Two Things.

* Watch out for Spin 103.8's Dara Quilty...and I mean 'watch', literally!

He will be coming to your TV screens on a very regular basis in the not too distant future.

Not bad eh? Major market evening gig and now TV knocking on the door...and only two years

in the biz. Great stuff.

* Robin Banks has been speaking with different stations over the past couple of months and you can hear him soon, back on air on a legendary Birmingham station. Nice to have him back !

No Baloney for Mike.

Back when I was knee high to a mixing desk, I spent a year or so on air with RTE 2FM. Seems like a hundred years ago now, but was really just 1989.
Anyway, one of the stints I had was a two week fill-in for Mike Moloney and 'Moloney After Midnight'. That was a really fun show to present. It was free-style radio and totally chilled while being fun too.
After RTE, Mike spent a good while with Lite FM in Dublin (now Q102) before heading to the Northwest to live.
Was the 2FM show the best radio of his career? Some would say a definite 'Yes' to that and so I'm thrilled to see that Mike is working on bringing the show back, (it seems).
The URL moloneyaftermidnight.com is in the works.
Looking forward to hearing and seeing the results.

Dermot's Day Out :-)

Dermot Whelan from 98's Morning Crew is one of the few people that genuinely makes me laugh...I'm talking belly laughs here, not just polite chuckles.
This one kicked off my day today beautifully....nothing to do with his radio show - just funny IMHO :-)

Would You Not Be Chilly ??

New Zealand station 'The Edge' has launched their 'Nude Nuptials' promotion...two people/wedding/nude !
Imagine trying that in Ireland - hypothermia !!
I guess they are heading into their Summer in NZ and are guaranteed some sun and warmth, so why not?
Mind you, iRadio did have The Naked Bus here a while back !
What do you think of this promo - original and creative, or tacky and dumbed-down?
I've heard both comments.

OMG !!

OMG - I don't believe it :-)

KDLW Albuquerque is now 97.7 OMG! Radio.

Like, wow, y'know??

They've, like, totally changed from Wild 97.7FM.

Totally.

OMG...literally.

What's next - 'LOL Radio'?? Or maybe 'btw-fm'??

Yuh-huh !

http://977omgradio.com/

I'll say this much though - Live shifts, right through to evenings is a good thing. Nice going :-)

OMG! Radio Webpage.

Social Media on Air.

Do you use Social Media to help your radio gig?
Are you using it on air while in the studio or as a prep source?
How are you making the most of Facebook and Twitter etc.
Well, I'm a huge fan of Social Media but I also realise that there have to be certain rules surrounding it and definite times when it's OK to be 'tweeting' and times when it's not.
That's why I was happy to stumble upon this article written by Jessica Northey about how Social Media can be used by us - Radio People !!
It's worth a few minutes of your time, I feel, if you want to expand your use of or start off using these platforms:
http://fullthrottlecountry.blogspot.com/2009/08/social-media-success-jessica-northey.html

Belfast.

Saturday was another great day - we couldn't have asked for a more positive and worthwhile five hours. The Radio Presenter Workshop took place in The Malone Lodge in Belfast city and I was honoured to see people attend from all parts of the country: from Belfast, Newry, Donegal, Dublin, Galway and Meath.
Robin Banks was with us for the whole day and was, as always, an inspiration. His passion and dedication for what makes great radio is awesome to see. He truly is one of a kind!
To the folks who came along yesterday, a huge thanks.
The time and energy you are investing in yourselves and your career will always steer you in the right direction.
We never stop learning, right? All of us. It was a real pleasure to share that learning experience yesterday.
Oh, and to the particular female presenter who brought along the home made cakes? All I can say is 'Yummmmm' !! Let's face it - that was a room full of radio people, so the thoughts of free food was very popular :-)

Next Workshop is in Dublin in two weeks.
If you would like to invest in your career and actually put some focus and shape on what the future holds (rather than letting it control you), then feel free to get in touch and we will sort you out , no problem.

Brian.

Kung Pao is back !

Another Kung Pao in North America !

WVHT in Virginia flipped formats and became Kung Pao FM for a few days last April, now it's Ontario station CIGN-FM stunting with the same website template and audio.

What can you say???

http://www.kungpaoradio935.com

JNLR.

So, how did you or your station do?
Survive OK? The GM wasn't hunting you down in the hallways looking for 'a meeting' !!?
What happened this time eh?
Well, it seems that Dublin stations are getting a little closer with 104's Share at 11.5, followed by 98 with 10.9, then 2FM 9.2 and Q102 at 8.1 (1.1 increase for Q).
In Cork, 96 still hold the prize with a 34 Share, beating Radio 1 into second. C103 and Red have lost some Share in this book.
At the regional stations, we have Beat in Waterford holding strong with a 20 Reach, the iRadio group are doing well in Galway but suffered in Athlone, Spin SW continue to grow and 4FM entered the market for the first time.
Oh, and Highland Radio? Well, their Share went up again to 64.2 !
http://www.bci.ie/documents/jnlr_july08_jun09.pdf

Radio Stuff.

Been a busy week in radio-ville...sort of.
The rumours that 2FM are to switch focus from 'yoof' to the 25-44 demo are interesting. What are we talking here, a BBC Radio 2 type station with older presenters and music (plus talk)? My question is related to the presenters (as always) - not who are they going to hire to fill these shifts but who of the current line-up will they decide to do without? Not a nice question at all.

The Nova100 Classic Rock licence for Dublin and the 'commuter belt' has been put on ice for a while. Could be at least a year before they look at trying to launch (so I am told).

The entries for the Best New Presenter Award are coming in to the website - thanks to everyone who has entered.
Find out all here: http://www.bestnewpresenter.ie

It's JNLR day today - how will everyone do?
Will the regionals (Beat, iRadio) continue to grow?
Will Highland retain the highest share?
What about Dublin - FM104, can they stay on top again or will 98 and the re-branded Q102 be more of a challenge?
Will 4FM have impact in it's markets? (I hope so, handy for me having a day job)!
How about LMFM's more talk approach - has that worked out so far for them?
Will 96 and C103 in Cork still dominate, or will Red make some gains?
And could this be one of the last JNLR books for 2FM as a youth station?
Good luck to all.

Dutch Guy's Coming !

I'm a big fan of 'The Dutch Guy' Maybe you've heard of him?
Yes, he's Dutch and yes he's a guy!
His style is powerhouse entertaining CHR. Very pacey, very punchy and very tight. He's been heard internationally and now The Dutch Guy will perform on Derry based internet station Buzz FM from the end of the month presenting Saturday afternoons.
He'll blow you away and I'm definitely looking forward to hearing him.

Find him at: http://www.dutchguy.me/

http://www.buzzradio.fm/

JC Stands down.

You may have heard that RTE 2FM programmer John Clarke is stepping down from his position at the end of his current contract.

John is a great man and a real radio person. I can remember listening to his shows on Nova back in the day and then I got a chance to work alongside him on RTE's Millennium 88FM in Dublin just after the pirates closed down. I did a Sunday Oldies show there and John was the producer. He would hand me five bags of albums (one for each hour of the gig) and then, unlike a lot of producers, he would stay and listen to the entire show. Yup, he loves radio - but he loves music just as much!

I went to 2FM after that and then we lost touch...for a while.

We nearly hooked up again in the late 90s. I met John out in Donnybrook to talk about possible future stuff and he was as friendly and enthusiastic as ever. It was obvious how happy he was at the gig and I believe he really is one of the radio legends in this country.

So, whatever he does in the future - I wish him all the very best and I am honoured to have worked alongside the man.

Beat This...

New video up from Niall and the Beat102103 Breakfast Crew in Waterford:

Best New Presenter Award.

Well, we launched the website on Monday for the Best New Irish Presenter Award and have been swamped with questions and comments.
So, here's a bit of an update.
A lot of the questions revolved around your audio submission. We have a FAQ section on the site and that has been altered over the past couple of days to answer some of your thoughts. Thanks for the input by the way - it helps us make the process easier to navigate through.
The basic idea is that this award should be easy to enter and have as few stipulations as possible. Our wish is that you feel comfortable and knowledgeable before submitting your entry.
With that said - if you haven't been to the site yet and are interested in the concept of taking part in this award process, then can I suggest heading to http://www.bestnewpresenter.ie so you can see for yourself what it's all about.

