Covid 19 could close some stations

Howard100 · 20-03-2020 4:33pm #1

It was announced today that the BAI will waive their broadcasting charges for all local stations for the first 6 months of the year, saving local radio about 1 million. As welcome as this is, i fear that some local radio stations are going fold without emergency funding.

Very few stations in Ireland will be able to sustain months of this. There will be job loses and i'd say lots of 'for sale' signs will be put up.

Very dark days for the industry.

medoc · 21-03-2020 9:42am

Yea, already job losses (hopefully temporary) in lots of local papers. Can see some of them going under too if this is prolonged.

Sheep Shagger · 21-03-2020 10:54pm

medoc wrote: »

Yea, already job losses (hopefully temporary) in lots of local papers. Can see some of them going under too if this is prolonged.

Which stations affected as a matter of interest?

See a good few music hosts broadcasting from their homes already.

KReid · 22-03-2020 2:48am

Possibly, huge amount of advertising revenue lost, already hearing the podcasts I listen to asking for donations. Hopefully a kick up the arse for the BAI, always seem to be playing it safe and not allowing the market to expand, thinking radio is safe

I wonder will stations be allowed to just wind up, if they have obligations to broadcast a certain license, it should be on the BAI to provide some sort of relief for them, otherwise they won't have anything to govern in a years time.

I suspect Newstalk and Rte Radio 1 will see a spike in listeners, I've been home since last week and glued to them while working from home.

22-03-2020 4:18am

Why would it affect radio so badly? Surely if anything they'll get more listeners?

fAzI · 22-03-2020 5:20am

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Why would it affect radio so badly? Surely if anything they'll get more listeners?

But no advertisers because nearly everything staying still.

medoc · 22-03-2020 10:58am

Sheep Shagger wrote: »

Which stations affected as a matter of interest?

See a good few music hosts broadcasting from their homes already.

I was referring to local papers. In the Celtic Media group the Offaly Independent has stopped publication and there are job cuts in other group papers. Presumably due to falling advertising revenue. The longer the crisis goes on the worse it will be.

Sheep Shagger · 22-03-2020 11:04am

medoc wrote: »

I was referring to local papers. In the Celtic Media group the Offaly Independent has stopped publication and there are job cuts in other group papers. Presumably due to falling advertising revenue. The longer the crisis goes on the worse it will be.

Gotcha - read print advertising was down 65% last week.

L1011 · 22-03-2020 7:01pm

SBP reporting that O'Brien is likely to have to let Digicel default on a multi billion bond due to no cash available. Communicorp has nobody to give them a bailout basically.

Howard100 · 23-03-2020 6:03pm

Deleted User wrote: »

Why would it affect radio so badly? Surely if anything they'll get more listeners?

The market has effectively stalled over Conora Virus so people are pulling all planned ad spends. This is the operating cash flow of all stations and without it the problems really begin. Wages have to be paid.

Most Irish radio stations are just about keeping their head above water without this problem.

28-03-2020 6:03pm

L1011 wrote: »

SBP reporting that O'Brien is likely to have to let Digicel default on a multi billion bond due to no cash available. Communicorp has nobody to give them a bailout basically.

That would be a disaster for Irish current affairs radio.

L1011 · 28-03-2020 9:30pm

salonfire wrote: »

That would be a disaster for Irish current affairs radio.

An assets sale (licence, content contracts - but no buildings, staff, debt etc) of Newstalk would have at least two bidders I'm certain. Wireless (Newscorp) and the Irish Times; both of whom have newspapers and radio stations to pull content from and reduce overall costs. Both are customers of Newstalk for network content as it is.

There is 2.5m going to the BAI to support stations but that's really not a lot of money per station.

Tork · 28-03-2020 10:03pm

The BAI should've chastised Communicorp long ago for its ban on Irish Times journalists.

Sheep Shagger · 28-03-2020 11:14pm

Problem is, current affairs (decent coverage) is not cheap to produce whether that be radio, print or TV.

In a world of sound bites and a growing number of consumers wanting short snippets of news and not investigative stuff, it's hard to see how anyone can make money in a market the size of Ireland.

Worrying times for those who appreciate it - that number is dropping though...

L1011 · 28-03-2020 11:17pm

The death of actual current affairs content is quite terrifying.

For quite some time now there's only been one local radio newsroom in Dublin (104/102 shared) with the Communicorp stations just using Newstalk with maybe their own readers (and maybe not). Even when there were two stations in Dublin there were three newsrooms - 98, 104 and INN.

The BAI requirement time never worked and isn't working now - there needs to be other actions, probably financial, taken to get quality current affairs content.

Sheep Shagger · 28-03-2020 11:24pm

L1011 wrote: »

The death of actual current affairs content is quite terrifying.

For quite some time now there's only been one local radio newsroom in Dublin (104/102 shared) with the Communicorp stations just using Newstalk with maybe their own readers (and maybe not). Even when there were two stations in Dublin there were three newsrooms - 98, 104 and INN.

The BAI requirement time never worked and isn't working now - there needs to be other actions, probably financial, taken to get quality current affairs content.

Agreed

The scary thing is the growing number of people who just read trashy clickbait online and are not interested in news - unless its celebrity or serious stuff in 20 second soundbites only.

It's cheap to produce and recycle but isn't current affairs.

The Irish Times website is a shadow of its former self for quality content and so are a number of radio news bulletins.

The reason why....people don't want or appreciate quality - sad times.

zell12 · 29-03-2020 12:06pm

Joe Duffy is essential apparently
List of essential service providers under new public health guidelines

the publishing of newspapers, journals and periodicals as well as video, television programme production, sound recording, radio and television broadcasting; wired and satellite and telecommunications activities; internet and cloud providers; data centres and related services

29-03-2020 2:54pm

zell12 wrote: »

Joe Duffy is essential apparently
List of essential service providers under new public health guidelines

Of course communications is necessary.

Dakota Dan · 29-03-2020 2:59pm

Howard100 wrote: »

It was announced today that the BAI will waive their broadcasting charges for all local stations for the first 6 months of the year, saving local radio about 1 million. As welcome as this is, i fear that some local radio stations are going fold without emergency funding.

Very few stations in Ireland will be able to sustain months of this. There will be job loses and i'd say lots of 'for sale' signs will be put up.

Very dark days for the industry.

The majority of local radio stations are nothing but a moan fest, callers ringing in the blame the government for everything and anything, never mind the constant doom and gloom topics to fill air time

end of the road · 29-03-2020 3:32pm

Dakota Dan wrote: »

The majority of local radio stations are nothing but a moan fest, callers ringing in the blame the government for everything and anything, never mind the constant doom and gloom topics to fill air time

that is what their listeners want, so that is what they deliver.

Dakota Dan · 29-03-2020 4:01pm

end of the road wrote: »

that is what their listeners want, so that is what they deliver.

True.

29-03-2020 5:12pm

end of the road wrote: »

that is what their listeners want, so that is what they deliver.

Unpopular fact.

I've also noticed when radio show host move off the Covid 19 topic, most of the time they adapt an unmistakably contrived upbeat strident tone. On rte radio 1 and newstalk

jimmyrustle · 29-03-2020 11:20pm

Oh no!

I don't know how I could live without hearing that same Lizzo song three times an hour every hour since last October.

Good ****ing riddance to the majority of them. I can count on one hand the amount of shows I listen to that are not on pirate radio.

Dakota Dan · 30-03-2020 10:40am

jimmyrustle wrote: »

Oh no!

I don't know how I could live without hearing that same Lizzo song three times an hour every hour since last October.

Good ****ing riddance to the majority of them. I can count on one hand the amount of shows I listen to that are not on pirate radio.

They are great at over playing whatever song is in the top 10 especially the ones with the same line repeated over and over like that annoying I’m only human after all song with the same line appearing 16 times in the song.

