Yesterday, another small piece of radio history was made when RTE closed down it’s final Medium Wave transmitter.
It was first put into service 75 years ago to give national radio coverage to the Eucharistic Conference which was hosted by Ireland in 1933.  Since then, if it didn’t put Athlone on the map, it certainly put it on radio dial with the towns name proudly displayed on many a tuning dial from the 40’s through to the 70’s.  Then in 1975 the 100kw monster was moved to  Tullamore where it broadcast …

Word out this week in the Financial Times that Apple are doing a deal with record companies where customers get free unlimited access to the iTunes library if they buy a premium “all you can eat” iPod or iPhone. The plan, some say, will kill radio.
Are we worried? Not in the slightest. iPod as cool as some might think it is (not us) is missing the immediacy, intimacy and community that radio provides. Radio is still the No.1 music discovery platfom for the vast majority of the population. …

I am very angry today at Sony. My son’s PS3 packed up but not before we’d the sense to run a full backup and keep all our photos, home videos, and the all important game data saves. Took the machine to the store to be fixed and they very kindly replaced it with a brand new one. Here is where I get angry. When we tried to restore our data onto the new machine … no way jose. Why the hell not? They’re my photos. They’re my sons own …

Photo Steve Garry
Lively DAB discussion at the IBI conference last Tuesday during the final session on the Future of Broadcasting.
Dan Healy of iRadio boldly stated DAB was a failure in the UK. Lucy Gaffney, Communicorp Chair, was upset to think DAB broadcasters might not have the same obligations her stations had to endure. Pat Donnelly from Channel 6 warned DAB would be swamped by UK stations.
On the other hand David Tighe, IBI Chair and Chief Exec Live 95FM, said the bigger threat to independent radio was now new media …

A project we’ve been hoping to do for years has just launched today. It’s called Raidio X .. and yes the Raidio is spelt correctly.
The format is simple, bangin’ Top 40 hits presented in the Irish language. Up to now the only Irish language radio station available was Raidio na Gaelteacht, a high-speech content primarily Gaeltacht focused station for adults.
So we’re working with Conradh na Gaeilge to establish a modern Irish language station aimed at 15 – 34 year olds and so far the reaction has been amazing. The energy …