So, Highland Radio is going to be sold ?.

Paddy20

What do you think ?. Personally I despair at the greed of Capitalism

P. :cool:

byte

Will it make much difference to the running of the station?

smashey

The deal has been done and confirmed today Paddy. Such is life/business.

Paddy20

smashey wrote:

The deal has been done and confirmed today Paddy. Such is life/business.

As I stated on another thread, there is a sea change in the media world in the North- West, personally a Murdoch type takeover is
evolving here.

In my view. this will not benefit the average consumer ?..

P. :cool:

smashey

Paddy20 wrote:

As I stated on another thread, there is a sea change in the media world in the North- West, personally a Murdoch type takeover is
evolving here.

In my view. this will not benefit the average consumer ?..

P. :cool:

In this case, the consumer is the listener and I can't see the new owners changing too much at Highland. They won't fix what isn't broken. The listener/consumer will be unaffected in my opinion.

Paddy20

smashey wrote:

In this case, the consumer is the listener and I can't see the new owners changing too much at Highland. They won't fix what isn't broken. The listener/consumer will be unaffected in my opinion.

I predict that ' The Shaun Doherty Show' will go, just as quickly as Gareth left the Newsroom.

Highland will have to get rid of the plethora of rubbish Country & Western shows which play music from lists they no longer pay royaltie's on.

The same is happening in the print media, Interesting ?.. but not to my liking:( ., and remember Highland Radio was only a pirate station, not long ago.

P. :cool:

muffler

Paddy20 wrote:

Highland will have to get rid of the plethora of rubbish Country & Western shows which play music from lists they no longer pay royaltie's on.

Paddy, could you not email them with that comment and post up their reply.

Damien Blake

Paddy20 wrote:

I predict that ' The Shaun Doherty Show' will go, just as quickly as Gareth left the Newsroom.

Highland will have to get rid of the plethora of rubbish Country & Western shows which play music from lists they no longer pay royaltie's on.

The same is happening in the print media, Interesting ?.. but not to my liking:( ., and remember Highland Radio was only a pirate station, not long ago.

P. :cool:

Shaun Doherty show has been on Highland for over a decade and is phenomenally successful; according to figures on the Highland website, sponsorship of the show is more expensive than all others on the station. I can't see why any new owner would mess with that.

As for the C&W stuff, personally I can't stand it but then I would assume I'm not the target market either. There's plenty of radio stations playing other genres of music, and Highland has done very well out of playing music that's less-than-fashionable. Highland's concerts also focus on this market.

Let's remember what's happening here. Highland is not being taken over from a community or voluntary status, it is being bought by a massive (Irish) radio conglomerate from a massive (UK) media empire. If anything, Communicorp is a smaller company than Emap.

As mentioned above, why fix what clearly isn't broken? There's lots of stuff on Highland that I never listen to, but it's always miles ahead in the ratings. Highland's new owners will know that.

On a side note, Gareth Wilkinson is a great journalist taking another leap in his career. He's at Highland at least three years, if not five, (he's there longer than I'm on the Council - June 2004) and has come on leaps and bounds in that time.

Damien Blake

Paddy20 wrote:

and remember Highland Radio was only a pirate station, not long ago.

Highland was never a pirate station. There were numerous Pirates before it came into existence, the most obvious being DCR which was based in Letterkenny (Main Street I seem to recall). Many people came from DCR to Highland when it started in 1990, and DCR was among the pirates to shutdown when Highland came on air, but it's not fair to see that Highland was formerly a pirate station.

Also, please remember than when these pirates existed there was no such thing as licensed local radio, and no independent sector at all excluding Century Radio.

muffler

Nice comments Damien and Im glad you have clarified a few of Paddy's usual off the mark comments.

Highland radio have a varied targeted age groups. Their diversification is reflected with the mix of everything in the morning with JB followed by a mix of topical debate and interviews and music with Shaun the doc. The C + W show that runs from about 1:30 to 3:00 which is followed by Derek O'Conner playing the classics to the 20 - 40 year old group. After that I havent a clue.

In my opinion it doesnt really matter as to who takes over Highland radio as the programme format will most likely stay the same.

DCR was a pirate station based in the Main Street (I did a wee bit of work for them in those days) and yes - a couple of their dj's and presenters left and went to Highland radio when it got licensed.

Highland radio was never a pirate station.

shiibata

hope the new crowd get rid of charlie collins, as i work weekends i have to listen to his biased, terribly biased commentary when eunans are playing:mad: think mchugh sounds embarassed at times even with him..

smashey

Isn't Charlie Collins station manager at Highland?

shiibata

new manager needed then:D

Senna

How long ago was it, that the station was bought by Emap?
did anything change, for the worse, the first time it was sold?
Its the most listened to local station in Ireland for the last 16/17 year, a company doesn't buy a successful product to mess about with it.

As for getting rid of the Shaun Doherty Show, just cant see it happen, but i wouldn't complain if they did.:D

donegalman1

Firstly, its not a done deal. The Competition authority has to agree first. Highland as stated was never a pirate station, but its believed in many circles they would get the license long before regulation came in. Capitalism is alive and well and always has been behind the scenes paddy in Highland and theres another story there.

