Phantom FM no more

WellThen? wrote: »

Did anyone else catch Richie & Richie's last show? It was emotional to say the least. They threw in that they were essentially being booted out. Sounds like the station will become more mainstream...vomit. The only station I loved. Devastated.

I listened to the last 20 minutes or so. Ritchie McCormack, in particular, was struggling to keep his emotions in check - it's his last, while the other Ritchie has one more Stadium Rock this Saturday.

"There is a Light That Never Goes Out" by The Smiths was a great choice. The last song they played was "Thank You For the Music" by Abba and it worked very well in this context.

I am currently listening to the last Spiral Stares with Laura Lee Conboy. She and her guests (including Will St. Ledger - last Weekender tomorrow) are in a mighty giddy mood!

Brilliant rarely played song by The Cure is on now - Primary. Where will we hear this song again?

The two Richies show was fairly emotional stuff last night. Richie mc was (understandably) struggling to hold it together.
The awful truth is that Joe Donnelly will remain on at Phantom/ Tx FM after his buddy Keith more or less laid waste to the place...
I genuinely dislike the man's demeanour & presenting style and am flabbergasted as to why he was shoe-horned onto a specialist music station like Phantom in the first place, having caught his Alan Partridge-esque spot on Today FM a few times prior to that.
Also, it's Charlotte Flood's last day there yet he's on the Breakfast show now telling people to tune into 105.20 FM next week for exciting new developments.
A proper Communicorp stooge.

RIP Phantom.

Very disappointing.

Best of luck to the two Richies, Derek, Charlotte, etc.

I would say the mgt at Nova are happy out. They'll surely pick up a few thousand more listeners now.

in my view communicorp have ruined the reputation of what was in its days as a pirate a very successful radio station, the station should have its licence revoked for in my view deliberately failing to deliver what it was supposed to (a blame which i hold on communicorp and not the previous owners) who in fairness did have to operate in the BAI/BCI rules and the commercial realities of running a business, if their was any justice communicorp would relinquish the phantom brand so the original owner could use it again but it won't happen, R.I.P. phantom, i wasn't a fan of your music but by hell i respect what you did both as a pirate and the first few years of being a licenced station, i will never forget you, best to shut up shop now and let someone who actually wants to provide an alternative and indie service have a go

Does anyone know when the last ever broadcast on the station is?

Shammer16 wrote: »

Does anyone know when the last ever broadcast on the station is?

Sunday night. Finishes at midnight. There's a couple of special shows on leading up to the close

suicide_circus wrote: »

they went to shyte as soon as they got the licence. havnt listened to them in maybe 8 years. sympathy to the staff though.

The went live with their license on October 31st 2006. That's just shy of 7-and-a-half years ago. Eight years ago was March 2006, when they were making their preparations. They ceased broadcasting as a pirate May 2003, nearly 11 years ago, and had two temporary licenses during 2003 and 2004.

So your statement is a bit bizarre!

Birneybau wrote: »

You know what, we should start a campaign to get as many people to unlike Phantom on Facebook and stop following them on Twitter. I'm glad John Caddell and to a lesser extent, Clare Beck are staying but jeez, Joe over the 2 Richies or any of the specialist shows? For shame.

Wait until it rebrands then unlike everything,

For those looking to read the article about Phantom by Darragh Brophy (a former presenter) on The Journal:
http://www.thejournal.ie/phantom-fm-pirate-staff-off-air-1357156-Mar2014/

I have been following the station for many years, from the early days, and remember the enthusiasm very well from the North Wall Quay studios. It is a sad time to see people who have dedicated their lives to the station watch it crumble and fall apart, especially those from the early days and the shed in Ballybrack. Again, another piece of Irish broadcasting history ending prematurely.

I'll never forget Simon Maher joking to me how "We were so happy to paint the walls back from the pink that Spin 1038 left it like".


RIP Phantom.
It was bad management, big ambitions, Communicorp, and a small market that, in fact, killed the radio star.

That is a brilliant article by Daragh Brophy.

A couple of omissions though:
1. Phantom had another influential heavy metal guru during its pirate era - Tom Hayes.

2. There was no mention of the temporary licensed era of 2003 and 2004. During Phantom's two temporary license runs, one or two more names joined the station such as Sinead Ni Mhordha. Also, Steve Conway was Head of News, harking back to the type of role he had when he was with offshore pirate Radio Caroline.

3. What about Ger Rowe's Anorak Hour (briefly called Media Beacon during the temporary runs)? This pre-dated Phantom and kept going until April 1st 2007. This was an important link with the station's founders' anorak interests.

4. There was no mention of Brian Daly who left legal radio to join Phantom as a pirate and was to be their marketing director when it went commercial. He was another important figure in the station's history.

5. I think Aidan Lynch and Alcatraz is worth a mention too. He effectively set up the musical blueprint for Phantom when he left Simon Maher's Coast FM in 1994 to set up an alternative rock off-shoot called Alcatraz. Jack Hyland and John Caddell both came from Alcatraz. After Coast FM closed in February 1996, it was followed in July of that year by Spectrum. Spectrum was a combination of Coast FM and Alcatraz staff. As we know, this was to become Phantom. Aidan was part of the original management team when it became fully licensed and he was also the original presenter of Icon.

But, I don't wish to take away from the article as it still gives a very good account of the station's history. It is the most detailed one I have seen yet.

StaticNoise wrote: »

Yes, it was a fantastic article, and we cannot forget Alcatraz or Coast. :-)

Did Ger Roe initially come from another station , Melody FM ??? Which merged with Phantom ?

Infoanon wrote: »

Did Ger Roe initially come from another station , Melody FM ??? Which merged with Phantom ?

Ger Roe came from Melody FM which merged with Coast FM.

Turn the radio on wrote: »

This is what happens when the Irish people keep voting for the corrupt scum of FF and FG. They allow their corrupt friends (in this case fgs best pal DOB) control the media.

Let's not forget the real reason Phantom went through so many changes and ultimately this closure.

Not enough people listened, so it didn't make enough money as a commercial operation to stay afloat.