Phantom FM "Restructuring" (1 Viewer)

[CinnamonBoy]

It pains me to say it, but Jim Carroll pretty much nails in it in his (Is) On the Record (still going?) column today.

 

[Scientician 0.8]

It pains me to say it, but Jim Carroll pretty much nails in it in his (Is) On the Record (still going?) column today.

He points out the station's myriad flaws but he negates to point out the fundamental problem with attempting to launch a popular radio station in the early 21st century.

When Phantom the pirate first aired I had internet access, just about. I could leave my computer dialled-up at night to download MP3s at a snail's pace if I so wished. I did so, occasionally but used the likes of Phantom to discover new music and was still an avid CD buyer. Phantom was perhaps the only radio station anyone I knew listened to when were in our late teens and I and many others discovered some fantastic music through it.

Now, by whatever means, access to any music anyone wants or thinks they want, is basically trivial. How anyone has the patience for mainstream radio boggles my mind. I am sure there are good programmes, decent DJs out there, but the fact of the matter is that radio's role as gatekeeper or whatever you want to call it. is coming to an end, plain and simple. If I am looking for terra incognita music-wise I come to thumped or check out twitter links or other new music sites/blogs, I don't turn on the radio expecting anything new. Maybe I am odd in this but I am sure there are many out there like me.

I would argue that even written music reviews, as fun as they are to read, are also essentially over. Music blogs proliferate but who puts stock in a critic's written word when they can just listen free and easy to the record themselves? Surely the continued existence of Hot Press is a divine mystery in and of itself. I could be wrong but I can't see any teenager (or anyone else for that matter) in this day and age using HP to discover exciting new music.

 

[ann post]

there's something to be said to too for trying to sell a pirate to young people and trying to sell a commercial to young people.

 

[CinnamonBoy]

Surely the continued existence of Hot Press is a divine mystery in and of itself. .

I bought a Hot Press a few months ago to see what it was like these days. They'd a 20 page "special" on the Arthur Guinness Projects, which pretty much says it all.

 

[lemonbravo]

I still listen to radio regularly. Gideon Coe on 6music and a few of the 6music shows at the weekends.
Irish radio is largely awful in my experience.
The lady of the house has phantom on in the kitchen a lot and if you like 1990's indie, well 20 of those indie classics, it's a really great station. But if you like music, and you remember it's 2014 then you're out of luck. That morning show they had recently, jesus christ, Joe and Keith, sweet merciful hour.

I thought Jim Carroll's piece was quite good.

A lot of people still like radio and can't be bothered with playlists/streaming/downloading when you're commuting, cooking dinner, faffing around at home. I think it still has a place and can be worth listening to.

To my ears Irish radio panders way too much to record labels interests and suffers from that. I realise there's a 'system' there for prizes/airplpay and all that, but the Irish 'music industry' is about 95% independent now, if you look at last years choice music prize list you'll only see about 2 albums that are on labels that aren't small indies/self-released.
The big labels and large indies have pretty much zero interest in investing or supporting musical talent in this country, yet all we do is play their music.

You can look back at the top 10 most played Irish songs/bands on phantom's playlists.
I think it's gone through phases where it's been more supportive of current bands, but if you look back it can be pretty appalling what they've been playing the most.
I'm not saying there should be airplay for irish bands just because their irish, but seriously do we need to fucking hear 'Here comes your man' again, or whatever Kings of Boring or Red Hot Chilli Boring have released that week.

 

[rettucs]

I wouldn't mind knowing what kind of listenership figures would have been sustainable. He mentions a drop to 15k from 30k. Would 30k be considered ok?

Phantom is being managed out of existence and its a process thats been in motion almost from day 1. I think we all know people who've worked for phantom in one way, shape or form. Any that I know have been quick to point out that the management there are assholes that give you no scope to make any kind of decisions for yourself.

