BCI announce NW license decision

byte

From BCI.ie:

The Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI) has today (Monday 13th November) announced its decision regarding the award of the North-West Regional licence, following its board meeting earlier today.


The Commission has awarded a ten year licence in principle to I Radio Limited (trading as i 105FM) for the provision of a new youth-based licence for the north west of Ireland. This service will cover the Counties of Galway, Mayo, Longford, Roscommon, Sligo, Leitrim and Donegal.The award is subject to the successful outcome of contract negotiations and these are expected to be completed in the coming months.

http://www.bci.ie/news_information/press108.html

monkeyfudge

Hmmm... I thought they weren't allowing stations to be named after their frequencies anymore.

How do they even know what frequency they're going to be anyway?

DMC

The "i" name would give them the lee-way necessary, I'd say, like Q102 in Dublin, and also the Q network up north.

The BCI would have to know what frequencies they were going to give in advance, I have seen previous licence applications say what frequencies planned stations are to use.

monkeyfudge

My station had it's frequency written into it's contract when it started up. But then when Radio Ireland went on air they forced us to move frequency and ever since then they haven't put frequencies in our contract.

Some other stations around the country are being totally blitzed by NewsTalk at the moment and will no doubt be asked to move soon. The BCi certainly seems to prioritize commercial interests over community interests.

The Muppet

DMC wrote:

The "i" name would give them the lee-way necessary, I'd say, like Q102 in Dublin, and also the Q network up north.

The BCI would have to know what frequencies they were going to give in advance, I have seen previous licence applications say what frequencies planned stations are to use.

I don't quite get that. Q102 broadcast on 102.2 ! 105 will no doubt Broadcast on 105 .? The BCI may know what frequency they are going to give initally but they could run into trouble down the road if they want to change the stations frequency.

The station frequency will become part of their brand and I assume i 105 would have grounds to refuse to move just like 98fm did in the past.

DMC

98FM broadcast on 98.1 MHz, likewise FM104 with 104.4MHz. i105 could be anywhere between 105-106

What I'm saying is.... for example Q102 in Dublin. If it changed its frequency, it can still hold onto the Q part of the brand, and make it easier for people to retune, and a bit less on the rebranding stakes. Unlike FM104 or 98FM or Cork's 96FM.

Also, its not unheard of for station names to be changed prior to launch.

An audit of the frequencies is needed

Liam Byrne

Am I the only one who thinks that the "frequency as station name" is a bad idea when the station isn't ON that frequency ?

e.g. FM104, 103FM, 98FM 96FM etc; they're all off the stated frequency - 104.4, 102.9, 103.7, 98.1, 96.1

If a station comes on air on the ACTUAL stated frequency, they'll lose out with people tuning to the wrong (right) frequency.

DMC

Its a relic of old radio dials, tbh. It was easier to point the needle and fine tune in the frequency. Especially for old folk.

But I agree, it should never have been allowed.

flogen

who are behind this consortium then? If I recall correctly, bidders for this licence included Spin, Communicorp and a group featuring TCH and the Irish Times...

magnumlady

As long as they are better then Ocean fm (and to be honest they can't be any worse) then I'll be happy.