State of the nation
Ron Healy
State of the Nation...
by Ron Healy, IrishUnsigned.com

While we are all aware that RTE has a perceived inferiority complex in the general populace, and love nothing better than spending License payers money on American and UK imports which almost all of us can see already on alternate channels, it is something of a surprise to see that RTE Radio is just as bad, if not worse. Recent figures from Airplay monitors show that RTE Radio 1 played only 10 of the 30 monitored tracks (played a total of 18 times between them) that particular week. These songs are all defined as being "Irish Produced". 2FM played 20 of the 30 monitored tracks (76 times between them), while Today FM played 22 tracks, 124 times between them. The thirty songs listed/monitored is obviously only a sample of music available of Irish origin and does not include 'new', 'independent' or 'unsigned' artists generally (except the topmost level of these artists) or even the vast array of ?old? or ?traditional? music.

It is important to note that these figures represent current releases and only those that are specifically recorded for monitoring purposes. A large number of tracks may well be played on all stations, such as Traditional, Ballads and older material. However, since the statistics are based on 30 tracks used consistently across every station monitored, we think it is a fair means of analysing which station is most likely to play the current or recent releases from 'Irish' artists.

One other point of note is that, while the tracks monitored are considered to be ?Irish produced?, this could be a little bit misleading. Without going into details about major-label parent-ownership and commercial politics, we would point out that there are not many bands, Irish or not, signed to a record label in Ireland. This is a subject that needs to be addressed seperately.

Radio airplay statistics from National broadcasters RTE and Today FM become a bit more interesting when local/commercial radio is examined. We might expect from experience that the smaller radio stations would play a whole lot more Irish content (particularly new Irish content) and we might expect the commercial stations, especially in Dublin, to play comparatively few. However, from one week alone (late August 2003), we find the following stations did quite well, especially when compared to the state-funded 'National' broadcaster who really should be encouraging Irish music to develop instead of ensuring International acts become richer from our License fees, through royalties.


Of the thirty ?Irish produced? tracks monitored:

CKR: played 14 tracks, 53 plays between them
Limerick Live: Played 12 tracks, 74 plays between them
FM104: played 13 tracks, 92 plays between them.
WLR FM: played 19 tracks, 97 plays between them
Spin 1038: played 11 tracks, 120 plays between them.
98FM: played 14 tracks, 121 plays between them.
South East Radio: played 16 tracks, 141 times between them
Red FM: played 19 tracks, 149 plays between them

However, the absolute shocker, particularly in the days when new Radio licenses are seen as being handed out to all the wrong people, recent addition to the radio waves Beat FM (Waterford, Kilkenny, Tipperary, Carlow, Wicklow, Wexford areas) has the following stats:

Beat 102/103 FM: Played 16 tracks 243 plays between them.

To put that in perspective, Beat FM played 50% more plays of current Irish tracks than any other radio station monitored. Amazingly, this is without most of the tracks used in the 'Irish Beats' show, with almost exclusively Irish (and new/unsigned) material presented for two hours on Saturday and Sunday, by the enthusiastic and genuine Edel Dooley. Most of the material she uses would appear to be demo material or material from new (financially restricted) bands that cannot get onto 'normal' radio. It is fair to say that Beat FM is one of the best stations around ? currently - for playing recent and upcoming Irish music across various genres. Hopefully Dublin - with four new licenses apparently up for grabs - can get itself a station that has as much focus on local and National talent. Existing stations, while perhaps preferable to RTE Radio for upcoming talent, are still nowhere near good enough when compared to Beat FM.

IrishUnsigned.com has said in the past that the Licensing Authorities could take a huge step forward in assisting the development of the Irish grass-roots industry (in every genre) by simply adding two words to their 'headline' license requirement. Instead of a compulsory requirement of "X per cent Irish content" they could make that "X per cent Irish content per hour". This would mean that every show, playing all kinds of music at all times of the day and night, would be required to play a specific amount of material from an Irish source. We also think that there should be a rule that requires that each station schedule at least one weekly slot to showcase local talent. However, we don't foresee any of these requirements coming into play because, let?s face it, radio stations are commercial concerns and, despite the fact that we ? the people ? effectively own the airwaves, most listeners don?t care much for the behind-the-scenes politics of radio and emerging music.


*Note: The views expressed herein are not in any way institutional, they are personal.

** Note: In relation to the above statistics, please be aware of the following:

Although these figures give an indication of the amount/percentage of Irish plays on radio in Ireland, they are not exhaustive. For clarification purposes, the setup is, in layman's terms, as follows:

Artists (or management/labels) send a copy of any radio-release tracks to a monitoring organisation. This material is digitally analysed and patterns are stored. The system then scans, continually, many radio stations (currently 33 but apparently set to expand). An 'airplay chart' is therefore produced which is then published privately to various industry bodies and organisations. Artists or management/labels can buy a report of every recorded play of their particular song on a week-by-week basis for analysis purposes and for independent verification of the success or otherwise of paid 'pluggers' and publicity teams.

The tracks monitored are usually recent releases so no account is made of older, traditional material. Similarly, the material scanned is usually more of the 'professional' releases, so much of Ireland's underground/grass roots releases - even if played regularly - may never show up on these airplay stats (which are used by all parts of the Industry for analysis and scheduling purposes).

*IrishUnsigned.com is a not-for-profit organisation set up to help promote the growth and development of the grass-roots Irish music industry, regardless of genre or level of ambition of participants. IrishUnsigned.com has released a showcase CD of new Irish talent. To order a copy (featuring over four hours of music in various formats), go to www.IrishUnsigned.com.

ron@irishunsigned.com

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