Saturday, July 25, 2009

New 98 Site.


I'm liking the new-look website from Dublin's 98.
Lots of info on there -photo gallery is better and presenter blogs are easy to find.
Plus the all important bios are updated with new pictures...such as:
The one and only Mister Dunne...



...and one of my favourite radio people, Caroline :-)

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Just a Thought.


Around this time of year, radio stations are working behind the scenes gathering audio and writing scripts for their entry to the PPI awards.
Good luck to all.
I was scanning the list of categories and noticed one missing...one very close to my heart.
That is - an award for the Most Promising Newcomer.
In my opinion, the people who are the future of radio in this country need not only recognition - but support from their peers.
This is a tough industry to make your mark in.
You need the talent, the luck and a pretty thick skin to get places.
We have a wealth of new talent in Ireland on the air. They are working evenings and weekends, doing fill-in shifts here and there and generally doing whatever it takes to get that all important 'foot in the door'.
So, I'm wondering - would it be a good idea to recognise these newcomers somehow?
I feel it would be.
What I plan is a sort of award - nothing on the scale of the PPI Awards (I can't stretch that far I'm afraid)!
But an award none the less.
What do you think?
I'm looking at presenters with two years experience or less. They could work in local, community, voluntary or commercial radio - doesn't matter. A mic is a mic as far as I'm concerned.
Details will be worked out within the next week, but basically it would involve a presenter presenting their audio and that audio then handed over to a panel of professional radio people (presenters, programming etc) from various stations across the country.
These people will then have a vote on who they feel is the best 'newcomer'.

Look at it two ways:
1. It's a nice 'lift' for the presenters involved and
2. It's a great way to get your audio heard by people with influence.

You can share your thoughts by using the reply section here or email me brian@bmacmedia.com
I'm looking at getting the whole thing kicked off properly by next week.
Cheers for you time,
Brian.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Hot Hits !

Whenever I would mention Sunshine 101 to anyone who never heard the station, the would ask me what the format was. I would say, "CHR, but we called it Hot Hits". At which point the person would snigger a little bit and say something on the lines of "Hot Hits? That's really 80s".
Well guess what kids?
Theeeeey're back !
KKXX in Bakersfield California have just flipped to 'Hot Hits 93.1'.
Bill Cunningham would be laughing ;-)
The station dumped the Pirate Radio image and 'Playing What We Want' tag yesterday.

Website hasn't flipped yet and just says 'Under Construction' at the moment.

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Lou Red.


Since she finished up with Dublin's 98 a while ago, things have certainly been moving for their former mid-afternoon presenter Louise Heraghty.
She's been heard on Beat 102103 from Waterford, is a regular on Today FM, works on screen with TV3 and now...is in Cork for two week's worth of middays on Red FM !.

The lady is in demand.
You can hear Lou here: http://www.redfm.ie

Sunday, July 19, 2009

104 Candles.


It's a happy 20th birthday to Dublin's FM104 tomorrow.
I remember the station starting off, as the city's first ever local commercial. Back then it was known as Capital 104.4FM and broadcast from a portakabin on top of the Stephens Green Centre (what was it with radio stations and portakabins back then)??
I spent a very short while there during the early 90s - happy to be able to say I did that.
Capital eventually morphed into Rock104...that didn't last too long, before becoming the FM104 we know now.

My favourite era for the station is the time when Colm hosted the mornings with Joan and Justin McKenna.
Happy Birthday to all involved now and all of those who helped mold the station in the past...that's a lot of people.

Saturday, July 18, 2009

No Jo.


Just to end the week with the fact that Jo Whiley is to be replaced on the BBC Radio 1 mid-morning slot by Fearn Cotton from September 21st.
Obviously a bg 'well done' to Fearn Cotton on the new gig, but I have to say I'll miss Jo Whiley on that gig.
I'm a huge fan - no pretentions, no corny 'jocking'...she just got on with the job and was a real communicator on that gig. A very solid performer who knew exactly what to do and how to do it.
Whether you liked her on air features and guests doesn't matter - the fact is (in my opinion), she delivered. Good news is that she will still be on air: weekends from 1-4pm.

Will be interesting to hear how things work in Spetember.
Others news from the past week has Chris Moyles signing for one more year.

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Station Of The Day.


