NewsTalk 106
Encyclopedia
Newstalk is an Independent Radio station in Ireland
. It is operated by News 106 Limited, a subsidiary of Denis O'Brien
's Communicorp group, and broadcasts under a sound broadcasting contract with the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland.
The station is a "quasi-national" (covering most, but not all of the state) station as of 29 September 2006, previously having been an Independent Local Radio station with a franchise for Dublin.
and Chris Donoghue between 06:30 and 10:00. More popular is the flagship late afternoon programme The Right Hook, broadcast 16:30-19:00 (with George Hook
).
The full weekday schedule from 06:30 - 22:00:
The 22:00 - 00:00 slot changes each night:
. One was for a speech-based radio service. The Independent Local Radio (ILR) national news provider Independent Network News
, was one of two applicants for this licence, and its applicant company, News 106, was awarded the franchise. However before the station even went on air, several ILR companies decided that they did not want to be part of the venture, and the station's shareholding was restructured, with at launch, 98FM, FM104, Clare FM
, Carlow Kildare Radio, LMFM
, East Coast Radio
, South East Radio
and WLR FM, along with Setanta
, being the shareholders in the company.
The station first went on air (under its original name NewsTalk 106) on 9 April 2002, with David McWilliams
the first presenter. In its original format, it offered Twenty-Twenty News, every twenty minutes. The first 20/20 news bulletins were presented by several newsreaders including Eimear Lowe, James Healy, Dyane Connor, Dimitri O'Donnell, Sean Archibald and Abigail Reilly. In September 2004 the news service was reduced to every thirty minutes ("News 30") along with a revamped news team to replace the original journalists who had left the station by this stage. In Summer 2004, the station signed Eamonn Dunphy dropping David McWilliams, resulting in controversy. In 2004, FM104 was forced to sell its stake as a condition of its takeover by Scottish Radio Holdings
. This meant that Communicorp was able to take majority control of the station. Setanta and Hyper Trust remained as minority shareholders.
In 2005, Elaine Geraghty, the original co-presenter of the breakfast time programme on 98FM was appoined chief executive. On 22 May 2006, the BCI announced that its new quasi-national speech-based contract was being awarded to Newstalk, who retained their 106 MHz frequency in Dublin while surrendering its Dublin ILR licence. Newstalk were the sole application for the licence. It began quasi-national broadcasts on 29 September 2006. The media expressed concern at its relative lack of star names and proliferation of unknowns, though noted the presence of George Hook
and Seán Moncrieff
.
In 2009, Ms Geraghty resigned as CEO and Frank Cronin, Setanta's board representative since 2002 was appopinted CEO. Schedule changes included the appointment of Ivan Yates former Minister for Agriculture to breakfast presenter, Damien Kiberd to Lunchtime presenter and the re-engagement of Eamon Dunphy to Sunday Newspaper review programme presenter. This schedule together with the continuiity of George Hook, Off the Ball, Sean Moncrieff and Tom Dunne has driven the station to new heights of daily listenership and standing. The station now reaches 292,000 (JNLR June 2011) people daily, the fastest growing adult station in Ireland.
).
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,...
. It is operated by News 106 Limited, a subsidiary of Denis O'Brien
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...
's Communicorp group, and broadcasts under a sound broadcasting contract with the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland.
The station is a "quasi-national" (covering most, but not all of the state) station as of 29 September 2006, previously having been an Independent Local Radio station with a franchise for Dublin.
Format
The station is the only commercial radio station in the Republic of Ireland to take on an exclusively talk-based format. However, musical interludes can be heard on weekend shows. News is broadcast every 30 minutes (originally every 20 minutes). Shows are broadcast live from 06:30 - 00:00 on weekdays, 07:00 - 22:00 on Saturdays and 07:00 - 21:00 on Sundays. Outside these hours, repeats are broadcast. The station's flagship morning programme is The Breakfast Show, presented by Ivan YatesIvan Yates
Ivan Yates is an Irish businessman, broadcaster and former politician. He was elected as a Fine Gael Teachta Dála representing the Wexford constituency at the 1981 general election and at each election until his retirement from politics in 2002...
and Chris Donoghue between 06:30 and 10:00. More popular is the flagship late afternoon programme The Right Hook, broadcast 16:30-19:00 (with George Hook
George Hook
George Hook is an Irish broadcaster, journalist and rugby union pundit. He had a career as a rugby union coach and businessman, before becoming a rugby pundit with Raidió Teilifís Éireann...