Tork · 30-03-2020 11:22am

That's probably a sign that you're over 25 Dan :pac:

murray sparkle · 30-03-2020 1:54pm

The Covid 19 crisis endangers radio stations, just as it impacts on every other form of business out there.

Part of me looks at this and thinks - well, so what if they close. After all, the IBI are belly aching on Twitter and elsewhere saying that they need Government funding to ensure that they can continue to stay open. However, where were the IBI when the ad market was booming and they had full ad logs? Were they offering extra money to the State then? Radio stations are, after all, businesses and just because they are radio stations doesn't mean that they should be immune from the exigencies that befall other businesses.

Also, radio stations operate in a protected environment already. They are guaranteed their licences for 10 years. The State has put in place significant barriers to entry precluding you or I from just buying a load of equipment and launching a legal competitor. They know well in advance if a 'competitor' is coming into their market and, at that, they never really are competitors. Does Beat really compete with KCLR? Does iRadio really compete with what Paul Claffey is producing? No. So, they are protected and they have the radio cake to themselves.

Whereas, my friend owns a mobile phone repair shop. He was the first to open his business in his town. Now there are three in his street alone. Everybody in the country (almost) has a mobile and they all need to maintained or replaced. So, is the mobile phone business to be bailed out by the State? What about fruit & veg shops? Again, they won't be bailed out by the State, but they provide us with a necessity that is food. Two or three hours of local talk a day followed by 22 or 21 hours of bland 80's music is not essential. The IBI need to be realistic here.

If they want local radio to be treated as an essential service and to be thrown a lifeline then they need to change the way they work and what they produce.

Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube and a thousand others ate FM104, 98FM & Q102's lunch a long time ago. If those stations closed they wouldn't be missed. However, outside of Dublin where we don't have stations that are as driven by consultants as they are in Dublin, there would be an element of the population that would miss the Keith Finnegan's of this world. They provide useful news and an outlet to represent their views and those of their community.

Local radio stations, like local papers, will need to come out of this and look at how they operate. They also need to start telling, or accepting, the truth. The JNLR's are not an accurate reflection of what the public is doing. They are not now and they never were.

The unfortunate truth for radio stations is that, just like the UK, there will never be the amount of jobs in stations again, as there was last year. Just as there were more jobs in radio 30 years ago than there are now. We will have longer shows, less presenters and (if they are to survive) more of a focus on local content that can't be obtained anywhere else. Otherwise, we are looking at the homogenisation of the sector just like what happened in the UK with Heart, Capital, Hits & Greatest Hits Radio.

The IBI might have a point, and I grant them that, but they're delivering it in the wrong way and being too reactionary. They don't have a God given right to exist, no more than my friend's phone shop. They are protected in ways that my friend's business isn't. They need to prepare for a different media landscape or get off the pitch.

L1011 · 31-03-2020 11:00pm

Pay cuts at Communicorp, the first reported action I believe:

https://www.rte.ie/news/ireland/2020/0331/1127661-communicorp-pay-cuts/

maestroamado · 31-03-2020 11:11pm

Howard100 wrote: »

It was announced today that the BAI will waive their broadcasting charges for all local stations for the first 6 months of the year, saving local radio about 1 million. As welcome as this is, i fear that some local radio stations are going fold without emergency funding.

Very few stations in Ireland will be able to sustain months of this. There will be job loses and i'd say lots of 'for sale' signs will be put up.

Very dark days for the industry.

There seems to be quite a few as i found out when trying to get radio on the phone. I wonder how many....

Would RTE be ok? Joe Duffy would not be essential for me.
Dave Fanning, i never hear him anymore. why did he never get popular.
John Kelly good.

