Ross Fill-In.

Nice to see BBC Radio 2 are making an effort and putting some thought into filling the Saturday morning gig while waiting for 'Wossy' to come back on air.

Zoe Ball and Danny Baker will co-present four of the shows starting next Saturday.

Baker was back on 5Live during the Summer hosting some special '606' phone-in shows.

The combination of the two will be good to hear and it's a sign that 'event radio' is very much the way to go.

Ross is back on air on January 24th.

i105107 Launch Date.

Contrary to popular rumour (and very popular it was too)! - the new station for the North East will not go on air this Monday.
The launch date is set for Monday 24th at 8pm.
I had a sneaky listen to some of the breakfast show audio and there's a comedy piece involving Louis Walsh, Brian Cowan and Ray D'arcy that will be a regular feature. Nicely put together.
Brekkie show is 'Bernard and Keith'.
Another week or so to wait....

JNLR.

Congrats to stations and presenters on the latest JNLR ratings book.
Some highlights:

FM104 Dublin: MS 13.8 (Up o.1)
Dublins 98: MS 12.2% (Same)
Q102: MS 6.9% (Up 0.1)
Spin 1038: MS 6.6% (Up 0.4)
Country Mix: MS 2.8% (Up 0.3)
Phantom 105.2: MS 1.5% (Up 0.2)

Spin SouthWest went Up 1.5 to 9.8
i102104 are Up 3.6 to 5.2
Beat 102-103 hit 11.2. Slight increase of 0.1

In Cork, 96 dropped 1.3 to 35.9
Red FM went up half a point to 11.3 and
C103 dropped slightly to 12.7

Live 95 fell 3.0 to 58
Clare FM UP 4.0 to 43 and
Highland Up 2.0 to 66 (!)

Nationally, Lyric rose 1.0, but 2FM, Radio 1, NewsTalk and Today FM remained unchanged.

Details: http://www.bci.ie/documents/jnrl_oct07_sept08.doc

Valerie Geller.

I spent Wednesday and Thursday in Limerick attending a radio conference. The speaker was one of my radio heroes - Valerie Geller.

To my mind, Valerie is one of the world's greatest radio thinkers. Her passion for radio is completely genuine and her knowledge on what makes radio incredible is awesome.

This Monday's BmacMedia Ezine will have more detail on some of the points she made that will interest you, as a radio presenter.

To sign up for the FREE Ezine, just email me brian@bmacmedia.com and I'll put you on the list.

Meantime, I would very strongly advise grabbing a copy of Valerie's book 'Creating Powerful Radio'. You can't go wrong with it...and I mean that.

More on the book: http://creatingpowerfulradio.com/

Famous Dublin Store to Close.

I received this notice today from the folks at Abbey Discs in Dublin:

"It is with sad regret that ABBEY DISCS Record Shop will be closing it's doors on the 25th of November for the last time, after 25 years in the music business.

From the early days in the ABBEY MALL (if you're old enough you'll remember), to where we had been for for the last 12 years in Liffey Street, all the staff from ABBEY DISCS past and present *especially Billy* would like to take this opportunity to thank everybody for the custom and support over the last quarter century.

We are at present having a massive clearance sale (ideal for Christmas presents and nostalgia). So come on in while stocks last!

Again, we would like to thank everybody for their support and we hope to be back in the New Year doing what we do best - selling record breaking records!

So watch this space !

BILLY, DEREK, TARA, ANTHONY, TRACEY, ELAINE, NIAMH".

On a personal note, I remember shuffling through the 12" singles in Abbey Mall, getting music together for my gig on DCR back in the early 80's. The amount of club and radio jocks you would meet in the shop was incredible. Great place. Good luck to the guys in the New Year.

So long to a great station.

I've been lucky enough in my career to work for some really amazing stations in Ireland, The UK and Canada. One of these stations is CISL based in Vancouver. I had two stints with this fantastic Oldies outlet doing weekends, middays and evenings. It was quite the ride there and I loved every minute of it.

CISL began as 940CISL, then moved down the dial to 650AM.

One of the reasons I took a gig there in the first place was the lure of working alongside Canadian radio God and Rock'n'Roll Hall of Famer, Red Robinson. It's not often you get to sit alongside and learn from a man who has interviewed Elvis and The Beatles.

Red Robinson.

What an awesome experience.

Then there is Gerry O'Day. Gerry is PD and Morning Man at CISL and is a living, breathing radio machine.

Gerry O'Day.

My second time at CISL saw the introduction of 'Oldies Radio' in the title when the station broadcast to Edmonton as well asVancouver. The signal was heard as far south as Sacramento California and east to the Canadian Prairies. Quite the footprint!

Today, 650CISL signed off for the last time and has been re-born as 'AM650 - All Time Favourites'.

The change has come about with the closure of cross town rival 'AM600'. '600 played Adult Standards and was incredibly popular (considering the AM quality). CISL saw the opportunity to add to their listener base by taking 600's format and incorporating it into their own.

I had the honour today of being part of the final Morning show on CISL when I went on air with Gerry during his Morning Show.

Thanks for that Gerry and best wishes to all at Horseshoe Way.

So long CISL...and thanks for the memories.

http://www.650cisl.com

Tommy and Hector.

There are very few 'must listen' shows on radio these days. You know, shows that just suck you in and keep you with them due to their creativity and spontanaiety..

One show that I always try and make a point of catching is Tommy and Hector on i102104 from Galway.

I just love Tommy Tiernan, always have. He just doesn't give a damn...it's seat of your pants stuff. Anyone who has ever seen his live stand-up show will know what I mean. The man is a genius.

Hector O'hEochagain is a live wire. He's like the kid that shouldn't have been allowed to eat the red Skittles! Hyperactive and loud. What a combination these two are...and they're in a studio together every Friday!!

Tommy ended up with the radio gig after announcing on RTE TV's Late Late Show that radio was something he always wanted to get involved in. Dan Healy, CEO of iRadio saw the interview and thought 'Hey, now that would be mad to get him on our station'. So Dan got in touch and away they went. What a piece of inspired programming.

Putting comedians behind a mic doesn't always work - when it does, it really does!

I'm wondering are they going to network the show on i105107 when it comes on air in a few days...?

Catch Tommy and Hector every Friday at 4pm on http://www.i102104.ie

Watch the lads in action: