Dublin's 98
Encyclopedia
98FM is an independent local radio station in Dublin, Ireland
, operated by Radio Two Thousand Limited, a subsidiary of Denis O'Brien's
Communicorp
Limited, under a sound broadcasting contract from the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland. The station broadcasts on the 98.1 MHz FM
frequency. 98FM's broadcast antenna is located on Three Rock Mountain, County Dublin
at 5 kW
, and can be heard in Dublin and neighbouring counties. The station slogan is "Now Is Good".
, aimed at 25-44 year olds. Its flagship programme is The Morning Crew, broadcast from 06:00-10:00. Other programmes include the Workforce and Drive. The station broadcasts hourly news (half-hourly at peak times) along with sports, and traffic and weather reports.
), sometimes attributed to the Morning Crew show, originally presented by Pat Courtnay and Elaine Geraghty, and to its evening talk show presented by Fr. Michael Cleary
. Changes led FM104 to overtake 98FM in the Joint National Listenership Research survey. This led to a crisis at 98FM, with the station changing aspects of its programme mix—firstly dropping Pat and Elaine for the "Dawn Patrol", a short-lived attempt to compete with The Strawberry Alarm Clock
(the "Morning Crew" name was later revived, but with a new presenting team). The station name was changed (dropping "Classic Hits"), as was the slogan, and Chris Barry was recruited from FM104 (causing a legal wrangle). The station eventually settled down to competing with FM104, and the two stations continue to compete.
In a MRBI/JNLR survey (August 2009), Dublin's 98 was the most listened to breakfast show in Dublin; it also had the highest audience during Barry Dunne's show (10:00-13:00), 98's Inbox has the second highest audience in the capital between 19:00-21:30, and the station has the biggest audiences in Dublin on Saturdays and Sundays. In 2003, 98FM introduced Late Night Talk
with Tom O'Brannigan
and producer John "Roz" O'Donovan and Lisa Gernon. In March 2007, Late Night Talk (rival of the Adrian Kennedy Phone Show) was ended after a presenter's departure. Two weeks later, a new show, reformatted and rescheduled to 20:00-22:00, The Inbox, began with hosts Alison O'Reilly and Paul Connolly. In 2008, Alison left 98FM. In early 2011, Paul left 98FM. On 12 June 2008, the station was re-named Dublin's 98. The slogan "Smile" was backed by the song Smile
by The Supernaturals
. On 3 April 2009, the station released a new logo with the slogan "Dublin's Best Music Mix". On 10 October 2008, at the PPI Radio Awards, Dublin's 98 was named PPI Music Station of the Year for 2008. It had previously won PPI awards for Newsroom of the Year and Best Breakfast show. As of April 2011, a new show, The Joan Lea show now airs from 9 pm-midnight. 98FM's Classic Hits, presented by Darragh O'Dea now is on between 7 pm and 9 pm. 98FM put huge emphasis on their "showbiz gossip" with Siobhan O'Connor with showbiz updates at 7.40, 8.40, 9.40, 11.40, 13.40 and 16.40 include the Showbiz show on a Saturday morning, repeated on a Sunday Morning. 98FM run hourly news, sport and weather bulletins from the Dublin News Centre between 6 am and 11 pm. The news is read half-hourly during breakfast and drivetime shows (6 am-10 am and 4 pm-7 pm). On 31 May 2010, the station was renamed back to 98FM. In 2010, 98FM advertisements were shown on television with a seal and the current station slogan is "Now Is Good".
motorway which encircles outer Dublin). The trolls live under a toll bridge in Dublin. They make fun of Irish celebrities, including RTÉ
daytime show Seoige and O'Shea.
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
, operated by Radio Two Thousand Limited, a subsidiary of Denis O'Brien's
Denis O'Brien
Denis O'Brien is an Irish businessman with international connections. An Arts graduate of University College Dublin, O'Brien has received a MBA in corporate finance from Boston College in 1982, and was later given an honorary doctorate by University College Dublin.O'Brien has involvement with...
Communicorp
Communicorp
Communicorp is an Irish media holding company, wholly owned by Denis O'Brien.-Background:Communicorp Group Ltd was formed by Denis O'Brien in 1989. The Group’s radio operations launched in Ireland in the same year and followed with stations in the Czech Republic in 1992...
