Breakfast with Ray (Foley) and Jay [Cork's Red FM, 6am-9am]

Synode · 04-11-2015 2:50pm

Is it real hatred or could he be taking the mick?

L1011 · 04-11-2015 2:53pm

Chip Whitley wrote: »

and have Dublin Talks the late evening show.

Apparently Kennedy/Dixon are contracted for daytimes only, so that's not possible

Chip Whitley · 04-11-2015 4:46pm

Synode wrote: »

Is it real hatred or could he be taking the mick?

I wouldn't say it is real hatred as such, he was definitely serious in his slagging of them though. I'd say it's more of a 'disdain' for their style of radio. I can't understand it though. To me, himself and JP are very close in terms of dynamic and style to Dermot & Dave.

When they took over the lunchtime slot Ray said something along the lines of 'at one time D&D were known in industry circles as a byword for poor radio' which might have been true at one time back in the day, but personally hearing him slag them off and then slag Today FM for poor choices and their direction in general, it (a) came across as sour grapes and (b) dashed my hopes of him returning to the station in the near future if he was going to burn too many bridges.

I remember him saying though that at one time he would have been really pissed off with Today FM 's direction but both himself and JP said a lot had changed there since they had left and it wasn't the same place they had worked at. Around that time iirc Ann and Shauna were seemingly told they couldn't do the NTN Podcast too so that might have added to his frustration.

However he feels about Today FM now I don't know, but from a listener point of view the station is flying it for me. It seems like great craic working there and it comes across from all aspects of the station, from the presenters, newsreaders, sports people, social media etc. In an ideal world I'd have Ray, JP and Adelle back there, but considering they've all left along with Ray D'Arcy, KC and the passing of Tony Fenton, Today FM are still the strongest station nationally imo.

L1011 wrote: »

Apparently Kennedy/Dixon are contracted for daytimes only, so that's not possible

Oh right, I was just being hypotethical though, I knew what I suggested would be near impossible to do.

soc160 · 05-11-2015 7:03pm

Synode wrote: »

Not everything needs to be aimed at gaining new listeners. Us loyal fans need to be entertained too

True. I guess they are looking to build publicity and hype around it but the problems are deeper and rooted in the show's format it seems. If I was PD at 98 I wouldn't give it the go ahead though, seems a vanity project. I'd figures where improving it would be fine to ok something like that but it's a major project that will probably effect everyone in the station.

IUA14 · 07-11-2015 4:05pm

Naked Breakfast date and some details: http://www.rds.ie/cat_event_detail.jsp?itemID=1103957

bbability · 07-11-2015 8:11pm

Has he gone yet? Have 98fm come to there senses?

IUA14 · 07-11-2015 8:15pm

Care to elaborate?

DopeTech · 07-11-2015 11:29pm

bbability wrote: »

Has he gone yet? Have 98fm come to there senses?

Back Monday afaik.

LeakyGee · 08-11-2015 9:08pm

Foley is in my view the best music/banter/content presenter in the country
He's very very talented.

But when **** is not working, get out of there before you're pushed out of there.

He has 37k tuned in daily. Aidan and Clare had 50+ and they got taken off air.

98fm is it's own biggest enemy. Millions of changes over the past 7 or 8 years.
104 is the King of Dublin because of one word - Consistency.

I think they need to put Barry Dunne on breakfast and run out
a tight music and information breakfast show.

chilloutrelax · 08-11-2015 9:18pm

LeakyGee wrote: »

Foley is in my view the best music/banter/content presenter in the country
He's very very talented.

But when **** is not working, get out of there before you're pushed out of there.

He has 37k tuned in daily. Aidan and Clare had 50+ and they got taken off air.

98fm is it's own biggest enemy. Millions of changes over the past 7 or 8 years.
104 is the King of Dublin because of one word - Consistency.

I think they need to put Barry Dunne on breakfast and run out
a tight music and information breakfast show.

I agree with the overall sentiment. 98fm is a mess and he will never be a success on that station. If they were on any other Dublin station they would be much further ahead rating wise.

IUA14 · 08-11-2015 10:18pm

For anyone that is interested check out the latest The Manual Podcast with Mike Sheridan interviewing Dara Quilty. If you like Foley and podcasts you will enjoy it.

If you skip to about 1 hour 5 mins he talks a little about 98FM and Foley in particular who he has a lot of respect for. Also talks about trying to grow the station as the alternative to 104 and the issues 98FM had previously with branding etc. Gives a shout out to Chris Moyles and Dermot and Dave too.

IUA14 · 09-11-2015 2:21pm

Good show today, the lads really taking the mick out of themselves about how things are going on 98 today...sure what else can they do at this stage I guess!

Interesting to hear JP and his good friend Claire are no more...and the resulting Ian Dempsey story from Saturday night was hilarious, had me in stitches!

jezzer · 09-11-2015 3:07pm

whats the deal? where will ray and jp go now? surely dermot and daves old today fm slot is the best place for them?

IUA14 · 09-11-2015 3:29pm

There is no deal, they are at 98FM and doubt they will move along anytime soon. Previously someone mentioned here that their initial 3 year deal would have been up last month so they have seemingly signed a new one and I doubt they will cancel the show after just adding Muireann to the line up a couple of months ago.

Dermot and Dave's old Today FM slot? You mean Foley's old slot and their current one? Don't ever see them going back to lunchtimes, they will most likely stay with breakfast or do drive time...which, when you think about it could be a better fit for them in the long-term?

bbability · 09-11-2015 4:42pm

IUA14 wrote: »

Dermot and Dave's old Today FM slot? You mean Foley's old slot and their current one? Don't ever see them going back to lunchtimes, they will most likely stay with breakfast or do drive time...which, when you think about it could be a better fit for them in the long-term?

Well they don't fit in on 98fm breakfast. The old rival has over double the audience. The student station next door has more listeners. That would have never been tolerated before. Its a numbers game no matter how you or I look at it and they have poor ratings.

chilloutrelax · 09-11-2015 8:31pm

bbability wrote: »

Well they don't fit in on 98fm breakfast. The old rival has over double the audience. The student station next door has more listeners. That would have never been tolerated before. Its a numbers game no matter how you or I look at it and they have poor ratings.

I'd bet that q102 will also be ahead of them in the next book with an extended show and Dave Harrington in place.
I'd guess they are also the most expensive breakfast show in Dublin, between salaries and marketing costs. Businesses (98fm is one I think, not so sure anymore) look for a return on investment so I would imagine management are having discussions regarding options to solve this ongoing problem.

IUA14 · 09-11-2015 11:57pm

chilloutrelax wrote: »

I'd bet that q102 will also be ahead of them in the next book with an extended show and Dave Harrington in place.
I'd guess they are also the most expensive breakfast show in Dublin, between salaries and marketing costs. Businesses (98fm is one I think, not so sure anymore) look for a return on investment so I would imagine management are having discussions regarding options to solve this ongoing problem.

You would like to think so but this isn't a new problem, its been this way for a while and no massive changes to the show format that I can see. Looking at the ratings breakdown 104 have a huge jump from 7:45 so maybe 98FM need to combat that with some music segment...like "songs you wont hear anywhere else" and do solid music until the bulletin at 8 to offer something different and an alternative to 104.

Regardless this is all a mute point until the next book because I cannot see anything happening before then realistically.

Listened to the podcast today for the bits of this mornings show I missed and strong show...JP's break-up story and the "Stellar ****e...I mean Shine Awards" part out of the 8:30 Gossip Boys was brilliant...more of same please.

Loughc · 10-11-2015 8:51am

You can apply for tickets for the naked breakfast here.

http://www.98fm.com/Naked

Best of luck! Tickets should be ok. RDS is a big venue.

jezzer · 10-11-2015 8:59am

IUA14 wrote: »

There is no deal, they are at 98FM and doubt they will move along anytime soon. Previously someone mentioned here that their initial 3 year deal would have been up last month so they have seemingly signed a new one and I doubt they will cancel the show after just adding Muireann to the line up a couple of months ago.

Dermot and Dave's old Today FM slot? You mean Foley's old slot and their current one? Don't ever see them going back to lunchtimes, they will most likely stay with breakfast or do drive time...which, when you think about it could be a better fit for them in the long-term?

Yes I think drive time would suit them way better, they are just not breakfast show material, i think they should never have left today fm anyway

Chip Whitley · 10-11-2015 10:13am

"The Ray Foley Show.... Unquestionably.... one of Dublin's... breakfast shows"
:pac::pac::pac:

Definitely applying for Naked Breakfast tix, would love to go! Hope the fact I'm an online (outside Dublin) listener won't go against me.

soc160 · 10-11-2015 6:45pm

chilloutrelax wrote: »

I agree with the overall sentiment. 98fm is a mess and he will never be a success on that station. If they were on any other Dublin station they would be much further ahead rating wise.

Would they though? Apart from maybe 104 who are much further ahead. 98 have given them every opportunity to make it work within reason, huge investment in marketing, adding a female voice, opening the playlisting up, cutting the show's time down... The schedule has been settled for a year now and it hasn't made a difference yet. They would be more restricted at most other stations in dublin.

IUA14 · 10-11-2015 7:01pm

Well other stations that are ahead of them, essentially 104 and Spin haven't had as dire a time over the last decade as 98 so probably, yes. Yes 98FM have invested in the show and but have not changed the format at all really. The show is the same length as it always was.

soc160 · 10-11-2015 7:07pm

IUA14 wrote: »

Well other stations that are ahead of them, essentially 104 and Spin haven't had as dire a time over the last decade as 98 so probably, yes. Yes 98FM have invested in the show and but have not changed the format at all really. The show is the same length as it always was.

So two, it would be more successful on two other stations in dublin primarily because they already have a listener base. They started on a show that had more listeners than it does now so the evidence isn't really there to support that.

I agree that the format doesn't suit them and it hasn't changed but that's more on them than it is 98, most breakfast shows follow tgat format and seeing ad Foley is a like him or hate him person, swapping to a personality based show could alienate more listeners.

IUA14 · 10-11-2015 8:36pm

Okay so out of curiosity and the fact people are always coming back to figures as a reason Foley should be given the boot I looked it up and Foley had 151,000 listeners when he left Today FM in October 2012 and was the 24th most listened to show in the country but crucially only 25,000 of those listeners were in Dublin.

98FM in Q4 2012 had 113,000 less listeners than FM104 and 37,000 less than Spin 1038. From Q4 in 2010 98FM had been on a sharp decline and FM104 a steady rise. In Foley's first quarter, 2013 Q1, 98FM was 123,000 listeners behind FM104 and 45,000 behind Spin1038. And in the all important numbers the breakfast show on 98FM and Foley were pulling in about 22,000 listeners. By the next book in 2013 Q2, 98FM were 138,000 listeners behind FM104 and even 8,000 behind Q102 and Foley only had 19,000 listeners by the looks of the graphs. In Q3 98FM lost another 33,000 listeners and dropped 54,000 listeners behind Spin1038. Obviously schedule changes and music changes are a key reason here, they took the hit then and stopped playing it safe to hopefully improve things down the line.

The gap now between FM104 and 98FM as of last book was 88,000 and Spin1038 was 41,000 so as a station 98FM has made significant gains since that time. So while Foley's numbers have dropped the last two books it is a far cry from where they were in their first year for both them and 98FM. I think for the first time in a long while 98FM now has a settled schedule and station brand from 6am to 9pm and the station management will see how it does over the next 12 months. Yes Foley came on board at the end of 2012 but the station changed schedules every 6 months since then which doesn't help, now they are settled down I reckon they will see how they do before jumping the gun and changing things again.

Here is the links for anyone wanting the data:
http://www.ilevel.ie/media-blog/radio/nlr-2013-1-national-stations
http://www.ilevel.ie/media-blog/radio/jnlr-2013-2-dublin-radio-listnership
http://www.ilevel.ie/media-blog/radio/jnlr-2015q3-dublin-listenership

chilloutrelax · 10-11-2015 8:47pm

IUA14 wrote: »

Okay so out of curiosity and the fact people are always coming back to figures as a reason Foley should be given the boot I looked it up and Foley had 151,000 listeners when he left Today FM in October 2012 and was the 24th most listened to show in the country but crucially only 25,000 of those listeners were in Dublin.

98FM in Q4 2012 had 113,000 less listeners than FM104 and 37,000 less than Spin 1038. From Q4 in 2010 98FM had been on a sharp decline and FM104 a steady rise. In Foley's first quarter, 2013 Q1, 98FM was 123,000 listeners behind FM104 and 45,000 behind Spin1038. And in the all important numbers the breakfast show on 98FM and Foley were pulling in about 22,000 listeners. By the next book in 2013 Q2, 98FM were 138,000 listeners behind FM104 and even 8,000 behind Q102 and Foley only had 19,000 listeners by the looks of the graphs. In Q3 98FM lost another 33,000 listeners and dropped 54,000 listeners behind Spin1038. Obviously schedule changes and music changes are a key reason here, they took the hit then and stopped playing it safe to hopefully improve things down the line.

The gap now between FM104 and 98FM as of last book was 88,000 and Spin1038 was 41,000 so as a station 98FM has made significant gains since that time. So while Foley's numbers have dropped the last two books it is a far cry from where they were in their first year for both them and 98FM. I think for the first time in a long while 98FM now has a settled schedule and station brand from 6am to 9pm and the station management will see how it does over the next 12 months. Yes Foley came on board at the end of 2012 but the station changed schedules every 6 months since then which doesn't help, now they are settled down I reckon they will see how they do before jumping the gun and changing things again.

Here is the links for anyone wanting the data:
http://www.ilevel.ie/media-blog/radio/nlr-2013-1-national-stations
http://www.ilevel.ie/media-blog/radio/jnlr-2013-2-dublin-radio-listnership
http://www.ilevel.ie/media-blog/radio/jnlr-2015q3-dublin-listenership

I respect your attempt to analyse the figures, however your analysis is not very robust and isn't how the sector or others for that matter would make conclusions. There are many reasons for it but the clear fact is they haven't delivered the goods.

I strongly disagree regarding 98FMs brand and schedule - it's a mess and lacks clear strategic market positioning.

Travismccoy · 10-11-2015 8:53pm

IUA - not having a go at you, I actually commend you trying to break down the JNLR figures - but some of them at the very least are wrong. Ray has never had only 19,000 in Dublin. He has however been falling overall in reach and share since he took over. You're also using weekly reach and mixing it in with breakfast show comparisons so I fear the above is confusing and misleading. Agree with you that they have to let things breathe now though and see how it works (quite the gamble if it isn't working).

IUA14 · 10-11-2015 8:58pm

Well that was condescending...and how would "the sector or others" make their conclusions?

Not robust? I just presented the picture of where they started from and where they are now since people keep bringing up their predecessors and listenership figures which I think is a fair way to do it. I do not disagree that they have not delivered on what was expected of them and that their figures are not good enough, especially dropping 6,000 the last two books. We can all have our opinions here but the station management will decide what they want and evidently at the moment they are keeping things intact and will see how it plays out.

People can disagree all they want but I think 98FM's brand and schedule apart from Dublin Talks is pretty decent.

IUA14 · 10-11-2015 9:00pm

Travismccoy wrote: »

IUA - not having a go at you, I actually commend you trying to break down the JNLR figures - but some of them at the very least are wrong. Ray has never had only 19,000 in Dublin. He has however been falling overall in reach and share since he took over. You're also using weekly reach and mixing it in with breakfast show comparisons so I fear the above is confusing and misleading. Agree with you that they have to let things breathe now though and see how it works (quite the gamble if it isn't working).

The 19,000 I got from the hourly breakdown of listenership in Dublin in 2013 Q2, the link is attached and graph is midway down the page. The weekly reach figures were simply to show the gaps in audience between stations and how far behind 98FM was and is.

Travismccoy · 10-11-2015 9:04pm

IUA14 wrote: »

The 19,000 I got from the hourly breakdown of listenership in Dublin in 2013 Q2, the link is attached and graph is midway down the page. The weekly reach figures were simply to show the gaps in audience between stations and how far behind 98FM was and is.

That sounds like an average quarter figure.

chilloutrelax · 10-11-2015 9:31pm

IUA14 wrote: »

Well that was condescending...and how would "the sector or others" make their conclusions?

Not robust? I just presented the picture of where they started from and where they are now since people keep bringing up their predecessors and listenership figures which I think is a fair way to do it. I do not disagree that they have not delivered on what was expected of them and that their figures are not good enough, especially dropping 6,000 the last two books. We can all have our opinions here but the station management will decide what they want and evidently at the moment they are keeping things intact and will see how it plays out.

People can disagree all they want but I think 98FM's brand and schedule apart from Dublin Talks is pretty decent.

I said it as politely as I could.... I swear

The correlations between the figures you state don't stack up. We can agree to disagree on the schedule but the figures are the figures.

soc160 · 10-11-2015 11:12pm

IUA14 wrote: »

The 19,000 I got from the hourly breakdown of listenership in Dublin in 2013 Q2, the link is attached and graph is midway down the page. The weekly reach figures were simply to show the gaps in audience between stations and how far behind 98FM was and is.

At no point was 98's breakfast at 19k listeners. The graph also says FM104 had about 55k, when they trumpet figures of 90k or so.

I don't understand these reports very well, I know someone else will explain how they work but the figures for the Local stations never match what the stations themselves claim. I know the stations get far more detailed books and I assume that's what Ilevel work off, the BAI release a press release with some stats too.

I think your figures are mixing different things together, someone else will probably explain these better and how to understand them.

IUA14 · 11-11-2015 12:04am

Well if anyone can explain the listenership charts from iLevel then please do because it is confusing. The figures that I am using that are not stacking up I took directly from the links I included. I do realise the weekly reach part I may have confused you on my using the word listeners so my bad on that.

Leaving the listenership figures aside and just dealing with the reach figures its clear to see 98FM was in a bad way since 2010 and more-so in 2013 which seems to be the lowest point they were at so they have had limited success in clawing back some lost ground, and previous to the last two books which by all accounts were bad, they had been slowly growing. Emphasis on slowly. Anyways, this is a radio show thread so this figures debate needs to hit pause until the next set comes out.

Applied for tickets to The Naked Breakfast today and excited to see what other announcements they have for that over the next couple of weeks.

IUA14 · 11-11-2015 12:24am

On a completely different point did anyone else notice that Foley's twitter went from "The Ray Foley Show" to "Ray Foley" and the 98FM picture of himself and JP changed to Ray on Saturday AM?

He seemed to imply that he was told to tweet more yesterday so maybe he is making it more of a personal twitter account now?

Loughc · 11-11-2015 12:32am

Yea I noticed that about his Twitter as well. I can imagine once the naked breakfast is done and Christmas we'll be seeing a change up in the breakfast show sadly.

I really like the non formatted bits and chats they do. If only they gave him more reigns to do more off the cuff stuff.

IUA14 · 11-11-2015 10:26am

I'm not so sure we will see a change and the lads leaving if they had in fact extended their contracts. I would love them to go somewhere they have a fighting chance at being successful and doing a show, like you said, less formatted.

But besides all that I am really enjoying the show this week, on good form and the start of the show with their incredulous "we're back on the air today".

Synode · 11-11-2015 4:21pm

Only caught from 9:15am this morning. The interview with Nadia Forde was very funny.

Can't believe the show isn't more popular. It's by far the best breakfast show out there

bbability · 11-11-2015 5:04pm

Synode wrote: »

Only caught from 9:15am this morning. The interview with Nadia Forde was very funny.

Can't believe the show isn't more popular. It's by far the best breakfast show out there

But its not. Its ranked 6th in Dublin. #realitycheck

Synode · 11-11-2015 5:24pm

bbability wrote: »

But its not. Its ranked 6th in Dublin. #realitycheck

There's no accounting for some people's taste :pac:

IUA14 · 11-11-2015 6:30pm

Yano the saying, biggest isn't always best.

Naked Breakfast promo has begun with this little video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l90ciy6WhCM

Loughc · 11-11-2015 8:01pm

IUA14 wrote: »

Yano the saying, biggest isn't always best.

Naked Breakfast promo has begun with this little video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l90ciy6WhCM

Can't wait. Last years show was so good!

chilloutrelax · 11-11-2015 9:53pm

Synode wrote: »

There's no accounting for some people's taste :pac:

There is - it's called the JNLR and is published every quarter. ;-)

IUA14 · 11-11-2015 10:27pm

Lets aim for one day's chat about the show and not JNLR's which won't be out till February? :-)

Liking the WhatsApp audio bits they are doing with listeners on the show, the unenthusiastic guy today with the "skiddly-bon-bon-ding-dang" was gas! Show is a bit more craic this week, enjoying it!

Loughc · 11-11-2015 10:30pm

Enjoying it immensely this week too. I think it's a mixture of having a week off, hyped about the naked breakfast and most likely they've stopped caring as they know their job is out of their hands now.

Foley is always at his best when he feels there's no consequences.

IUA14 · 11-11-2015 10:39pm

I'm not so sure they are going anywhere but it could be that they are finally being given a little bit of leeway since tried and tested has failed to deliver and are starting to enjoy themselves a little and make GREAT radio again.

Either way enjoying it and I think I love Nadia Forde after todays interview, makes such a difference when they genuinely enjoy an interview.

wnolan1992 · 12-11-2015 7:58am

As much as I'm enjoying the Whatsapp thing, you've gotta admit it's very similar to what D&D do with Boast... :pac:

*ducks to avoid the wrath of Foley*

L1011 · 12-11-2015 8:19am

wnolan1992 wrote: »

As much as I'm enjoying the Whatsapp thing, you've gotta admit it's very similar to what D&D do with Boast... :pac:

*ducks to avoid the wrath of Foley*

Well, he's never had an original idea and Moyles isnt back on air long enough to nick from, so...

Synode · 12-11-2015 9:35am

wnolan1992 wrote: »

As much as I'm enjoying the Whatsapp thing, you've gotta admit it's very similar to what D&D do with Boast... :pac:

*ducks to avoid the wrath of Foley*

Everyone's doing it now. Your man on at 7pm (Fergal ?) on Today FM started using Boast last night too.

What can they do. It's funny and allows fans interact with the show. I'm all for it

IUA14 · 12-11-2015 11:14am

I agree, its a good idea and WhatsApp is much more accessible for listeners cause most people have it...also are 98 still the only station you can text for free using WhatsApp?

Gas start to the show this morning..."I'm thinking about balls". Foley looks about 12 in the pic of the three of them he put on Twitter this morning, certainly losing the weight!

Synode · 12-11-2015 11:21am

Said photo. He's looking great. Is he back hitting the Gym?

https://twitter.com/rayfoleyshow/status/664757769594142720

iseegirls · 12-11-2015 11:54am

IUA14 wrote: »

Liking the WhatsApp audio bits they are doing with listeners on the show, the unenthusiastic guy today with the "skiddly-bon-bon-ding-dang" was gas! Show is a bit more craic this week, enjoying it!

Loved this yesterday! Made that excruciating traffic bearable listening to him.

Breakfast with Ray (Foley) and Jay [Cork's Red FM, 6am-9am]

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