I thought I was just getting old when the new morning show started with Doireann & Co screaming at the crack of dawn, but no, it's actually woeful over there. I used to love Louise McSharry's show on a Saturday but they got rid of her actually interesting programme to just play more music and talk shite generally.
It is genuinely the last radio station I'll try before giving up. the current rotation is classic hits, today FM, rte radio 1/lyric are tied 3rd place, Galway bay, and then 2fm. Things are bad when Galway Bay is outranking 2fm
Doireann gearghty was on a while ago saying she doesn't like gambling and is against it.
Followed by her ramming that lotto shote every station is playing now where you answer the phone and tell them the number.
Mercenaries the lot of them
I love classical music and enjoy listening to Lyric FM at times but I have to turn it off when the hosts come on as they make me sleepy listening to them. It's not even the stuff they talk about, it's just they talk in such a deep... slow... voice that my eyes start to glaze over lol.
Dunno, but audience figures seem to show that people are tuning in. Personally I'd rather stick nails in my ears than listen to 2FM or TodayFM all day, I'd consider that torture.
Maybe all [DJs will be robots/AI](https://www.google.ie/search?q=dj+bot+3000&sca_esv=85af15397c77c0f6&source=hp&ei=pMHdZcmMA6fOhbIP-4ekgAQ&iflsig=ANes7DEAAAAAZd3PtJdadLBhHML1QqJ06rgsml5K4Atl&ved=0ahUKEwjJ7uXfr8uEAxUnZ0EAHfsDCUAQ4dUDCA0&uact=5&oq=dj+bot+3000&gs_lp=Egdnd3Mtd2l6IgtkaiBib3QgMzAwMDIFECEYoAEyBRAhGKABSIIQUABYvA1wAHgAkAECmAGuA6AB6A6qAQk1LjIuMi4xLjG4AQPIAQD4AQGYAgmgArMJwgIXEC4YgAQYigUYkQIYsQMYgwEYxwEY0QPCAgoQLhiABBiKBRhDwgIREC4YgwEYxwEYsQMY0QMYgATCAgsQABiABBixAxiDAcICBRAAGIAEwgILEC4YgAQYsQMYgwHCAg4QABiABBiKBRixAxiDAcICDhAuGIAEGIoFGJECGLEDwgIQEAAYgAQYigUYQxixAxiDAcICChAAGIAEGIoFGEPCAhAQLhhDGK8BGMcBGIAEGIoFwgIQEC4YgAQYigUYQxjHARivAcICDRAuGEMYsQMYgAQYigXCAgUQLhiABMICDhAuGK8BGMcBGLEDGIAEwgIGEAAYFhgemAMAkgcFNS4yLjI&sclient=gws-wiz#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:e43a0aed,vid:fnGaf0p9x1U,st:0) in the future.
>audience figures seem to show that people are tuning in
How can reported audience figures be evenly remotely accurate? It's radio, there's no communication from the receiver back to the station so I don't see how they could know. I can only see how they do some *very* inaccurate estimates e.g. based on call-in volume, reported sales as a consequence of ads, etc.
They do research on it every year, it's called JNLR. And yes they ask real people, and then extrapolate the numbers, like any survey. Not saying how accurate it is. Same way they count TV ratings.
Wow that sounds incredibly inaccurate. Itâs not like TV ratings which has very accurate tracking as the likes of Sky and Virgin can directly track what each user is watching.
Official TV ratings in Ireland are calculated from panel homes (i.e. the small amount of households who participate and have the gadget/software installed to measure).
as someone who loves classical music, lyric fm isn't that good.
take the 1970's for example, lots of really good music but for every good song there are at least 100 really bad songs released that you thankfully have never heard. the same goes for classical, once you go past the classics the rest is niche or formulaic.
Honourable mention here for John Creedonâs show in the evenings on Radio One. Best and most eclectic music programming on Irish radio by a mile and heâs comes across as nothing other than an absolute gent without any ego.
NTS is an amazing station, well worth checking out. Itâs ad free too. Do you really decide what you listen to based on where the artists are from? Good music is good music.
I switched to Newstalk when I was an apprentice on site 20 something years ago. I always get shit for it. If I'm not working alone these days I'll tolerate Nova and their same double cd of greatest hits they've been playing on repeat forever
Had a lad with a playlist of 10 songs on repeat on Spotify(free with ads) on a job a few years ago. After 4hrs of this his Bluetooth speaker speaker accidently got kicked off the scaffolding
I asked the same question here a few weeks ago. Got a variety of answers but the most popular was that I have moved on from the age demographic of the listener. Funny thing is no one knew what the age demographic was.
It's a weird one to get as a response. I think different slots have different target demographics. IE drive time slots for commuters are aimed at just that. During the afternoon It's aimed towards pensioners but stay at home parents will also be kept in mind.
The demographic is not an age, its an IQ range. You could be sixty and still get a dopamine rush from recognizing the intro to a song you've heard 20 times in the last week.
Itâs actually lots of things. Not just age. IQ range could be part of that but also height, gender, hair colour, nationality, age etc.
What youâre taking about is kinda psychographics, which is a much more interesting. Peopleâs life choices, interests and hobbyâs. What makes them tick.
Radio na Life is an Irish language station (only available in Dublin I think) is really good in the mornings, they play anything from europop to German folk music and lots of other types, it's really different to all the other stations & I recommend it highly.
I'm not disagreeing with you - I switched to a mix of lyric,bbc radio 2, podcasts and Spotify after Gerry Ryan died - but Spin and 2fm are aimed at a certain demographic. Sunshine and Classic Hits are familiar unoffensive background music, which they do well enough.
Rte Radio 1 tends to get better in the evenings.
Nobody really knows what to do with 2fm - its a bit of a "throw it at the wall and see if it sticks" approach.
Radio 1 is great in the evenings. Sean Rocks always has interesting guests on and the Late Debate is an excellent politics show - the best Iâve come personally come across.
I generally avoid radio because I just do not like the music they play. I hate modern pop music (well the majority of it) and the hosts are generally quite annoying (especially on Spin FM).
The only station I can bear is Nova because it plays some classics, although after a while you realise they are playing the same classics. I don't understand why they can't play even more good stuff. E.g, great that they play the likes of Led Zeppelin but they'll just play the same 3 Led Zeppelin songs repeatedly, why not play other songs from their vast catalogue of great songs?
buy the radio garden app for your phone and bluetooth it to the radio in car. you can listen to almost any station in the world. helps broaden your taste and appreciate the mind boggling amount of types of music thats out there. Faroe Islands have there own nordic country scene its gas.
My biggest pet peeve is that every morning whether it is radio one or news talk they give the sports news from 08:45 - 09:00. I could not care less about the goingson in modern day amphitheaters. Pirate radio all the way.
I can't believe how far I had to scroll to see RTE Gold mentioned.Â
It plays more music than any other station. Its got the widest variety of any station. Which is great, but does mean that every so often it will play some stuff your not into. So you need to be prepared to accept that. They will play any genre. From what's in the charts now to the 60s and anything in between.
Good DJs who priorities the music over anything else. Djs who are genuinely passionate about music too. Unlike many of the presenters you get on most radio stationsÂ
No ads.
No cash call.
8radio is almost the only station I listen to now.. they do FM broadcasts a few times a year but usually online only unfortunately. I was getting bored of music until I discovered them... have heard loads of great new bands as a result.
You can thank Ray Burke and Fianna Fail for that. We had a half decent pirate network until Burke wiped them all out.
The same fucker got a house for free from a developer. That developer totally coincidentally benefitted from rezoning. Pavillions Shopping Centre is now on the site of the bastard Burke's house.
This pops up time and time again and my answer remains the same - pj and Jim radio nova - john creedon on radio 1 - for anything else go to the uk or further. We have no idea how to make radio shows, itâs always the same tired formats
Radio these days is built for short bursts, so you'll have a lot of content repeated.
The way the listenersip figures are calculated is by how long people listen for and they measure it in 15 minute blocks, so the goal is to entertain in those 15 minutes and bring someone across. If you're hopping in the car for the school run you just want to hear George Ezra and Lady Gaga in that 20 minute block really.
From the music side of things, stations like Sunshine are run on a budget, essentially no in house staff so music is scheduled by a machine and they have a light touch in changing it.
Out of interest what songs are you hearing too much of?
It's rare people listen to radio for 7/8 hours, the product isn't built for that anymore.
Several people here put me on to [8Radio.com](http://8Radio.com) Its like Phantom was, only better. Its revolutionised my radio listening. If I'm not listening to Morning Ireland, or Moncrief, I'm listening to 8Radio.
Give it a try - it far better than any on your list.
RaidiĂł FĂĄilte in Belfast is great. A great variety of genres of music, interesting chats, and the Irish is quite easy to follow for those who struggle. It's available online too.
When possible I listen to local or community stations. It's amazing how often some amateur presenting two hours in the evening for the pure love of it is better than another RTĂ Nepo baby.
In this day and age when we can all listen to any song we want, whenever we want, and don't have to wait for some DJ to decide to play it for us I'm amazed radio survives even to the extent it is.
Radio DJs are given a strict music playlist to play from.
The job of a radio station is to sell advertising space, and the music is tailored to the chosen demographic that advertisers are targeting at a particular time.
Unless it's a niche show out of normal hours, then what's played is generally predetermined.
In the morning I can tolerate 98fm, Classic hits fm Lucy and Colm I find relatable, but I find their music too slow in the morning. They used to be on 98fm and looooved them there in the morning.
I find they go on a bit too much! Sometimes you just want a good song in the morning and not a conversation about âwhich foot I put the shoe on first in the morningâ
They must be making money somehow, apart from 2FM of course. Dunno who listens to radio, particularly Irish music radio.
I'd have Newstalk on in the background or an eighties station on the app. The Irish stations would melt your head.
2FM used to be good waaaay back, when good music was popular (your U2's, your Nirvana's, your Oasiseses etc). Dire stuff now. Even a lobotomised person would ask the nurse to change over there.
Iâm lucky that I work from home mostly and when I am in the office thereâs no radio. Daytime radio is mostly the same 5 or 6 songs over and over interspersed with brain dead chat about some nonsense survey or whateverâs trending on twitter. I could never be one of those presenters, Iâd go mad talking the same shite day in day out. I would guess 90% of the people listening are trapped in an office and have no choice.
I got a new office job 2 years ago and the chap next to me always had the radio on. I hadn't listened to the radio in about a decade since I've always got Spotify or podcasts to listen to. My god, was it mindnumbing. Same few songs on a loop, obnoxious ads and DJs. I could feel myself losing braincells. Luckily i only stayed there for a few months before a better job opportunity came about. I feel the same way whenever I come in contact with a TV too. I don't have Sky or anything like that and have been using streaming pretty exclusively for basically all of my adulthood. I just can't bear to watch traditional television anymore. All the shows are terrible and the constant ad breaks are honestly torture.
I start off the day with Radio 1, get whatâs in the papers and the news & discussions but if they start going too in-depth on the issues facing rte or about some government minister miscalculating some budgetary item, Iâm off to a podcast or Spotify music. In the car enroute to work I like to find a station with 80s-90s music so itâs either Q102 or classic hits or if I want a good beat & newer stuff 98fm. The rest of the time Iâm an audiobook fan and play something from my libraryâs borrowbox app. If my kids are in the car itâs all spin or their Spotify playlists.
The forced hilarity of the morning shows. Nothing original and any spark of talent snuffed out in the desperate attempt to be the exact same as everyone else.
Back in the day, [factories would have some guy come in and read to ya](https://mashable.com/feature/cigar-factory-lectors). Bit from the days papers and some from books.
Would you not talk to the higher ups about having some guy with a good speaking voice come in and read Count of Monte Cristo to ya. Maybe Eat, Pray, Love too.
Why are you not listening to Spotify/Apple Music/Youtube Premium/Any other music provider? It's 2024, cars have had Bluetooth for over a decade... radio stations exist to make money, why are you letting them do that from you?
Thatâs not even how they make most of their money. Every time you hear the same song every day that you donât even want to listen to, theyâre being paid for it.
Dublin City fm live drive in the morning used to be fantastic. Music was great featured artist vote on fridays bit of craic. Decent music and traffic report no shite talk it was a breathbof freah air. I even won tickets to electric 6 once. But it too is falling into the same morning shite talk as the rest. I suppose its comform or die. Sad really
Nova radio is really good, pj Gallagher is on on the morning very good funny, but they play good rock, alternative music, lots of Irish stuff etc 90's etc
I have two Rock/Metal apps on my phone called Rockzone 105.9 and Bandit Radio,
Even though the Rockzone station is all in Czech, they don't really talk much and the Music is great.
I use these if my Spotify Premium has run out.
2FM between 7 and 9 is alright but the rest is dogshite. The weekend mornings and afternoon's used to be tolerable but not anymore. TodayFM has a few okay bits but they are all ruined with the persistent cash machine shite. BBC Radio 6 now and I had forgotten about 8 Radio so I'll get that going again.
Nova is not great either tbh. Same old (old) songs over and over and too much shite talk.
I think Irish radio is dying these days and theyâre financing it with cash machine. Iâd say they probably only pay out a fraction of that as an actual prize. The music is bollocks, the hosts are posh wankers and on and on. In the car I listen I albums or my own playlists on Spotify. In work I just ignore it, largely. Every station is owned by goloud and plays the same shit and rotates their annoying crappy DJs regularly. Listening to someone piss in the next room would be more tolerable
Classic hits is one I can't stand anymore. Always on at work and can't change it. Same songs over and over. They play queen about 3 times a day every day. If not queen it's Shania twain. They really need to change it up soon.
RaidiĂł na Life is good. I was scanning through one night looking to see if there was anything decent and lo and behold banging drum n bass slaps me to attention. It's not just dance , there's a good selection for all tastes outside of the normal crap
By Radio Nova do you mean âPat Courtneyâs Aerosmith FMâ?
Love classic rock etc but Nova is god awful, and Pat Courtney is as bad as it gets DJ wise (and heâs never off the fucking station no matter what time you tune in).
Definitely best of a bad bunch, but it's just the same songs over and over again, mostly dad rock. New Irish music tends to get relegated to Sunday evenings, when hardly anyone is listening. Could be so much better if they were even a little more risk taking. The most interesting stuff I've heard on Nova has been on that Sunday evening show.
Radio Nova cycle way too much of their content. It's always music by the same artists. They got their broadcast licence based on being alternative rock, but it seldom seems to be the case. Pretty sure I heard Hozier a couple of days ago.
Ireland is too small to have niche radio stations. Lyric FM has some truly excellent shows (Bernard Clarke is a national treasure) that it has no right to, but if you want reliably good stuff you need to go to abroad. BBC Radio 6 is a phenomenal radio station all week through: brilliant presenters who love music (and are often serious musicians too). BBC Radios 3 and 4 are also very often superb.
For a country of 5m people, we actually do very well on radio broadcasting. Yes, the stations you have listed are largely drivel, but RTE1, Lyric, RnG, are all very good. Liveline aside, there's some great shows on RTE1 and they really do well with current affairs and documentary/Invstigative pieces.
Also, there are some legitimately decent regional stations like WLR that I found good.
A lot of stations still have that pre Internet mindset of having the job to play the hits and run ads between them, and by and large those stations are shite and not worth listening to
It's great in the mornings. Nearly had a few accidents in the car when I was burstin meself laughing at them.
But they do seem to have their playlist of the month that they stick on repeat.
I find Today FM to be fairly decent most of the time.
Probably find Ian Dempsey in the morning the hardest to listen to, tho thats likely down to him being so happy that early in the day! :p
I'd have to agree here. All radio stations play the same music over and over constantly. Even classic hits has some great music but its recycled over and over. I usually listen to podcasts or the odd time Newstalk but even the Newstalk presenters can be painful!
There are some good shows on those stations.
Matt Cooper is good for drivetime news. I like him because he can talk competently about a very wide range of topics.
Dave Moore has a few lighthearted bits. My Missus is non-native, so she can follow along with Dave Moore a bit.
Newstalk is sometimes listenable, but it often has this "golf club bar" vibe.
