8Radio

Antenna

8radio are currently testing, for full launch Midnight tonight for a 2015 run of weekends FM temporary licence, in 4 cities and surrounding areas with Galway city added this year.

Sunday 7th June 2015 and every Saturday and Sunday from Saturday 13th June 2015 to Sunday 19th July 2015 and every Saturday and Sunday from Saturday 5th September 2015 to Sunday 25th October 2015

Dublin City and County 94.3 FM
Cork City and Part County 106.7 FM
Limerick City and part County 105.5 FM
Galway City 89.5 FM

SimonMaher

Thanks for the post Antenna! Yep, back on FM again for another split run. 7 weekends now and then 8 more in the Autumn. Pushing the boat out this year to extend into Galway too. There are about 4500 installs on the 8Radio.com app at this stage but it's always good to get the publicity and simplicity of the FM runs - simple for the listeners that is, not simple for us!

Cheers,
Simon
8Radio.com

Declan A Walsh

SimonMaher wrote: »

Thanks for the post Antenna! Yep, back on FM again for another split run. 7 weekends now and then 8 more in the Autumn. Pushing the boat out this year to extend into Galway too. There are about 4500 installs on the 8Radio.com app at this stage but it's always good to get the publicity and simplicity of the FM runs - simple for the listeners that is, not simple for us!

Cheers,
Simon
8Radio.com

Simon, it's good to have 8Radio back again on FM. I have been listening to the test transmission on 94.3 - mainly in the car. It sounds good. The Stone Roses' first album is being utilized quite a lot!

I'm delighted to see you extend your FM coverage this year to the west. There is a lot of Ireland who just don't have the same choice of radio options as Dublin.... and the FM transmissions around the four cities is a good form of promotion and getting the name out there for 8Radio - others may download the app, etc. Perhaps the midlands next time!

I must say that I am looking forward to hearing Steve Conway's A to Z next week on FM - it's just too much hassle trying to do that online!! I must be the only person under a certain age who does not have a "smart" phone! I can listen to FM radio on my phone (including 8Radio!) but not download apps. This might sway me!

thesandeman

Listening now. First time as I'm in Galway. Seems professional with a good mix. Nice to have a change.

Poppin Fresh

Any chance of broadcasting to Waterford City anytime soon Simon? They have a good taste in music the folk in the south east.

SimonMaher

I'm slow with the replies Poppin Fresh! Lots of people asking about 8Radio.com possibly extending it's reach to Waterford. We had to take a budgetary decision this year on adding a new city and Galway (89.5FM) won out this time. We would love to do Waterford next year though - we'll work on making it work with the very decent transmission provider in that part of the world

If you want to learn more about 8Radio.com, the latest in State Magazine's Podcast series is me talking to Phil Udell about Radio, Sheds, Phantom and more:

http://tinyurl.com/ofwysz8

Cheers,
Simon
8Radio.com

SimonMaher

Hooray for everything. 8Radio.com is back on FM for another run. We're broadcasting on:

89.5FM Galway
105.5FM Limerick
106.7FM Cork
94.3FM Dublin

for the next 6 weekends and this time we're including Fridays too so we'll be live from Thursday night at Midnight until Sunday night at midnight. All reception reports, requests, suggestions and the like are as always welcome.

Cheers,
Simon
8Radio.com

SimonMaher

Hooray for everything. 8Radio.com is back on FM for another run. We're broadcasting on:

89.5FM Galway
105.5FM Limerick
106.7FM Cork
94.3FM Dublin

for the next 6 weekends and this time we're including Fridays too so we'll be live from Thursday night at Midnight until Sunday night at midnight. All reception reports, requests, suggestions and the like are as always welcome.

Cheers,
Simon
8Radio.com

Fuzzy Clam

Hearing 8radio on 99.4. RDS reads The Rock :-0

Big Nasty

Sorry for bumping an old thread but I've questions for Simon.

As you know TXFM finished up last night and there's a lot of us looking to fill the void. Downloaded your app there and the music is certainly familiar however without presenters you may as well be listening to a spotify playlist.

