Breakfast with Ray (Foley) and Jay [Cork's Red FM, 6am-9am]

IUA14

Hilarious podcast yesterday with the two lads, Darcy is really really getting it lately...hilarious tho! Dead right about the show and 2FM tho...more schedule changes than Today FM. I agree with Ray about Mairead Farrell, far too talented to be a voiceless producer on Dempsey's show. Her and Foley on The Seven O'Clock show are great, really have a good on-screen relationship.

wnolan1992

Just watching some of the 7 O'Clock show. Would be interesting if Ray got a full time TV gig. The bit I watched was a bit awkward, but largely I'd say just because they were unused to each others rhythm.

On the podcast thing, I like his jibes at D'Arcy, but I dunno, I've always disliked it when he takes pops at 2FM and other presenters in general. Like, I like that he's being honest on podcast, and I wouldn't want him to stop that, but sometimes it just comes across as spiteful and bitter.


Oh, and jaysus he looks way different with the beard than I remember him looking back in Today FM days. :P

IUA14

A podcast emailer really irritated Foley today, was brilliant! Enjoyed the podcast overall today and the show! Foley was EARLY!

stannis

The show has gotten waaay better in the last few weeks.

Euphoria Intensifies

Yep I agree. Adding Muireann has really freshened it up.

wnolan1992

They seem to be doing a talkie bit before the news at 6:30 now. I wonder will that continue or is it just a fluke this week... I reckon it could be cool...

buster180

3 Ingredient Cake

Euphoria Intensifies

Any word on how the show did in the JNLRs?

L1011

Euphoria Intensifies wrote: »

Any word on how the show did in the JNLRs?

Woefully.

If you just look at the poster locations on this thread, its obvious that his audience is and always has been outside Dublin.

Itssoeasy

I'm a day behind and I see they did pony or phoney yesterday and no DEENO ? Ah here that's the best part of that quiz. It's seeing a grown up newsreader turn into a five year old with the excitement of the quiz. Boooooooo I say.

wnolan1992

L1011 wrote: »

Woefully.

If you just look at the poster locations on this thread, its obvious that his audience is and always has been outside Dublin.

Any figures?

While I would agree that his audience was larger outside of Dublin, I would be extremely hesitant in basing any analysis of a show on a Boards thread. I mean, if these threads were any indication of how the general public were reacting, Ray D'Arcy would be in a tailspin and Tubridy would have about 5 listeners.

bbability

He doesn't even feature in the Top 20 listened to shows in Dublin. Spin1038 Breakfast Show is at No 20 with 43k listeners. Time they were moved back to Today FM. They're not doing themselves any favours.

wnolan1992

bbability wrote: »

He doesn't even feature in the Top 20 listened to shows in Dublin. Spin1038 Breakfast Show is at No 20 with 43k listeners. Time they were moved back to Today FM. They're not doing themselves any favours.

Very disappointing to see that Top 20. I hadn't seen that in previous books, and I always sort of thought they were up around the 80k mark (my own naivety and lack of knowledge of the Dublin market).

Being on less than 43k and having at least 5 other breakfast shows ahead of them after almost 3 years is a pretty poor performance. With their contracts up at the end of the year (so I believe anyway) it'll be interesting to see what happens. Ian Dempsey is in a bit of a decline, but would Today FM be willing to bring them in for breakfast if they haven't shown they can win ratings?


It seems like all the shows I like (except for NT Breakfast) are performing poorly in the JNLRs lately.

hufpc8w3adnk65

He doesn't HAVE too have a breakfast gig too come back too Today Fm. I'm sure they could spin it someway! I like d&d BUT they ain't no king, in fact they are just barely princes in comparison

NegativeOne

Judging on how he talks about today fm I can't see him going back. He said he got offered a 2fm gig but turned it down before because the station had no identity. My money is on them moving to 2fm in a couple of years if 2fm shows a rise in listeners.

chilloutrelax

The show only has 38,000 listeners, lost listeners in this book. Ranked 6th in Dublin after signification investment. 45k behind the strawberry alarmclock and have remained behind Spin(which is even worse). It really hasn't worked!

Loughc

chilloutrelax wrote: »

The show only has 38,000 listeners, lost listeners in this book. Ranked 6th in Dublin after signification investment. 45k behind the strawberry alarmclock and have remained behind Spin(which is even worse). It really hasn't worked!

I don't get why it isn't working, I find it hilarious! Anyone I know who listen to it LOVES it!

Synode

The impression of being at a Lidl checkout this morning was gas.