).
The full weekday schedule from 06:30 - 22:00:
- Breakfast - Ivan YatesIvan YatesIvan Yates is an Irish businessman, broadcaster and former politician. He was elected as a Fine Gael Teachta Dála representing the Wexford constituency at the 1981 general election and at each election until his retirement from politics in 2002...
and Chris Donoghue - Tom DunneTom DunneThomas 'Tom' Dunne is an Irish radio broadcaster with Newstalk. He presents The Tom Dunne Show on weekday mornings between 10:00am and midday. He used to have a show called Pet Sounds on Today FM but gave it up...
- Lunchtime
- Moncrieff - Seán MoncrieffSeán MoncrieffSeán Moncrieff is an Irish broadcaster, journalist and writer. He currently presents the weekday afternoon radio show Moncrieff on Newstalk. His television credits include his own Raidió Teilifís Éireann chat show Good Grief Moncrieff!, comedy panel show Don't Feed the Gondolas, and The...
- The Right HookThe Right HookThe Right Hook is a late afternoon to early evening talk programme broadcast on the Dublin, Ireland-based national Newstalk commercial radio station, and hosted by George Hook....
- George HookGeorge HookGeorge Hook is an Irish broadcaster, journalist and rugby union pundit. He had a career as a rugby union coach and businessman, before becoming a rugby pundit with Raidió Teilifís Éireann... - Off The Ball - Eoin McDevitt and Ken EarlyKen EarlyKenneth Early is an Irish journalist and broadcaster. He is Chief Football Correspondent for Newstalk and is the key member of the station's Off The Ball football show....
The 22:00 - 00:00 slot changes each night:
- The Green Room - Orla Barry (Mondays)
- Coleman at Large - Marc ColemanMarc ColemanMarc Coleman is Economics Editor of Newstalk 106 to 108 and an economic commentator.Marc Coleman was born in Dublin but lived as a child in Erlangen, Bavaria before returning to Ireland in the mid-1970s. He was a member of Fine Gael in the late 1980s and early 1990s.Coleman became Newstalk's...
(Tuesdays) - Coleman at Large - Marc Coleman (Wednesdays)
- Davenport After Dark - Fionn Davenport (Thursdays)
- Splanc - Rónán O'Muirthile (Fridays - 21:00-23:00)
Audience share
From January 2009 to December 2009 Newstalk recorded a national weekday reach of 8% and a market share of 4% , in the Dublin region Newstalk had a reach of 12% share of audience, in Cork Newstalk's reach was 8%,while in the rest of the country Newstalk's share was 6%.History
In 1999 the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI) invited applications for a number of new Dublin radio services, expanding on the then duopoly of 98FM and 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...
. One was for a speech-based radio service. The Independent Local Radio (ILR) national news provider Independent Network News
Independent Network News (Ireland)
Independent Network News was the agency that supplies national and international news to 30 independent local radio stations in Ireland....
, was one of two applicants for this licence, and its applicant company, News 106, was awarded the franchise. However before the station even went on air, several ILR companies decided that they did not want to be part of the venture, and the station's shareholding was restructured, with at launch, 98FM, FM104, Clare FM
Clare FM
Clare FM is an Irish radio station which broadcasts to County Clare and the surrounding areas.The station has won many Irish radio awards. Clare FM broadcasts on frequencies 95 - 96FM including 95.2, 95.5, 95.9, 96.4 & 96.6...
, Carlow Kildare Radio, LMFM
LMFM
LMFM is an independent Local Radio station in Ireland. It is also the largest Local radio station outside of Dublin and Cork broadcasting to a population in excess of 300,000 adults. Media group UTV bought the station in a deal worth about €10 million in 2005.LMFM broadcasts on a number of...
