Newstalk
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| Broadcast area | Republic of Ireland |
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| Slogan | "Different Nation. Different Station". |
| First air date | 9 April 2002 (as ILR station NewsTalk 106, change of name and franchise 29 September 2006) |
| Frequency | 106-108 MHz |
| Format | News & Talk |
| Owner | Communicorp |
| Website | www.newstalk.ie |
Newstalk (formerly called NewsTalk 106) is an Independent Radio station in the Republic of Ireland. It is operated by News 106 Limited, a subsidiary of Denis O'Brien's Communicorp group, and broadcasts under a sound broadcasting contract with the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland.
The station is a "quasi-national" (covering most, but not all of the state) station as of 29 September 2006, previously having been an Independent Local Radio station with a franchise for Dublin.
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[edit] Format
The station is the only commercial radio station in the Republic of Ireland to take on an exclusively talk-based format. News is broadcast every 30 minutes (originally every 20 minutes). It airs live programming from 0630 - 0000 on weekdays, 0700 - 2300 on Saturdays and 0700 - 2100 on Sundays. Outside these hours, repeats are broadcast. The stations flagship programmes are the Breakfast Show, presented by Ger Gilroy (with Claire Byrne also appointed a presenter, however she is currently prevented from presenting the show by a court injunction), as well as the drive time programme The Right Hook, broadcast 1630-1900 with George Hook former rugby coach and presently rugby pundit on RTÉ.
[edit] History
In 1999 the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI) invited applications for a number of new Dublin radio services, expanding on the then duopoly of 98FM and FM104. One was for a speech-based radio service. The Independent Local Radio,(ILR) national news provider, Independent Network News, was one of two applicants for this licence, and its applicant company, News 106, was awarded the franchise. However before the station even went on air, several ILR companies decided that they did not want to be part of the venture, and the stations' shareholding was restructured, with at launch, 98FM, FM104, Clare FM, Carlow Kildare Radio, LMFM, East Coast Radio, South East Radio and WLR FM, along with Setanta, being the shareholders in the company.
The station first went on air (under its original name NewsTalk 106)on 9 April 2002, with David McWilliams the first presenter. In its original format, it offered Twenty-Twenty News, every twenty minutes. However in September 2004 it was reduced to every thirty minutes ("News 30"). In Summer 2004, the station signed Eamon Dunphy dropping David McWilliams, resulting in controversy[citation needed]. Dunphy did manage to marginally improve the shows ratings[citation needed] despite occasionally failing to make it to work.
The number of shareholders continued to drop as ILR stations sold their holdings in the station. In 2004 FM104 was forced to sell its stake as a condition of its' takeover by Scottish Radio Holdings. This meant that 98FM was able to take control of the station.
In 2005 Dan Healy resigned as chief executive of the station. He was replaced by Elaine Geraghty, the original co-presenter of the breakfast time programme on 98FM. On May 22 2006]] the BCI announced that its new quasi-national speech based contract was being awarded to Newstalk, who will retain their 106 MHz frequency in Dublin while surrendering its' Dublin ILR licence. They will have a number of other transmitters within the 106-108 MHz range with the aim of covering all high population areas across the country. Newstalk were the sole application for the licence. It began national broadcasts on September 29 2006. In July 2006 Dunphy resigned and a number of the presenters are seeking[citation needed] better contracts. Reports in the Irish media[citation needed] suggest that had the contract situations been clearer at the time of licence application, it is possible that the BCI might not have granted the national licence to the station. The credibility of station's business model and its long term viability are influenced by the stations ability to attract and retain a sizeable listenership along with the corresponding advertising revenue. Signs of difficult operating conditions are the abolotion of audience participation by normal text messaging (a normal text message is 10 cent within the Republic of Ireland) to the show in favour of a premium rate text of 30 cent. RTE its rival in the national space encourages regular priced texting and email contact with their shows. The ability to email the live show has been de-emphasised and the frequency of repetition of the premium text rate facility by presenters far exceeds the occasional references to email contact facilities. Some of the presenters regularly quote text messages received, that are considerably in excess of the 160 character limit, leading to media speculation of ghost texts [1]. There has also been a shift in the station's political outlook, away from its former 'left wing slant', a move which has been reportly designed to appeal to a more conservative non-Dublin listenership [2].
Despite the well publicised[citation needed] occasional difficulties with established names such as Dunphy, McWilliams and Hook, Newstalk has been responsible for developing some lesser known presenters. The talk-sport format of the award[citation needed] winning Off The Ball show with Ger Gilroy, and the weekend shows of Jerry O Sullivan and Oisin Langan have performed well. The morning show of Orla Barry has consistently performed well[citation needed] in listnership ratings.
[edit] Quasi National Licence
During 2006 Newstalk were licensed to extend their coverage area to about 80% of the Republic of Ireland. These "quasi-national" broadcasts began on 29 September 2006 (the sole official Independent National Radio station remains 100-102 Today FM. Frequency allocations are available on the newstalk website [1].
On 3 October 2006, just days after the national launch, TV3 Ireland secured an injunction preventing Claire Byrne from presenting the Breakfast Show on Newstalk until November at the earliest. Legal action is ongoing over the terms of her contract with TV3.
[edit] Programming
Weekdays
- 0630 - 0900 The Breakfast Show (with Ger Gilroy and Claire Byrne)
- 0900 - 1100 Life (with Orla Barry)
- 1100 - 1230 Your Call (with Brenda Power)
- 1230 - 1400 Lunchtime
- 1400 - 1630 Moncrieff (with Seán Moncrieff)
- 1630 - 1900 The Right Hook (with George Hook)
- 1900 - 2200 Off The Ball (with Eoin McDevitt)
- 2200 - 0000 Late Night Live (with Declan Carthy) Monday - Friday [3].
- 0000 - 0630 Repeats of day's programming
This listing is taken from newstalk's website.
[edit] References
- ^ Independent Radio Review (November 2006) 'The 106 Ghosts'
- ^ Independent Radio Review (November 2006) 'Newstalk's sharp right turn'
- ^ Splanc is broadcast in this slot Saturday and Sunday
[edit] External links
Splanc is Broadcast on Friday nights only. It runs from ten until midnight every Friday
