Newstalk Totally Explained

Everything about Newstalk totally explained

Newstalk (formerly called NewsTalk 106) is an Independent Radio station in the Republic of 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.

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 in contradiction to its' talk based title. News is broadcast every 30 minutes (originally every 20 minutes). It airs live programming from 06:30 - 00:00 on weekdays, 07:00 - 23:00 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 Ger Gilroy and Claire Byrne between 06:30 and 09:00. Even more popular is the flagship late afternoon programme programme 'The Right Hook', broadcast 16:30-19:00 (with George Hook). The full weekday schedule:

The Breakfast Show - Claire Byrne & Ger Gilroy
Your Call - Brenda Power
Life - Orla Barry
Lunchtime - Eamon Keane
Moncreiff - Sean Moncreiff
The Right Hook - George Hook
Off The Ball - Eoin McDevitt and Ken Early
Late Night Live - Declan Carthy
The Best of Newstalk - highlights of the previous days programming overnight

Audience share

No figures exist for the stations performance as a national service, however the 2006 JNLR figures show that it had a 9% share of the audience in Dublin over the entire year, and a 10% share in the last six months.(External Link

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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 FM104. 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 didn't 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. However in September 2004 it was reduced to every thirty minutes ("News 30"). 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 98FM was able to take control of the station.
   In 2005, Dan Healy resigned as chief executive of the station. He was replaced by Elaine Geraghty, the original co-presenter of the breakfast time programme on 98FM. On May 22, 2006 the BCI announced that its new quasi-national speech-based contract was being awarded to Newstalk, who will retain their 106 MHz frequency in Dublin while surrendering its Dublin ILR licence. They will have a number of other transmitters within the 106-108 MHz range with the aim of covering all high population areas across the country. Newstalk were the sole application for the licence. It began quasi-national broadcasts on September 29, 2006.
   In July, 2006 Dunphy resigned, and a number of the presenters were said to be seeking better contracts. Reports in the Irish media suggest that, had the contract situations been clearer at the time of licence application, it's possible that the BCI might not have granted the national licence to the station. The credibility of station's business model and its long term viability are influenced by the stations ability to attract and retain a sizeable listenership, along with the corresponding advertising revenue.
   Some have noted a definite shift in the station's political outlook, away from its former so-called 'left wing slant', a move which has been reportedly designed to appeal to a more conservative non-Dublin listenership.
   Despite the well publicised occasional difficulties with established names such as Dunphy, McWilliams and Hook, Newstalk has been responsible for developing some lesser known presenters. The talk-sport format of the award winning Off The Ball show with Eoin McDevitt, Ciarán Murphy and the irreverent Ken Early, and the weekend shows of Jerry O Sullivan and Oisin Langan have performed well. The morning show of Orla Barry has consistently performed well in listenership ratings.

Quasi National Licence

During 2006 Newstalk were licensed to extend their coverage area to about 80% 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 FM).

Further Information

Get more info on 'Newstalk'.

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