The "98FM" thread

[Euan Roberts]

Radio Anoraks, may be interested that I finally got to talk with Barry Dunne of 98fm and i can confirm his 80's Backtraxx show between 7 - 10 pm sundays is live and not voice-tracked as many have said in their postings. of late with the exception of one or two anoraks.

Barry apparently records one or two of his links during the course of his show if he needs to go the gents or have a cup of coffee. In addition, he records his last link before the 10'clock news. However, the Saturday morning show with Robbie Fogarty is voice-tracked as he confirmed to me. So many anoraks has already known that.

Anyway, Tim Kelly's show on Today Fm he tells me is not voice-tracked. Aside from this, Barry sounds pretty good on the radio, with some good detailed links on a couple of the great 80's artists of that decade. At least he adds his own personality to the show and its quite a refreshing change to hear a presenter with some decent knowledge of music to entertain the listener. Afterall that is what these radio presenters are paid for, to entertain and inform not to sit idlely by and say nothing. Its a petty, the rest of the 98 crew can't demonstrate the same level of talent on their various radio shows at the station. A shame it is. 13 years as a station my god. Maybe Barry, should take over as Chief Executive at the station and roll some heads. Clean out the useless presenters. How about it?

Any Views anoraks?

Euan Roberts

[Brake Fluid]

Barry has alot of talent and is wasted in his current role. He should be, at the very least, assistant programme director. Perhaps he should consider markets slightly further afield who would better appreciate his talents?

[Guest]

Originally posted by Brake Fluid
Barry has alot of talent and is wasted in his current role. He should be, at the very least, assistant programme director. Perhaps he should consider markets slightly further afield who would better appreciate his talents?

I think Barry will be too busy doing everything to keep his own gig now that Liam Coburn is joining the station.

[Sum 1 Else]

What makes you think that Liam Coburn is replacing Barry Dunne in 98? They have more that one DJ you know, personally I think Barry has been doing a good job on days over the last few weeks. Are you sure you're not somebody with a grudge? 98 wouldn't have put BD on in the middle of the afternoon if they didn't have some level of confidence in the guy to begin with!

[Mike Daly]

I wasn't suggesting that Barry is the only one for the chop, but since Brake Fluid thinks he should be assistant PD, I was merely pointing out that Barry will have more to think about now. The other jocks will, or at least should, also be making sure they give 100% every day. 98 now have a jock in the wings who is as good as, if not better than, just about every jock on air. I think Liam will be good for the station in general. Nothing makes a person work as hard as knowing that someone else wants their job.

[Euan Roberts]

One point you missed in your good postings was what's the point in having all these presenters or Disc Jockeys parading 98 regardless of their well-known name to many people. For god's sake guys, you can have high calibur presenters that stand out from the rest. The Presenter has to bridge a bond with his/her audience or else you'll keep hearing the same predictable and rehearsed radio links. Get real 98 and others. Having Liam Coburn won't solve your jock problem, you gotta make these guys work and appreciate the status they hold in the station. When someone is good on the radio the news travels fast that they are pulling in the listeners. 98 should think more about the listener than themselves if they want to change for the better.

[Guest]

To an extent I agree with Euan. Having "big name" presenters does not insure success, it is down to the programme director to bring out the best in the jock. However, as more than one radio profesional has said in the past " A good jock can execute any format, a great jock can shine through any format ".

Perhaps some of the blame for bland radio lies with the prsenters. Without naming names, I've heard jocks on 98 doing personality links which fall short of the mark, so maybe John Taylor's fault is not the format but hiring people who aren't up to the job. As someone said on another thread all the good jocks have left 98. I'm not saying Liam Coburn will be the saviour of 98, but let's give him a chance before we condemn him. I've heard him on the net at his current job and he has bags of personality. We can only hope he's allowed to let it show.

[foaming@damouth]

Originally posted by Sum 1 Else
What makes you think that Liam Coburn is replacing Barry Dunne in 98? They have more that one DJ you know, personally I think Barry has been doing a good job on days over the last few weeks. Are you sure you're not somebody with a grudge? 98 wouldn't have put BD on in the middle of the afternoon if they didn't have some level of confidence in the guy to begin with!


Do not make the mistake and think that LC is giving up his Job in Northsound 1 in Scottie to come over and do swing work. He will initially,to bed in, but he'll soon be replacing Barry. Like 98 are going to uproot him and bring him over and pay him a decent salary to do swing jockin. EHHHHHHh........EHHHHHHHHhh......wrong answer. Demo time AGAIN Barry.

