Why isn't Irish music played much on Irish radio?

The Scientician

I'm not just talking about local indie bands and what not. Other than RnG and a couple of shows on Lyric you don't hear traditional and ballads etc. much at all. Surely there's an audience for all that. There are loads of Irish songs on youtube with 1000s of views.

WinstonOno

same reason x-factor is so huge, way more people like cheap, disposable, dont have to think to much music that says nothing and offends no one. trad and ballads played on the radio would alienate people who dont like trad and ballads. so instead we get sugar coated music that doesn't really say anything, and offends no one, sells a few on first listen, and is quickly replaced by the next one once it gets boring. minimum effort for maximum sales

J_E

Trad music doesn't interest me in the slightest. It's a niche genre just as country or jazz would be. Not saying it isn't a worthy genre, I can appreciate it but I wouldn't really listen to it. Perhaps it should be played more on Radio 1, RnaG?

same reason x-factor is so huge, way more people like cheap, disposable, dont have to think to much music that says nothing and offends no one. trad and ballads played on the radio would alienate people who dont like trad and ballads. so instead we get sugar coated music that doesn't really say anything, and offends no one, sells a few on first listen, and is quickly replaced by the next one once it gets boring. minimum effort for maximum sales

Because this is what all radio stations do, huh... I'm so sick of this intolerant attitude towards certain types of music.... :rolleyes:

The Scientician

Cydoniac wrote: »

Trad music doesn't interest me in the slightest. It's a niche genre just as country or jazz would be.

Well there was a station called Country Mix but I get your point. However, whole swaths of what is played on the radio doesn't interest me, that doesn't mean those things shouldn't be played. I know there isn't probably a market for a whole station of trad or anything like that but the marked lack of trad and folk from our airwaves is astounding. It's also something that shocks visitors to this island. They come here expecting Irish traditional music from all quarters then find it hard to find any.

A separate but related issue, is how little contemporary pop/rock gets radioplay unless the band is tied to an international label. Republic Of Loose are one of the few independent local bands that get regular airplay at normal times on the main pop stations.

WinstonOno

Cydoniac wrote: »

Trad music doesn't interest me in the slightest. It's a niche genre just as country or jazz would be. Not saying it isn't a worthy genre, I can appreciate it but I wouldn't really listen to it. Perhaps it should be played more on Radio 1, RnaG?



Because this is what all radio stations do, huh... I'm so sick of this intolerant attitude towards certain types of music.... :rolleyes:

trad music doesn't interest you in the slightest but your sick of people with intolerant attitudes towards certain types of music????

J_E

It doesn't interest me but I'm not going to box it into a stereotype and wattle on about how dreary it is. I already said I can appreciate it as a genre and I've already had to do research into it musically so I think it holds it own as a genre. However, you just showed a blatantly ignorant attitude.

Malice

Cydoniac wrote: »

Because this is what all radio stations do, huh...

In my experience most radio stations do play lowest-common-denominator chart-heavy music throughout the day. Things get a little better at night but there are still plenty of genres out there getting very little exposure compared to the latest disposable X-Factor product.

WinstonOno

im not blatantly ignorant to certain types of music, im just blatantly ignorant to ****e music and make no apologies for it. alot of whats on the radio these days i wouldnt even class as a genre. its brand music. people are buying into the brand. be it beyonce, gaga, perry, shakira. im convinced these 'artists' could release a record of them farting and it would sell. the fact that most of them have branched into selling perfumes, clothes, etc just emphasizes the point. while we're on ignorant attitudes, i find your comment that you think trad music 'holds its own as a genre' a bit ignorant. it does more than hold its own, its one of the most powerful genres out there imo.

J_E

Well, it's clear in this case that you're biased and I'm not going to argue against you. The fact of the matter is, the major radio stations will play popular music because it appeals to a large group of people. traditional music will not appeal to the masses and this is why it isn't played as often. Not that it is inferior, it's because it's not as widely received. Would a radio station playing only traditional music be able to sustain itself? I'm not sure if any radio playing a single genre of music like that would be able to.

Calling a genre 'one of the most powerful out there' and then completely dismissing an entire spectrum of music is ignorance at its highest. All music is subjective. Of course you will find bad music in any genre, and pop does tend to be the host of a lot of the music you talk about, but in all fairness, pop music has a business side to it, if you look past that you will find a treasure trove of often overlooked music. When I say I'm not interested it doesn't mean I don't listen to it, I'd happily go see someone like Chieftains or Kila live given the opportunity. I try to be unbiased with music.