This is the only award for New Radio Talent in Ireland - it's about recognising you and your place in this industry.
You're going to be running the show in the future...
http://www.bestnewpresenter.ie

BBC News.

BBC 1Xtra have moved Tim Westwood into the weekday afternoon drive slot...he'll take over on the 28th of September from Ace and Vis who move to weekends. Westwood has been with the Beeb for the past 15 years.

Westwood.............................Ace & Vis.

Over at Radio 1, Steve Lamacq is set to hang up his headphones on Sept 14th after 16 years - his show will be replaced by music documentaries.

Lamacq.

And so, the radio dial changes ever so slightly again. There'll be no tsunami warnings around these changes though....unlike in San Francisco, where the entire FM music dial could be VT'd by the end of the year. That's right - not one live presenter!

Then and Now.

AllTheExcess is one of my favourite websites...I subscribe to their feed and am always delighted when I log on daily.
Today's beauty is this 1986 TV ad from Y95, featuring Glenn Beck of Fox News.
Worth a look:


Here he is now:

Best New Presenter.

The website for the Best New Irish Radio Presenter Award is live as of today.
We have begun accepting audio through the site and this audio will then be handed over to our five industry judges.
Those judges are detailed on the site, along with the Entry page, FAQ and entry deadline etc.
Thanks for your support with this - it's about time we recognised the future of radio in this country :-)
Here's the URL : http://www.bestnewpresenter.ie

Housekeeping.

Some quick Bmac bits:
* The website for the Best New Irish Radio Presenter Award goes live on Monday. Thanks for all of your emails and tweets about it. I hope I've answered all of your questions. Our judging panel is ready to roll and all things are in place for our launch.

* The two upcoming Workshops are almost full. Belfast on August 22nd has three spaces that we can still keep open, if you are interested. I will be co-presenting that day with the legend that is Robin Banks.
The Dublin Workshop happens on September 5th and I'm delighted that Debbie Allen from Dublin's Q102 has agreed to be our guest speaker that day. Just a few spaces available for that and we have a special 2For1 deal running.

* Finally, the Ezine goes from strength to strength and has expanded it's subscriber list to Australia, new Zealand, the UAE and Pacific Islands. Many thanks to all.

Special mention this week to Colin Kelly from Clyde 1 in Glasgow - showing what can be achieved by using your iniative and ambition. He's a real radio star!

Cheers,
Brian.

New Virgin.

After the departures of some of their big hitters last week (15 year station veteran Buzz Bishop among them), Virgin 953 in Vancouver have launched their new daytime schedule:

The morning show of Nat and Drew is still there (into it's 6th year now) and Seacrest is still syndicated in the evenings....so what's new?

Well:

9am-Noon is Taylor Jukes, who arrives from the city of Kelowna.

Noon - 3pm has Kevin Lim (another brand new arrival) and then

3pm - 6pm features former evening and weekend guy Kiah co-hosting with Tara-Jean. I could be wrong, but have a feeling Kiah is the first Australian to host PM Drive in Vancouver.

So there it is. I wonder, I wonder, I wonder. Taking a strong line-up of presenters off the air and replacing them with less known talent can be a risk...especially in a competitive market like this. Unless of course, they turn out to be amazing.

Time will tell and good luck :-)

Rajar.

So, Mr. Wogan's ratings go up again...U105 have their biggest numbers ever...Johnny Vaughan wins the London breakfast market...and the Heart brand is rolling out successfully.

Loads and loads of info and a breakdown here: http://radiotoday.co.uk/news.php?cat.7
Some more detail ? : http://www.radiotoday.co.uk/rajar/
Main site: http://www.rajar.co.uk/
London specific is here: http://pauleaston.blogspot.com/2009/08/london-rajar-q22009.html

Country Stars.

Have to hand it to Sean Ashmore and the folks at Country Mix...they've brought in some heavy hitters for their Country Fest at the City West hotel.

Last night it was Randy Travis live and tonight, Martina McBride. Couple of major stars right there.