Limited, under a sound broadcasting contract from the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland. The station broadcasts on the 98.1 MHz FM
Frequency modulation
In telecommunications and signal processing, frequency modulation conveys information over a carrier wave by varying its instantaneous frequency. This contrasts with amplitude modulation, in which the amplitude of the carrier is varied while its frequency remains constant...
frequency. 98FM's broadcast antenna is located on Three Rock Mountain, County Dublin
County Dublin
County Dublin is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Dublin Region and is also located in the province of Leinster. It is named after the city of Dublin which is the capital of Ireland. County Dublin was one of the first of the parts of Ireland to be shired by King John of England following the...
at 5 kW
Kw
kw or KW may refer to:* Kuwait, ISO 3166-1 country code** .kw, the country code top level domain for Kuwait* Kilowatt* Self-ionization of water Kw* Cornish language's ISO 639 code* Kitchener–Waterloo, Ontario, Canada...
, and can be heard in Dublin and neighbouring counties. The station slogan is "Now Is Good".
Programming
98FM is "Dublins Best Music Mix". The station broadcasts mainly popular musicPopular music
Popular music belongs to any of a number of musical genres "having wide appeal" and is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. It stands in contrast to both art music and traditional music, which are typically disseminated academically or orally to smaller, local...
, aimed at 25-44 year olds. Its flagship programme is The Morning Crew, broadcast from 06:00-10:00. Other programmes include the Workforce and Drive. The station broadcasts hourly news (half-hourly at peak times) along with sports, and traffic and weather reports.
History and Station Information
The station's first broadcast was in 1989, as a rock station called Classic Hits—98FM and quickly overtook rival Capital Radio 104.4 (now FM104FM104
FM104 is an Independent Local Radio station broadcast across Dublin, Ireland, on the frequency 104.4 MHz. It is operated by Capital Radio Productions Limited , and is a subsidiary of UTV Radio. The station broadcasts under a sound broadcasting contract from the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland...
), sometimes attributed to the Morning Crew show, originally presented by Pat Courtnay and Elaine Geraghty, and to its evening talk show presented by Fr. Michael Cleary
Father Michael Cleary
Michael Cleary was an Irish Roman Catholic priest, who became a radio and TV personality as well. A charismatic and powerful figure in the Catholic Church, he presented a late-night radio phone-in show in Dublin in the 1980s and hosted his own television chat show. He also published a book about...
. Changes led FM104 to overtake 98FM in the Joint National Listenership Research survey. This led to a crisis at 98FM, with the station changing aspects of its programme mix—firstly dropping Pat and Elaine for the "Dawn Patrol", a short-lived attempt to compete with The Strawberry Alarm Clock
The Strawberry Alarm Clock
The Strawberry Alarm Clock is a PPI award winning breakfast programme on FM104, an Independent Local Radio station in Dublin. It broadcasts weekday mornings from 6-10am, with "Best Of The Strawberry Alarm Clock" Saturdays from 9am-12pm...
(the "Morning Crew" name was later revived, but with a new presenting team). The station name was changed (dropping "Classic Hits"), as was the slogan, and Chris Barry was recruited from FM104 (causing a legal wrangle). The station eventually settled down to competing with FM104, and the two stations continue to compete.
In a MRBI/JNLR survey (August 2009), Dublin's 98 was the most listened to breakfast show in Dublin; it also had the highest audience during Barry Dunne's show (10:00-13:00), 98's Inbox has the second highest audience in the capital between 19:00-21:30, and the station has the biggest audiences in Dublin on Saturdays and Sundays. In 2003, 98FM introduced Late Night Talk
Late Night Talk
Late Night Talk was a late-night radio talk show on 98FM in Dublin, Ireland. The programme first aired in 2003 with former RTE and TG4 Presenter Tom O'Brannigan. The show was in direct competition with FM104's Phone Show with host Adrian Kennedy...
with Tom O'Brannigan
Tom O'Brannigan
Tom Ó Brannagáin has been a TV presenter for many years on TG4 and RTE, he has presented on various programmes including Hiudai, Pop TV, S.O.S., Echo Island, Telly Bingo, Open House, the St. Patrick's Day Parade, Delegation and most recently Glas Vegas...