96FM in Perth Western Australia say "It's All About The Music".
That music includes the likes of The Cure, Nirvana and Linkin Park.
They have their own podcasts, a 96FM Online Army (nice twist) and CD of The Week.
Shifts are mostly four hours long outside of mornings and middays, with Gavin Miller doing a nice job on afternoon drive (or 'avro' as they say) ;-)
It's The Crew of Gary, Fitzi and Aleysha on AM duties.

Nicely formatted and executed major market station that's worth an hour of your online listening IMHO.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Radio Hall Of Famer?

Dan O'Day got in touch with me today with a suggestion:
He is looking for people to cast a vote for legendary presenter Gary Burbank to be included in the Radio Hall Of Fame.
Dan has a link to the ballot casting on his blog:
http://danoday.com/blog/2009/07/lets-vote-gary-burbank-into-the-radio-hall-of-fame/

In his own words, "This guy isn't the reason I got into radio. But he's the reason I stayed".
Take a scoot over to the blog and see what you think.


Cheers :-)

Monday, July 13, 2009

Atlantic Website.


Nice to see this coming online...a website about the original Atlantic 252.
It's a work of passion for the man behind the idea and I'm delighted to see it take shape.
Pics of the original on air members and info on what they're all doing now.
Nice job and I hear it will be updated regularly.
No doubt, some the A252 reunion in September, there will be many more stories to add.
The site is still in it's construction stage, so may be offline at certain times, but here's the address anyway:

Enjoy :-)

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Casey.



Thirty nine years after the first show aired - Casey Kasem ended his time as host of American Top 20 (granted, back in 1970 it was the Top 40).Text Color
The Top 40 is presented these days by Ryan Seacrest.
RadioInk have a feature:Text Color

Monday, July 6, 2009

Yikes !

Chris Chambers from Juice FM Liverpool donned a Mankini to dance to a Whigfield song in the city's Central Train Station. All in the name of entertainment (?).
Wasn't he a little bit chilly ;-)

Sunday, July 5, 2009

MJ Day.

At 6:30 pm today (Sunday July 5th), the following radio stations have agreed to take part in a trivute to the late Michel Jackson by playing on of his songs.
The idea being that, hopefully, wherever you are in the country at once 6:30 strikes, you will hear MJ on your radio.
Stations taking part include:
Q102 Dublin, FM104, Dublin's 98, i105107, LMFM and 4FM.
That's as of 10am and hopefully more stations will come on board as the day goes on.

Well done to the guys behind this idea...

Friday, July 3, 2009

More Young Guns !

Mister Gary Wilkinson has been at it again and said he's happy to share thes pics with us here.
The only one who doesn't look any older these days is Dusty !
Thanks for these Gaz...they're awesome :-)

Thursday, July 2, 2009

Young Guns.

Former Atlantic 252 man Gary Wilkinson (Pizzaman/Mojo/Nick Jordan) posted these pics on his Facebook page and they are just brilliant.
So young, so innocent ;-)

Nein to DAB.

Just stumbled upon the fact that Germany and Switzerland have said 'No' to the idea of DAB in their countries. They're not willing to invest in switching over from FM/AM in the same way the UK has...apparently.
Now, I'm no DAB expert, but having a powerhouse like Germany and a financial stronghold like Switzerland supporting the technology be better than them not, wouldn't it?
Someone will fill me in, I hope, because there must be another side to this than I can see.

The post I came across is here:
http://grantgoddardradioblog.blogspot.com/2009/06/commercial-radio-in-germany-and.html

**UPDATE**
Thanks to the two knowledgeable experts who got in touch to set me straight. Appreciate the info.

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Shore 104 Launches.

Today is Canada Day ('O Canada')!
Good day to launch a brand new radio station- which is what is taking place with the opening of Triple A outlet 'Shore 104'.

Shore will be in direct competition with the (also new) 100.5 The Peak. They hit the air late last year with on air staff including former JRfm Drive man Chris Coburn filling the AM Drive shift.

The Shore on air line up is pretty impressive:
6-10am - Moose & Alex.
10-2pm - Steve Dunbar (former CFOX and Rock 101).
2-6pm - Bill and Jody (Bill the former CFOX and Rock 101 man and Jody Vance back from the TV).
6pm - M'nte - Dug Joy (Another former CFOX and LG73 man).
Weekends sees legendary musician and actor Jim Byrnes behind the mic.

Line-up page on website: