Classic Hits 4FM Thread

mike65

The strange 4 city, quasi-national station enterprise that is 4FM appears to be holed below the waterline, 6 members of staff have been made redundant in the last month or so the talk and music format is shifting into music with a bit of chat. Another Radio Ireland or another Today FM (ditch the almost all the chat and pursue music)?

tbh

I only really get a chance to hear the breakfast show and for me, the mix just doesn't work.

GSF

It doesnt really register in Dublin at least. Too much competition and 4FM dont seem to have deep enough pockets

Bandscan

Its the poor mans Q102 In Dublin,They Were paying silly money to the on-air staff at the start and that just could`nt continue.So Who`s The 5 Or 6 gone?

decies

Listening to it on dab in waterford,Mike? I actually think they play good music on it on sunday mornings before mr davis comes on.

TimmyTarmac

I think that John Taylor is putting a bit of order on the chaos of it's opening period. Four in a rows, music you know and love straps, less chatter from the jocks - as much as some don't like it - will pay dividends in time.
Once the BCI do their usual routine of rolling over and having their belly tickled, they can change the terms of their licence and drop that expensive and unsuitable bauble, Tom McGurk. That and the lunchtime show in their current format were never going to work in my view alongside the music.
Just shows what the BCI know about catering for the various radio markets when they award these licences. This has happened too often.

GSF

TimmyTarmac wrote: »

I think that John Taylor is putting a bit of order on the chaos of it's opening period. Four in a rows, music you know and love straps, less chatter from the jocks - as much as some don't like it - will pay dividends in time.
Once the BCI do their usual routine of rolling over and having their belly tickled, they can change the terms of their licence and drop that expensive and unsuitable bauble, Tom McGurk. That and the lunchtime show in their current format were never going to work in my view alongside the music.
Just shows what the BCI know about catering for the various radio markets when they award these licences. This has happened too often.

Personally I'd move to:
Breakfast 6-10am
Greely 10-1pm
McColl 1-4pm
Drivetime with Dave Harvey 4-7pm

and lose McGurk

rovert

I dont really want to make fun as people are losing their jobs but does something have to be afloat before it can sink?

theCaffers

four who?... exactly

More Music

TimmyTarmac wrote: »

........Just shows what the BCI know about catering for the various radio markets when they award these licences. This has happened too often.

Nobody forced 4FM to apply for this license. 4FM knew the programme format when they applied. They and the other applicants obviously thought the format was a runner, otherwise they wouldn't have submitted applications and spent a fortune on their fine studios.

Let's not forget most of the recently advertised licenses were based on public submissions to the BCI.

dermothickey

Only found 4fm 3 weeks ago, great channell, has to be the best out there at the mo, Less politics and more classics

TimmyTarmac

Well, if they (4FM) can't operate it the licence as is, maybe it should be handed back either for a new competition or the other bidders from the shorlist should be offered another go at it. We'll see how many of them think it's an attractive format now with no access to finance from the banks.

INCONFIDENCE

Leave 4FM alone, their nice people play nice music for nice people in a nice way. Its not too loud its just nice . They also have nice people talk to other nice people agout nice things. ......................nice !

GSF

INCONFIDENCE wrote: »

Leave 4FM alone, their nice people play nice music for nice people in a nice way. Its not too loud its just nice . They also have nice people talk to other nice people agout nice things. ......................nice !

I wonder if they have Nice biscuits too

ronnie3585

Nice.

comfysofa

They're not so bad for music on Sunday evenings when everyone else is rubbish. Other than that I would never think of listening to them...

meolwan

4fm play some good music but the presenters talk some rubbish. someone needs to sit down and decide what age group they want as listeners and go for it. Either they are a news station or a music station aimed at the over 40's??

grenache

I'm 26 and i listen to 4fm for a good 4-5 hours every day. There is no other station where i live, playing as much retro classics and i love it.

dermothickey

I'm 30 and enjoy the music on 4fm, certainly beats modern pop music by far

Liam Byrne

+1 on most of the comments above, and I've even switched my alarm clock to 4fm......miss Gift Grub alright, but 4fm is better overall.

I'd agree with the mix of music and talk; it takes a certain kind of presenter (and content) to pull that off, and while all the main talk guys on 4fm are good, it doesn't quite "fit".

A clearer delineation of the formats would be better.....I mean, you don't tune in to Matt Cooper for music.

On a side-note, I still can't understand why Anton Savage doesn't have a regular slot anywhere.

meolwan

Anton Savage maybe too busy with TD's teaching them how to spin but not disks..

I will say this for him he does a good job when he is on the radio or TV not like others

bbability

I don't blame anyone in particular for this one but it was a non runner from the start up if you ask me. 4 cities on 4 different frequencies... a marketing disaster.

4fm = BoreFM

They (the BCI) should have given Premier FM the licence.

Can't receive 4FM in Sligo on a traditional radio but whenever I am in the coverage area I listen in and have enjoyed it,kind of an Irish BBC R2.
Wish they would go national and then maybe their fortunes will change!

WHL

Not sure if they can go national - wasn't it advertised as just a multi-city licence. I will say that I spend a lot of time deep in West Cork where there is no chance of a mobile phone signal but you can still receive 4FM - that surprises me.

Should say that I enjoy the content. Other stations play the same few oldies all the time but 4FM is the place to go to listen to tracks that you haven't heard for years

Antenna

WHL wrote: »

. I will say that I spend a lot of time deep in West Cork where there is no chance of a mobile phone signal but you can still receive 4FM - that surprises me.

Well they have transmitters in West Cork, principally Nowen Hill on 95.4, nothing really surprising that you can receive it.

It has been wrongly called a 'multi-city licence' (by the BCI / BAI themselves, not to mind anyone else). more correctly its a 'multi-county' licence.

