Century Radio

Losty Dublin

Deleted User wrote: »

If only they had “poached” Ian Dempsey for their breakfast show it may still be on the airwaves

The only way Dempsey could have saved them was if he had the key to all the FM sites in Ireland and a truck full of transmitters and folded dipoles.

ford fiesta

alzer100 wrote: »

I only heard Aidan on 2FM during the 1989 period at nighttime (10pm - 12am slot) as I took an interest as I used to listen to him on Super-102. He didn't have a standard 2FM jingle to announce his name so RTE allowed him to use his old Q102 jingle, the one's that all the Q102 presenters got around the 1987 time period.
He may have had other slots on 2FM during this time but I wasn't a regular listener so I don't know.

Later in 1992 / 93, Aidan was still using his own Q102 jingle when he started permanently on 2FM in 1992, on weekends 10 to 12 am slot.
I think Aidan took over from Lorcan Murray, as Lorcan had moved elsewhere on the weekend 2FM schedule.

Declan A Walsh

Who went through 98FM after Century Radio: Aidan Cooney, Liam Quigley, Mark Byrne, Kara Hanahoe, Jim O'Neill. Unless I am forgetting anybody, surprisingly few.

Speaking of Jim O'Neill, here are the brave few who dipped their feet into the water of national independent radio again with Radio Ireland/Today FM: Jim O'Neill, Declan Meehan, Mark Byrne, Robbie Irwin. and Cathy Cregan.

There is also Classic Hits/4FM - the not quite so national station! Mark Byrne, Cathy Cregan and Owen Larkin are the only ones I can think of.

Losty Dublin

Losty Dublin wrote: »

The only way Dempsey could have saved them was if he had the key to all the FM sites in Ireland and a truck full of transmitters and folded dipoles.

I wonder what would have happened to Gay Byrne's career if he had said yes to joining them ? I think RTE would have replaced him with Mike Murphy or Derek Davis, both gentlemen would have maintained his giant audience for RTE.

bureau2009

ford fiesta wrote: »

There were also ex RTE producers in Century, such as Pat Morley and Mark Storey.
Pat Morley returned to RTE Radio.

Didn't Mark T Storey work as a producer in BBC Radio 1 at one stage?

Losty Dublin

bureau2009 wrote: »

Didn't Mark T Storey work as a producer in BBC Radio 1 at one stage?

He did, and Capital London as well.

Declan A Walsh

Writer and former journalist Dairena Ní Chinnéide has the dubious distinction of being the last voice heard on Century Radio when she announced its closure in a short news bulletin. After Century, she worked on Raidió na Gealtachta. She has had books of poetry in Irish and in English published. Dairena was appointed writer-in-residence at Dublin City University for the 2017-2018 year.[

Losty Dublin

Johns nephew wrote: »

I wonder what would have happened to Gay Byrne's career if he had said yes to joining them ? I think RTE would have replaced him with Mike Murphy or Derek Davis, both gentlemen would have maintained his giant audience for RTE.

Good question. Whatever about the audience but between him and Marty they would certainly have taken a lot of the agency radio ads from Montrose. Trouble is, the deliberate deficiencies that RTÉ had created in Century's transmission network would have bitten them soundly in neck let alone in the the arse, possibly even taking the station down entirely before the end of year one with the added wages that they had offered Gaybo and Emer Woodfull (Who had signed up assuming that he was there already.).

As it was Century were out of the spotlight to some extent so they were able to hobble along by shaving off a lot of costs and by flogging ad time on the street to supplement the extra cash that Capital and Oliver Barry coughed up to prop up the project. Equally, Capital were willing to take a larger shareholding than the 30% they had bought out and were prepared to expand the FM network across Ireland; the IRTC wouldn't allow them to take on more and thus they pulled the plug.

ford fiesta

Taking the above names into consideration - those who have moved on within National radio or have passed on (Sandy Harsch and Terry Wogan) ...

...Is Marty Whelan the only ex-Century presenter, who has his/her own show today on a "National FM" Irish, NI or UK radio station?

Losty Dublin

ford fiesta wrote: »

Taking the above names into consideration - those who have moved on within National radio or have passed on (Sandy Harsch and Terry Wogan) ...

