Radio Ireland takes to the air with a sigh of relief

WHEN the President, Mrs Robinson, early this morning inaugurated the new national radio service, Radio Ireland, there must have been a huge sigh of relief within the Independent Radio and Television Commission (IRTC). Radio Ireland was up and running and the ghost of Century Radio could now be laid to rest.

Now that Emily and Gavin can wake us up and Ann-Marie and Eamon inform and entertain us on the way home from work, the questions can be asked about the process that brought Radio Ireland to the airwaves. Could the last-minute crisis could have been avoided or was it an inevitable result of the way independent radio and television is run?

Last January, at the public hearings when the applicants for the new national radio licence made their pitches, there were few surprises. Most of the applicants offered a variation on the same theme. A mix of music and talk, an appeal to a wide audience range between 25 and 45 years, with news and current affairs.

The IRTC had made it clear in the advertisement seeking applicants what sort of radio would be successful. Only one station actually offered something very different. Energy Radio offered young radio for teenagers. It was agreed it did not have a hope, even if such a station might have seen of

All the others claimed RTE Radio 1 was losing out at the younger end of its audience spectrum, leaving a gap in the market into which a new speech and music station could enter.

The applicants also understood the public service broadcasting notions held by members of the IRTC and appealed to that. That is why the inclusion of Mr Dan Collins was so pivotal to the Radio Ireland consortium getting the licence. He was well-known within broadcasting circles for his strong views on public service broadcasting and how it could be part of commercial radio. He was then running Radio Kerry, the jewel in the independent radio sector's crown.

A year later Mr Collins has gone; Radio Ireland, which had pledged to be on air last autumn, broke its own deadline; the shareholding has changed by about 30 per cent; the head of news is not Patrick Kinsella, who gave details of the proposed news service at the IRTC hearings last year, but Conor Kavanagh and the studios are not in Temple Bar, but beside the Jervis Centre on the north side of the River Liffey. The schedule agreed with the IRTC does not read quite like that promised on January 29th, 1996, at the Royal Hospital hearings, but the IRTC is happy with it.

There is nothing necessarily wrong with this. Nothing was written in tablets of stone, but remembering the chairman of the IRTC in the Royal Hospital asking questions with huge seriousness and gravitas, one wonders just how far he and his colleagues were willing to go in allowing changes to those conditions agreed on last year. They were tested with the sacking of Mr Collins, but after a few nervous days, the station was allowed to go ahead so long as it could agree the new management structure with the IRTC, and the IRTC was seen to be in command.

Despite the strong feelings in favour of Mr Collins, the commission agreed Mr Dick Hill could become the new chief executive. Mr Hill, a hugely experienced former television executive, has no radio experience.

The setting up of a national radio station was important to the IRTC. The failure of Century after only two years remained a cloud hanging over the whole independent regulatory framework, despite the success of local radio, which the IRTC also regulates. If Radio Ireland failed to go on air then the whole edifice of independent broadcasting would be questioned and no one in the media believed the IRTC had any intention of doing anything that would jeopardise the launch of the new station.

It is also believed some IRTC members were concerned about the growing influence of Mr James Gordon, the chairman of Scottish Radio. He had been an unsuccessful applicant for the licence last year, but now has a 15 per cent stake in Radio Ireland, following the withdrawal of the Farmers Journal.

Mr Gordon is the only one of those involved at board level with any significant radio experience. After the tensions developed between the promoters and Mr Collins, it was he who suggested Mr Andy Park take over programming as a temporary assistant controller of programmes. He was the first controller of programmes at Radio Clyde, which is owned by Scottish Radio.

Despite some misgivings within the IRTC Mr Gordon is still on the board and Mr Park is still with the station, albeit in a temporary capacity.

The advertising industry does not share the IRTC's misgivings. Mr Park was described as a "class act, running a class operation" by one advertising source.

FOR RTE, ironically, a national station is more welcome than not. Radio Ireland on air means no more discussion about privatising 2FM. It allows RTE to develop a range of radio, such as a new classical and cultural channel and extending the hours of Raidio na Gaeltachta.

RTE has already changed its schedule quite dramatically in anticipation, but RTE executives now understand that Radio Ireland is not going after Radio 1 exclusively but is expected to take audiences from both Radio 1 and 2FM, as well as the two Dublin independent stations, with smaller numbers from local stations around the State.

As John McColgan said recently, the station was going for those 2FM listeners who wanted a bit more talk and the Radio 1 listeners who wanted more music.

Radio Ireland is offering something different. It will offer short items, sport and music. It will be faster than Radio 1, but its music policy will presumably reflect its slightly older target audience than 2FM's and it is going on air at a time when the economy is booming.

Within the advertising industry, the start-up of Radio Ireland is enormously welcome. There is a growing awareness of radio as an advertising medium both here and in Britain. At the same time there is a shortage of national advertising time. About £35 million is currently spent on radio advertising. Despite the current boom, that figure has remained static because there is simply no more time available. Radio Ireland will be a welcome new outlet.

The view within the advertising industry is that rows in radio stations are not new. Century had its troubles long before it went bust and both 98 FM in Dublin and Cork 96 FM have suffered their own setbacks. The head of 98 FM was let go before the station was on air.

Radio Ireland will not have everything its own way, though. Its news service was dealt a severe blow when it failed to find agreement with the local stations to supply national and international news. It does not now have automatic access to 21 local radio newsrooms around the State. It has had to find alternative ways to report events outside Dublin.

It does not have the sort of resources that are available to Radio 1. Daily programmes with a wide range of items are going on air with one producer and one researcher, compared to a range of producers and researchers for similar shows at RTE.

Anybody who has been in Radio Ireland House over the past few weeks has been impressed by the enthusiasm of the staff. However, this is not Riverdance, a show business event that needs lots of buzz and adrenaline, but daily radio that has to be produced every day of every week, 24 hours a day.

The success of Radio Ireland will not be judged by today's programmes, or even next week's, but in six months or a year's time, when advertising agencies coldly assess the listenership figures and look at the best way to spend their clients' money. {CORRECTION} 97031500037