RTE Radio 1 TV advert

Liam Byrne

Am I the only one who cringes when I hear this ?

"More and more people are moving up the dial to RTE Radio 1". :rolleyes:

Obviously RTE don't know the difference between "up" and "down", or else they just think it's better to use the word up, regardless of the facts ?

Or - maybe - the ad-makers at RTE think we're all driving Jap imports (78-92FM).

Bard

... or maybe they don't mean "up" in the way you interpret it.

"Up" doesn't necessarily have to mean "up to a higher frequency on the FM band" - it could mean "up to a higher quality station". (That said, I'd actually think of 108FM as further 'down' - at the bottom of - the dial and 88FM as 'up', or at the top).

... or maybe that one word "up" isn't exactly the most important part of the ad.

I'm sure they'd have been more careful about it though, had they expected people to pedantically pick the phrasing apart.

Liam Byrne

Bard wrote: »

"Up" doesn't necessarily have to mean "up to a higher frequency on the FM band" - it could mean "up to a higher quality station".

If they'd just said "up", as in "moving up to RTE Radio 1", that angle might stand, but (as I pointed out already) they actually say "moving up the dial".

Bard wrote: »

That said, I'd actually think of 108FM as further 'down' - at the bottom of - the dial and 88FM as 'up', or at the top.

I could be wrong, but I reckon that would make you pretty unique.

Bard wrote: »

... or maybe that one word "up" isn't exactly the most important part of the ad.

As explained already, it's not just one word - it's a phrase "moving up the dial". And anyone involved in making 30-second ads will know that you make every word count and minimise confusion.

Bard wrote: »

I'm sure they'd have been more careful about it though, had they expected people to pedantically pick the phrasing apart.

That's pretty unfair, isn't it ? We're talking about the station that lets Joe Duffy loose to drag out an awful lot more pedantic than that.

Yes, there's an Irish "confusion of directions" syndrome where "down the road" and "up the road" can be the same direction, but given that the numbers are increasing, it's fairly obvious that 99% of people would view 108 as the top, and surely telling people where to go to find you on the dial is one of the most important marketing objectives of a radio station.

In all fairness (and I'll use a Dublin example here, since your location is Dublin) could you imagine FM104 advertising "98FM listeners, move down the dial and sample our better music mix" ?

I don't think so.

tbh

I thought exactly the same thing op.

connundrum

Liam Byrne wrote: »

"More and more people are moving up the dial to RTE Radio 1".

They should have said "More and more people are moving around the dial looking for RTE Radio 1".

That would have solved the up/down issue.

parasite

You're not mad, I also noticed this, the ad also says 'new look radio 1' even though nothing's changed recently ... can a radio station have a look anyway ? (heh)

Bard

Liam Byrne wrote: »

As explained already, it's not just one word - it's a phrase "moving up the dial". And anyone involved in making 30-second ads will know that you make every word count and minimise confusion.

Fair enough. Yes, saying "up the dial" is possibly a bit confusing - but I'd hardly say the person responsible should be beheaded/shot/sacked. It's a minor quibble, if you ask me.

Yes, there's an Irish "confusion of directions" syndrome where "down the road" and "up the road" can be the same direction, but given that the numbers are increasing, it's fairly obvious that 99% of people would view 108 as the top, and surely telling people where to go to find you on the dial is one of the most important marketing objectives of a radio station.

Actually, I'd rather that the "dial" and FM frequencies be left out of the advertising altogether. With digital radio just around the corner, a lot of people listening ont he Internet and pretty much all FM radios having some sort of seek or auto-tuning feature with RDS showing the name of the station (instead of the frequency) on screen, where a station is on your "dial" or what their number is between 88 and 108 is getting less and less relevant all the time.

In all fairness (and I'll use a Dublin example here, since your location is Dublin) could you imagine FM104 advertising "98FM listeners, move down the dial and sample our better music mix" ?

I don't think so.

No, but only because "down" is a very negative sounding word to put into an advertisement (- which is, again, maybe a reason why the possibly incorrect "up" is used in RTE Radio 1's ad).

