Overall listening to radio in Ireland is on the way down.
To see a trend you need to look back over the years which I have done and you can also.
In 1999, the JNLR Listened Yesterday figure for All Radio was 88%. The most recent JNLR reports that same figure as 85%. A drop of 3%.
It gets really interesting when you compare us to the UK market. In 1999 the RAJAR Listened Yesterday figure for All Radio was 89%. The most recent RAJAR reports that same figure as 92%. An …

SiriusXM has been enjoying success in the USA with their satellite radio service.
It gives listeners over 180 commercial-free radio stations which can be heard coast-to-coast across the States. Channels include oldies, Top 40, Sports, Comedy and the most famous of the all, the Howard Stern channel.
Satellite radio receivers are factory installed in many cars where drivers get a three month trial period, after which, a large amount convert to paying subscribers. There are also home and portable receivers as well as online access.
This new type of radio is now coming …

“Ford drop CD from In-Car radios” scream the headlines.
As ever things aren’t quite that dramatic! I was speaking with Eddie Murphy, the Head of Ford Ireland, who said any move regarding in-car entertainment is a gradual one. The future for Ford is USB mp3 drives, aux inputs, DAB and even connections to cloud services.
One gradual move becoming evident with all manufacturers is the inclusion of DAB as standard in all new car models. As a presenter of a motors programme, every day I get press releases about new motors, and …

Radio needs to embrace digital and start doing some joined up thinking. That was the message to the Independent Broadcasters of Ireland (IBI) conference this week from Peter McPartlin, Strategy Director at Ireland’s largest media buyer Carat Ireland.

The last big FM licence to be awarded to the Dublin market came on air today.
Radio Nova 100.3FM, named after a local legendary 80s pirate, is running a classic rock format.
The elaborate launch at 1pm involved a barge on the River Liffey, at the epicentre of the city, on which a Guns’n’Roses tribute band played live. Banner branding on the barge, the river quays and even a light aircraft above made a big splash. The on-air side of the launch was strangely muted though as you’ll hear from the …

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This week the Broadcasting Authority (BAI) announced their contract negotiations with all three potential operators of digital terrestrial television (DTT) have now failed.
The process started over two years ago with the award of the licence in principal to Boxer, the combined Denis O’Brien Communicorp and Swedish Boxer group. After a year they withdrew from the process citing the economy and breakdown of negotiations with RTÉ as reasons.
The licence was then offered to the runners-up, OneVision, the Eircom/TV3 consortium. After another year they too withdrew also citing breakdown of negotiations …

A new DAB trial has begun in the South-East of Ireland serving Wexford, Waterford, Tipperary, Carlow and Kilkenny.
The trial, operating under a one year ComReg licence on Band III 9B, is being run by Total Broadcast Ltd in Waterford. Initially the trial is simulcasting local radio services.
The trial will encompass tests on station bitrates, transmission power and location in addition to a planned trial of DAB+.
The multiplexer itself was constructed by the team at Total Broadcast. Knowing the system from the ground up will allow the company to experiment greatly …

The first speech by Bob Collins, the new Chairman of the BAI, appears to mark a departure from the Authorities traditional focus on the administrative end of regulation to a more visionary stance.
Mr Collins called on the commercial broadcasting sector to take a more active part in emerging technologies. “Commercial broadcasters cannot stand back and see digital radio as being only something for public service broadcasting” he said. “Digital radio is an area where we have to be involved. We can’t stand back as observers of technological and editorial development …