. To say that she knows her stuff would be a bit of an understatement.

Take a listen tonight from 8-10pm and again on Tuesday from midnight (repeat).

She's definitely another one to add to the list of 'One To Watch'.

http://www.rte.ie/digitalradio/pulse/index.html

Orla is on myspace:

www.myspace.com/orlafeeneymusic

FiveLive Status Update...

" Bbc FiveLive
Richard Madeley's in the office getting ready for another night of sitting in for Mr Bacon. He's on at 10pm.via Twitter -57 minutes ago ".


Posted on BBC FiveLive's facebook page.
Simple, but effective. I haven't tuned into the show yet this week, but will do now.

New Job for Quilty?

Spin 1038's late night guy Dara Quilty will always have a second career as a prolific sports man...if the Irish Independent is to believed.

Check out the first rugby pic below.

Now look closer...

What an athlete!!

Nice Quote.

US Radio Consultant Jaye Albright found a brilliant quote from the US Presidential Inauguration and she posted it on her Blog http://aoprep.blogspot.com/
Here's the quote:
“Absolutely take a radio. Things are going to change and that’s how we’ll get the word to you." -
Washington DC Police Chief, Cathy Lanier.

Nice.

Not So Clear.

Think things are tough on this side of the Atlantic?

Spare a thought for the ex-employess of ClearChannel in the States who were let go - all 1,850 of them ! That's One Thousand Eight Hundred and Fifty!!! Or to put it another way: 9% of the company's entire workforce. This number did include presenters and programming staff (some high profile) along with sales and admin personnel.

Guess what? Some local shows will be replaced by 'Syndicated Programming'...hey, don't they have access to a little known presenter by the name of Seacrest???

The human side of all this is well presented by the Chicago Tribune story about 20 year WNUA-FM veteran, Rick O'Dell:

"With the industry being as short-staffed as it is, this might be a case where the survivors have it worse than the people let go," said O'Dell, who hosted a 9 a.m.-to-2 p.m. weekday show and a one-hour weekend program while also serving as music director and program director at the smooth jazz station.

O'Dell had updated his page on the WNUA Web site and was pre-taping the final hour of what would have been today's broadcast ostensibly so he could attend a scheduled staff meeting to discuss the cuts when he was asked to see Tony Coles, his direct boss.It was only when O'Dell saw a human resources representative bringing Coles a stack of envelopes, which turned out to be termination packets, that he began to realize what was happening. Coles told him he would be escorted from the building.

Here's the memo (thanks to Jacobs Media) sent to surviving staff members speaking about "shared commitment" and being "innovative". ClearChannel obviously believe the best way to get sales is to fire sales people and the best way to achieve ratings is to rid yourself of presenters and programmers.

As SpongeBob would say..."Eh, good luck with that"!

I know how he feels...

Moyles on a Rollercoaster. Nothing more to say :)

Made-ly for Radio.

What is Richard without Judy?

A radio presenter!

Richard and the Missus!

Richard Madely is filling for Richard Bacon on 5Live this week. I love this guy as an interviewer because while he has a knack of saying the wrong thing a lot of the times, he is just brutally honest. His approach and his questioning are always clear. You can tell he's not trying to cause a scene or be controversial...it's just the way he is. Plus he does it in a nice, quiet manner.

Could be a good week of late night radio there.

By the way - didn't he work in radio before? I'm thinking a long time ago in the North of England...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/fivelive

Job Security.

Wow, talk about your job security!!

In this day and age when people are depressing the hell out of eachother with talk of 'Credit Crunch' and lack of jobs and no money etc, it's nice to see one person landing a nice contract that makes all of that talk redundant (if you pardon the pun).

Neil (formerly Dr.) Fox has re-signed with Magic 105.4 in London to continue as their morning guy until 2012.

He'll be tired, but secure!

http://www.magic.co.uk

Live from Washington...

The great thing about streaming radio is the way we can tune into wherever and whenever we want - that's awesome on a day when a new US President is sworn in.

Two stations that will cover the event are Washington DC based WMAL and WTOP.

Listen live at:

http://www.wmal.com/

http://www.wtop.com/

All - Wight ???

Yes indeedy mate, looks like Tony Blackburn and Mike Read are going to be working together again....on the Isle of Wight (!).

OK, before we get all cynical and think "Oh my God, what are they doing", maybe (just maybe) their enthusiasm for radio and their love of the medium is to be admired.

The two veteran DJs will join up with the likes of Benny Brown, Paul Burnett and Ed Stewart as they launch the new online station WightFM.

