05.10.2006: No more Irish Beats...:	Ron, IU
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As readers can see from the previous news item, IrishUnsigned team meber Edel Dooley has announced that she intends to quit her BeatFM show "Irish Beats" with immediate effect While many will wonder what the big deal is, there are hundreds of independent bands, singers, acts who will know precisely what the big deal is. We don't have any official erason for Edel's decision, but her comments that it relates to a change of management, the fact that the new station manager is one she has had previous trouble with, and the rumours going around that the more popular personalities in the station are being shunted around the schedule as an incoming imprimatur would perhaps suggest Edel's show was being shunted to the early hours, also. Ignoring my personal opinion on the matter for a moment (don't worry, I'll get to it), this is a disaster for Irish music and for fans of Irish music, particularly of developing Artists. Edel's show covered as many as 20,000 recorded listeners, according to official sources and official figures. That's in Ireland alone. Actually, that's in 5 counties, give or take. When you consider the importance of a show that reaches up to 20,000 people, of whom every one is tuning in to hear what's new in Irish music rather than what's sold to radio stations by big record labels, you begin to see, as we did right from the start, the impact that such a show could have on the development of a self-sufficient Irish industry at grass roots level. Add to this potential impact the fact that the show's presenter has always been, from her days as a 'cub' reporter for the Waterford News and Star, a music fan, not a muso-snob, and you have the format for a show that could really bring new Irish music to the speakers of fans of new Irish music, via a fan of new Irish music. Having the show broadcast twice a week for two hours each over the weekend, at 6pm rather than 2am, meant that real people got to hear what they were tuning in to hear. How unique. Of course, there were those who criticised Edel's presentation skills, her personality, her knowledge of music and it's intrinsic politics. We did so ourselves. More than once we discussed how she could better present her show and Edel was usually receptive to the advice. What was missed, however, by the critics was the fact that the show's attraction was precisely that which they criticised: the raw, real-world personality of a music fan who got lucky and got to run her own music show. It reminded me of the best bit of Pirate radio in all its glory In the end, the corporate brain of BeatFM has, over the years, manipulated and fiddled with the show's format, to the detriment of both the show itself and the developing artists in the Irish music scene. As just one example, the ridiculous decision to run "Six in the mix", where six tracks were played back to back and virtually no information about them was allowed, meant that even when Edel did get to play your song, if you're an Artist, then she often didn't get to talk about it. To real music fans, not 'pop music' fans, the devil is often in the detail. We wanted to hear details about bands, about their songs, about their burgeoning careers. If we wanted to hear the same two-dozen Irish artists rotated back to back with no explanation or background material, we'd switch to the other channels. I probably listened to Irish Beats maybe once every month or so. Due to being outside it's reach, and not always being able to access it by Broadband, it was often the case that I wouldn't hear the show for a few weeks. It became noticeable over the years that the show was failing. The content itself wasn't failing, and Edel's presentation was (usually!) improving but the appeal was deteriorating because of, mostly, the changes in format and in the way the music was packaged without realising that the audience was precisely *not* the same as for other daytime radio stations and shows. We were in the studio for the very first Irish Beats show and I suppose it was always obvious that the show was not going to last forever. However, it's sad to see that it has fallen by the wayside because of some perceived personality clash (in my humble opinion) or a change at the top that seems to require that the incoming people stamp their own mark on things. I can only hope, as can anyone that has the same philosophy as IrishUnsigned, that BeatFM doesn't take the opportuniy - as with other radio stations - to shunt specialist radio shows into the early hours of the morning or to re-design the format of these shows so as to become more and more like ordinary radio while still managing to meet their licence criteria We shall have to wait and see what they come up with. What's certain is that they will have difficulty in finding someone who is as enthusiastic about the development of grass roots Irish music as Edel Dooley was. Who knows, maybe Edel will make her way into radio production now that she has years of experience in front of the microphone. No doubt Edel will be considering her options herself, but I can state this much from a personal and an IrishUnsigned perspective: PhantomFM are about to go live and their commitment to developing new Irish music is unquestioned. Edel, maybe you should give them a call...

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