Irish radio has proven its resilience post-pandemic.
Radio Days Ireland 2023, one of the largest gatherings of radio professionals in the country, took place in Dublin on February 16 th & 17 th at The Gibson Hotel. The conference was a huge success, with over 250 attendees from across the country and beyond.
Radio Nova’s PJ & Jim opened the two-day event with notable panellists, including 2fm’s Dan Healy, Newstalk’s Pat Kenny, LBC London’s James O’Brien, KCLR 96FM & Dancing with The Stars Brian Redmond and Chief Executive of BAI, Celene Craig.
The event brought together some of the industry’s leading experts, providing attendees with insights into the latest trends, techniques and technologies in radio broadcasting. The conference covered a wide range of topics, including the resilience of radio, connecting audiences through content and music, podcasting, audience engagement, the commercial media landscape in 2023 and building brands through radio.
One of the standout sessions was a panel discussion on the resilience and future of radio in 2023.
Presenter Pat Kenny said, ‘ there is a discipline in getting a story into 20 minutes and not in six podcast episodes”.
2fm’s Dan Healy commented that “ Young people have the habit of listening to audio, and it’s a great opportunity for radio” he also said that while young people are consumed with digital audio “ , I wonder, a bit like the premiership. The premiership on TV all the time, they were worried that the attendance would drop, but actually, it increased. I wonder, is there a real possibility of the habit of listening to spoken word audio?”
BAI Chief Executive and newly announced Commissioner of Coimisiún na Meán Celine Craig said of the new commission, “… in particular, is a real commitment on behalf of the Irish government that they want there to be a very key media development role. And that's essentially about building out and up from what BAI has been involved in over many years.”
At a gala dinner on the evening of the 16th, Radio Days Ireland presented a special recognition award to the recently retired BAI Chief Executive, Michael O’Keefe, for his long-standing support for the Irish radio sector. Also, at the dinner, IMRO Ireland had the opportunity to present Special Recognition Awards to REDfm and radio DJs Ronan Collins, Claire Beck, Ray Colclough and Louise Tighe in recognition of their ongoing support to music creators.
Day two of the conference highlight was a presentation about The Shona Project.
Speaking about the empowerment of thousands of young girls and women across the country, project founder Tammy Darcy said, “ with the support of radio, the event would never have become so impactful.”
Radio Days Ireland is a joint initiative by Learning Waves Skillnet , the training body for the Independent Commercial Radio Sector in Ireland and IBI, the Independent Broadcasters of Ireland .
Commenting on the success of the event, Learning Waves Chairperson Patricia Monahan said, “What has been great over the last two days is to see so much energy and passion about radio and to see people who were born and bred in radio being willing also to embrace innovation and to evolve the medium. The explosion in audio worldwide over the last number of years provides a great opportunity for us. We are the audio people, and I think that's absolutely the right attitude. And there's a real opportunity for us all to embrace both on-demand digital audio, podcasts, and radio and make them all work together to provide a better product for the listener.’
IBI Chair John Purcell said, “It's the first conference that we've had since the last conference, which was in February 2020. And since then, we've had COVID. And COVID has changed Ireland, it's changed the world of work, and it's really changed media, and it's changed radio especially.
There's an increased awareness of the importance of radio and an increased awareness of the trust in which radio is held. And we've had people here, over the last two days, from all over Ireland, from radio stations, large and small, national, regional, and local. We've also had people from around Europe, from the UK, Norway, and from mainland Europe shared their experiences. It's a very collegiate approach.
There are issues ahead, such as the rolling out of the recommendations of the Future of Media Commission. Those are for another day. But I think the conference has really underlined the importance of radio, and we're looking ahead with optimism, and we feel that radio is here to stay. We've had a huge, successful conference and onwards and upwards.”
The conference also provided an opportunity for attendees to network and connect with industry professionals, with many attendees describing the event as a valuable opportunity to share ideas and best practices.