Shame about the numbers. The show is the best morning show by a country mile

bbability

Synode wrote: »

Shame about the numbers. The show is the best morning show by a country mile

But it's not. Listen I like Ray Foley and what he does with JP but he's in the wrong place at the wrong time. The book don't lie.

chilloutrelax

bbability wrote: »

But it's not. Listen I like Ray Foley and what he does with JP but he's in the wrong place at the wrong time. The book don't lie.

I agree with this. It's a little delusional to say it's the best show, clearly it's not. The facts are clear. However, 98fm is probably a huge factor in the lack of traction for the show. The station is a mess and has destroyed its identity and brand over the past 10 years. if the were on FM104 as the strawberry alarmclock they would probably be number 1 as the brand is far superior.

Chip Whitley

I'm starting to worry a little bit about the show now. The lads maintain they are happy where they are, and adding Muireann to the mix has been a great idea but if they are not making a dent in the Dublin market, what will 98fm do? As it is, Ray has complained a lot about the technical side of things at the station, it seems like he must be a thorn in their side in a way (but he's in the right imo) so if eventually they are not happy with his figures (he is coming towards the end of his contract too as someone mentioned in the JNLR thread) then would they scrap the show?

It's my favourite thing on radio, has been for a long time and I love the podcast only bits and I was a big fan of the NTN podcast too so I would hate to see something happen to the show.

It seems like they are better regarded nationally than in Dublin, so a move to a national station makes sense, but I don't see a return to Today FM on the cards, so really 2fm are their best bet, but I think 2fm will leave Breakfast Republic where they are, so where would Ray & JP end up? Could anyone see them at 2fm?

wnolan1992

See, the thing is, it's all well and good saying "Would Ray go to 2FM because he's slagged it off so much?" and stuff, but the real question is would 2FM want them?

To be clear, I love the show, it's hands down my favourite show on radio and has been since 2004. But if they're not getting the figures in Dublin, or even making a dent in the gap at the very least, what would make 2FM take a gamble on them? Breakfast Republic is up this book, and with the new timeslot will be up for the next 2-3 quarters at least. They'll probably be pulling in similar figures to Foley's peak on lunchtimes. So why mess with it now? Give BR another 2-3 years, see what happens.

In the meantime, 98 have a pretty big call to make. Try and get another breakfast show or give Foley another year or two. I mean, Tubridy started making some gains after a four year decline, so it could work out if they were to stay long term.

If I were 98FM though, I'd be pretty worried given the significant investment they've made (all those bus ads and stuff) and not having much to show for it after 2 and a half years.

soc160

Chip Whitley wrote: »

I'm starting to worry a little bit about the show now. The lads maintain they are happy where they are, and adding Muireann to the mix has been a great idea but if they are not making a dent in the Dublin market, what will 98fm do? As it is, Ray has complained a lot about the technical side of things at the station, it seems like he must be a thorn in their side in a way (but he's in the right imo) so if eventually they are not happy with his figures (he is coming towards the end of his contract too as someone mentioned in the JNLR thread) then would they scrap the show?

It's my favourite thing on radio, has been for a long time and I love the podcast only bits and I was a big fan of the NTN podcast too so I would hate to see something happen to the show.

It seems like they are better regarded nationally than in Dublin, so a move to a national station makes sense, but I don't see a return to Today FM on the cards, so really 2fm are their best bet, but I think 2fm will leave Breakfast Republic where they are, so where would Ray & JP end up? Could anyone see them at 2fm?

wnolan1992 wrote: »

See, the thing is, it's all well and good saying "Would Ray go to 2FM because he's slagged it off so much?" and stuff, but the real question is would 2FM want them?

To be clear, I love the show, it's hands down my favourite show on radio and has been since 2004. But if they're not getting the figures in Dublin, or even making a dent in the gap at the very least, what would make 2FM take a gamble on them? Breakfast Republic is up this book, and with the new timeslot will be up for the next 2-3 quarters at least. They'll probably be pulling in similar figures to Foley's peak on lunchtimes. So why mess with it now? Give BR another 2-3 years, see what happens.

In the meantime, 98 have a pretty big call to make. Try and get another breakfast show or give Foley another year or two. I mean, Tubridy started making some gains after a four year decline, so it could work out if they were to stay long term.

If I were 98FM though, I'd be pretty worried given the significant investment they've made (all those bus ads and stuff) and not having much to show for it after 2 and a half years.

With all the changes at 98 over the past 2 years it doesn't make sense to move them on. It's a headache alright but what else do you put in there, and then how long do you give that grow an audience. As it stands 104 are dominating the breakfast market. I wonder what 98 want Ray to do? Sustain the audience at around 40k or attempt to overtake the guy around them? Realistically it would take another 3 years and 12 JNLR's to overtake 104 at this rate, and that's dependent on 104 losing listeners.

Ray is great at what he does but he does isolate a large portion of the potential audience with his reputation and attitude. The show is littered with competitions. The talking bits are the best but its obvious the vast amount of people don't like it judging by the figures.

Any suggestions for what 98 could do to make it more appealing ?

IUA14

I think people might be getting a little carried away signing the shows death warrant. Personally I dislike the way the JNLR's work, in the case of Foley and 98FM they take into account strictly Dublin as far as I know and if you listen to the show every morning and hear the callers you will know the lads have people on from Offaly to Meath, Kildare and Roscommon so I don't think the figures are an accurate representation to how they are doing. The JNLR's are very outdated and there needs to be a move to a system similar to what is used with TV ratings which is apparently in the pipeline.

Anyways, to deal with the number...being so down on Foley and 98FM is pretty harsh. For a station who languished without an identity for 10 years it is doing pretty well. 98FM finally getting an identity and knowing what they are doing all started with Foley's move there and they have built an entirely new schedule over the last 18 months, adding Dublin Talks, moving Barry Dunne, adding The Big Ride Home with Dara Quilty to drive-time and launching The Fix with Brian Maher next week, this all takes time to bed together. Now I think, besides Dublin Talks which is not my cup of tea, 98FM have one of the best schedules around. I think you will see a better picture in the next book since the Spin breakfast show has now changed and will most likely lose some listeners. The previous show lost 2,000 in the last year according to the latest figures. The lads lost 3,000 year-on-year but interestingly Muireann's evening show has grown 3,000 in the last year so it will be interesting to see in the next book how her addition goes down.

98FM has reinvented itself to become relevant FINALLY and I do not see them dispensing with Foley at all, he will stay there for another year or two at least. They have just added Muireann and it will be interesting to see where the show goes. Part of me feels that the lads can say to 98FM management that "we tried it your way, now lets try it ours" because they said themselves its difficult for them to be themselves in such a tightly formatted show. 98FM lost some ground but grew its share year on year, up 4,000, but down 4,000 book on book. Since 2013 Q4 98FM are up 20,000 listeners and FM104 have been shedding listeners in each book, I think these results are a bit of a wake-up call for 98FM's marketing department to ramp up again.

Looking at other figures and how they are reported are misleading...Breakfast Republic is up 10,000 since the last report but only 8,000 year to year. Dempsey is down 11,000 book to book but down just 2,000 year to year. Louise Duffy down 7,000 year to year and D&D down 4,000 as Darcy lost 23,000 and Anton 29,000 year to year...Tubridy (after time slot manipulation gained 47,000 year to year and then they move him...which to me seems ludicrous. In the overall picture Dempsey is only the 20th most listened to show in Ireland and for the number 2 station in the country, just about, that is not good enough. Interestingly, Today FM has gained in Dublin to the tune of 19,000 year on year.

ALSO, did Foley take a pop at himself or Today FM, or both today when he played Hard-Fi, Hard to Beat and followed it up with a "Welllllllllll....".

chilloutrelax

IUA14 wrote: »

I think people might be getting a little carried away signing the shows death warrant. Personally I dislike the way the JNLR's work, in the case of Foley and 98FM they take into account strictly Dublin as far as I know and if you listen to the show every morning and hear the callers you will know the lads have people on from Offaly to Meath, Kildare and Roscommon so I don't think the figures are an accurate representation to how they are doing. The JNLR's are very outdated and there needs to be a move to a system similar to what is used with TV ratings which is apparently in the pipeline.

Anyways, to deal with the number...being so down on Foley and 98FM is pretty harsh. For a station who languished without an identity for 10 years it is doing pretty well. 98FM finally getting an identity and knowing what they are doing all started with Foley's move there and they have built an entirely new schedule over the last 18 months, adding Dublin Talks, moving Barry Dunne, adding The Big Ride Home with Dara Quilty to drive-time and launching The Fix with Brian Maher next week, this all takes time to bed together. Now I think, besides Dublin Talks which is not my cup of tea, 98FM have one of the best schedules around. I think you will see a better picture in the next book since the Spin breakfast show has now changed and will most likely lose some listeners. The previous show lost 2,000 in the last year according to the latest figures. The lads lost 3,000 year-on-year but interestingly Muireann's evening show has grown 3,000 in the last year so it will be interesting to see in the next book how her additions goes down.

