terrible news

freakofnature

some of you may not care but thats your fault:


a friend of mine was twiddling with the dial on her radio when she came across 'boretta' by turn. it seems a certain POPular dublin radio station now has an alternative show on sunday nights. i think we should all email the station pretending to be teenyboppers saying 'get this show off the airwaves! more dance music NOW' thus what i live for will not be distributed to the ordinary souls of dublin. does anyone follow me?

bandit

yeah its f.m. 104 innit. i personnally dont see the problem it brings bands like the pixies, turn, frames, weezer nirvana etc <all were played last nite> to an audience that wouldnt normally hear them, it could even convert some o the teeny boppers into liking 'propoer music' and what the hell is wrong with that. first people complain that there aint enough 'alternative music' about on radio then complain when some mainstream station has a go.
what with dat?????????

freakofnature

don't you enjoy being differnet? then if everyone else becomes different, what do you do then?
also, while we're on the topic, i was watching mtv, for once, and it was the music news thingy. somebody was quoting the line dave grohl said bout the promo photo of andrew wk, bout it being sexy. then the presenter said, 'and around here what dave says, goes'. how many mtv watchers are gonna even know who dave grohl is, let alone care? thus, with a bit of luck the same thing will apply to the alternative show on fmwhatsits

poobags

Why are you such an elitist freak. So what if alternative bands are getting more radio play it means more spotlight on the alternative scene and more top bands getting record deals because there is market for them. Your the same kind of person who says people interested in pop or dance have no taste and then when they start gettin into Nirvana or whoever you cringe and say the scene is ****e now look whose in it. You seem to think music is all about an attitude and you treat it like a fashion.
I'm delighted the pixies and the frames are gettin airplay. It;ll give glen and the boys more cash to make another fine album.
You'll also complain that Phantom is too mainstream by playin SOAD or Andrew WK because your into Gorkys mystical ****e band.
All of thsi may not apply to you but I think you should grow up and stop using music as a fashion accesorie.

AND PLEASE LEARN HOW TO SPELL BERETTA..

The Evil Monkey

could not agree with u more, poobags!!
people who want bands to get more air-play but then bands become main-stream and all of a sudden they're sell-outs?? no way!! I think freak of nature needs to look at why they like the music, coz if its only so u can be diiferent from everyone else who need to get into another music genre

jonny

i completely agree with poobags.

GROW UP freak of nature

the reason britney and the gang are making so much money doing very little to deserve it, whilst credible musicians working their asses off are barely scraping by, is because the people who buy it don't know any better, they have been weened on that tripe for their whole lives. kids is where the market lies and if kids are fed something else and therefore given the slightest bit of choice, all for the better. at the moment, kids think "rock" is linkin park, or crazytown, or what they see on mtv. or else you're just a "foukien hippeeee!" knowledge to the ignorant, and music to the people!!

"won't anybody think of the children!":eek:

Monkey

most of the people who listen to FM 104 won't listen at night. The people who will listen to the show are people who are already inot that type of music so nothing REALLY changes.

And isn't it presented by John Deele except with his real name ?

Genghis

Phantoms great! But I fully support any attempt to have more alternative music on 'commercial stations'. I was flicking through the channels last week and came across the show of which you speak. I had to check twice when I heard the Velvet Underground playing on FM104.

Anyway - the show was brilliant, and I love choice. The more of this the better!

It is when you can't access Phantom (basically move south or west from the city centre), then you really curse commercial channels for their inane pop playlists, or applaud them when they take 'brave' steps. Tom Dunne, Donal Dineen and Beretta fall into the second category.

All the same, if 98FM (!spit!) followed suit, I still wouldn't listen in. I do have my principles ...

back to front

It's a disgrace. It's like they want us to listen. Can anyone who did listen tell us what was being advertised during the breaks? I'd love to know.

Thomas from Presence

Its great to see a turnaround in the attitudes of Dublin radio but there is one ickle problem.

From what I observe the big two (98fm and Fm104) are loosing listeners to phantom. Phantoms raison d'etre is to play the quality music, both indigenous and international, of an indie/rock/metal variety. If the other stations delve into this territory then the licence ppl will see no reason for phantom to ever have a licence. In fact the attitude could become less tolerant and they may forcefully shut it down for good.

Conclusion - Phantom pulled off the airwaves, token airplay of mainstream indie on 98fm, smaller Irish acts get no airplay - licenced stations revert back to playing populist poo music (PPM).

Ideally I would like to see phantom going legit and keeping to its playlist policy and extending its coverage city wide. At the same time it would be welcoming to see other stations covering these genres of music too but ultimately my support would lie with the sucess of phantom.

Balance the views b4 we attack back to front so vehemently.

o sleep

very interesting point, thomas. well said. i would never have thought of that, although 98fm et al are quite slimly sickly radio stations, so nothing would surprise me.

as for freak of nature's view that most of MTV wouldn't know who dave grohl is, what planet is he from? this is the foo fighters, not Smog or Aphex Twin or some other obscure act. the foo fighters sell millions of records, sure they're lumped in with the whole alt-rock category, but that doesn't exactly mean they're the alternative.

mixer007

I didn't realise alternative music was for a select few. The more people to hear it the better, but I must agree with Tom, it's not great news for Phantom who are the masters.

SimonMaher

Interesting debate this.

First of all, its a good show that theyre doing on a Sunday night but given the DJ they have Im not surprised :-). For a Liverpool supporter he actually does a good programme.

