Radio Station?

nollaig

Which radio station was granted a national license in 1989?

Last cluein Sunday Indepedent crossword, Driving me mad:D

Crubeens

I think it was Century - does it fit???

nollaig

Thats it alright:)

I remember seeing it on Reeling in the years" but could not think of the name!

Whatever happened to them?

Crubeens

Not 100% sure, but there was huge controversy over the awarding of their national licence, and they eventually closed down in 1991. I'm sure it was a pity at the time cause they were a fresh sound for those outside of Dublin

DMC

Brief history of Century....

Launched with pizzazz, but without the signal to match. There were large amounts of the country that couldnt hear this national commercial station, it sought to get big name broadcasters (Marty Whelan being the prime coup).
According to the tribunals, a minister of communications at the time took money from Century's backers in order to stiffle RTÉ's profits. It was more music than talk, but whatever talk was on it, was quickly dropped.
Needless to say, the poor signal and losing money hand over fist, and it closed some idle weekday evening.

Lessons learned where 1) need proper national coverage, 2) Don't compete with RTÉ Radio 1.

In 1997, Radio Ireland started, but as it learned lesson 1, it didnt learn lesson 2, until it was allowed to morph in Today FM.

Mind you, we are now in the situation where Newstalk will go national by years end, The BCI and Newstalk seem confident that it will float, I'm not so sure. While it garners praise from its fans in the media and its listenership, it aint exactly a money spinner.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Century_Radio has a good history.

Big Balls

Ray Burke.

monkeyfudge

I remember they had a really nice central premises right in the middle of the GPO Arcade.

The Muppet

Were they not up around Christchurch ?

They had great plans starting out if I remember correctly, big names like Terry Wogan and Uncle Gaybo rumoured to be joining them. In the end Marty Whelan was the biggest name to take the gamble and jump ship, a move he is still trying to put behind him.

I'm not sure newstalk will float nationally either, well not if they use their current format. I don't believe there will be a national interest in the opinion of shell suited kevin etc etc.

DMC

Wogan had a Saturday morning programme on Century, only lasted a few months. Wogan at the time, was off BBC Radio; he was presenting the thrice-weekly chatshow on BBC 1.

Millenium 88FM was in the GPO arcade, iirc. It was a special RTÉ station for the duration of the Dublin 1988 Millenium celebrations. Not sure that Century were there, but Christchurch certainly sounds right.

monkeyfudge

DMC wrote:

Millenium 88FM was in the GPO arcade, iirc. It was a special RTÉ station for the duration of the Dublin 1988 Millenium celebrations. Not sure that Century were there, but Christchurch certainly sounds right.

Ah right... millenium... century... you can see how I got confused.. ha

Mossy Monk

the memories of hearing Marty Whelan in the morning on Century

at least i think it was the morning