[Euan Roberts]

Having had the honour of being interviewed than none other than Dan Healy for a positon in Programming in 98 some time ago, i can safely say he was fair to me in the sense of the interview. I just didn't match up to what they were looking for. I was too bland for them. The postion was in programming. My talents are more hidden i guess. However, Dan as i've being told from insiders is fair and firm. I guess you gotta be in this competitive business of radio. The Buck stops with him from the cleaner to accountant. Every job is valued and thats how it should be. In all honesty, i suspect 98 are doing theyre spring cleaning now of jocks before they begin to sound unbearable to listen too.

Liam Coburn should help them to some degree. Lets see as Mike Daly has rightly said. Scottish radio was good to him, so we hope 98 will allow him develop his real personality on the air.

Euan Roberts

[Guest]

I have listened to BD doing his 80s stint on 98, and in all fairness its an original one which the other names are putting their hands into. If 98 put Barry and his 80s machine to bed the station will slowly go down the tubes.
Fair Flucks to you Barry!

[Guest]

Why are 98 paying Liamo to relocate to Dublin with his wife "in tow" when they have a more-than-adequate Barry Dunne already on board? It makes no sense whatsoever to me. They should promote from within and make the best use of the talent they already have before they bring someone else into the Malt House. Liam, although a good jock, is nothing special.

[Guest]

Why is everyone assuming that Liam will replace Barry Dunne? I, for one, don't think Barry is the weak link in the 98 chain. He sounds fine during the day. There are one or two others at the Malt House who need to tighten up a bit. I think the anti Barry Dunne feeling on this board is leading people to jump to conclusions.

As for Liam being "nothing special", I have to agree that, when he left 104 he was average at best. But I've listened to him on the web quite a few times and I think he has come on tremendously. At 104 I always thought he was just another bland voice ala Dave Kelly/Aidan Leonard but he has plenty of personality now and that's what's missing at 98 just now. As I've said before, let's just wait and see what happens.

[KJ]

Barry isn't the weakest link in 98 and, er, to be nice I won't say anything else on the matter

[Euan Roberts]

I am telling you most of the jocks on 98 and other stations should go and do a radio presentaton course on perfecting their links. In other words, develop their personalities such as humour, quality satire, entertainment value, decent knowledge of the music and the artist they are playing. Furthermore, they need to be more engaging and real and not on another planet where they would find it pretty difficult to be heard. Hey, or even worse voice-tracked, that dreaded word in the radio business.

Listeners demand high standards of their presenters or journalists to carry out their job in a professional but kind of creative way. It makes it more appealing for an audience. I guess, its the difference with listening to a CD as against a Tape, the CD will win out, just like your radio presenters. More talent, more delivery, less stress and worry for the management of these stations. The listener will be the sole benificary and judge of good talent, because they are ones listening to their links.

Big Brother is watching you.

[Guest]

God, there are some bitter little queens on this board. Barry Dunne is on 1-4pm. Hes going be on that timeslot for the medium to long term. Do you really think that John Taylor and Dan Healy are going to give Barry Dunne what one can presume is a good deal of money to do afternoons then hire in Liam Coburn for even MORE money to do the same show, then move Barry to some other job in the radio station while still being on "daytime money". Get real.

And yes, Liam Coburn is wasted doing overnights and swing work. And yes, lets guess that Liam is in line for the next daytime gig that comes up in 98FM. And lets leave it at that. Any additional comments/whinging/bitching is pointless.

p.s...Barry, ignore the crybabies on this site, you're doing a good job mate!

[NoelRock]

How can 98FM improve after these disappointing JNLR results? Perhaps less talk, more music? Or maybe they should try and cater moreso for the dance market?

What's your opinion? I'd love to hear it! Just give us a call now on 1850 22 98 98---um, I mean, hit the reply button and let your comments be heard!

[clubhappy]

i think 98 is a touch boring and predictable noel and their music policy has got worn and tired , even their dj's and their style of presentation is boring and unentertaining ...
they have to move on ,away from the housewives and try a different market because phil collins , tina turner and the odd chart hit is wearing a bit thin ....

[NoelRock]

I have to say I agree - 98, after about a year of me listening to it in the background most of the day - has become extremely boring.

I think they need to get rid of all these public service announcements - the Irish language stuff in the day and all that.

[theradiobunny]

all that PSA shit is killing them, although sadly its law for all stations to carry them. they should drop most of the really dull Classic Hits 98 music and if they play an oldie, play a good upbeat one instead of some Elton John album cut. As well as that they should get Robbie to shut up, Barry to grow up, Brian to calm down, Gerry to act interested and Niall to listen to his callers.