Big Tone

Their 94.8 transmitter in Bantry also covers a good section out the Beara Peninsula towards Glengariff and Castletownbere but Nowen Hill is their main Tx on 95.4

And I dont agree with the OP that 4FM is slowly dieing, and if the recent JNLRs are anything to go by neither do the listening public.

Liam Byrne

bbability wrote: »

I don't blame anyone in particular for this one but it was a non runner from the start up if you ask me. 4 cities on 4 different frequencies... a marketing disaster.

4fm = BoreFM

I'm confused as to what your issue is, because "4fm = BoreFM" bears no relation to the fact that they are in 4 cities on 4 different frequencies.

bbability

It's not an issue as such Liam but an opinion. Take for example iradio. 102-104 or 105-107. Very easy to remember. Now without looking or researching where is 4fm in Limerick, Cork & Waterford on the fm band? We haven't turned digital yet so they should ask bai to be like iradio on fm band.

Sids Not

ronnie3585 wrote: »

Nice.

:D:D:D:D......

RoundyMooney

I've cribbed about their voicetracking before, with ten seconds of a track rudely interrupted by the news, as well as one side of a phone call coming through late one night over whatever track robojock was playing at the time.

For the last ten minutes there are newscasts playing over the audio!

Not a good sign...

Typical, it just stopped for the real news

This station is as much good as someone's ipod on shuffle at the moment, an ipod that has about 50 songs on it, and I can't see the future looking bright.

mike65

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?threadid=2055955044

Looks like its quietly dying

RoundyMooney

Sorry Mike, missed that thread

It's a pity, got off to a good start IMO, remember their gimmick about the "tape amnesty"?

http://www.siliconrepublic.com/digital-life/item/16054-4fms-mix-tape-amnesty-dr

mike65

Ooh 4FM have "megathread status", sounds a bit grand for them!

RoundyMooney

Cheers, unknown moderator

The fact that we actually didn't have a megathread up to now just goes to show how little interest there is in 4fm, despite a good start out of the blocks.

If it were a proper national, it might have had a better chance.

Qualitymark

Always a bad sign when the website is neglected; the Tom McGurk show page has no dates on its 'listen again' links, but it's depressing that September 15 is the latest dateline on the accompanying text.

Denzil2222

Word is that its closing down on sunday night

mike65

As foreseen here (if it happens!)

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055955044

neris

only listened to it a few times and wasnt much better then whats already out there and theyve done very little promotion lately aswell

Bard

threads merged

tbh

Denzil2222 wrote: »

Word is that its closing down on sunday night

source?

Btr

Denzil2222 wrote: »

Word is that its closing down on sunday night

That's pretty strong, can you prove it?

Bard

4fm closing down would be the precise opposite to what my source tells me... thankfully!

Trick of the Tail

I don't think 4FM is going to close, and if I'd written that I'd be a bit nervous now.

4FM has got a lot better recently, at first the programming didn't flow, the music was all over the place. Under John Taylor the music and programming has got a lot better, a lot more consistent.

And under Jim Miley I'd say the business end of things has been tightened up immensely.

I guess they're still hampered by foolish and irresponsible financial decisions made early on, but hopefully if they can ride out the current problems with this (which I think they will) they'll emerge as a very listenable and successful station.

A.

Btr

I tend to agree with a lot of whats being said here. 4fm is getting better and Taylor and Miley are making differences. Let's not forget the influence of Kevin Branigan who's now chair as well as a shareholder. The saddest thing is that the early mistakes were bleedin obvious...

On a related matter I was a bit taken back that this site allowed a post to suggest the station was closing without a shred of evidence. Good luck to 4

bbability

Certainly I was not a fan of 4fm on its start up but I have heard a huge improvement over the last few months. David Harvey's show is an pitched perfectly. Its like a new version of 2fm so to speak..

Cole

I listened a lot for the first year or so but gradually drifted away, dip in and out now.

Not mad about David Harvey but it's a good move to have that type of show on at that time. If only they could rid us all of Gareth O'Callaghan, then I might tune in from early morning and stick with them a bit longer in the day....each to their own, but he makes my skin crawl. And while we're at it, retire Tom McGurk off to a home for the cranky. I used to really like him on Radio 1, when filling in for Pat Kenny during the summer, but here he's just biased, condescending and downright rude at times.

Sorry to see The Great American Songbook with Noel McCaul, Saturday Night at the Movies, Michael Comyn and Maura O'Neill all gone from the schedule.

Kunle

New line up (sort of) starting in a couple of days Tom mcguirk and gerry stevens are gone but they are not being replaced jimmy grealy and brian mccoll will now be doing 4 hours each day and marian farall will be on for 5 hours from 7 till midnight. David harvey will be the only talk show on the station. Weekend chat is also all gone.

mike65

Farce isn't it? They should hand the licence back and apologise.

Kunle

mike65 wrote: »

Farce isn't it? They should hand the licence back and apologise.

Im going to give it another chance on tuesday, i think getting rid of the drivetime talk show is a good thing, brian mccoll is a very good jock and i think he will do good on the 3-7 slot. Full new line up is 6-9 Gareth, 9-11 David harvey, 11-3 Jimmy grealy, 3-7 brian mccoll. 7-midnight smooth and easy with marian

Cole

I was a fan when they first began but am finished with them.

It's bad enough that they got rid of the likes of Derek Davis....and the others I mentioned in my post above....but on top of that, to keep that sham of a broadcaster, Gareth O'Callaghan.:mad: Maybe they will reconsider, given his shameful input into the Gerry Ryan controversy....which all turned out to be bullsh*t.

Kunle

I hope Derek Davis gets his old job back filling in for Joe Duffy during the the summer.