...Is Marty Whelan the only ex-Century presenter, who has his/her own show today on a "National FM" Irish, NI or UK radio station?

Daragh Moloney does a lot of sport on Radio 1 and TV. Aidan Leonard is still on RTÉ from time to time while PJ Curtis pops up on occasion but they are not high profile.

ford fiesta

Losty Dublin wrote: »

Daragh Moloney does a lot of sport on Radio 1 and TV. Aidan Leonard is still on RTÉ from time to time while PJ Curtis pops up on occasion but they are not high profile.

Daragh doesn't have his own show on national FM radio.

Aidan has his own show, but it's not on national FM radio.

PJ is only a guest contributor on RTE Radio 1 or Newstalk (national FM), though not very often.

bureau2009

ford fiesta wrote: »

Taking the above names into consideration - those who have moved on within National radio or have passed on (Sandy Harsch and Terry Wogan) ...

...Is Marty Whelan the only ex-Century presenter, who has his/her own show today on a "National FM" Irish, NI or UK radio station?

But the real question is SHOULD Marty Whelan be anywhere near national radio........

Losty Dublin

ford fiesta wrote: »

Daragh doesn't have his own show on national FM.

True, he’s on a lot on Sports but not as a regular presenter.

Declan A Walsh

ford fiesta wrote: »

Taking the above names into consideration - those who have moved on within National radio or have passed on (Sandy Harsch and Terry Wogan) ...

...Is Marty Whelan the only ex-Century presenter, who has his/her own show today on a "National FM" Irish, NI or UK radio station?

I was just going through the names in my head and I think he could well be.

Declan A Walsh

I was reading an article by John Walsh about the newsroom in Century Radio. Some names came up that went on to be associated with RTE as reporters and journalists: Rónán Mac Aodh Bhuí, Caroline Erskine and Carole Coleman. Caroline is also a communications consultant. Another name mentioned was Orlaith Carmody who is now a business woman and author. She sat on the board of RTE during the 2010's. Orlaith is also co-founder of Gavin Duffy and Associates, along with her husband Gavin Duffy. John also mentioned that Century Radio had more Nuacht bulletins than any other station.

As regards the author himself, there have been a few John Walshes involved in journalism and I think he was one of them! As far as I can make it, his most recent foray into radio has been with student station Flirt FM.

alzer100

Curious to know how successful Century Radio may have been if it had launched with 98FM's Classic Hits format.
Around the1989/1990 period I think every PD (in Dublin local radio anyway) was under pressure to repeat the success of 98FM from a revenue perspective. As I have stated before this led to Capital 104.4 FM to eventually relaunch to Rock 104 then to FM104.
From the 2nd week of listening to 98FM in November 1989 I knew that this was radio bland but the advertisers loved it.
I wonder if Century Radio had of fared better using and executing that format in the way 98FM did.

alzer100

alzer100 wrote: »

Curious to know how successful Century Radio may have been if it had launched with 98FM's Classic Hits format.
Around the1989/1990 period I think every PD (in Dublin local radio anyway) was under pressure to repeat the success of 98FM from a revenue perspective. As I have stated before this led to Capital 104.4 FM to eventually relaunch to Rock 104 then to FM104.
From the 2nd week of listening to 98FM in November 1989 I knew that this was radio bland but the advertisers loved it.
I wonder if Century Radio had of fared better using and executing that format in the way 98FM did.

Their issue wasn't the format , it was that they were an national station broadcasting with only 3 FM transmitters

alzer100

Johns nephew wrote: »

Their issue wasn't the format , it was that they were an national station broadcasting with only 3 FM transmitters

Agreed but if I am not mistaken they had FM transmission coverage for two of the country's top cities in terms of potential listenership figures and advertising revenue. Yet everyone in one of those cities wanted to advertise with 98FM!
I do get the whole transmission debacle at that time but even Denis O'Brien admitted on the Late Late Show sometime after, that 98FM was making huge amounts of money shortly after its launch.
As much as I hate to admit it, 98FM did everything right. They used the former Q102 studios at 8 Upper Mount St in Dublin (nothing to extravagant) albeit with new equipment from the ground up but also carried out extensive market research into their target audience and from a potential revenue perspective.
Denis O'Brien never cared about the experience or how exciting and satisfying radio can be, he just wanted a fast and consistent return on his investment. He got it!