Launch day is scheduled for Feb. 2nd and programming is billed as coming directly from their purpose built studio on the island.

http://www.wightfm.com

Manchester Workshop.

Quick note about our upcoming Presenter Workshop in Manchester.

Date is Saturday March 28th and I'm delighted to say that ex-Kiss London/Virgin and current Leicester Sound morning man Robin Banks will be joining me for the entire day. Robin has so much experience and shares a passion for radio which is second to none. It's going to be a blast!

Also, expect an announcement about our guest speaker soon.

Booking for Manchester is now open. Just email me and I'll fire you off more details and a registration form: brian@bmacmedia.com

Limerick and Cork Workshops for Jan and Feb are Sold Out.

More dates for these venues coming shortly.

Thanks for your support.

Manchester - Saturday March 28th, 12noon to 5pm. 'Bmac-Banks' Workshop.

Obama FM.

Y'know, I do have to hand it to Dan Healy and the iRadio people - they are willing to do things a little differently and that's freshening radio up nicely. They had the Naked Bus in Galway on i102104 a few months back and now i105107 are changing their name to Obama FM tomorrow to celebrate the incoming President's inauguration.

Actually, it's nicely tongue in cheek as well because the official reason for the celebration is to recognise Obama's Irishness ! Yeah, that's right - shure isn't he one of us??? His great great great grand-dad came from Moneygall in County Offaly, so the breakfast guys will be in the town for the day on board the Obama Bus.

Original thinking, creative, topical ideas (with the bit of quirky humour as well) - I like it!!

http://www.i105107.ie

Radio Tallaght Hits The Air.

Good luck to the folks at Radio Tallaght on their first weekend on air.

Take a listen at 99.1FM.

What's Your Local?

Haven't you heard so many times that the way to keep listeners is by being 'local'?

Local content and local presenters hold the key. People who live in your TSA and know your TSA.

What's going on then with the whole Ryan Seacrest thing? The man is everywhere! Now don't get me wrong - fair play to him. He's the morning guy in LA and is on every other radio station in North America (practically) as well as hitting the UK. Who wouldn't be happy with that?

My question: Is he that good? Is he that much cheaper than a local talent?

OK, he delivers a slick, tight product with showbiz interviews and insights that can't be accessed by your guy. But can he relate? Is a generic show going to do for you what a local talent can't? We'll see, I guess. I'm just a little bit confused. If syndicating works to this scale then why not just syndicate every show on every station...is local the wrong way to think? Maybe listeners don't actually care where in the world the show comes from so long as they're entertained.

Meantime Ryan joins the line-up of newly re-formatted KNBL-FM in Kansas City (KISSFM). Actually three dayparts are formatted on this Adult CHR : Mornings with Kid Kraddick, Seacrest in afternoons and Kim Iverson at night.

Phew. Will listeners notice? Will listeners care???

http://www.997kiss.com

Dead Good.

The name does it for me...online station called I Hear Dead People! Brilliant.

Music from artists whose time has come.

http://www/iheardeadpeople.com

Latest Ezine.

This week's edition of the BmacMedia Ezine went out on Monday and dealt with presenters not listening to what a caller is really saying.

Excerpt:

"...We have one mouth and two ears. There’s a reason for this – listen twice as much as we speak and we can use our one mouth properly.
The part of the caller set-up I’m referring to is where the presenter asked the caller if she had started back in work yet. Good question as this was at the very start of January, just after New Years and Christmas.
So the caller says that yes indeed, she just started today. She didn’t sound depressed or put out by this. It was just a fact of life. It didn’t seem to bother her too much at all.
What does the presenter say then? “We’ll try and cheer you up”.
Why would you feel the need to cheer a person up when they are not down?
Why would you assume that just because they are back in work that they would be depressed?What impression does that give about you and your perception of your work..."?

The Ezine is read by over 1,000 radio professionals in more than 200 radio stations worldwide. Plus it's FREE. Sign up at brian@bmacmedia.com

Separated at Birth.

Ray Foley................Dev Patel.

'The Sound' of Vinyl.

Southern California's 100.3 The Sound have decided to go 'all vinyl' on the 21st of this month.

The station is Album Rock, so they have plenty of material to choose from. In fact they recently started a a feature called 'Album Sides Wednesday' where they take an LP (there's a term you won't have heard in a while) and play one side straight through.

I remember this being done on overnights in the past and always thought it an odd way to present music on the radio...now though, it offers something a little different.

If you're hoping to listen to the all-day-album broadcast online, then I'm afraid you're out of luck. 'The Sound' are knocking their live streaming off for the entire day and will only be heard on FM. Now, that's retro!!

http://www.thesoundla.com