 

[Anthony]

There's still a place for radio. It's all very well to say Radio is dead, CDs are dead, journalism is dead when you're sitting at a computer most of the day. This my sound weird, but not everybody does. There's still a lot to be said walking into a shop and letting your eyes find music, or remind you of what you were looking for. Likewise radio can do the same. How many times have you sat at a computer and though, "i can be bothered to look for something, my brain hurts". I was in a HMV the other day and only lack of money stopped me from scooping up tons of stuff I'd long fingered/forgot about.
Anyway, phantom, yea the main problem for me was that they undertestimated their listeners. But then that's what always happens once it becomes a business. The day they added those big swooshy american stock Station IDs I was out.
Good radio is still possible. Check out The Live Drive.

 

[lemonbravo]

Any that I know have been quick to point out that the management there are assholes that give you no scope to make any kind of decisions for yourself.

and I think that totally comes across in what they're playing, so people switch off.

 

[CinnamonBoy]

The lady of the house has phantom on in the kitchen a lot and if you like 1990's indie, well 20 of those indie classics, it's a really great station. But if you like music, and you remember it's 2014 then you're out of luck.

I thought Jim Carroll's piece was quite good.

A lot of people still like radio and can't be bothered with playlists/streaming/downloading when you're commuting, cooking dinner, faffing around at home. I think it still has a place and can be worth listening to.

.

I think we may have the same lady. Tis only through her I realised how shit Phantom is.

Totally agree with your second point. I love radio and I don't have time or the interest for playlists or Spotify or whatnot. About the closest I'd get would be downloading mixes and picking out the good bits while listening on headphones going places. Also, the missus has zero interest in downloading/streaming music at all and wouldn't stand for me "choosing" the music all the time so we have to let John Creedon do it for us. Which suits me. I get home, get the dinner on, we sit down to eat and stick on the radio. It's quick and easy and I like it.

 

[Cornu Ammonis]

Radio 1/newstalk when herself is in the kitchen, I switch to Lyric when she heads to work. Pulse, Lyric or Radio 1 in the evening, occasionally 2xm.

 

[lemonbravo]

Must try some 2xm, haven't really bothered with it much.

 

[Cornu Ammonis]

Must try some 2xm, haven't really bothered with it much.

It's patchy, can be great but slips a lot into industry/press release prattle. If you're interested in how your shares in indie music are doing, it's a must!

 

[dudley]

My show on 2XM is amazing!

 

[lemonbravo]

My show on 2XM is amazing!

oh yeah!

 

[Space]

Guess this fits in here:

The End Of Play | NOISEY

 

[Kermit McDermott]

Off topic, but Re: Hot Press. I stopped buying it years ago. They obviously model themselves on Rolling Stone and include a bit of sport, politics, ect. It trys to be all things to all men and that's its undoing for me. The interviews with politicians are so predictable, have you ever smoked cannabis?, do you have an Ipod? Load of crap. It's not what I want from a music mag.

 

[lemonbravo]

Guess this fits in here:

The End Of Play | NOISEY

I think the average person isn't as interested in this kind of stuff as these tech companies/labels seem to think.
"Curated playlists", what do they think this is, radio!?

Spotify on mobile went free there recently, that seems an odd move. What's to encourage me to sign up when I'm only 'slightly' annoyed by the lack of some features.
I suspect that after they did that huge advertising campaign late last year they didn't get quite the subscription take up they hoped for.
They need a lot more subscriptions to survive long term, I'd say they've plateaued at this stage and are trying to come up with some 'desperate' ideas to entice listeners. In this country anyway.

 

[lemonbravo]

Off topic, but Re: Hot Press. I stopped buying it years ago. They obviously model themselves on Rolling Stone and include a bit of sport, politics, ect. It trys to be all things to all men and that's its undoing for me. The interviews with politicians are so predictable, have you ever smoked cannabis?, do you have an Ipod? Load of crap. It's not what I want from a music mag.

I think if you like: The Frames, Mundy, U2, Damien Dempsey, The Script, Glen Hansard, The other two,...Gavin Bono, some article about sex workers, then it's bloody great read.

 

[mark]

It pains me to say it, but Jim Carroll pretty much nails in it in his (Is) On the Record (still going?) column today.

Its the second time in as many months that I've read his column and agreed with most of the things he has said. It's surely the end of days?

 

[Los Davos]

Tune in = Far better radio stations from round the world = Reduced listenership of sub standard broadcasting.