CLASSIC HITS OR 4FM

Sheep Shagger wrote: »

Mike Hogan the producer of the breakfast programme is going to the Pat Kenny show on Newstalk.

I'd say getting separated from PJ and Jim didn't help...

Mike disliked PJ to no end, you could see it clear as day how frustrated he used to get with him. That one or two weeks when PJ went off filming for young offenders and mike filled in was the greatest week or so of classic hits I ever heard. The two of them sounded like they were having the time of their lives with PJ gone!

JDxtra wrote: »

Classic Hits have added a "." to the end of their RDS name ("CLASSIC.")

A bit cheeky of them to call themselves Ireland's Classic Hits when you can't receive them outside of Dublin, Cork, Clare, Limerick or Galway; Clare wouldn't have it were it not for them being sandwiched between Limerick and Galway.

AwaitYourReply wrote: »

Take DAB in Ireland which never went beyond trial phase and was recently closed by RTÉ Radio after many years. The listenership figures did not make it a sound investment despite most of the major population centres covered in same trial. FM lives on stronger than ever in Ireland with so much competition.

DAB never went beyond the trial phase, because the incumbent stations did not want it, it is as simple as that. FM lives on, because the broadcasters have an oligopoly at best, monopoly at worst and there is effectively no competition - in fact - I would assert that in its refusal to pursue the licensing of DAB, the BAI actively blocked competition in the Irish radio market.

While I could criticise the mainstream UK radio stations for being every bit as bland, boring and Ctrl-C-Ctrl-V, at least the UK has both national and local DAB multiplexes and consequently vastly more choice in what one can listen to without a) depending on the reliability of mobile phone services.


I have found myself tuning into Classic Hits as a default in the absence of my preferred stations and the abundance of Sport on RTE R1, occasionally TodayFM for when Classic isn't receivable. I can't particularly complain about most of the music on it, finding it at least reasonable even if not entirely to my taste.

The funeral notices generally make in excess of €100k a year for stations. Dont you dare miss them either lest you face the wrath of the blue rinse brigade!

Jeremy Dixon, Adrian Kennedy's side-kick and producer of the old FM104 Phoneshow is now the producer of the Colm and Lucy breakfast show.

Just spotted this post now as I get used to the new Boards functionality!

More recently, of course, Jeremy and Adrian had been co-hosting a phone-in show on 98FM until the plug was pulled this year.

There are quite a few other people connected to Classic Hits in various capacities, who, along with Jeremy Dixon, have previously been with FM104: Colm Hayes, Niall Boylan, Damien Farrelly, Enda Murphy and Robbie Fogarty

It is my understanding that the 4 referred to Dublin, Cork, Galway and Limerick, but that Co. Clare was also included in the license! Of course, it can be picked up by other commuter areas, for example Co. Kildare.

That's what I understood as well. However the coverage in the west is far better than in the eastern part of the country. They could have made that one a nationwide service as well. FM frequencies are still available.

It's most likely a licensing issue than a question of available FM frequencies. Even if they were to apply for a nationwide license there will most likely be existing radio-stations which will most certainly object, as they fear loss of revenue.

I think that Radio Nova from Dublin once tried to do that, or at least tried to get a license for Cork, but no luck.