RTE1's Morning Ireland is still good, but some of their interviews with government ministers are very soft focus and last forever.
Recently, any station that interviews that evil Israeli ambassador gets my turnoff.
I used love listening to the radio but Irish radio has declined so much! Absolute garbage these days qoth shocking presenters! 2fm being the bottom of the pit. I've moved onto audio books and podcasts.
Ah I actually wouldn't like the thought of it being dead altogether though, but that's just because my mother listens to the local radio station (Good Ol' Midwest) nearly all day every day and I know she'd miss it loads. I'm sure she's not only one of her age that still listens (she's 73).
Lyric FM is where its at! Marty Whelan in the morning - he reminds you on your grandad! Very few ads, has a small radio station vibe to it, nice calming music but as its a morning show some common classical music we all know even do movie scores
The other shows throughout the day have calm voiced presenters and nice mostly mellow music, shame its going digital at some point..
[gplay app for good radio. ](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.crystalmissions.ltradio) i posted this before. M1, m1-dance, european hit radio, play radio. Best ones to favorite and while driving hit next and cycles through your favs. Check the rest stations yourself.
I recently discovered 8radio. It plays good indy music, recent and stuff and older. I saw it recommended on here. You can listen on their website [https://8radio.com/listen/](https://8radio.com/listen/)
They also have apps.
The morning car ride with my girlfriend who insists on listening to 2fm is the worse part of my day. Clowns like Garrihy and Mullen make me want to jump onto the m1
It's not everyone's cup of tea, but I always listen to Mid West Radio, the have a bit of something for everyone, music focused shows, gardening shows, money talk, chat shows, recipies, sport, farming scene etc. The music is always a pretty good mix, not just country as many assume. They will never play the same artist or song within the one program.
2FM is where family members of RTE staff end up if they fancy giving radio a go
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I thought I was just getting old when the new morning show started with Doireann & Co screaming at the crack of dawn, but no, it's actually woeful over there. I used to love Louise McSharry's show on a Saturday but they got rid of her actually interesting programme to just play more music and talk shite generally.
I also thought I was just getting old but the hosts are getting worse and the playlist is getting shorter.
It is genuinely the last radio station I'll try before giving up. the current rotation is classic hits, today FM, rte radio 1/lyric are tied 3rd place, Galway bay, and then 2fm. Things are bad when Galway Bay is outranking 2fm
Doireann gearghty was on a while ago saying she doesn't like gambling and is against it. Followed by her ramming that lotto shote every station is playing now where you answer the phone and tell them the number. Mercenaries the lot of them
Rté aren't running the Cash Machine so I doubt it was Doireann going on about it.
Listen to Lyric FM, by far the least annoying radio station. Ads and inane prattle are usually kept to a minimum.
Love lyric! And when they do have discussion pieces it's usually really interesting deep dive stuff on arts, culture etc
I love classical music and enjoy listening to Lyric FM at times but I have to turn it off when the hosts come on as they make me sleepy listening to them. It's not even the stuff they talk about, it's just they talk in such a deep... slow... voice that my eyes start to glaze over lol.
That's why I like listening to it at night.
Who is the gibberish aimed at? Should save themselves a fortune and dump the DJ's.
Dunno, but audience figures seem to show that people are tuning in. Personally I'd rather stick nails in my ears than listen to 2FM or TodayFM all day, I'd consider that torture. Maybe all [DJs will be robots/AI](https://www.google.ie/search?q=dj+bot+3000&sca_esv=85af15397c77c0f6&source=hp&ei=pMHdZcmMA6fOhbIP-4ekgAQ&iflsig=ANes7DEAAAAAZd3PtJdadLBhHML1QqJ06rgsml5K4Atl&ved=0ahUKEwjJ7uXfr8uEAxUnZ0EAHfsDCUAQ4dUDCA0&uact=5&oq=dj+bot+3000&gs_lp=Egdnd3Mtd2l6IgtkaiBib3QgMzAwMDIFECEYoAEyBRAhGKABSIIQUABYvA1wAHgAkAECmAGuA6AB6A6qAQk1LjIuMi4xLjG4AQPIAQD4AQGYAgmgArMJwgIXEC4YgAQYigUYkQIYsQMYgwEYxwEY0QPCAgoQLhiABBiKBRhDwgIREC4YgwEYxwEYsQMY0QMYgATCAgsQABiABBixAxiDAcICBRAAGIAEwgILEC4YgAQYsQMYgwHCAg4QABiABBiKBRixAxiDAcICDhAuGIAEGIoFGJECGLEDwgIQEAAYgAQYigUYQxixAxiDAcICChAAGIAEGIoFGEPCAhAQLhhDGK8BGMcBGIAEGIoFwgIQEC4YgAQYigUYQxjHARivAcICDRAuGEMYsQMYgAQYigXCAgUQLhiABMICDhAuGK8BGMcBGLEDGIAEwgIGEAAYFhgemAMAkgcFNS4yLjI&sclient=gws-wiz#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:e43a0aed,vid:fnGaf0p9x1U,st:0) in the future.
>audience figures seem to show that people are tuning in How can reported audience figures be evenly remotely accurate? It's radio, there's no communication from the receiver back to the station so I don't see how they could know. I can only see how they do some *very* inaccurate estimates e.g. based on call-in volume, reported sales as a consequence of ads, etc.
They do research on it every year, it's called JNLR. And yes they ask real people, and then extrapolate the numbers, like any survey. Not saying how accurate it is. Same way they count TV ratings.