Sheep Shagger · 01-04-2020 8:15am

L1011 wrote: »

Pay cuts at Communicorp, the first reported action I believe:

https://www.rte.ie/news/ireland/2020/0331/1127661-communicorp-pay-cuts/

Any chance of the same thing happening at RTE as surely they face the same pressures?

swampy353 · 01-04-2020 8:29am

L1011 wrote: »

Pay cuts at Communicorp, the first reported action I believe:

https://www.rte.ie/news/ireland/2020/0331/1127661-communicorp-pay-cuts/

While I am not a fan of communicorp, the cuts that they have implemented seem as fair as they possibly can be and they apply to on air as well as back of house

maestroamado · 01-04-2020 9:54am

I often wondered why there be so many as every town has one and its mostly just local stuff basically gossip.
I do not listen to the radio as i used listen to music quite a bit in the past but there seems to be little informed
music programmes on the radio. It may be that i am out of touch and someone here will direct me.
To my mind there too much current affairs as its the same story being told over and over.
I generally listen to the beginning and only stay tuned if a topic i am interest in is coming up.
I heard a guy on Sean O'R a few weeks ago.
He was saying that most news was negative and depressing and put people in negative frame of mind.
I have to say i am in agreement.

Bard · 01-04-2020 10:09am

L1011 wrote: »

Pay cuts at Communicorp, the first reported action I believe:

https://www.rte.ie/news/ireland/2020/0331/1127661-communicorp-pay-cuts/

It doesn't have to be reported to be happening. Similar and larger cuts are happening across the board, with huge drops in pay and redundancies in a number of local stations. Some stations are operating on a skeleton staff currently.

This is going to be very difficult to come back from and I wouldn't be surprised in the slightest to see some stations close, sadly. To those saying "good riddance", please cop on & think again - people's livelihoods are at stake, just as in any other business. If you don't like a station, move the dial - wishing them to close down/go off the air is petty & pathetic.

maestroamado · 01-04-2020 10:30am

Bard wrote: »

It doesn't have to be reported to be happening. Similar and larger cuts are happening across the board, with huge drops in pay and redundancies in a number of local stations. Some stations are operating on a skeleton staff currently.

This is going to be very difficult to come back from and I wouldn't be surprised in the slightest to see some stations close, sadly. To those saying "good riddance", please cop on & think again - people's livelihoods are at stake, just as in any other business. If you don't like a station, move the dial - wishing them to close down/go off the air is petty & pathetic.

What are you on about? you are the only person that mentioned them closing down.

I wish them well and have being doing exactly what you say for years.
I know and am friendly with some of these people, i am the odd-one-out here as just do my thing and say nothing, its not for me to say as people like it and that's fine.

maestroamado · 01-04-2020 10:46am

Sheep Shagger wrote: »

Any chance of the same thing happening at RTE as surely they face the same pressures?

I have to say RTE sport very clever. They created a sport slot on morning Ireland for people to have their favourite sport moments replayed instead of what would be the regular sport slot in the morning.
I think i'll put on the wireless now...

Bard · 01-04-2020 10:58am

maestroamado wrote: »

What are you on about? you are the only person that mentioned them closing down.

Eh,... I'm really not. Did you miss the title of the thread? The first post? The posts that mentioned stations 'going under'/'winding up'? Did you miss the post where someone said 'good riddance'? This thread is literally about stations potentially facing closure due to Covid 19.

maestroamado wrote: »

I wish them well and have being doing exactly what you say for years.
I know and am friendly with some of these people, i am the odd-one-out here as just do my thing and say nothing, its not for me to say as people like it and that's fine.

Good for you - my reply clearly wasn't aimed at you specifically.

I wish them well myself, obviously, - working in the radio business as I do, it's my own livelihood at stake here too. This remains one of the biggest challenges - if not THE biggest challenge - that local radio in Ireland has ever faced.

maestroamado · 01-04-2020 11:27am

I suppose i did not think it was as specific as closing down.
I certainly do not want anyone to lose their job whether i agree or disagree.
I was more or less talking of general local radio.
I wish you and you and your station well...

L1011 · 01-04-2020 11:45am

Bard wrote: »

It doesn't have to be reported to be happening. Similar and larger cuts are happening across the board, with huge drops in pay and redundancies in a number of local stations. Some stations are operating on a skeleton staff currently.