The more decent music thats played on the radio the better in my opinion but I also very much take Thomas' point that the fact that we do pull listeners from the licenced stations (particularly 104) and that can lead to problems. However, we have reached the stage at Phantom where you have to push the thing to make it as popular as possible and take youre chances from there. Its always a concern when it looks like other stations will take away Phantoms niche in the market but realistically outside of a token show or two I can never see that happening. I think even the powers that be realise the insane nature of the situation at the moment and know that 104 isnt suddenly going to become a rock station or whatever as they know that they would only ever get 3 or 4% market share that way. And while thats fine for us, it wouldnt be fine for the shareholders of 104, 98 et al.

And yep, I know all about the citywide coverage problems. We're working on it, and if we can keep "the man" away from the door a few shillings to buy some equipment, and find a few hours we will continue our work to rectify that situation. I'll report back as soon as I know more.

Regards,

Pete Reed

Thomas from Presence

One way to get a few shillings would be for your promotions department to check their email and reply back to me!!!!!!!!!!

Thomas from Presence

One way yis could generate some cash - check your promotions email!

Circe

Why do people insist on getting so bloody elitist where music (supposedly the "universal" language) is involved?

I don't listen to FM104, 98FM or Lite FM, but other people do - that doesn't make them stupid, ignorant or mad. I may not like their choice of music, but hey, it's a free country.

At the end of the day, if you like a song, you like it, period. I challenge anyone out there to tell me that, despite their indie/alternative pretensions, they have never found themselves singing along to a catchy pop tune.

The sign of a mature, fully-rounded, music lover is someone whose record collection not only contains the Pixies et al, but also includes some disco, pop, jazz, classical, baroque, hip-hop or whatever floats their boat.

Music is not meant to be endured but enjoyed - and that's all I have to say!

atonal

Amazing levels of ignorance......

First of all Phantom id a brilliant station... I wish I could get it other than on the darn internet....

Secondly if a POP station has a late night show that is more progressive than its regular fare more power too it maybe it will open a few minds to better music... If people are not exposed to quality then how are they suppossed to recognize it?

Even the most progressive music fans generally were once pawns of the POP culture marketing trap untill they heard THAT band... the band that changed everything and suddenly gave them a whole new perspective on music (for me it was The Doors)

Anyway the more chances for that the better.

GerK

Originally posted by atonal
Amazing levels of ignorance......

Even the most progressive music fans generally were once pawns of the POP culture marketing trap untill they heard THAT band

\rant

Exactly, I have to agree. Unless you are inducted into cool music by a sibling or even parent you are by definition at the mercy of pop culture, especially if you are an angry loner.
Since Phantom is not countrywide you are basically talking about removing the chance for the next gen of pierced grungy hippy muck savages from getting a musical education and lets face it being into decent music is one of the few things that makes the average stick fighting, gaelic brawling bumpkin tolerable .. no seriously tho I love my rural brethren

Also, I may be wrong about the machinations of the radio business but don't these bands get royalties from mainstream airplay? Something Phantom and other pirates simply can't give them?

To sum up, I kinda felt the same at one point .. its hard to tolerate yer average gold sovereign wearing jhungfella and jhunwaaan when they are "rocking out" to or screeching thru every second lyric of the chorus of your favorite tune, with no concept of the meaning behind it, simply because the song has been popularized by the mind alteringly repetitive playlists of 2FM et. al. But you'll grow more tolerant as you age .. at least me and my friends did.
/rant

Ger.

freakofnature

ok, ok,


what i said just came out wrong. YEH, i agree that this way bands can get royalties and all that. BUT what i was meant to say was the whole fm104 eventually stealing phantoms precious listeners. i know thats not exactly what i said but i don't know what i got into my head that made me say it in the first place. also bout the dave grohl thing, i asked the people in my class if they knew who dave grohl was. 6 out of 30 knew. so that praoves my pint about that. i know u all hate me but don't, i don't like being hated. anyway, it got some controversy going. things were slowing down, what with tag and all.


thanks for ur time

irokie

i love the sudden 180 turn shown in attitude there nature boy. anyway, as regards your prattle about phantom actually losing listeners to fm104, all i can say is: do you actually listen to phantom? of course you do. and you don't get a chance to listen to the other stations. i never have radio choice when i'm in anyone's car, so i hear Freedom (which sometimes nearly drowns out phantom's signal, to my horror), FM104, Lite FM, Today FM, 98FM and even NRGwhateverFM. thing is, these stations put on an alternative hour or two every week. fantastic. people hear this and like it, where do they turn? ask anyone in this city who has an ounce of sense where to go to find this type of music ALL THE TIME?

PHANTOM
thankyou.

Jen-Jen

The way I see it is that having alternative shows on other stations is a very good thing. Sure my best friend lives in bray and she can't get phantom so this new show is a welcome rest for her cd player and with any luck regular fm104 listeners will tune in and start buying more 'alternative' styles of music as well as their doses of pop. To be honest I think that people listen to pop music more out of ignorance than preference. They just don't know about other styles of music out there because there is so little publicity for it really. I mean most of them just know the extremes of rock like Marilyn Manson etc. Just look at how popular David Kitt got after a little publicity? Little do the majority of the population of this fine country know about loads of artists like him. I think it's more likely to attract more phantom listeners then anything else.

Deirdre

Not entirely relevent, but on the Bray thing:

I live in Ranelagh and go to college in Bray. On the Dart on the way down to Bray I lose Phantom in the tunnel the Bray side of Dalkey, then I can pick it up again just before Shankill and lose it for good only about quarter of a mile from the station in Bray. Weird...