I know it's early in the day but do you have presenters on live or is it just playlists? Checked your website and couldn't find any info on same.

I'd be happy to listen if there's presenters during the day but otherwise I'll probably just stick with my own spotify.

Cheers.

Declan A Walsh

They are back on 94.3 FM in Dublin this morning for yet another temporary license run. Steve Conway was doing has A to Z of music show with the usual eclectic mix. About an hour-and-a-half later, I heard Sinead Ni Chonaill with her own particular mix of alternative-oriented stuff.

Great to hear them on the car radio again. I might not like everything I hear but it's good to have 8Radio as an option.

Fuzzy Clam

Slight glitches on the FM audio. Sounds like the streaming audio link.

SimonMaher

Hello all,

Thanks for the feedback as always! Fuzzy Clam, the glitches are from the machine handling the playout. Plan to replace it this week so should (in theory!) be glitchless next weekend.

Big Nasty, we have live presenters every weeknight evening from 8 and all day at weekends. While we're on FM, we'll also be live from 6am on Friday morning too.

Cheers,

Simon
8Radio.com

SimonMaher

Back on FM from midnight tonight (Thursday) until Midnight on Sunday. 94.3FM in Dublin and online everywhere else.

Live from 6am tomorrow with Steve Conway. Must ask him the last time he did a breakfast show in the Wexford Street area, must be 13 years!

Anyway, plug aside we've had a lot of people asking about submitting music to the station. If your band is good then we would love to hear from you. Send tracks (192k MP3 minimum) and biog info to music AT 8Radio.com. Failing that, you can stick a CD in the post to 8Radio.com, 38A Camden Row, Dublin 8.

Cheers,
Simon
8Radio.com

Avatar MIA

Following this thread for two reasons.

1. To get a heads up on when it's available on FM. Although, quite happy to listen online.

2. Instead of the Nova thread, this would seem like an obvious choice to discuss what is wanted from a Phantom like station?


Currently listening to Bowie

Big Nasty

Good point MIA. I was asking Simon a question on that thread more suited to here:

So it's nigh on impossible to have a 'decent music' radio station under current BAI rules. I.e. if it doesn't appeal to the masses then you don't have the listenership and in turn don't have the revenue to survive. I presume that's why you didn't go after the TXFM licence Simon?

Any hope of the BAI revising / relaxing their requirements for alt stations? If not what's the plan with 8Radio, i.e. if it can never be commercially viable what's the long term hope with the current temp licence?

Avatar MIA

Big Nasty wrote: »

So it's nigh on impossible to have a 'decent music' radio station under current BAI rules. I.e. if it doesn't appeal to the masses then you don't have the listenership and in turn don't have the revenue to survive. I presume that's why you didn't go after the TXFM licence Simon?

Simon will be able to answer for himself, but my take is a follows:-

The BAI requirements can make it very expensive and hard to compete to bring a desired service to the public.

Whereas the spirit of the pirate stations, which most definitely served a need, was to be run on a shoe string you now have regional stations with €1m plus wages that are struggling. There are other significant costs as well, not to mention the BAI themselves.

Was there really such a difference in quality between the pirate stations and the BAI regulated stations. Why are these stations now not able to be self sustaining?

Okay, the pirates didn't pay levies to IMRO etc. But there's still something wrong between the pirate stations and the loss making stations of today.

The BAI are prescribing what stations can and cannot play. The logic here is that it's to force a service for an audience that may not be served otherwise, but surely that could be done in a more relaxed way. Station A needs to play 80s music at a certain time and another station needs to play rock at another time, instead of dedicating entire radio stations to a niche - which, apart somewhat for Sunshine of late, seems to be a broken model.

SimonMaher

Big Nasty wrote: »

Good point MIA. I was asking Simon a question on that thread more suited to here:

So it's nigh on impossible to have a 'decent music' radio station under current BAI rules. I.e. if it doesn't appeal to the masses then you don't have the listenership and in turn don't have the revenue to survive. I presume that's why you didn't go after the TXFM licence Simon?