, East Coast Radio
East Coast FM
East Coast FM is an Irish local radio station broadcasting from Bray, County Wicklow under a sound broadcasting contract from the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland...
, South East Radio
South East Radio
South East Radio is an Irish radio station, broadcasting at: 95.6; 96.2, and 96.4 MHz. Its broadcasts across Co. Wexford from studios in a 19th Century Georgian-Styled former bank branch, located on Wexford's quay....
and WLR FM, along with Setanta
Setanta Sports
Setanta Sports is an international sports broadcaster based in Dublin, Ireland. Setanta Sports was formed in 1990 to facilitate the broadcasting of Irish sporting events...
, being the shareholders in the company.
The station first went on air (under its original name NewsTalk 106) on 9 April 2002, with David McWilliams
David McWilliams
David McWilliams is an Irish journalist and economist. McWilliams has worked with as an economist with Central Bank of Ireland and as a banker with UBS bank and the Banque Nationale de Paris...
the first presenter. In its original format, it offered Twenty-Twenty News, every twenty minutes. The first 20/20 news bulletins were presented by several newsreaders including Eimear Lowe, James Healy, Dyane Connor, Dimitri O'Donnell, Sean Archibald and Abigail Reilly. In September 2004 the news service was reduced to every thirty minutes ("News 30") along with a revamped news team to replace the original journalists who had left the station by this stage. In Summer 2004, the station signed Eamonn Dunphy dropping David McWilliams, resulting in controversy. In 2004, FM104 was forced to sell its stake as a condition of its takeover by Scottish Radio Holdings
Scottish Radio Holdings
Scottish Radio Holdings was a Scottish media company which owned 22 radio stations, and around 30 local newspapers in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland.-History:...
. This meant that Communicorp was able to take majority control of the station. Setanta and Hyper Trust remained as minority shareholders.
In 2005, Elaine Geraghty, the original co-presenter of the breakfast time programme on 98FM was appoined chief executive. On 22 May 2006, the BCI announced that its new quasi-national speech-based contract was being awarded to Newstalk, who retained their 106 MHz frequency in Dublin while surrendering its Dublin ILR licence. Newstalk were the sole application for the licence. It began quasi-national broadcasts on 29 September 2006. The media expressed concern at its relative lack of star names and proliferation of unknowns, though noted the presence of George Hook
George Hook
George Hook is an Irish broadcaster, journalist and rugby union pundit. He had a career as a rugby union coach and businessman, before becoming a rugby pundit with Raidió Teilifís Éireann...
and Seán Moncrieff
Seán Moncrieff
Seán Moncrieff is an Irish broadcaster, journalist and writer. He currently presents the weekday afternoon radio show Moncrieff on Newstalk. His television credits include his own Raidió Teilifís Éireann chat show Good Grief Moncrieff!, comedy panel show Don't Feed the Gondolas, and The...
.
In 2009, Ms Geraghty resigned as CEO and Frank Cronin, Setanta's board representative since 2002 was appopinted CEO. Schedule changes included the appointment of Ivan Yates former Minister for Agriculture to breakfast presenter, Damien Kiberd to Lunchtime presenter and the re-engagement of Eamon Dunphy to Sunday Newspaper review programme presenter. This schedule together with the continuiity of George Hook, Off the Ball, Sean Moncrieff and Tom Dunne has driven the station to new heights of daily listenership and standing. The station now reaches 292,000 (JNLR June 2011) people daily, the fastest growing adult station in Ireland.
Quasi National Licence
During 2006 Newstalk were licensed to extend their coverage area to about 97% of the Republic of Ireland. These "quasi-national" broadcasts began on 29 September 2006 (the sole official Independent National Radio station remains 100-102 Today FMToday FM
Radio Ireland Ltd, trading as 100-102 Today FM is an Irish commercial FM radio station which is available nationally. The station, which commenced broadcasting on Saint Patrick's Day in 1997, can be received nationally and carries a mix of music and talk...
).