Declan A Walsh

alzer100 wrote: »

Curious to know how successful Century Radio may have been if it had launched with 98FM's Classic Hits format.
Around the1989/1990 period I think every PD (in Dublin local radio anyway) was under pressure to repeat the success of 98FM from a revenue perspective. As I have stated before this led to Capital 104.4 FM to eventually relaunch to Rock 104 then to FM104.
From the 2nd week of listening to 98FM in November 1989 I knew that this was radio bland but the advertisers loved it.
I wonder if Century Radio had of fared better using and executing that format in the way 98FM did.

Johns nephew wrote: »

Their issue wasn't the format , it was that they were an national station broadcasting with only 3 FM transmitters

alzer100 wrote: »

Agreed but if I am not mistaken they had FM transmission coverage for two of the country's top cities in terms of potential listenership figures and advertising revenue. Yet everyone in one of those cities wanted to advertise with 98FM!
I do get the whole transmission debacle at that time but even Denis O'Brien admitted on the Late Late Show sometime after, that 98FM was making huge amounts of money shortly after its launch.
As much as I hate to admit it, 98FM did everything right. They used the former Q102 studios at 8 Upper Mount St in Dublin (nothing to extravagant) albeit with new equipment from the ground up but also carried out extensive market research into their target audience and from a potential revenue perspective.
Denis O'Brien never cared about the experience or how exciting and satisfying radio can be, he just wanted a fast and consistent return on his investment. He got it!

Interesting points raised about 98FM's format, and, of course, Century Radio's transmitter issues.

It reminds me that there was a dispute in RTE News around 1992, and news bulletins were affected on the radio. During that period, around Dublin anyway, 98FM's news service seemed to step up to the plate. I think that might been through IRN (Irish Radio News). I remember thinking at the time that could have been an opportunity for Century Radio had it still been around.

TheBMG

Declan A Walsh wrote: »

Interesting points raised about 98FM's format, and, of course, Century Radio's transmitter issues.

It reminds me that there was a dispute in RTE News around 1992, and news bulletins were affected on the radio. During that period, around Dublin anyway, 98FM's news service seemed to step up to the plate. I think that might been through IRN (Irish Radio News). I remember thinking at the time that could have been an opportunity for Century Radio had it still been around.

After the demise of Century (and their syndicated news service) both 98 and 104 began offering the local radio network their own rival services.

98FM had IRN and 104 had NRN (Network Radio News).

98FM didn’t broadcast IRN on their own Dublin station but 104 did air NRN every hour.

At some point IRN was fed via satellite (through Ger Madden?)

NRN was via ISDN and some stations took an off air feed from FM which tended to sound nasty as various different airchains got to work on it!

I worked on a station which had NRN on a lovely clean ISDN feed and if you PFL’d the desk just before news began you could hear the 104 TOTH in the newsreaders cans.

JoeA3

alzer100 wrote: »

Curious to know how successful Century Radio may have been if it had launched with 98FM's Classic Hits format.
Around the1989/1990 period I think every PD (in Dublin local radio anyway) was under pressure to repeat the success of 98FM from a revenue perspective. As I have stated before this led to Capital 104.4 FM to eventually relaunch to Rock 104 then to FM104.
From the 2nd week of listening to 98FM in November 1989 I knew that this was radio bland but the advertisers loved it.
I wonder if Century Radio had of fared better using and executing that format in the way 98FM did.

At a local level, Galway Bay Fm is an example of this.
Started off as Radio West. Which was a poor imitation of Mayo’s established “Mid west radio”.
They were facing oblivion after only 6-8 months, new investors stepped in and GB FM was born, which was an early 1990’s equivalent of what you hear on 4FM / classic hits today. Their figures improved massively and they’re still going today, although I reckon based on occasional listening that the original classic hits format has evolved into more of a Today FM-lite.

California Dreamer

alzer100 wrote: »

Denis O'Brien never cared about the experience or how exciting and satisfying radio can be, he just wanted a fast and consistent return on his investment. He got it!