WinstonOno

Cydoniac wrote: »

Well, it's clear in this case that you're biased and I'm not going to argue against you. The fact of the matter is, the major radio stations will play popular music because it appeals to a large group of people. traditional music will not appeal to the masses and this is why it isn't played as often. Not that it is inferior, it's because it's not as widely received. Would a radio station playing only traditional music be able to sustain itself? I'm not sure if any radio playing a single genre of music like that would be able to.

Calling a genre 'one of the most powerful out there' and then completely dismissing an entire spectrum of music is ignorance at its highest. All music is subjective. Of course you will find bad music in any genre, and pop does tend to be the host of a lot of the music you talk about, but in all fairness, pop music has a business side to it, if you look past that you will find a treasure trove of often overlooked music. When I say I'm not interested it doesn't mean I don't listen to it, I'd happily go see someone like Chieftains or Kila live given the opportunity. I try to be unbiased with music.

this is getting way too confusing. now your just repeating what i said. your first paragraph is exactly what i said earlier. read my first post in this thread. then your second paragraph is a complete contradiction of your earlier post. you said trad doesn't 'interest' you in the slightest, and then dismissed it along with jazz and country as 'niche' music. 3 massive genres of music dismissed right there in one line, nice one.
and what exactly am i biased towards??? im not a big fan of trad if thats what your thinkin, but i've listened to it, i've opened my ears to it, i havent just dismissed the whole genre outright as 'uninteresting'. that, my friend, is ignorance. and ive listened to it enough to know that some of the most powerful songs i've ever heard are trad songs. but its not the type of music id usually listen to.
i also listen to pop music. real pop music. however, whats on the radio nowadays is not pop music. pop music used to be 'teenage kicks', the kinks, abba, aha, the bee gees, i've even heard 'love will tear us apart' described as the greatest pop song ever written (alex turner i think). 99% of pop music that we now hear on the radio is the result of board room meetings and business men. and i will dismiss it because these are not songs but products.
and who listens to music they're not interested in?? that is backtracking at its best. a forum is for expressing opinions, which im all for. the more debate the better i say. i want to hear peoples views and arguements. but at least have the balls to stick by what you say

karaokeman

SinE on DublinCity FM plays Irish trad music on tuesday nights.

Trad is very, very underrated and I agree it should be played more on radio.

J_E

WinstonOno wrote: »

this is getting way too confusing. now your just repeating what i said. your first paragraph is exactly what i said earlier. read my first post in this thread. then your second paragraph is a complete contradiction of your earlier post. you said trad doesn't 'interest' you in the slightest, and then dismissed it along with jazz and country as 'niche' music. 3 massive genres of music dismissed right there in one line, nice one.
and what exactly am i biased towards??? im not a big fan of trad if thats what your thinkin, but i've listened to it, i've opened my ears to it, i havent just dismissed the whole genre outright as 'uninteresting'. that, my friend, is ignorance. and ive listened to it enough to know that some of the most powerful songs i've ever heard are trad songs. but its not the type of music id usually listen to.
i also listen to pop music. real pop music. however, whats on the radio nowadays is not pop music. pop music used to be 'teenage kicks', the kinks, abba, aha, the bee gees, i've even heard 'love will tear us apart' described as the greatest pop song ever written (alex turner i think). 99% of pop music that we now hear on the radio is the result of board room meetings and business men. and i will dismiss it because these are not songs but products.
and who listens to music they're not interested in?? that is backtracking at its best. a forum is for expressing opinions, which im all for. the more debate the better i say. i want to hear peoples views and arguements. but at least have the balls to stick by what you say

You misunderstood me. When I said it's niche music that does not discredit it in any way, just that it only appeals to a limited number of people. I adore jazz music, but I can see that it doesn't appeal to everyone. Same with trad music. Most radio shows at daytime want to try to get a lot of listeners and the best way to do this is by playing popular music. You'll find radio shows will play more specialist programmes in the evenings and night though, hence why I'd often listen to 2FM or Midlands 103 in the late evenings as they have an excellent selection of music. While it doesn't interest me, I don't dislike it...I just don't go out actively listening to it. It's an underrated genre but the problem is if it was played on a mainstream radio it would turn a lot of people off. Of course there is a section of mainstream music that is made purely for money but you have to understand that there is so much out there, even on radio stations thatis worth listening to. I hope I didn't make myself too vague.