98FM (Ireland) - History and Station Information

History and Station Information

The station's first broadcast was in 1989, as a rock station called Classic Hits—98FM and quickly overtook rival Capital Radio 104.4 (now FM104), sometimes attributed to the Morning Crew show, originally presented by Pat Courtnay and Elaine Geraghty, and to its evening talk show presented by Fr. Michael Cleary. Changes led FM104 to overtake 98FM in the Joint National Listenership Research survey. This led to a crisis at 98FM, with the station changing aspects of its programme mix—firstly dropping Pat and Elaine for the "Dawn Patrol", a short-lived attempt to compete with The Strawberry Alarm Clock (the "Morning Crew" name was later revived, but with a new presenting team). The station name was changed (dropping "Classic Hits"), as was the slogan, and Chris Barry was recruited from FM104 (causing a legal wrangle). The station eventually settled down to competing with FM104, and the two stations continue to compete.

In a MRBI/JNLR survey (August 2009), Dublin's 98 was the most listened to breakfast show in Dublin; it also had the highest audience during Barry Dunne's show (10:00-13:00), 98's Inbox had the second highest audience in the capital between 19:00-21:30, and the station had the biggest audiences in Dublin on Saturdays and Sundays, this however was short lived and the station slipped back to the number 2 position in Dublin in the following survey. Currently 98FM have a market share of 8.0% and a listened yesterday figure 12% thus making them the 3rd most listened to station in Dublin behind Dublin's Q102 at number 2 and FM104 and number 1(JNLR/IpsosMRBI 2011-4).

In 2003, 98FM introduced Late Night Talk with Tom O'Brannigan and producer John "Roz" O'Donovan and Lisa Gernon. In March 2007, Late Night Talk (rival of the Adrian Kennedy Phone Show) was ended after a presenter's departure. Two weeks later, a new show, reformatted and rescheduled to 20:00-22:00, The Inbox, began with hosts Alison O'Reilly and Paul Connolly. In 2008, Alison left 98FM. In early 2011, Paul left 98FM. On 12 June 2008, the station was renamed Dublin's 98. The slogan "Smile" was backed by the song Smile by The Supernaturals. On 3 April 2009, the station released a new logo with the slogan "Dublin's Best Music Mix". On 10 October 2008, at the PPI Radio Awards, Dublin's 98 was named PPI Music Station of the Year for 2008. It had previously won PPI awards for Newsroom of the Year and Best Breakfast show. As of April 2011, a new show, The Joan Lea show now airs from 9 pm-midnight. 98FM's Classic Hits was presented by Darragh O'Dea now on between 7 pm and 9 pm until mid 2011 and was revamped back to Dublin's Best Music Mx At Nite In 2012 Darragh left 98FM. 98FM put huge emphasis on their "showbiz gossip" with Siobhan O'Connor with showbiz updates at 7.40, 8.40, 9.40, 11.40, 13.40 and 16.40 include the Showbiz show on a Saturday morning, repeated on a Sunday Morning. 98FM run hourly news, sport and weather bulletins from the Dublin News Centre between 6 am and 11 pm. The news is read half-hourly during breakfast and drivetime shows (6 am-10 am and 4 pm-7 pm). On 31 May 2010, the station was renamed back to 98FM. In 2010, 98FM advertisements were shown on television with a seal and the current station slogan is "Now Is Good".