Now ye're talking - to Christmas FM!

dinnybyrne wrote: »

Ronan can you tell us how many people complained? I bet its less than five.....

I don't know the stats to be honest. We didn't compile a log. Like you said I doubt it was many as it wasn't played much to begin with.

You'd be amazed what people can find to complain about in life. Does Mariah Carey or Wham need to get their self worth from someone else's love and should we be teaching this to kids?...

Just read back over posts on this thread - Should Christmas exist if some people don't like it and it makes them feel bad? Is it right to raise any money for any charity?

People moan about things like not preferring the charities we've supported compared to a charity they would have chosen if they had the time to do any fund raising themselves; the songs we've played or not played; if a text didn't skip the queue and get read out straight away or a name that was pronounced wrong and they made a donation which they feel entitles them to airtime or a refund; a request for the Christmas Shoes Song that was or wasn't played; or because we didn't give them a show when they felt entitled to it despite not having enough experience. The list goes on and to be honest, none of them (like this issue) are big deals.

I think its lazy journalism. CNN had this story yesterday about an America Radio station and today, 24 hours later, Irish websites rehashed it and put our name in the cross fire having picked up we don't play it to try and make it click bait and relevant to the Ireland Market. Why us, because if you had to chose a place that plays Christmas music - we're the first to come to mind.

Honestly I'd love to get away from giving this fake news story more attention.

selectamatic wrote: »

Any plans for fm coverage to be extended to the Mayo/Roscommon area of the country in the near future? It seems to be one of the last blindspots.

So we won't be adding more FM transmitters this season I'm afraid. We choose the transmitters based on broadcasting sites and equipment available, population density, volume of listeners in areas that we don't broadcast in (IP addresses listening online) and available funds from Corporate sponsors. Coca Cola, Cadburys and Dunnes Stores all make major and very generous contributions to our operating expenses and we deploy these funds as best we can. That way Donations go straight to the charity Partner we've chosen. The more listeners that we have the more likely they might want contribute more next year to get a further reach. So if you choose to buy from them this Christmas, it does in turn support us for next year.

I think we have a fairly good coverage all things considered and the streaming and DAB services hopefully facilitates the others, but yes I'm aware that is one of the FM blind spots. I know that's really annoying if you've bad broadband and FM reception in the same area. Sorry.

eviltwin wrote: »

What's the most requested song? Is it fairly consistent over the years or does it change year on year?

The most requested song is Fairy Tale of New York from the Pogues. Closely followed by Mariah Carey - All i want for Christmas, Last Christmas, Driving home for Christmas etc.

Then all the songs that the boardies like in LoughC's post that got more than 7% of the vote tend to feature in the requests.

Loughc wrote: »

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057932688&page=2

Scarinae wrote: »

I will be in Ireland for a few weeks over Christmas but I only have a UK mobile phone. Is there any way for me to text in requests and donate? Or would I have to borrow an Irish phone off someone to do it?

You can donate and we allow contacts via the website for out of state visitors. ChristmasFm.com

Deedsie wrote: »

Would you play the Christy Moore version of Fairytale? I love the song in general but sometimes its nice to listen to alternative versions of a song?

Its not on our list at the moment, we get requests for the Pogues version. I'm not in charge of playlists.

Deedsie wrote: »

Lazy journalism whatever, it was a terrible decision to let it look like the station removed Baby its cold outside based on the lyrical content. Really annoyed me.

I'm not getting into this again after this. We cant control the fake news stories that people make up, the story was a CNN story about a different station and someone saw it was controversial in the US tried to make it relevant to Ireland by implying it was the same at Christmas FM. It wasn't. The song was dropped well before all this happened because no one was texting in asking for it, it wasn't popular - we drop songs all the time and add new ones. When it went no one missed it or asked for it - which makes me think very few people consider it their favourite Song around Christmas and removing it was a good idea. If you want to demonstrate in a way that has a chance of making a difference to the playlist text in the station asking for it and making a donation. Text XMAS followed by a space then your message to 50300. Texts cost €2 proceeds to to @Temple_Street Despite all the attention that fake news is getting... it's not made a blip on the requested songs list. I think thats because when someone decides to donate, they'll find that they have other songs they prefer.

The lyrical content we took into account at the time was the fact that its not actually a Christmas Song!! It doesn't mention Christmas once, or festive cheer and we are a Christmas Radio Station. It's about as relevant as playing Spice up your life by the spice girls because people ate a spiced meal over Christmas.

Here's the thing. My PERSONAL opinion is: if we let everyone have a say in what gets played, we'll sound like every other radio station. We'd start playing the billboard top 10 and the 15 year olds that have the time to petition for whoever the Justin Beiber of today is to be played all the time. If we asked for popular opinion of wether people were missing non stop Christmas Music before we started people would have said that's madness and no one will want or listen to that. When Henry Ford started the ford motor company, if he asked what people wanted they would have said a faster horse.

As an organisation, we set out to start one radio station. We've ended up with 5 radio stations because people said they wanted More Classics, More Crooners, More back ground style, More songs applicable to the UK listeners... On top of what we already do. My opinion is the founders and team put huge amounts of effort into keeping as many people as happy as possible - we are aware we cannot keep everyone happy. We are also aware Youtube and Spotify can satisfy those people instantly. I've said before on this thread i like other songs too, including that one, that aren't play listed or suitable and I listen to them. So if ChristmasFM doesn't play 100% of the songs you like - try a mix and match or maybe find your bliss elsewhere for a portion of your time. But please don't take the fact that one person has a slightly different taste and opinion of music as a reason not to Support the AMAZING work the people at Temple Street Hospital do.

That song is not even on the boards.ie list of decent Christmas songs either. Not to sounds like a Grinch, but I'm not gonna be replying to any more comments on this, songs people do or don't like or play lists because honestly I've established I don't have (or want) any control on playlists. So please folks can we go back on topic or maybe let this forum fizzle out if I've covered all the questions on what its like being involved in the station. There's an opportunity cost to time and focus, so I'm going to need to be a little fussy on what I do and don't engage with. I apologise in advance if I don't reply to all comments going forward.