Any hope of the BAI revising / relaxing their requirements for alt stations? If not what's the plan with 8Radio, i.e. if it can never be commercially viable what's the long term hope with the current temp licence?

Where do you start with this one?

It is very difficult indeed to operate a niche music Radio service on a commercial basis under the current rules and regulations and the current BAI beauty contest model of licence awarding. Both the regulations and the process hark back to another era and are very much in need of updating.

<soapbox> The BAI are currently undertaking a strategic review to assist in their plans for the next 3 years and I hope that the submissions they have received will at least give them an understanding of the reality on the ground in the industry. The (sad) closure of TXFM is more of a reflection on the business model than on the niche. If we decide that we want niche music services then we have to have business models to enable them to operate sustainably even if those models are radically different to the current ones. Failing that, we can just leave the niches to Spotify or TuneIn (or indeed online radio!) and watch as Radio listenership generally decays. </soapbox>

From 8Radio.com's perspective, obviously we would like to be on FM permanently but in the interim, we're continuing to develop the station online and via other digital platforms. After the current FM run finishes on December 18th, we're back on FM in Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Galway every weekend in February and March. We'll just have to see what the BAI comes up with in their workplan at that stage. Nothing to be gained for us by waiting around indefinitely for them though, time and the industry is moving on very rapidly!

Simon

Big Nasty

Cheers Simon

thesaurus2

Really good Top 20 Irish albums of the year folks. A few I'd never heard of, and a few acts I'd forgotten about. Have been having an enjoyable few days listening to as many as I can find. Well done. Good to read you'll be on FM over weekends into the new year.

ghostdancer

SimonMaher wrote: »

It is very difficult indeed to operate a niche music Radio service on a commercial basis under the current rules and regulations and the current BAI beauty contest model of licence awarding. Both the regulations and the process hark back to another era and are very much in need of updating.

what rules/regs would you find restrictive if you were awarded the licence that TX were operating under?

FootShooter

Anyone have a link to the 8Radio.com spotify user with the new music playlist? Can't seem to find when searching for 8Radio.com. Only finding 8radioireland which seems to be the old user.

Declan A Walsh

The latest FM run just finished in Dublin last night, but they will back on FM in a number of locations around the country next February. In the meantime, of course, they are available on the internet and on all the smartphone devices... download the app, etc. etc.!

I want to thank Simon Maher for playing my request last night and it's good to know we were singing off the same hymn sheet on that one! Well done to all concerned for their devotion to their music during this run.

ghostdancer

back on FM at weekends until the end of March

Adiaga 2

ghostdancer wrote: »

back on FM at weekends until the end of March

And going from strength to strength content-wise.

Great to have it in the car, especially for the Friday commutes.

JDxtra

Adiaga 2 wrote: »

Great to have it in the car, especially for the Friday commutes.

You're just out of luck... it's only on Saturdays and Sundays.

SimonMaher

Thanks very much for the comments. It's great to be back on FM again, even if it is just temporary and at the weekends!

It's a tricky balance to work out the best way to use the 30 days a year we are licenced on FM for and obviously things were complicated this year (well, 2016) by the sad loss of TXFM which meant we were very anxious to be on in Dublin at some point before Christmas.

The 8 weekends by 4 cities by 2 days business is quite tricky and costly too but it's good fun and the response over the 1st weekend back was very heartening and will only improve as the weeks go on.

As always, musical submissions etc are most welcome to music AT 8Radio DOT com.

Cheers,
Simon
8Radio.com

Adiaga 2

JDxtra wrote: »

You're just out of luck... it's only on Saturdays and Sundays.

Dang! Should have read the ad really :-) Just assumed it would be Fridays too. Happy to have the FM option for the rest of the weekend though.

Really does fill the void left by TX/Phantom especially for new Irish music.

whiskeyman

Was fantastic having this on in the car over the weekend.
Simply nothing else like it and the music was brilliant!

wintear

Pleasantly surprised how far the 8fm signal gets here in Galway. Out as far as Loughrae and Gort. Even had the signal out as far as Portumna the other weekend.

Normally listen to the app but it is great to have it on the car radio.