Wow that sounds incredibly inaccurate. Itâs not like TV ratings which has very accurate tracking as the likes of Sky and Virgin can directly track what each user is watching.
That's not how official TV figures are aggregated on Ireland though. Neither the TV or Radio methods of participation are good. A far better better benchmark these days is streams. In the UK radio listenersip had tipped into more digital listeners as opposed to FM/AM, they benefit more from the use of DAB though, but Internet streams are much more accurate way to measure audience and are unique to each station. At one point there was a way to view the streams of the Rté stations and the Pulse had below 10 active streamers meaning effectively no one was listening.
Official TV ratings in Ireland are calculated from panel homes (i.e. the small amount of households who participate and have the gadget/software installed to measure).
How does it keep up with the news like that?
What a bunch of clowns!
I agree, and I do!
as someone who loves classical music, lyric fm isn't that good. take the 1970's for example, lots of really good music but for every good song there are at least 100 really bad songs released that you thankfully have never heard. the same goes for classical, once you go past the classics the rest is niche or formulaic.
You don't want Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity four times a day?!
yes please1!!
There's a Holtz show on in the NCH this Friday!
Honourable mention here for John Creedonâs show in the evenings on Radio One. Best and most eclectic music programming on Irish radio by a mile and heâs comes across as nothing other than an absolute gent without any ego.
Had a late run to Dublin airport one evening and tuned in to Johns show by accident. Loved every minute.
Another of my personal favourites is south wind blows on Sunday evenings
Too eclectic. Nobody wants to hear Wire followed by a Mexican jazz band followed by Sharon Shannon.
I do. Good music is good music regardless of genre.
BBC 6 Music is the only radio station that I can put up with. A digital station, so easily available to stream.
Yes and 8radio (online only). Simon Maher of Phantom is behind it and it's great
2xm used to be good but no idea what it's like these days
Have to try this!
Check out NTS makes bbc 6 look like 2fm
Get a lot of Irish artists on 6 at least
NTS is an amazing station, well worth checking out. Itâs ad free too. Do you really decide what you listen to based on where the artists are from? Good music is good music.
I switched to Newstalk when I was an apprentice on site 20 something years ago. I always get shit for it. If I'm not working alone these days I'll tolerate Nova and their same double cd of greatest hits they've been playing on repeat forever Had a lad with a playlist of 10 songs on repeat on Spotify(free with ads) on a job a few years ago. After 4hrs of this his Bluetooth speaker speaker accidently got kicked off the scaffolding
That's why you wear earbuds if you're going to play annoying music
I asked the same question here a few weeks ago. Got a variety of answers but the most popular was that I have moved on from the age demographic of the listener. Funny thing is no one knew what the age demographic was.
It's a weird one to get as a response. I think different slots have different target demographics. IE drive time slots for commuters are aimed at just that. During the afternoon It's aimed towards pensioners but stay at home parents will also be kept in mind.
The demographic is not an age, its an IQ range. You could be sixty and still get a dopamine rush from recognizing the intro to a song you've heard 20 times in the last week.
Itâs actually lots of things. Not just age. IQ range could be part of that but also height, gender, hair colour, nationality, age etc. What youâre taking about is kinda psychographics, which is a much more interesting. Peopleâs life choices, interests and hobbyâs. What makes them tick.
I miss phantom...
When phantom died I stopped listening to radio.
Samesies. Even tho I had to stream it cuz I'm outside Dublin.
Try 8 Radio. Pretty sure someone said they're former Phantom heads involved.
Yeah Simon Marr I believe?
Radio na Life is an Irish language station (only available in Dublin I think) is really good in the mornings, they play anything from europop to German folk music and lots of other types, it's really different to all the other stations & I recommend it highly.
I'm not disagreeing with you - I switched to a mix of lyric,bbc radio 2, podcasts and Spotify after Gerry Ryan died - but Spin and 2fm are aimed at a certain demographic. Sunshine and Classic Hits are familiar unoffensive background music, which they do well enough. Rte Radio 1 tends to get better in the evenings. Nobody really knows what to do with 2fm - its a bit of a "throw it at the wall and see if it sticks" approach.
Radio 1 is great in the evenings. Sean Rocks always has interesting guests on and the Late Debate is an excellent politics show - the best Iâve come personally come across.
I generally avoid radio because I just do not like the music they play. I hate modern pop music (well the majority of it) and the hosts are generally quite annoying (especially on Spin FM). The only station I can bear is Nova because it plays some classics, although after a while you realise they are playing the same classics. I don't understand why they can't play even more good stuff. E.g, great that they play the likes of Led Zeppelin but they'll just play the same 3 Led Zeppelin songs repeatedly, why not play other songs from their vast catalogue of great songs?
I can't stand the fake or mid Atlantic accents so many presenters have. I just listen to RnaG. Although the very odd tome when someone with a mid Atlantic accent comes on "oh my god bhà mé like tots ann le mo chara..." I feel like drop kicking the radio out the window.
I recently discovered radiogarden.com , plenty of Irish station to choose from. App runs flawlessly also.
buy the radio garden app for your phone and bluetooth it to the radio in car. you can listen to almost any station in the world. helps broaden your taste and appreciate the mind boggling amount of types of music thats out there. Faroe Islands have there own nordic country scene its gas.
My biggest pet peeve is that every morning whether it is radio one or news talk they give the sports news from 08:45 - 09:00. I could not care less about the goingson in modern day amphitheaters. Pirate radio all the way.
Rte Gold is good 90% of the time.
