Should The Strawberry Alarm Clock be syndicated by UTV?

bbability · 01-12-2013 07:16PM #1

It's probably one of the best radio shows in the country at Breakfast. Since Jim has returned to team up with Mark 'Nobby' Noble they have worked very well together. Good days and bad like anyone else but why haven't UTV moved to syndicate shows like this across their network?

Greyham · 01-12-2013 08:07PM

well iradio and spin both syndicate shows essentially so there's certainly a precedent.

but who would they syndicate with outside the dublin market? live95 and c103, and just scrap their breakfast shows?

soc160 · 02-12-2013 12:24AM

bbability wrote: »

It's probably one of the best radio shows in the country at Breakfast. Since Jim has returned to team up with Mark 'Nobby' Noble they have worked very well together. Good days and bad like anyone else but why haven't UTV moved to syndicate shows like this across their network?

I don't think it would work being syndicated, I won't transfer well to a non Dublin market and the only other alternative is Q102 which is for a totally different demographic and can be gotten in Dublin anyway... I wouldn't see a point in doing it.

The_Captain · 02-12-2013 04:06PM

I think it would work very well as a national now, esp considering half the breakfast shows in this country are taking liberally from the SAC.

Although you could argue that they just steal their ideas from Hamish & Andy, but still...

JUILLIARD · 02-12-2013 04:09PM

2fm should hire them ! What could possibly go wrong ?

Skid X · 02-12-2013 06:15PM

It might not work in their favour when the Franchise Renewals come around again.

I can only find a wiki link, but North West Radio's decision to simulcast programmes by Mid West Radio may have cost them their licence in 2004

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_West_Radio

The decision to give the license to Ocean FM was a controversial one and split the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI) three votes to three, with the chair casting the deciding vote in favour of the new station.

The Commission argued that it had done so because the link up between NWR and MWR meant that not enough programmes were being produced by N.W.R. and that the station did little to attract younger listeners.[2] These claims were denied by the CEO of NWR and MWR, Paul Claffey, who said that it amounted to Dublin telling people in the north west what kind of station they should listen to.[3]

Also, while the Strawberry Alarm Clock would gain a new audience in some areas, it would alienate existing listeners who enjoy the local content from 'local' studios.

It might be a path UTV go down but they should tread carefully.

LeakyGee · 02-12-2013 08:49PM

The show works because it's on FM104

104 is so Dublin strong and let's face it the lads do and solid show & The Strawberry brand is 15+ years old.

The lad's doing what they do for a Cork/Limerick/Galway audience would be impossible as much of their observations/sagging/comedy is so 'Dublin'

If they did a totally new show on national, perhaps. Good presenters are good presenters.

Seren_ · 02-12-2013 09:46PM

Skid X wrote: »

It might not work in their favour when the Franchise Renewals come around again.

I can only find a wiki link, but North West Radio's decision to simulcast programmes by Mid West Radio may have cost them their licence in 2004

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_West_Radio

Also, while the Strawberry Alarm Clock would gain a new audience in some areas, it would alienate existing listeners who enjoy the local content from 'local' studios.

It might be a path UTV go down but they should tread carefully.

iRadio is the same in both the NE and NW now (had different mid morning shows on each station, but changed that during the summer). Think the only difference now is the localisation of the ads. Spin 1038 and Spin SW do a lot of syndication too I believe? Although maybe BAI are a bit more lenient on the youth stations. So going by that I don't know if there'd be issues from that corner.

soc160 · 03-12-2013 12:10AM

The_Captain wrote: »

I think it would work very well as a national now, esp considering half the breakfast shows in this country are taking liberally from the SAC.

Although you could argue that they just steal their ideas from Hamish & Andy, but still...

Ye, I'm just looking at it from a Dublin perspective because I'm based there and have lived there all my life.

Any listeners to LMFM, Live95 or Cork 96? What would you's think about a syndicated show coming from Dublin? How would it differ to the current breakfast shows?

gavindowd · 03-12-2013 09:24PM

I agree with the above, its too dublin-centric. Same goes for the 104 Phoneshow. You must remember the music logs of the UTV ILR's eg. Live 95 and LMFM are quite different to that of FM104. So the shows playlist would not suit the other stations.

smallfridge · 03-12-2013 10:57PM

The idea is a good one in a sense but I must admit isn't feasible outside of Dublin. The 96fm breakfast show with Nick Richards on the other hand is no. 1 in cork and actually is so basic it's brilliant and could work elsewhere. (Maybe not Dublin though)

gavindowd · 04-12-2013 08:52AM

Seren_ wrote: »

iRadio is the same in both the NE and NW now (had different mid morning shows on each station, but changed that during the summer). Think the only difference now is the localisation of the ads. Spin 1038 and Spin SW do a lot of syndication too I believe? Although maybe BAI are a bit more lenient on the youth stations. So going by that I don't know if there'd be issues from that corner.