This is going to be very difficult to come back from and I wouldn't be surprised in the slightest to see some stations close, sadly. To those saying "good riddance", please cop on & think again - people's livelihoods are at stake, just as in any other business. If you don't like a station, move the dial - wishing them to close down/go off the air is petty & pathetic.

That's why I said reported - I know its not the first one!

Its media industry wide as advertising sales just vanish - Journal Media have had cuts publicised too - https://www.irishtimes.com/business/media-and-marketing/coronavirus-journal-media-to-cut-pay-by-up-to-20-per-cent-1.4217672

Long_Wave · 04-04-2020 5:51pm

https://www.irishtimes.com/business/media-and-marketing/local-radio-needs-help-to-avoid-dead-air-1.4220272?mode=amp

04-04-2020 6:27pm

L1011 wrote: »

Pay cuts at Communicorp, the first reported action I believe:

https://www.rte.ie/news/ireland/2020/0331/1127661-communicorp-pay-cuts/

Cnts at state-backed RTE gleefully reporting their main competitors facing paycuts.

I don't see RTE reporting on other similar sized organizations in the private sector and their paycuts?

I hope RTE are given a nice large helping of funding cutbacks during this recession.

end of the road · 04-04-2020 7:06pm

salonfire wrote: »

Cnts at state-backed RTE gleefully reporting their main competitors facing paycuts.

I don't see RTE reporting on other similar sized organizations in the private sector and their paycuts?

I hope RTE are given a nice large helping of funding cutbacks during this recession.

i would expect they did report on other organisations, but this is a radio forum so linking to what is going on in a non-radio organisation is unlikely to have little to no interest in a radio context.
they could report on some of the bigger radio organisations in the uk for example and what they may be doing, but they would be catering to a very tiny audience, and anyway those who may be interested already know the places to find out such information anyway.

radioguru02 · 04-04-2020 9:10pm

Ridiculous
Keep the news and current affairs programming, playlist the rest. Same generic 300 songs on every station. Anyone who listens to music on local radio clearly doesn’t care what songs are played. The rest of us have downloading/streaming platforms.

Sheep Shagger · 04-04-2020 9:13pm

Not saying it would be a good thing but I'm suprised Ireland has not gone down the same 'network' route as a similar population base like New Zealand where you get a local breakfast and maybe drive and the rest is network.

Or even down the Global route from the UK (much bigger market obviously).

Populist radio with a local slant for those who want it...

maestroamado · 05-04-2020 1:36pm

pirateradiohed wrote: »

Ridiculous
Keep the news and current affairs programming, playlist the rest. Same generic 300 songs on every station. Anyone who listens to music on local radio clearly doesn’t care what songs are played. The rest of us have downloading/streaming platforms.

I always considered in the past radio for music and the presenters were usually pretty informed as to what was going on in the industry I think it was likely MTV that changed that.
I am probably out of touch but the only radio i listen to now are Fanning and John Kelly.
I be happy to be informed if i'm missing anything.
I do listen to news and bits of current affairs but magazine progs are an absolute no no.
I suppose i'm just out of touch...

Damian F · 26-05-2020 9:35pm

Highland Radio has dropped all evening programs and hits overnight music mode from 8pm now due to the the fall in advertising

More Music · 27-05-2020 10:25pm

Damian F wrote: »

Highland Radio has dropped all evening programs and hits overnight music mode from 8pm now due to the the fall in advertising

That has happened at a few local stations, big changes to evening/night time and weekend programming. Shame. However, I do appreciate the reasons for it.

I can see some of those cuts becoming permanent.

ford fiesta · 27-05-2020 10:50pm

Mid West Radio..maybe the only commercial station that has every show live - 7 days..7am to 2am.
I don't know how they do it.

riclad · 29-05-2020 9:46pm

We have newstalk and RTE 1 radio news and current affairs, is that not enough? And of course you can listen
to BBC radio 4 and 5. As well as 100s of podcasts.
I doubt if there's a market out there for more news on the
radio

Covid 19 could close some stations

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