Charlie had a clause in the sale to emap that he would be kept on as General Manager and I presume this carries over to a new owner. He is a terrible broadcaster in every sense of the word but is a solid manager and very successful at it. Sean Doherty sold his share to emap too, he has designs on a national career I'd imagine and were the right offer to come in I am sure he'd go.

Any new owner will see it as a solid profitmaking organisation. Its output content will not matter to them as long as it stays highly rated.

Personally I question the ratings being so high but it is undoubtably very very successful.

Paddy20

donegalman1 wrote: »

Firstly, its not a done deal. The Competition authority has to agree first. Highland as stated was never a pirate station, but its believed in many circles they would get the license long before regulation came in. Capitalism is alive and well and always has been behind the scenes paddy in Highland and theres another story there.

Charlie had a clause in the sale to emap that he would be kept on as General Manager and I presume this carries over to a new owner. He is a terrible broadcaster in every sense of the word but is a solid manager and very successful at it. Sean Doherty sold his share to emap too, he has designs on a national career I'd imagine and were the right offer to come in I am sure he'd go.

Any new owner will see it as a solid profitmaking organisation. Its output content will not matter to them as long as it stays highly rated.

Personally I question the ratings being so high but it is undoubtably very very successful.

At last a post from donegalman1 that makes sense, and I agree with your comments about poor Charlie, he must have talents other than his broadcaster aspirations, as for Sean Doherty, well Shaun perhaps because of his family roots may have been very loyal to Highland, and I regard his programme as the mainstay of Highlands listenership ratings.

However, a better offer on a national station is I believe in the offing !, the only reason I listen to Highland is 'The Shaun Doherty Show',and Highland News with 'Donal Kavanagh' in particular as he is without doubt the anchorman.

The most annoying thing to me is when Charlie stands in for Shaun. I just turn him off, sorry Charlie your talent rests somewhere else, perhaps in management, but certainly not as a Shaun Doherty personality substitute !.

I wish Highland well.

P. :cool:

shiibata

would think the highland sport on sunday is second to none in the country..if there was somebody from donegal competing in world tiddlywinks championships, they would be covering it..even were talking to shaun gallagher(world rally championship) last week and him in portugal..

deman

Paddy20 wrote: »

The most annoying thing to me is when Charlie stands in for Shaun. I just turn him off, sorry Charlie your talent rests somewhere else, perhaps in management, but certainly not as a Shaun Doherty personality substitute !.

Agreed 100%. Charlie might be a great station manager, well, he must be as HR has done great with him in charge. But please Charlie don't get into Shaun's seat again. I know it might be difficult to find a last minute replacement (if Shaun calls in sick or something) but there are other people out there who can do the job better than you. Sorry.:(

donegalman1

Frank Galligan often seems to be choice for standin for Shaun recently. He worked for BBC Radio Foyle for many years. Whats the consensus on his performance. I think he's likeable but maybe a bit civil.

jimmycrackcorm

Paddy20 wrote: »

What do you think ?. Personally I despair at the greed of Capitalism

P. :cool:

What has the greed of capitalism to do with Highland radio being sold? Sounds more like sour grapes to me.

regob

Paddy20 wrote: »

What do you think ?. Personally I despair at the greed of Capitalism

P. :cool:

honestly i couldnt give a ****

Decadent

Hi guys, new member here. contribute to a number of other boards but just stumbled on this one - very interesting and good and local.

Anyways, big Highland fan here, think they do a decent job. Think the critism of Mr Collins is a little unfair - he has a support base and plays to it well and stirs it up a bit. No doubt shaun is the man in terms of presentation, for me Frank doesn't cut it

smashey

Decadent wrote: »

Hi guys, new member here. contribute to a number of other boards but just stumbled on this one - very interesting and good and local.

Anyways, big Highland fan here, think they do a decent job. Think the critism of Mr Collins is a little unfair - he has a support base and plays to it well and stirs it up a bit. No doubt shaun is the man in terms of presentation, for me Frank doesn't cut it

He certainly does.

muffler

Decadent wrote: »

Hi guys, new member here. contribute to a number of other boards but just stumbled on this one - very interesting and good and local.

Anyways, big Highland fan here, think they do a decent job. Think the critism of Mr Collins is a little unfair - he has a support base and plays to it well and stirs it up a bit. No doubt shaun is the man in terms of presentation, for me Frank doesn't cut it

First of all welcome to the forum. Hope you enjoy and feel free to post away in the existing threads and start a couple of topical ones yourself if you wish.

I agree with your comments regarding The Doc and young Mr Gilligan but I cant honestly say that Charlie Collins is a good presenter. He may be a top manager but to present a current affairs programme you have to be impartial and that is something that Charlie would not have in his CV.

As you say he has a fan base and he openly admits to his own impartiality particularly the commentary at football matches but in my opinion he wouldnt last 2 minutes as a presenter in another station.

Anyway we are all going off topic here (see how I got my say in before mentioning that ). Has the station been sold at all?

Decadent

Thanks for the welcome.

According to newspapers the sale is going through, it has to pass competition stuff I presume which takes time, can't see it makin much diff really.

Agree also with you comments on presenters and stuff- heard the guy out of the newsroom last week. He was ok too but doc is the man