Both Spins used to network Nikki Hayes' mid-morning show. But that ended a while ago. They both still have a Top 40 as gaeilge, but that is localised to both stations eg. local links and was on a number of irish stations at one stage. Apart from that , they don't syndicate / network anything else as far as I'm aware.

Seren_ · 04-12-2013 10:58AM

gavindowd wrote: »

Both Spins used to network Nikki Hayes' mid-morning show. But that ended a while ago. They both still have a Top 40 as gaeilge, but that is localised to both stations eg. local links and was on a number of irish stations at one stage. Apart from that , they don't syndicate / network anything else as far as I'm aware.

Ah right, I thought they were still doing that.

wnolan1992 · 04-12-2013 08:31PM

Seren_ wrote: »

Ah right, I thought they were still doing that.

I think they use the one news now as opposed to SW having it's own.

I dunno, IMO syndicating shows like that on local stations is bad idea. Maybe it's just me, but if I'm going to listen to a local radio station like C103 or Live95 it's because I want to know something specific to the area (trivial example: when I was in secondary school C103 would go on in the mornings during winter so we'd get an update on how the local roads were, buses cancelled, etc). Syndication loses that.

Not to mention that a specific "Dublin-humour" might not go down too well outside the capital (look no further than Colm and Jim-Jim's brief stint on 2FM for an example (granted that was only a contributing factor to that fiasco)).

It could work on stations like Spin and iRadio, because they're more targeting a demographic as opposed to an area.

soc160 · 04-12-2013 10:32PM

wnolan1992 wrote: »

I think they use the one news now as opposed to SW having it's own.

I dunno, IMO syndicating shows like that on local stations is bad idea. Maybe it's just me, but if I'm going to listen to a local radio station like C103 or Live95 it's because I want to know something specific to the area (trivial example: when I was in secondary school C103 would go on in the mornings during winter so we'd get an update on how the local roads were, buses cancelled, etc). Syndication loses that.

Not to mention that a specific "Dublin-humour" might not go down too well outside the capital (look no further than Colm and Jim-Jim's brief stint on 2FM for an example (granted that was only a contributing factor to that fiasco)).

It could work on stations like Spin and iRadio, because they're more targeting a demographic as opposed to an area.

I think you hit the nail on the head there without really meaning too, apart from the local/non-local appeal, stations are usually targeting a demographic rather than an area. So even though Q102 and Fm104 are located in Dublin they are targeting different demographics, as are Spin and 98Fm so they couldn't syndicate shows because it wouldn't suit.

Factor in the local appeal the shows bring to their area's and you have a unique show, also it limits the interaction between listeners and the show. 98 for example have Ryan Seacrest on, a show with no interaction between listeners and on air activity, on before a show based on interactivity... no wonder the talk show is failing.

bbability · 04-12-2013 11:03PM

wnolan1992 wrote: »

I think they use the one news now as opposed to SW having it's own.

I dunno, IMO syndicating shows like that on local stations is bad idea. Maybe it's just me, but if I'm going to listen to a local radio station like C103 or Live95 it's because I want to know something specific to the area (trivial example: when I was in secondary school C103 would go on in the mornings during winter so we'd get an update on how the local roads were, buses cancelled, etc). Syndication loses that.

Not to mention that a specific "Dublin-humour" might not go down too well outside the capital (look no further than Colm and Jim-Jim's brief stint on 2FM for an example (granted that was only a contributing factor to that fiasco))

This "Dublin Humour" statement that gets thrown out anytime something in Dublin is funny is nonsense and people need to stop referring to it as an excuse.

The Strawberry Alarm Clock has matured in recent years to become possibly of of the best shows on Irish Radio. Albeit the sketches have reduced in number but they are still good quality, the content and production surpasses it's counterparts and the ratings show that.
I think when Jim returned from " the dark side" to partner Nobby, they had a base of 60,000 listeners (after the previous presenters crashed and burned). Now they are hovering at 100k which is 20k less than Hector and on par with newstalk at the same time. So I believe they could have potential.

Should The Strawberry Alarm Clock be syndicated by UTV?

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