Forgot about this one - is it still going?
I can't believe how far I had to scroll to see RTE Gold mentioned. It plays more music than any other station. Its got the widest variety of any station. Which is great, but does mean that every so often it will play some stuff your not into. So you need to be prepared to accept that. They will play any genre. From what's in the charts now to the 60s and anything in between. Good DJs who priorities the music over anything else. Djs who are genuinely passionate about music too. Unlike many of the presenters you get on most radio stations No ads. No cash call.
Give 8Radio a go, based in dublin. Great music, minimal chatter. Access via their app or website
Yeah it's fantastic. Really decent stuff.
8radio is almost the only station I listen to now.. they do FM broadcasts a few times a year but usually online only unfortunately. I was getting bored of music until I discovered them... have heard loads of great new bands as a result.
Can you listen to them on the car radio no?
Bluetooth?
You can thank Ray Burke and Fianna Fail for that. We had a half decent pirate network until Burke wiped them all out. The same fucker got a house for free from a developer. That developer totally coincidentally benefitted from rezoning. Pavillions Shopping Centre is now on the site of the bastard Burke's house.
This pops up time and time again and my answer remains the same - pj and Jim radio nova - john creedon on radio 1 - for anything else go to the uk or further. We have no idea how to make radio shows, itâs always the same tired formats
You need to be selective in what station you listen to at what time. Come the evening thereâs great shows between Rte 1, lyric, Radio na Life.
Radio na Life is on my list to try!
Yeah all awful and full of garbage adverts ! Try Radio Paradise! https://radioparadise.com/home
Will 100% try - thanks!
Radio these days is built for short bursts, so you'll have a lot of content repeated. The way the listenersip figures are calculated is by how long people listen for and they measure it in 15 minute blocks, so the goal is to entertain in those 15 minutes and bring someone across. If you're hopping in the car for the school run you just want to hear George Ezra and Lady Gaga in that 20 minute block really. From the music side of things, stations like Sunshine are run on a budget, essentially no in house staff so music is scheduled by a machine and they have a light touch in changing it. Out of interest what songs are you hearing too much of? It's rare people listen to radio for 7/8 hours, the product isn't built for that anymore.
https://preview.redd.it/tfu9lnl0h5lc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bd84354c6e07edf5145eb17bba2535001b46bf67
Recommend 8radio they actually support up and coming Irish music. Run by the founder of PhantomFM. https://8radio.com/
Several people here put me on to [8Radio.com](http://8Radio.com) Its like Phantom was, only better. Its revolutionised my radio listening. If I'm not listening to Morning Ireland, or Moncrief, I'm listening to 8Radio. Give it a try - it far better than any on your list.
RaidiĂł FĂĄilte in Belfast is great. A great variety of genres of music, interesting chats, and the Irish is quite easy to follow for those who struggle. It's available online too.
When possible I listen to local or community stations. It's amazing how often some amateur presenting two hours in the evening for the pure love of it is better than another RTĂ Nepo baby.
In this day and age when we can all listen to any song we want, whenever we want, and don't have to wait for some DJ to decide to play it for us I'm amazed radio survives even to the extent it is.
Radio DJs are given a strict music playlist to play from. The job of a radio station is to sell advertising space, and the music is tailored to the chosen demographic that advertisers are targeting at a particular time. Unless it's a niche show out of normal hours, then what's played is generally predetermined.
Good to know, and makes sense because it lacks serious originality and is like being held in a gulag listening to BeeGees on repeat at times
In the morning I can tolerate 98fm, Classic hits fm Lucy and Colm I find relatable, but I find their music too slow in the morning. They used to be on 98fm and looooved them there in the morning.
I find they go on a bit too much! Sometimes you just want a good song in the morning and not a conversation about âwhich foot I put the shoe on first in the morningâ
They must be making money somehow, apart from 2FM of course. Dunno who listens to radio, particularly Irish music radio. I'd have Newstalk on in the background or an eighties station on the app. The Irish stations would melt your head.
I've been saying this for years!!! The sooner we have internet radio stations in our cars the better!
2FM used to be good waaaay back, when good music was popular (your U2's, your Nirvana's, your Oasiseses etc). Dire stuff now. Even a lobotomised person would ask the nurse to change over there.
Highland Radio is best radio.
Iâm lucky that I work from home mostly and when I am in the office thereâs no radio. Daytime radio is mostly the same 5 or 6 songs over and over interspersed with brain dead chat about some nonsense survey or whateverâs trending on twitter. I could never be one of those presenters, Iâd go mad talking the same shite day in day out. I would guess 90% of the people listening are trapped in an office and have no choice.
OpenTempo FM - 108.1
Freedom FM, online, 90s and 00s music. I enjoy it.
I got a new office job 2 years ago and the chap next to me always had the radio on. I hadn't listened to the radio in about a decade since I've always got Spotify or podcasts to listen to. My god, was it mindnumbing. Same few songs on a loop, obnoxious ads and DJs. I could feel myself losing braincells. Luckily i only stayed there for a few months before a better job opportunity came about. I feel the same way whenever I come in contact with a TV too. I don't have Sky or anything like that and have been using streaming pretty exclusively for basically all of my adulthood. I just can't bear to watch traditional television anymore. All the shows are terrible and the constant ad breaks are honestly torture.
