Another band I never hear on Nova...
No. That’s not what I’m saying. I’m saying that in a market the size of Dublin a station literally cannot afford to have that narrow a remit. Lamentable as it is to some people, it’s reality.
So what you're saying is the vast majority of Irish people have shite taste when it comes to music. I agree.
i remember years ago in the states, a radio station which played nothing but led zeppelin was launched; it didn't last long.
There’s actually a station in the US (can’t recall off hand) that plays the Billboard Top 10 on a continuous loop…..
Rocking on: Radio Nova proves the brightest star in Dublin music radio market
https://www.irishtimes.com/business/2024/08/20/rocking-on-radio-nova-proves-the-brightest-star-in-dublin-music-radio-market/
My wife was listening to one of the iHeartRadio stations in the US a few years back. If you think the repetition here is bad, this was much worse. Same as it Was by Harry Styles was played every hour! If I heard it again, I may not have been responsible for my actions. :pac:
So the station with the best music has the highest listener ratings.
Maybe good music is what attracts listeners.
As outlandish a thought as it might be, like.
They reckon they have 250k people (presumably not unique listeners?) Listening to Nova each week.
Repetitive music seems to get the ratings which in turn gets advertising revenue.
what's their audience like spread out over the day? where i'm going with that question is, would it make much difference to their listening figures if they had more specialist shows in the evenings, going for that 'ratings by day, reputation by night' approach?
at the moment, it's only kieran mcguinness who really has a decent show on the station. if they had a specialist show on wednesdays at 10pm say, i can't see it making a dent in their overall stats. i'd also be curious as to how much extra it might cost in paying for more DJs with the time and knowledge to put those shows together.
they used to have syndicated shows (duff mckagan, little steve, bruce etc.) and they tended to be way more eclectic than the normal playlist - were they losing audience while paying for those shows?
That’s not why it’s successful. It’s about playing good music that people recognise.
It really isn’t complicated
Re 106.8, it's original name was Dublin's Country 106.8. The owners then tried to get the name changed completely, but were only allowed minimal change so it became Dublin's Country Mix 106.8. Eventually they did get permission to drop "Country" from the name and that is when it was changed to Sunshine 106.8. Apparently the license they were granted did allow for more that just pure country, but they definitely were not licensed as an easy listening station, which is largely what they are now. On the other hand, Lite FM was specifically licensed as an easy listening station. It rebranded itself as Q102 four years later and has gone somewhat beyond being an easy listening station.
Radio Nova has undoubtedly over time stretched the definition of "classic rock". That said, in some cases what was considered "alternative" about 15 years ago now fits in nicely into what is considered classic rock, for example Nirvana. However, there is a fair bit of adult pop included in the playlist, which, regardless of the quality, is debatable in terms of classic rock…And of course when they do play what most would consider classic rock, they are inclined towards repetition of certain songs.
I don't see how that would make a difference, unfortunately.
Classic Hits in the 4FM days was meant to be specialist as well, and the license area was targeted to maximise audience while also minimising their transmission requirements which isn't cheap. It had an even worse initial start - at one stage Revenue got as far as petitioning in the High Court to have them wound up.
It's only now, under a similarly tight and repetitive playlist, that it has stabilised itself and is really just a jukebox station compiled from the Now decades CD boxsets.
The regional and local stations have done well out of country but even that's slowly being relegated later into the evening and weekend graveyard slots as their audience moves on in life. Local news and sports coverage also has a big part to play in keeping people tuned into them. I doubt you'd pull enough away to an all-country station than any other niche station that has tried.
Just pre-crash, there were going to be licences for two regional country stations.
I thought the poster meant a nationwide license (with more audience available) rather than country music?
I love Pat, always a bit of craic.
That's what Sunshine started out as - Country Mix 106.8. It lost money hand over fist, was up for sale within a year of going on air (with no prospective buyers showing any interest), and by the time the rebrand to Sunshine had happened some ten years after launch it had long abandoned a playlist even remotely resembling a country music station.
I started listening when PJ and Jim moved from Classic hits in the mornings .I used to turn over to Dermot and Dave but then after a while I realized that I was too old for the music they play. I listen to Nova all day now except if working late and driving home after 11pm .I put on Q102 for some easy listening then to relax
Don't really mind the mix of songs they do for me but I'm not very fond of Pat Courtney… his voice is a bit of a head wrecker
PJ and Jim work very well together and I'm so glad my youngest now loves The Beatles and Fleetwood Mac
I have fantastic memories of driving him to school the last few years and singing along or usually laughing along and now he's finished school it wont be the same
It's baffling to me that commercial success lies in repeating the same list of songs over and over, regardless of genre.
The genre is immaterial- whether you’re classic rock or alt rock or jazz or country - if your appeal isn’t broad enough you won’t survive and everyone is left with even less choice. It’s not complicated.
Great to have Marty and Dee back. Marty was saying one of his callers sounded like a girl yesterday, great to have his grumpyness back.
phantom wasn't classic rock, it was indie, so it's not a direct comparison.
i've often wondered if an all-country licence (with presumably greater listenership, more ad income, etc.) might create less pressure to go lowest common denominator.
Its funny how you’re all talking as if Phantom never existed, never failed to find an audience, never closed down.
It’s really pretty simple - you can either appeal to musos or you can have commercial sustainability - you can’t have both.
Fair play digging that up, can’t argue with that. I can say that I feel the tone of the playlist has definitely gone a lot more safe in recent years. Whatever gets advertisers on board I suppose
FM104 started off as Capital Radio and then rebranded itself as Rock104 for a year, when it had a particularly rock-oriented slant. Sometimes Radio Nova sounds a bit like the Rock104 period (1991-1992). Greg Gaughren did a stint with Rock104/FM104. CEO Kevin Branigan was not with Rock104, but he was with FM104.
'classic rock' according to this:
https://www.irishtimes.com/business/radio-nova-awarded-dublin-rock-licence-1.937290
Memory is unreliable and subjective, but it certainly was never the scope of their licence.
btw, of you think Nova is bad for repetition, don't ever have the misfortune of listening to East Coast
Unfortunately, given that the narrowing of the playlist and more severe repetition appears to have gotten them up the JNLR's, I suspect there'll be even more, not less, to come.
In a way it's the FM104 formula applied to older rock influenced hits, a formula which kept FM104 very comfortably at number one for years.
i think a good idea for a show (or for say a particular period during the day) would be to only play songs that were never released as singles.