[NoelRock]

Hmmmmm... the Home Run sounds pretty good with Coburn I think - perhaps he needs someone to bounce off of though? They can't use Emma McEvoy - while she's fairly active, she appears to be quite useless for creating conversation :rolleyes: ...

[Billy Dane]

Last week everybody thought 98 were the greatest thing since somebody decided to slice bread!

[NoelRock]

Well, I still enjoy it - but things are becoming stale, and I think some of the jocks are beginning to go past 'it'.

I have no idea where to start, but I think maybe they should put Barry Dunne back on nights - move Jim McCabe to some sort of weekend morning show perhaps - put Liam Coburn and some new, younger jock (male or female) with him on the Home Run - leave Brian McCaul to do a 7-9 time slot and then, I think, at 9pm they should perhaps go into a specialist music hour - dance, r'n'b, whatever.

What do you all thing?

[misterbuzzbomb]

98s production is a dogs dinner. The same imaging voice for the past 6 years, stupid inhouse jokes on the promos that don't go anywhere,
all symptoms of a power house station that seems to have lost its way.

[misterbuzzbomb]

What has gone wrong within the confines on the Malt House. I have always preferred 98FM to FM104 (thats an arguement for another day), but over the last 6 months I have noticed just how bad 98 have become.

I tuned in today to hear them playing a 20 year old Elvis Costello song - is this what their audience wants? At the same time FM104 were playing Pink, and Today FM were playing the new Paul Oakenfold song.

About an hour later they played Brian Adams "Everything I do....". Did that music not go out with the Classic Hits some years ago? And if so, what on earth is John Taylor trying to do in resurrecting all that crap?

Comparison check all the stations, its 98FM who keep playing the really lame music. As an aside, they mentioned they were at the St. Stephens Green Shopping Centre, but there was no fun to it. The jock sounded like he might have been in the Malt House except for the shocking quality of the microphone (and thats another of 98s problems, they have the worst audio in Dublin).

Long boring Irish music slots, long boring movie features, long talk bits in Irish, it just all sounds so tired.

In the meantime FM104 go from strength to strength. My guessing is that 98FM are going to bottom out in the next JNLR at about 11% share. What needs to be done in there? Anyone got any ideas? Any insiders wish to share information with us?

[KJ]

I know its Brian James but I was wondering who writes the promo's? And for your attention BuzzBomb, I think they are the most ear catching promo's on air in Dublin today. Just my opnion

KJ

[KJ]

They still have the best radio duo on air tho, Brian & Claire are essential listening, as is Barry Dunne's 80's show, Liam Coburn and- altho Im not the biggest fan of Talk Radio, if its a choice between AK and NB - I'll go with Niall everytime.

The music CAN be a little too strange at times but Im sure this will be tweaked in due course. They also have the finest VO guy on Dublin airwaves in Brian (surname escapes me)

I tend to spread my legal listening to 98, 104, 2FM and the odd bit of Spin ........ there's good radio on all of them if you give them a chance

KJ

[Radio Presenter]

Originally posted by Kelly Jones
I know its Brian James but I was wondering who writes the promo's? And for your attention BuzzBomb, I think they are the most ear catching promo's on air in Dublin today. Just my opnion

KJ

I was responding to Noel who didn't know Brian's full name!

:)

[Radio Presenter]

Originally posted by Loopy Producer
Hi Kelly

As far as I know its there imaging manager and asst PD Tony Kiernan an other dude from Australia

I agree with you they can be very clever

Hope this helps u

Loopy

His name is: Kieran Murphy. Here's something from their recent licence re-application.

>Programme production standards are ensured by the continuous
assessment of the output of the quality of our programme features,
station imaging and presentation elements.This area is the
responsibility of Kieran Murphy,98FM ’s Assistant Programme
Director and Head Of Production.
"Effective station imaging and positioning requires constant creative input.My experience
enables me to know what and when to freshen the ideas that position 98FM.Because messages
are repeated we have to ensure that our presentation and our features don ’t stagnate."
Kieran Murphy<

[howardstern]

Does anybody know whats happening at 98fm???
Apparently Jim & Deb have been taken off air and so has Clair the home easy show???

[NoelRock]

Yeah - I heard that Jim and Deb were set to be replaced some weeks ago.

By who? Hmmm... someone said 'Mark Byrne' to me - but I've heard nothing since.

Not sure what happened to Clair, didn't I just hear her a few days ago? She never seems to be there for an entire show though...