98FM has reinvented itself to become relevant FINALLY and I do not see them dispensing with Foley at all, he will stay there for another year or two at least. They have just added Muireann and it will be interesting to see where the show goes. Part of me feels that the lads can say to 98FM management that "we tried it your way, now lets try it ours" because they said themselves its difficult for them to be themselves in such a tightly formatted show. 98FM lost some ground but grew its share year on year, up 4,000, but down 4,000 book on book. Since 2013 Q4 98FM are up 20,000 listeners and FM104 have been shedding listeners in each book, I think these results are a bit of a wake-up call for 98FM's marketing department to ramp up again.

Looking at other figures and how they are reported are misleading...Breakfast Republic is up 10,000 since the last report but only 8,000 year to year. Dempsey is down 11,000 book to book but down just 2,000 year to year. Louise Duffy down 7,000 year to year and D&D down 4,000 as Darcy lost 23,000 ans Anton 29,000 year to year...Tubridy (after time slot manipulation gained 47,000 year to year and then they move him...which to me seems ludicrous. In the overall picture Dempsey is only the 20th most listened to show in Ireland and for the number 2 station in the country, just about, that is not good enough. Interesting, Today FM has gained in Dublin to the tune of 19,000 year on year.

ALSO, did Foley take a pop at himself or Today FM, or both today when he played Hard-Fi, Hard to Beat and followed it up with a "Welllllllllll....".

Firstly, Radio stations can only count listenership in their franchise areas, so for 98fm it's Dublin and will only be Dublin no matter what rating measurement is used for JNLR. Also, all Dublin stations have listeners outside of Dublin, it's not unique to Ray Foley.

98fm still has no identity, it's all over the place. It would be a great business case for MBA classes to study on how to screw up a brand and mess of market positioning over and over again.

IUA14

Yes radio stations can only count listeners in their area but the JNLR's do not accurately record listeners in my opinion, hence the need for a more advanced system. I also did not say no other shows have listeners outside Dublin but I think it would be fair to say that Foley, having been a mainstay on NATIONAL RADIO for a number of years where he consistently topped his timeslot, would have more.

I disagree with 98FM not having an identity. They have worked very hard the last 3 years in resurrecting what was a mess of a station to make their messaging and imaging consistent and it is an ever evolving process which seems to be going in a coherent direction. Would you rather they did noting and let in languish as the last placed Dublin station like it was 3 years ago, or do what they have done and increase their listenership year-on-year and grow the brand?

chilloutrelax

IUA14 wrote: »

Yes radio stations can only count listeners in their area but the JNLR's do not accurately record listeners in my opinion, hence the need for a more advanced system. I also did not say no other shows have listeners outside Dublin but I think it would be fair to say that Foley, having been a mainstay on NATIONAL RADIO for a number of years where he consistently topped his timeslot, would have more.

I disagree with 98FM not having an identity. They have worked very hard the last 3 years in resurrecting what was a mess of a station to make their messaging and imaging consistent and it is an ever evolving process which seems to be going in a coherent direction. Would you rather they did noting and let in languish as the last placed Dublin station like it was 3 years ago, or do what they have done and increase their listenership year-on-year and grow the brand?

There is no evidence to suggest RF is popular outside of Dublin, he's not big on Dublin so by proxy it would be more likely be similar elsewhere. It's more likely that the strawberry on 104 is more popular outside of Dublin with many Dub now living in neighbouring counties.

98fm is not coherent. If you map the shows throughout the day, they have a different target audience and identity. They decreased in listenership and share book on book and remain a small/medium player in Dublin despite having worked hard and have spent a fortune on trying to get it together. Is the station even profitable anymore?

soc160

IUA14 wrote: »

I think people might be getting a little carried away signing the shows death warrant. Personally I dislike the way the JNLR's work, in the case of Foley and 98FM they take into account strictly Dublin as far as I know and if you listen to the show every morning and hear the callers you will know the lads have people on from Offaly to Meath, Kildare and Roscommon so I don't think the figures are an accurate representation to how they are doing. The JNLR's are very outdated and there needs to be a move to a system similar to what is used with TV ratings which is apparently in the pipeline.