Plus the station have tickets to the CMA Awards in Nashville too...wouldn't mind entering for that one myself ;-)

I developed a real appreciation for the Country format when I worked it for a few years - listeners to country stations are probably the most loyal I have ever come across.

http://www.countrymix.ie/home-mainmenu-1

Clyde's Canucks.

Have you heard of the band Karamel?

No, neither had I...until they started getting airtime on Clyde 1 in Glasgow.

My friend Colin Kelly, who handles middays there, started playing the group's version of Lady GaGa's 'Lets Dance'. He reckoned they were established and had a record deal. Turns out they're not! No record deal, no nothing.

Colin Kelly Clyde 1.

The band are from Canada and are loving the attention.

Colin has already spoken to Toronto newspapers about the song and tomorrow (Thursday) he will be on air at CFRB1010 in Toronto chatting about how he found the song and the reaction it's getting from his listeners.

Talk about generating your own international reputation!

That's how you get exposure...try something. You never know where it might lead.

You can hear Colin here tomorrow: http://www.cfrb.com

And here, every weekday: http://www.clyde1.com

CSI-104.

Tomorrow is the final day in qualification for Dublin's FM104's promotion where listeners can win a walk on part on the TV show CSI:Miami.
The station has the final scheduled for Thursday morning at The Wright venue, Airside South Quarter and I would imagine things will get busy from 7am tomorrow when their phone lines open again.
The full prize is six nights in LA with luxury accomodation for you and a friend...and then the walk on part on the show.
Nice original prize and one that fans would definitely get excited about.
If you're on facebook, their page is: http://www.facebook.com/l/;FM104.ie
Otherwise the web page is: http://tinyurl.com/kpz6pf

It's Hot Again.

Temp station Hot Country CIMR is ready to roll again for another season.

The station will be back on 88.1FM and 104.2FM from September 5th.

I wonder will they be using Jeff Rechner as their voice guy again?

Good luck to Joe and all the people involved :-)

http://www.countryandirish.ie

TT On Air.

Former 98 PD Toni Tenaglia is back on the air this week.

She is filling in on breakfast at JackFM Oxford's sister station FM107.9.

Toni has been working with iRadio and Jack FM since she left 98 and she is a former 'Australian Radio Entertainer Of The Year' award winner from back in 2003...so she's knows her way around a studio.

If you know a 'back-door' way of listening to this station in Ireland, let me know because it's not possible to listen to their stream via the website :-(

http://www.fm1079.co.uk

Best New Presenter Award.

Thanks for all of your enquiries regarding the Award for Best New Irish Radio Presenter.

Here's the latest:

The website is almost ready to go 'live'.

We have the five judges confirmed.

Rules and Regs have been sorted.

One question I received: "Will it cost"? Great question.The answer is 'No'. Entry to this award is free.

So, if you want to get a head start on things, here are three things you will need to know.

1. Audio can be no longer than three minutes duration.

2. Audio needs to be encoded as 128k stereo MP3 files. Your audio can be uploaded directly from the 'Entry' page on the site.
3. The competition is open to anyone with up to two years continuous experience behind a mic on any radio station on the island of Ireland.

That's it for now.

As I say, entries will be taken when the website goes 'live' (special thanks to DAP for all the help putting the website together).

One Week...

This blog took a week off for it's summer holidays and has come back with a nice tan and is all relaxed now.

What's been happening in the world while it was away sunning itself?

Well...

Country Mix has been bough by East Coast FM.

Virgin 953 in Vancouver fired three of it's daytime roster (and PD by all accounts). Included in the departures is 15 year station veteran Buzz Bishop. Best wishes to all.

Here's their current on air page on the website...lots of gaps there:

Modern Rocker Indie 101.5 in Denver is now stunting as '101.5 The Pole - Stripper Music' !

Seacrest has been told to play more music and cut back on the chat on his KIIS morning show in LA...he's not too happy about that apparently.

Finally - thanks to everyone for the feedback regarding our Best New Presenter Award...we will begin accepting audio from next week. The website is ready to roll as well: http://www.bestnewpresenter.ie/

More info and updates about this on the weekly Ezine and here on the blog in the lead up to the launch.