Now ye're talking - to Christmas FM!

Scarinae · 04-12-2018 1:03am

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?

ChristmasFM: Ronan · 04-12-2018 1:17am

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 · 04-12-2018 1:18pm

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?

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.

ChristmasFM: Ronan · 04-12-2018 3:21pm

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.

Toto Wolfcastle · 04-12-2018 3:28pm

How many tins of sweets do you and the other DJs get through in the studio?

Calhoun · 04-12-2018 4:15pm

Listened to a piece this morning about Reindeer games getting underway, absolutely brilliant and i wish my girls were of an age to understand. The commitment from the team to the Christmas experience is top notch.

Don't really have any question just more my thanks, with all the negativity in the world and the fake news crap, Christmas FM is something that is honest and good.

ChristmasFM: Ronan · 04-12-2018 4:17pm

Toto Wolfcastle wrote: »

How many tins of sweets do you and the other DJs get through in the studio?

Well we do have the absolute best sponsors when you think about it that way. Cadburys!!! Coca Cola!!! And Dunnes Stores!!!

But if your counting by definition you are doing it wrong.

CheerLouth · 04-12-2018 4:44pm

Where did you get the Sprouts suit? It's awesome!

ChristmasFM: Ronan · 04-12-2018 4:51pm

CheerLouth wrote: »

Where did you get the Sprouts suit? It's awesome!

So I mentioned earlier in the Thread about the Day Job. So that question is not doubt gonna be called a plant. But yes, during the day I'm the CEO at TheCostumeShop.ie and we sell all sorts of Crazy Christmas Suits

https://www.thecostumeshop.ie/costumes/adult-brussel-sprout-suit.html

December2012 · 04-12-2018 6:15pm

Given that you love Halloween too, would you consider doing a Halloween FM around that time of year?

ChristmasFM: Ronan · 05-12-2018 1:57pm

December2012 wrote: »

Given that you love Halloween too, would you consider doing a Halloween FM around that time of year?

Hmmm had never thought about that. Halloween is so busy in work it had never crossed my mind. Its actually a really good idea... And I know the perfect sponsor that will pay for it

What does everyone else think on that idea? I'm not sure if we could get the FM license for it, but we could definitely stream it.

Zulu · 05-12-2018 3:28pm

Halloween FM? Meh. What'll it be, the monster mash, triller, and tubular bells on repeat?

irlirishkev · 05-12-2018 3:45pm

Zulu wrote: »

Halloween FM? Meh. What'll it be, the monster mash, triller, and tubular bells on repeat?

Don't forget the entire Westlife back catalogue.

Zulu · 05-12-2018 3:46pm

irlirishkev wrote: »

Don't forget the entire Westlife back catalogue.

:pac::pac::pac:
Good man irlirishkev, you win today!!!

December2012 · 05-12-2018 3:53pm

Well I would definitely listen

seamus · 05-12-2018 4:03pm

ChristmasFM: Ronan wrote: »

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

This will belie my total ignorance of how radio stations work, but when mainstream stations get a random song request, something obscure that nobody has played since the 70s, they will often have it right there at their fingertips. They search for it, queue it and play it.

Yet, obviously you don't, your playlists are very specific and rigid. Why is this? Is it about having to negotiate royalty-free play for each song? Whereas a big station will just pay the royalties regardless?

ChristmasFM: Ronan · 05-12-2018 5:25pm

seamus wrote: »

This will belie my total ignorance of how radio stations work, but when mainstream stations get a random song request, something obscure that nobody has played since the 70s, they will often have it right there at their fingertips. They search for it, queue it and play it.

Yet, obviously you don't, your playlists are very specific and rigid. Why is this? Is it about having to negotiate royalty-free play for each song? Whereas a big station will just pay the royalties regardless?

Its not about royalties. I think this impression you got is because of the way the presenters say oh thats an interesting song request... at then immediately play it, like they haven't pre read every text message before they read them to cue up the song. The secret here is they will only play a song if its suitable and have authorisation to play it. The vast majority of song requests get ignored in main stream stations.

RTE for example have a huge basement full of a music library. Other stations have digitised catalogues.

Just because we could play a song doesn't mean we should. It's back to the punter in a night club telling the DJ that they have thousands of songs on their ipod but the DJ might just have the right vinyl records for that venue and if you don't like the music in the venue but everyone else does...

Why are our play lists set by a single person rather than the individual volunteers or the people that text in? Its about station identity. A couple of pages back people asked why type of music I listen to outside Christmas, I think we can agree, its not what appeals to the main stream audience - so what i'm saying is we try to play to the majority. I like that music in my home, but never in 20 years of presenting on Radio I have never played any of those style of songs on Radio. Its not suitable.

Another example is if we had a policy of every text getting played and then a kid with a lot of spare pocket money and a love for the Christmas Shoes Song text in every 3 minutes and we would have it on repeat. Soon we'd escalate to just one listener. This wouldn't be a good station. Just because one person really likes a song, doesn't mean the majority like it or that it should be played. There really is only so many good Christmas Songs and the average listener listens for 15 - 20 minutes at a time. So we want to play the best popular music.

Also we play about 15 songs per hour and get way more than 15 texts per hour. If we raised €120,000 this year in texts, we would have to run 12 concurrent Stations / streams to fit in that many requests (less given the repeats but you get the idea). And that's before management or presenters make any song choices. Most of the time we don't ask for listener song requests because you can imagine the complaints if we asked for a listeners to donate to request and then couldn't play that many request in a reasonable amount of time - they might feel hard done by.

So we have a playlist so songs aren't over played or under played. Not repeated in the same 2 hours segments etc. The station sounds consistent and has that Christmas FM feel. If we let volunteers control the playlist, some eager volunteer might try to fill their shows with non stop brand new music that people haven't heard of or all rock for an hour - to try and make a name for themselves or their taste in music. This might not appeal to listeners as much as the Christmas FM sound that our listeners have grown to love. So its a way of managing the work our workload.

micks_address · 05-12-2018 5:29pm

Cool thread,

Its not directly related but I've always been curious how song royalties work - if you play a song how much of a royalty is paid? Who monitors how many times a day you play it etc or is it self regulated? I'm assuming radio stations pay chunks of royalties at various intervals instead of daily etc.. does everyone pay the same rate?

Apologies if off topic.

Thanks,
Mick

The Tetrarch · 05-12-2018 7:07pm

Good King Wenceslas
Do you play it? It isn't a Christmas song.

SCOOP 64 · 05-12-2018 7:10pm

The Tetrarch wrote: »

Good King Wenceslas
Do you play it? It isn't a Christmas song.

Always thought it was?

The Tetrarch · 05-12-2018 7:12pm

SCOOP 64 wrote: »

Always thought it was?

Good King Wenceslas looked out
On the Feast of Stephen

pleas advice · 05-12-2018 7:21pm

How about East 17 Stay Another Day, or Frankie Goes To Hollywood, The Power Of Love... or Die Hard

ChristmasFM: Ronan · 05-12-2018 10:03pm

micks_address wrote: »

Cool thread,

Its not directly related but I've always been curious how song royalties work - if you play a song how much of a royalty is paid? Who monitors how many times a day you play it etc or is it self regulated? I'm assuming radio stations pay chunks of royalties at various intervals instead of daily etc.. does everyone pay the same rate?

Apologies if off topic.

Thanks,
Mick

I don't look after this area in the station but as far as i'm aware there is a license to be on air to the PPI and IMRO, as do all businesses when a radio or any music player is present. So if you have a radio in work or listen to youtube, your employer will be contributing to the songwriters and artists.

http://www.ppimusic.ie/about-ppi/what-is-ppi

"PPI controls the public performance, broadcasting, and other rights in hundreds of thousands of recordings on thousands of different labels. These include not only Irish recordings but also most recordings available worldwide. The list of recordings in PPI’s repertoire is constantly increasing as new titles are released. A licence from PPI gives you the right to play virtually any sound recording from anywhere in the world."

ChristmasFM: Ronan · 05-12-2018 10:04pm

The Tetrarch wrote: »

Do you play....

Best to listen in and find out that way.

Dr_serious2 · 05-12-2018 10:22pm

Boards.ie: Niamh wrote: »

Folks, can we get back to asking Ronan questions about working on the station rather than opinions on what song(s) are or are not on the playlist? As he has already said, he has no influence over the stations playlist. Thanks.

'Boards ask me anything'- except uncomfortable questions that I don't want to answer.

Scarinae · 05-12-2018 10:40pm

I’ve just discovered the Christmas FM Classical station on the app - after listening to a fab rendition of O Holy Night and a piece from The Nutcracker (I think the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy?) I think I’ll definitely be tuning into this more frequently! Are the other stations broadcast on the radio somewhere along with the main station, or is it just an app/online thing?

ChristmasFM: Ronan · 05-12-2018 10:45pm

Dr_serious2 wrote: »

'Boards ask me anything'- except uncomfortable questions that I don't want to answer.

Ah where would boards be without it's keyboard warriors. No that's not the case that any questions have been uncomfortable... But I'm not gonna pretend I know everything about the station when I don't or take credit for other peoples work that look after aspects of the Radio station. For example that last answer on PPI I had to Google and as the poster mentioned it doesn't relate directly to what its like being a presenter on this specific station.

I'm also, as mentioned before, not going to spend my time phoning up people and asking them to looking up playlists for individual songs or publicly discuss the merits of a decision someone else on the team made. I just don't have that sort of free time, nor do the people i'd need to call. And what's the point - if the person asking was a regular listener they'd know if they'd heard it before or not? These are easy questions to ask, kind of unimportant and take a lot more time to answer than ask.

ChristmasFM: Ronan · 05-12-2018 10:47pm

Scarinae wrote: »

I’ve just discovered the Christmas FM Classical station on the app - after listening to a fab rendition of O Holy Night and a piece from The Nutcracker (I think the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy?) I think I’ll definitely be tuning into this more frequently! Are the other stations broadcast on the radio somewhere along with the main station, or is it just an app/online thing?

Just the main Christmas FM gets the FM license as these are very hard to get and highly contested. The rest are available on DAB radio and via streaming.

Boards.ie: Niamh · 12-12-2018 5:17pm

I'm going to close this one up now too. Thanks a million to Ronan for taking the time to answer so many questions - I feel like we all know a bit more about Christmas FM now!

Don't forget that their charity partner this year is Temple Street Children's Hospital. To donate, tune in to Christmas FM and text the station with your request. All texts cost €2 which is donated to the charity. Alternatively you can donate on the Christmas FM website here.

You can find your local frequency for radio here or listen online here.

Now ye're talking - to Christmas FM!

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