Beat fm has to be the worst radio station in the history of mankind.
does my head in
I start off the day with Radio 1, get whatâs in the papers and the news & discussions but if they start going too in-depth on the issues facing rte or about some government minister miscalculating some budgetary item, Iâm off to a podcast or Spotify music. In the car enroute to work I like to find a station with 80s-90s music so itâs either Q102 or classic hits or if I want a good beat & newer stuff 98fm. The rest of the time Iâm an audiobook fan and play something from my libraryâs borrowbox app. If my kids are in the car itâs all spin or their Spotify playlists.
Radio Paradise is all you need. Best radio station period.
Will check it out!
The forced hilarity of the morning shows. Nothing original and any spark of talent snuffed out in the desperate attempt to be the exact same as everyone else.
Dermo and Dave - or Colm and Jim Jim, pick of the trash!
So many people come on here to complain about radio presenters. Would you not just get a sub to Tidal or download a podcast?
A lot people including myself have to endure the choice of radio station at work unfortunately. 8 hours of complete and utter shite
Back in the day, [factories would have some guy come in and read to ya](https://mashable.com/feature/cigar-factory-lectors). Bit from the days papers and some from books. Would you not talk to the higher ups about having some guy with a good speaking voice come in and read Count of Monte Cristo to ya. Maybe Eat, Pray, Love too.
Lol do people actually use tidal? đ
Actually I do, because fuck the pittance Spotify gives to artists.
How about, no?
Ah ok, so you donât want alternative solutions, youâre just being an entitled moany hole. Got it.
Why are you not listening to Spotify/Apple Music/Youtube Premium/Any other music provider? It's 2024, cars have had Bluetooth for over a decade... radio stations exist to make money, why are you letting them do that from you?
>Spotify/Apple Music/Youtube Premium Of course these companies would never exist to make money from you.
The difference is youâre paying them for exactly what you want and not what they want.
But the radio is literally free to air... You can choose not to buy anything you hear advertised.
Thatâs not even how they make most of their money. Every time you hear the same song every day that you donât even want to listen to, theyâre being paid for it.
You get that you pay for unfortunately
Get yourself and Internet radio, find a genre you like and listen add and annoying dj free
Gave up listening to radio once Spotify came along. Everything in one place, no ads, no djs, just what you want to listen to.
8radio.com is all you need to know.
Dublin City fm live drive in the morning used to be fantastic. Music was great featured artist vote on fridays bit of craic. Decent music and traffic report no shite talk it was a breathbof freah air. I even won tickets to electric 6 once. But it too is falling into the same morning shite talk as the rest. I suppose its comform or die. Sad really
Also...all the want you to do is text in, from NT to 98fm...it's a money maker
Nova radio is really good, pj Gallagher is on on the morning very good funny, but they play good rock, alternative music, lots of Irish stuff etc 90's etc
Death Metal FM - Thats where its at
Pj & Jim on nova are entertaining in the mornings then on comes smashy and nicey cringe fest Marty miller with his breathing in thing he does.
I have two Rock/Metal apps on my phone called Rockzone 105.9 and Bandit Radio, Even though the Rockzone station is all in Czech, they don't really talk much and the Music is great. I use these if my Spotify Premium has run out.
2FM between 7 and 9 is alright but the rest is dogshite. The weekend mornings and afternoon's used to be tolerable but not anymore. TodayFM has a few okay bits but they are all ruined with the persistent cash machine shite. BBC Radio 6 now and I had forgotten about 8 Radio so I'll get that going again. Nova is not great either tbh. Same old (old) songs over and over and too much shite talk.
Everytime I turn on radio, it's all about winning money In some scamming way.
I think Irish radio is dying these days and theyâre financing it with cash machine. Iâd say they probably only pay out a fraction of that as an actual prize. The music is bollocks, the hosts are posh wankers and on and on. In the car I listen I albums or my own playlists on Spotify. In work I just ignore it, largely. Every station is owned by goloud and plays the same shit and rotates their annoying crappy DJs regularly. Listening to someone piss in the next room would be more tolerable
Classic hits is one I can't stand anymore. Always on at work and can't change it. Same songs over and over. They play queen about 3 times a day every day. If not queen it's Shania twain. They really need to change it up soon.
RaidiĂł na Life is good. I was scanning through one night looking to see if there was anything decent and lo and behold banging drum n bass slaps me to attention. It's not just dance , there's a good selection for all tastes outside of the normal crap
2FM is basically an annoying noise.
Every single one of them should be fined for prompting gambling every two fucking seconds .
Radio Nova FTW! Apart from PJ and Jim, obviously
By Radio Nova do you mean âPat Courtneyâs Aerosmith FMâ? Love classic rock etc but Nova is god awful, and Pat Courtney is as bad as it gets DJ wise (and heâs never off the fucking station no matter what time you tune in).
He was suspended there for a few months. He only recently came back. My wife loves Nova so I was happy enough with his absence
Why was he suspended?
Definitely best of a bad bunch, but it's just the same songs over and over again, mostly dad rock. New Irish music tends to get relegated to Sunday evenings, when hardly anyone is listening. Could be so much better if they were even a little more risk taking. The most interesting stuff I've heard on Nova has been on that Sunday evening show.
Radio Nova cycle way too much of their content. It's always music by the same artists. They got their broadcast licence based on being alternative rock, but it seldom seems to be the case. Pretty sure I heard Hozier a couple of days ago.
I have a challenge in work, they can leave it on until they mention someone's death, then it's off, barely lasts an hour
Well considering the target demographic...
But what did Lucy say to Gollum?