Anyways, to deal with the number...being so down on Foley and 98FM is pretty harsh. For a station who languished without an identity for 10 years it is doing pretty well. 98FM finally getting an identity and knowing what they are doing all started with Foley's move there and they have built an entirely new schedule over the last 18 months, adding Dublin Talks, moving Barry Dunne, adding The Big Ride Home with Dara Quilty to drive-time and launching The Fix with Brian Maher next week, this all takes time to bed together. Now I think, besides Dublin Talks which is not my cup of tea, 98FM have one of the best schedules around. I think you will see a better picture in the next book since the Spin breakfast show has now changed and will most likely lose some listeners. The previous show lost 2,000 in the last year according to the latest figures. The lads lost 3,000 year-on-year but interestingly Muireann's evening show has grown 3,000 in the last year so it will be interesting to see in the next book how her addition goes down.

98FM has reinvented itself to become relevant FINALLY and I do not see them dispensing with Foley at all, he will stay there for another year or two at least. They have just added Muireann and it will be interesting to see where the show goes. Part of me feels that the lads can say to 98FM management that "we tried it your way, now lets try it ours" because they said themselves its difficult for them to be themselves in such a tightly formatted show. 98FM lost some ground but grew its share year on year, up 4,000, but down 4,000 book on book. Since 2013 Q4 98FM are up 20,000 listeners and FM104 have been shedding listeners in each book, I think these results are a bit of a wake-up call for 98FM's marketing department to ramp up again.

ALSO, did Foley take a pop at himself or Today FM, or both today when he played Hard-Fi, Hard to Beat and followed it up with a "Welllllllllll....".

IUA14 wrote: »

Yes radio stations can only count listeners in their area but the JNLR's do not accurately record listeners in my opinion, hence the need for a more advanced system. I also did not say no other shows have listeners outside Dublin but I think it would be fair to say that Foley, having been a mainstay on NATIONAL RADIO for a number of years where he consistently topped his timeslot, would have more.

I disagree with 98FM not having an identity. They have worked very hard the last 3 years in resurrecting what was a mess of a station to make their messaging and imaging consistent and it is an ever evolving process which seems to be going in a coherent direction. Would you rather they did noting and let in languish as the last placed Dublin station like it was 3 years ago, or do what they have done and increase their listenership year-on-year and grow the brand?

The station had an identity 10 years ago, in fact up until about 5-6 years ago when D&D left breakfast they had a decent listenership and then just fell off a clip with poor decisions. No one can deny that they have worked hard to turn the station around, but hard work doesn't always yield results, matching up Dara Quilty with Ray Foley, so you have similar people on your commute to and from work which is coherent, but if 40k listen to Foley it's not going to make more people listen to Quilty.

I would also say that what 98 has done is take talent from other stations and spend upwards of a million on advertising, where as Spin and 104 have for the most part brought in new talent and spent a fraction on advertising. Although 104 have dropped off some listeners since 2013 but the number they had then was unsustainable really, it was a huge in comparison to everyone else in Dublin. But 104 are an example of consistency leading the way, it's been a similar line up for years and people keep listening so it makes sense for 98 to keep with that line up and try to get more listeners, I mean what else are they going to put in those slots really? I think ultimately they'd be happy to be second in Dublin.

Most of the people on here are Foley fan boys anyway, it's usually the same people posting about the show here (although that's a trend across the radio thread) a lot of harking back to the days of Today FM, about how good the show was. It has it's following in Dublin but the amount of people say "I was listening to the podcast.." suggests they are outside the catchment area or don't listen in the morning for some reason or other which would be a worry.

Travismccoy

IUA - your bias to 98 aside, are you looking at the same JNLR books as the rest of us?!

Have you seen 98FM's market share as of Thursday? Growing marginally in the previous book, they are DOWN again. It's curtains for the breakfast show. The figures are APPALLING, RF is on air three years in this slot. Aidan & Claire were shown the door at nearly double what RF has!!!

Time for a serious reality check for a few people here for the love of Christ.

chilloutrelax

Travismccoy wrote: »

IUA - your bias to 98 aside, are you looking at the same JNLR books as the rest of us?!

Have you seen 98FM's market share as of Thursday? Growing marginally in the previous book, they are DOWN again. It's curtains for the breakfast show. The figures are APPALLING, RF is on air three years in this slot. Aidan & Claire were shown the door at nearly double what RF has!!!

Time for a serious reality check for a few people here for the love of Christ.

Agreed, the figures are as bad as it gets. 38,000 listeners, Dermot and Dave had Doubke this on breakfast. They haven even beaten spin never mind 104. At this stage what do 98fm do? in many ways they need to poach a new breakfast crew that has a proven record in Dublin....hmmm poach Jim and mark? Bring in Colm Hayes etc etc