LABOUR Party councillor Conor Sheehan is looking to switch stations now that former Late Late Show host Ryan Tubridy is being broadcast on Irish airwaves once again.
Cllr Sheehan is not at all impressed that Mr Tubridy’s new Virgin Radio show, produced and presented in London, is broadcast on Irish airwaves including Limerick’s Live 95, owned by the Wireless Group, a subsidiary of News Corp.
The City North representative now wants Minister for Media Catherine Martin to ask Coimisiún na Meán to examine Virgin Radio’s deal with Ryan Tubridy.
“This is a dangerous precedent and a slippery slope for local radio in Ireland and what has started as one weekend slot could eventually expand to weekday slots and, before you know it, our local radio stations will have become zombie stations,” Cllr Sheehan predicts.
“The Minister must ask Coimisiún Na Meán to examine this deal to see whether Virgin Radio are fulfilling the criteria of the local broadcasting license, which is for the provision of local content to local areas.
“Local radio should be locally produced and locally presented. It is frankly depressing to see local radio hollowed out like local newspapers already have been.
“Organisers of local charity events, local musicians, voluntary groups rely on local radio in order to be able to get their message out. It is awful to see the full broadcasting hours of Live 95 diminished like this,” he declared.
The Labour man says he considers Ryan Tubridy a brilliant and talented broadcaster but admits that he doesn’t want to hear him broadcasting from London on Live 95 on a Sunday morning.
“We need to fund and encourage our own local radio talent and any local radio station must do this in order to obtain a license to broadcast,” Cllr Sheehan said.
“The Minister must instruct Coimisiún na Meán to examine whether these radio stations are fulfilling the commitments of their license and, if they are, the Government need to seriously look again at changing the licensing process for local radio.”