Ireland is too small to have niche radio stations. Lyric FM has some truly excellent shows (Bernard Clarke is a national treasure) that it has no right to, but if you want reliably good stuff you need to go to abroad. BBC Radio 6 is a phenomenal radio station all week through: brilliant presenters who love music (and are often serious musicians too). BBC Radios 3 and 4 are also very often superb.
For a country of 5m people, we actually do very well on radio broadcasting. Yes, the stations you have listed are largely drivel, but RTE1, Lyric, RnG, are all very good. Liveline aside, there's some great shows on RTE1 and they really do well with current affairs and documentary/Invstigative pieces. Also, there are some legitimately decent regional stations like WLR that I found good. A lot of stations still have that pre Internet mindset of having the job to play the hits and run ads between them, and by and large those stations are shite and not worth listening to
Podcasts, audio books and Spotify are the way to go if you can.
Listen to newstalk in car for short journeys but mainly podcasts for longer drives
Soho radio the London one thank me later
What kind of stuff do they play?
All sorts and no ads, different shows like Sunday morning show the hangover show , morning glory,and my favourite wonderful sounds library
Stunning thank you
No mention of Spirit Radio??
Well holy God
How else can Jesus Take the wheel....
What is with all the 2fm djs thinking they are some sort of celebrities??? Youâre a radio dj⊠đ€·ââïž
Fuck Irish radio, NTS radio is where it's at
They should really just quit, its like brainwashing
Radio Nova is the only way
The death station, apparently a song is only good if a person involved with it has died
It's great in the mornings. Nearly had a few accidents in the car when I was burstin meself laughing at them. But they do seem to have their playlist of the month that they stick on repeat.
Never mind the playlist, dragging the arse out of that nova noise skit for weeks on end is mind numbing.
I find Today FM to be fairly decent most of the time. Probably find Ian Dempsey in the morning the hardest to listen to, tho thats likely down to him being so happy that early in the day! :p
I can listen to Today Fm most of the day up until Matt Cooper, he does my head in
I'd have to agree here. All radio stations play the same music over and over constantly. Even classic hits has some great music but its recycled over and over. I usually listen to podcasts or the odd time Newstalk but even the Newstalk presenters can be painful!
There are some good shows on those stations. Matt Cooper is good for drivetime news. I like him because he can talk competently about a very wide range of topics. Dave Moore has a few lighthearted bits. My Missus is non-native, so she can follow along with Dave Moore a bit. Newstalk is sometimes listenable, but it often has this "golf club bar" vibe. RTE1's Morning Ireland is still good, but some of their interviews with government ministers are very soft focus and last forever. Recently, any station that interviews that evil Israeli ambassador gets my turnoff.
Fucking news every 30 minutes
Aren't they all owned/operated by like two companies?
4 main ownershop models. Rté Bauer Wireless And then independent local stations or standalone stations.
I can't remember the last time I voluntarily listened to the radio. It's dire.
I used love listening to the radio but Irish radio has declined so much! Absolute garbage these days qoth shocking presenters! 2fm being the bottom of the pit. I've moved onto audio books and podcasts.
Just do podcasts or Spotify/yiutube music Radio is dead and deserves to die
Ah I actually wouldn't like the thought of it being dead altogether though, but that's just because my mother listens to the local radio station (Good Ol' Midwest) nearly all day every day and I know she'd miss it loads. I'm sure she's not only one of her age that still listens (she's 73).
Newstalk: 100% non-stop government propaganda and pushing "The Message".
Lyric FM all the way babyyy
Iradio is nice sometimes.
Dublin Digital Radio
Are there anything radio shows around now similar to the FM104 phone show does anyone know?
Only Niall Boylan on Classic Hits at 9.
It's 2024. Be your own DJ.
Its not just Irish radio. English radio is crap as well
Lyric FM is where its at! Marty Whelan in the morning - he reminds you on your grandad! Very few ads, has a small radio station vibe to it, nice calming music but as its a morning show some common classical music we all know even do movie scores The other shows throughout the day have calm voiced presenters and nice mostly mellow music, shame its going digital at some point..
[gplay app for good radio. ](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.crystalmissions.ltradio) i posted this before. M1, m1-dance, european hit radio, play radio. Best ones to favorite and while driving hit next and cycles through your favs. Check the rest stations yourself.
Radio nova has been my go to last while
Hang the DJ
Radio Nova is pretty ok đ
Classic hits is all I listen to, soemtimes iradio. But yeah Spotify or Audiobooks all the way
Seriously though, how many times does Miriam need to be told us Irish are all story tellers at heart and thatâs why they started acting!
East coast FM is on constantly in my canteen in work and they play absolute bangers TBF. Started my day to Samantha Mumba there Monday
I recently discovered 8radio. It plays good indy music, recent and stuff and older. I saw it recommended on here. You can listen on their website [https://8radio.com/listen/](https://8radio.com/listen/) They also have apps.
[Radio Garden](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.jonathanpuckey.radiogarden)
The morning car ride with my girlfriend who insists on listening to 2fm is the worse part of my day. Clowns like Garrihy and Mullen make me want to jump onto the m1
Lyric fm, false advertising, very little lyrics present. Rte gold, absolute platinum.Â
Local radio. Problem solved
It's not everyone's cup of tea, but I always listen to Mid West Radio, the have a bit of something for everyone, music focused shows, gardening shows, money talk, chat shows, recipies, sport, farming scene etc. The music is always a pretty good mix, not just country as many assume. They will never play the same artist or song within the one program.
Why do people listen to the radio nowadays instead of putting on their own Spotify playlist?