I don't think you are quite right there. 98FM was always the favourite child in all of DOB's companies.

alzer100

California Dreamer wrote: »

I don't think you are quite right there. 98FM was always the favourite child in all of DOB's companies.

98FM maybe DOB's favourite and probably for various reasons.
One of those maybe the fact that it made him a lot of money. It got him in through the door of radio and to an extent in which he expanded his radio station ownership nationally and internationally, mimicking on a small scale conglomerates such as Clear Channel. But this is my point, in my view 98FM was never exciting to listen to. Its launch heralded in an era of radio blandness that has ruined Irish independent radio as it essentially led to other radio stations adopting the same sound and format to maximise revenues to satisfy advertisers and shareholders. All of those radio stations that followed suit including 98FM eventually tweaked the format as time went on to a "Music Mix" type of sound. This is so the radio station can evolve with the targeted listener age group.
This is why we have independent local and national radio stations that basically sound the same. It's a safe inexpensive format and it produces revenues.
Look, it was inevitable that this was going to happen at the dawn of the era of licenced radio broadcasting. People who were involved in radio predicted it at the end of 1988. The fact remains though, if it wasn't DOB to get the ball rolling on radio bland, it would have been someone else.

Antenna

Johns nephew wrote: »

Didn't Century actually have excellent ratings ? 18% with coverage only in 3 cities, that's like 3 times the listenership today FM has today with full national coverage.

Johns nephew wrote: »

Their issue wasn't the format , it was that they were an national station broadcasting with only 3 FM transmitters

The three FM transmitters to cover the 3 largest cities was the situation when the station launched.
However within a few months the station had expanded to other key FM transmitters.
I do not know the timescale of this or how much of the country they ended up satisfactorily covering but it is surely the case the 18% ratings you mention was when coverage had increased.

One issue regarding transmission that didn't help matters in its first few months was that its frequencies outside of Dublin got moved about. They were put on temporary frequencies above and below the '100-102' range, until after a few months or so moved into the '100-102' range.
What the need of this was I do not know?

JJKC

Did Terry Wogans pre recorded weekend show last long? At least Marty Whelan on breakfast and Declan and Bob at Drive remaining on the same slots for the entire 2+ years of the stations life must have brought some stability

Declan A Walsh

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118289278#Comment_118289278

My memory of Terry Wogan's show, which was on Saturdays, was that it was on for a number of months before being dropped - I am open to correction on that. It may possibly have replaced Aidan Cooney's weekend breakfast show (directly or indirectly - was Terry's around mid-morning?) which only lasted for the first two months, as he left for the new station 98FM, or it could have come to the station much later.

Incidentally, Marty Whelan was given an extra slot on Saturdays (mid-mornings to lunchtime I think) with a chart countdown program. That must have started in 1989 as I remember Kate Bush's Sensual World, which was released in 1989, being in the countdown - I have a cassette tape somewhere! I don't know for how long that chart show continued but I think it was still there for at least some of 1990.

In those days, if you left RTE for the new independent radio stations, you effectively became person non grata in RTE. Marty lost a number of TV shows that he presented on RTE, such as Where in The World. Things are very different these days - its not unusual to be involved in a tv show on RTE while presenting on an independent radio station. Marty had to crawl his way back to RTE after the demise of Century, starting with ads.

JJKC

RTE went from one extreme to another,In the 00s they gave loads of free publicity to The Today FM breakfast Show & giftgrub by having Mario Rosenstock on TV frequently as a guest while their own 2fm breakfast show was chopping and changing host and format every few months.

thejuggler

I remember listening to century more often on medium wave 1143khz in Cork than their fm frequency which was usually hissy. I attended some kind of OB/roadshow event in summer 1991 where a mixture of music and jingles were played through a very distorted Bose pa system - not one of their better engineering efforts……

Glaceon

@Declan A Walsh

Marty had to crawl his way back to RTE after the demise of Century, starting with ads.

Yes, I remember him doing Daz ads at one stage.

vince

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118292522#Comment_118292522

Was that gig at the tall ships race in cobh. They had a very good rig . Artic trailer with open sides. Northern irish reg plates too.