Regional radio stations are overtaking their national counterparts by playing to their strengths, writes Róisín Ingle.
A woman has phoned Galway Bay FM, one of the most successful local radio stations in the country, with a query. She bought a charm bracelet with elephants on it, and wants current affairs presenter Keith Finnegan to tell her whether she should give it to her daughter, because somebody told her elephants are unlucky. A bemused Finnegan takes a sip of tea and lets the listeners decide.
It's a rainy morning in the City of the Tribes and the cheery Galway FM jingle can be heard in taxi-cabs, petrol stations and shops. According to the latest JNLR figures released this week, the station has a 61 per cent audience share in the region, up 18 per cent. It is a level of success that reflects the national trend. These are boom times for local radio in Ireland - the "listened yesterday" figure for local stations eclipsed that of RTÉ stations - and current affairs programmes airing queries about charm bracelets are only one small part of the story.
At the station, a state-of-the-art facility with floor to ceiling windows, the mood is suitably upbeat. Keith Finnegan, who is also chief executive of the station, has seen his audience grow from 20,000, ten years ago, to roughly 100,000 today. There are similar success stories in local stations around the country.
Here in Galway, the station operates as "a lifeline" for people, according to researcher Vicky Cooke. "Many listeners, especially older people, are disconnected from society and the radio station is the only thing they have. Some of them might not even get a paper, and they want all the news, and the gossip and stories from the Galway area. They know they won't get that from a national station so they tune into us," she says. "It gives them a sense of security. From talking to people I know there is a sense that they are looked down on by Dublin. They feel they get more recognition from their local station."
Finnegan's show begins with a strong item about a young man who was assaulted in Galway and saved by a "miracle medical procedure" in the city's University College Hospital. It is a compelling human interest story, the mother's voice cracking with emotion as she remembers thinking: "What was the last thing I said to him. How did we part?" A segment on low-quality drinking water in Carraroe is less riveting but, says Finnegan, will get pulses racing out in the community.
He reads out some calls. Where can I buy an automatic car, a listener wants to know. Then the one about the charm bracelet. Finnegan asks fans of "modern day music" to tune in for a story about boyband Blue playing a festival in Tuam, despite licensing problems experienced by the promoters. There is an item on traffic lights in Galway City, and a segment about the council's neglect of houses in one of the oldest parts of the city, Finbar's Terrace. It's the day the Assembly elections were suspended, but Northern Ireland doesn't get a mention.
Then, there is a gardening slot and business news. When it's over, Finnegan will head up to his office to put his chief executive hat back on. "I go to work with a spring in my step every day," he says.
Head of news Bernadette Prendergast has been with the station "since they were painting the walls". The approach by local stations to the community it serves has been transformed over the past 12 years, she says.
"For me, the success stems from stations realising that having too much local content was actually a good thing," she says. "There were huge fears in the beginning, of being perceived as too inward looking. But after lots of research it became clear that what people wanted was more Galway features, more Galway news, more Galway content. It might sound obvious, but keeping it very, very local is actually the key to success in local radio."
And then there are the death notices. For years, Galway Bay FM refused to carry them, but caved in under demand from the community. Now the notices, read by newsreaders sombrely with a respectful snippet of reflective music at the end, are a valuable source of revenue. Simple things, such as pronouncing more obscure placenames correctly in these announcements, give local stations the edge over the nationals. Once, when a listener read about the death of a prominent Galway man in the newspaper, she refused to believe it, because it hadn't been read out on Galway FM.
In the 1980s, the airwaves were awash with pirate stations providing an alternative to the predictable music and current affairs content of RTÉ. The local radio stations were created by the 1988 Radio and Television Act and the governing body the IRTC, now the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI). Since then, there has been a gradual increase in interest in the stations, most of which have seen their licences renewed. There are currently 24 independent stations. The interim figures released this week show that RTÉ stations had a "listened yesterday" figure of 50 per cent nationally while local stations crawled passed them at 55 per cent.
BCI chief executive, Michael O'Keeffe, describes the performance as "pretty impressive. The strength of local radio is in the mix of programming that is extremely relevant to local areas, there is strong local news and current affairs. The local bulletins on sports also pull up the listenership," he says.
He maintains that those involved with local radio have become more experienced and invested more in technology, "which gives people less reason to switch off from their local stations", and he also expects further increases in local audiences.
"It's important to remember that at 86 per cent, radio listenership in this country is among the highest within Europe. The audiences are out there," he says.
Ongoing rows in areas such as Kilkenny and Donegal about the awarding of licences are an indication of how local radio is now viewed as massive business by investors, and advertisers agree.
"What it means in terms of advertising is that you can test run an ad campaign in any city around the country now, not just Dublin. Before local radio started performing so strongly that was just not an option," says Fiona Scott, media director of MCM. "But at the same time, I don't think RTÉ are suffering, it is just that people have more choice and are listening to a broader range of stations than in the past."
Steve Shanahan, chief executive of the Institute of Advertising Practitioners in Ireland, believes local stations have "fairly attractive commercial audiences. When they started I wasn't a great fan, but within a couple of years they have developed a good audience and the volume seems to have grown every year."
One of the newest licences awarded was to Ocean FM in Donegal, a consortium which includes former Ireland goalkeeper Packie Bonner.
"Local radio is closer to its audience," says Padraig O'Dwyer of Ocean FM. "They reflect what is happening in the community at an immediate level which the nationals just cannot do. We are also helped by the fact that what happens in Dublin 4 means nothing to people in Donegal."
Back at Galway FM, Keith Finnegan is telling listeners about an 83-year-old man who had his car broken into and some tools stolen last night. In another item, he talks about the death notice that came in about a man who died six weeks ago. The undertakers can't find any family or friends to mourn him, and Finnegan asks listeners to attend the removal. He was considering playing the Beatles' song Eleanor Rigby as well, but the programme comes to an end and there is no time.
"Sixty one per cent is brilliant, but we can't sit on our laurels," says Prendergast, reflecting on the lift the improving figures has given staff at Galway Bay FM. "Having said that, it is a great acknowledgement that we must be doing something right."