and producer John "Roz" O'Donovan and Lisa Gernon. In March 2007, Late Night Talk (rival of the Adrian Kennedy Phone Show) was ended after a presenter's departure. Two weeks later, a new show, reformatted and rescheduled to 20:00-22:00, The Inbox, began with hosts Alison O'Reilly and Paul Connolly. In 2008, Alison left 98FM. In early 2011, Paul left 98FM. On 12 June 2008, the station was re-named Dublin's 98. The slogan "Smile" was backed by the song Smile
Smile
A smile is a facial expression formed by flexing the muscles near both ends of the mouth. The smile can also be found around the eyes . Among humans, it is an expression denoting pleasure, joy, happiness, or amusement, but can also be an involuntary expression of anxiety, in which case it is known...
by The Supernaturals
The Supernaturals
The Supernaturals were a five-piece guitar based pop band from Glasgow, Scotland. Fronted by singer-songwriter James McColl, they signed to Parlophone in 1996, and had a string of singles which were taken from their three albums and four EPs. Other members included Mark Guthrie, Derek McManus and...
. On 3 April 2009, the station released a new logo with the slogan "Dublin's Best Music Mix". On 10 October 2008, at the PPI Radio Awards, Dublin's 98 was named PPI Music Station of the Year for 2008. It had previously won PPI awards for Newsroom of the Year and Best Breakfast show. As of April 2011, a new show, The Joan Lea show now airs from 9 pm-midnight. 98FM's Classic Hits, presented by Darragh O'Dea now is on between 7 pm and 9 pm. 98FM put huge emphasis on their "showbiz gossip" with Siobhan O'Connor with showbiz updates at 7.40, 8.40, 9.40, 11.40, 13.40 and 16.40 include the Showbiz show on a Saturday morning, repeated on a Sunday Morning. 98FM run hourly news, sport and weather bulletins from the Dublin News Centre between 6 am and 11 pm. The news is read half-hourly during breakfast and drivetime shows (6 am-10 am and 4 pm-7 pm). On 31 May 2010, the station was renamed back to 98FM. In 2010, 98FM advertisements were shown on television with a seal and the current station slogan is "Now Is Good".
The Morning Crew (Monday-Friday 6 am-10 am)
- Aidan PowerAidan PowerAidan Power is an Irish television presenter. He appears from time to time on Raidió Teilifís Éireann .-Career:Power was educated at St. Mac Dara's community college and then Ballyfermot Senior College where he obtained a postgraduate diploma in broadcasting and journalism in 1998...
- Claire Solan
- Siobhan O'Connor (Show business)
- Brendan O'Loughlin (News)
- Adrian Barry (Sport)
Weekends
- Caroline Smith (Saturday 6-9 am, Sunday 3-6 pm)
- Brian Walsh (Saturday and Sunday 11 am-3 pm)
Newsreaders
- Teena Gates (Editor)
- Brendan O'Loughlin (Breakfast)
- Orlaith Farrell (Afternoon)
- Ruairi Kelly (Evenings)
- Emily Kelly (Evenings and Weekends)
- Sarah-Jayne Fanagan (Evenings and Weekends)
Awards
- Best Breakfast Programme In Ireland PPI Award 2006
- Best News Broadcasts PPI Award 2006
- Music Station of the Year PPI Award 2008
- Meteor Award-Winning Morning Crew 2009
- Music Station of the Year, 2011 JNLR's
Toll Trolls
98FM presents a comedy sketch each morning called The Toll Trolls. The two characters' names are "M" and "50" (named after the M50M50 motorway (Ireland)
The M50 motorway is a motorway in Ireland running in a C-shaped ring around the north-eastern, northern, western and southern sides of the capital city, Dublin. The northern end of the route is located at the entrance to the Dublin Port Tunnel. Anti-clockwise it heads northwest through the tunnel...
motorway which encircles outer Dublin). The trolls live under a toll bridge in Dublin. They make fun of Irish celebrities, including RTÉ
Raidió Teilifís Éireann
Raidió Teilifís Éireann is a semi-state company and the public service broadcaster of Ireland. It both produces programmes and broadcasts them on television, radio and the Internet. The radio service began on January 1, 1926, while regular television broadcasts began on December 31, 1961, making...
daytime show Seoige and O'Shea.