Liam Byrne

Bard wrote: »

....."down" is a very negative sounding word to put into an advertisement (- which is, again, maybe a reason why the possibly incorrect "up" is used in RTE Radio 1's ad).

That's what I was thinking, see original post:

they just think it's better to use the word up, regardless of the facts

but while wanting to avoid a word might be a reason for rephrasing the ad, it certainly doesn't excuse replacing it with a word that intuitively means the polar opposite!

P.S. "down" isn't ALWAYS negative-sounding - e.g. "prices are down!!!!"

Big Tone

This promo is getting around 20 airplays on Radio 1 daily, and on TV daily also.

The "new look Radio 1" is a misnomer as it's had that "look"/line-up for the past two years.

"..featuring Ireland's best loved personalities" breathes Pat Kenny, and that's Radio 1's problem right there, it shouldn't be an RTE Celebrity/Personality beauty contest, it should be about the issues facing the country, hard news and some light entertainment in the form of appropriate documentaries and much less focused on say Sean O' Rourke or Ronan Collins as "personalities" and all the others!

Revamp 2FM and put all their "personalities" over there to have their fun.

There is a bad habit in RTE of turning journalists/news presenters into "celebrities", they did it with Pat Kenny, he should be presenting Prime Time not The Late Late, like Charlie Bird who's flying without wings all over the World and RTE feel we should know his every move and hang on every utterance of their "economics editor" George Lee who is fast becoming a parody of himself.

And dont get me started on the commercial breaks on RTE Radio 1....I believe there shouldn't be any!

DarkJager

Big Tone wrote: »

This promo is getting around 20 airplays on Radio 1 daily, and on TV daily also.

The "new look Radio 1" is a misnomer as it's had that "look"/line-up for the past two years.

"..featuring Ireland's best loved personalities" breathes Pat Kenny, and that's Radio 1's problem right there, it shouldn't be an RTE Celebrity/Personality beauty contest, it should be about the issues facing the country, hard news and some light entertainment in the form of appropriate documentaries and much less focused on say Sean O' Rourke or Ronan Collins as "personalities" and all the others!

Revamp 2FM and put all their "personalities" over there to have their fun.

There is a bad habit in RTE of turning journalists/news presenters into "celebrities", they did it with Pat Kenny, he should be presenting Prime Time not The Late Late, like Charlie Bird who's flying without wings all over the World and RTE feel we should know his every move and hang on every utterance of their "economics editor" George Lee who is fast becoming a parody of himself.

And dont get me started on the commercial breaks on RTE Radio 1....I believe there shouldn't be any!

Don't get me started on George Lee....he must eat a very big bowl of doom & gloom every morning. The ultimate pessimist

windofchange

Best...observation....ever.

Slicklink

Whatever about up and down the band...... dials! What the feck are they!

How are things down there anyhow Liamo ?

I'm off to dig my analogue tuner out of the attic so I can fly up and down the band.

barnicles

It sounds like someone at NewsTalk who never listens to Radio1 created this ad.
Move up the dial to listen to NT
There's no new look on RTE1.

todolist

Ironic to hear Dunphy on the Ad.for years he said RTE were part of official Ireland.yadda yadda.They stuck a big cheque under his nose and hey presto he thinks RTE is great.everyone has a price i suppose.Bloody fraud.

DavidLive

parasite wrote: »

You're not mad, I also noticed this, the ad also says 'new look radio 1' even though nothing's changed recently ... can a radio station have a look anyway ? (heh)

barnicles wrote: »

There's no new look on RTE1.

As above, no new changes whatsoever.

I really must say, I'm getting so annoyed at the branding of RTÉ everywhere.
RTÉ = Biggest waste of licence payers money.

ifconfig

Out of interest is it a Hot Chip or LCD soundsystem track that is used as the backdrop to that advert ?
If so - which one ?

-ifc

DavidLive

The RTÉ advert?

It's "Dare" by Gorillaz.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCy928QJCDE