Some listeners out of tune as Radio Ireland is relaunched

Radio Ireland's reincarnation as Today FM was hardly the smoothest relaunch in broadcasting history.

Radio Ireland's reincarnation as Today FM was hardly the smoothest relaunch in broadcasting history.

Before the day was out, the Independent Radio and Television Commission had fired a warning shot about a key programme; an unsuccessful applicant for the national radio licence had threatened legal action; and local radio stations were protesting that Today FM was now "just another music station".

Even the station's chairman, Mr John McColgan, seemed uneasy about some of the programming. He said at a press conference to mark the relaunch that more changes would be made in the coming months, though it might take up to a year to get everything "just right". He admitted that there was still work to be done with the content of the Daybreak programme. "The style was fine, but the content is not right yet."

The Independent Radio and Television Commission (IRTC) said the content of Daybreak was not what had been agreed. An IRTC spokesman said the output of Today FM would be monitored daily. An analysis of the programmes would be presented to the commission.

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Daybreak, which went on air about a month before yesterday's relaunch, is supposed to contain a 50/50 mix of music and talk, with at least 50 per cent of the talk to be on current affairs. That was not evident yesterday.

Representatives of other radio stations criticised Today FM's programmes and one unsuccessful applicant beaten by Radio Ireland in the contest for the national radio licence said he was considering legal action.

Mr Dermot Hanrahan, a shareholder in the Dublin station FM 104, said he was arranging a meeting with other radio stations which had been involved in the national licence applications to consider whether to take legal action.

Mr Hanrahan, who led a consortium which included The Irish Times, said what he had heard yesterday made him more inclined to consider a legal challenge.

He said he would be taking action on his own behalf, as the consortium in which he was involved in pursuit of the national licence was no longer in place.

The chairman of the Association of Independent Radio Stations, Mr John Purcell, said his members were concerned at the creation of "just another music station".

The launch of Today FM follows the disappointing performance of Radio Ireland. It is a marketing-driven, mainly music station with a play-list drawn up following detailed market research. In the evening, it reverts to Radio Ireland's old schedule with Eamon Dunphy's Last Word, John Kelly's Eclectic Ballroom and Donal Dineen's Here Comes the Night.