Digital Radio for Ireland: Competing Options, Public Expectations - BCI

While
at
a
national
level,
the
websites
of
RTÉ’s
4
FM
stations,
Today
FM
and
Newstalk
106
all
offer
podcasts,
 the
 situation
 is
 more
 mixed
 in
 local
 radio
 with
 roughly
 half
 of
 all
 local
 stations
 audited
providing
 podcasts
 at
 some
 level.
 The
 majority
 of
 community
 stations
 (over
 60%)
 are
 not
 providing
podcasts.
 None
 of
 the
 temporary
 services
 provide
 podcasts.
 All
 the
 national,
 regional
 and
 local
stations
provide
live
streaming
but
only
half
the
community
stations
currently
offer
it.
Table
3.3:
Audio
Content
Provision
National
 National
 Local
and
 Community,
 Temporary
Public
Service
 and
quasi
–
 regional
,
 special
 Services
–
Broadcaster

 national
 and
multi­ interest
and
 (22)
(4
FM
 radio
 city
 institutional
stations;

 services
 commercial
 radio
–
6
DAB
 (2)
 services
­

 (26)
Podcasts
stations)
(31)
Yes
 4
 2
 20
 8
 0
No
 6
 0
 11
 14
 9
Downloads/Listen
Again
Music
 1
 0
 8
 0
 0
Shows
‐
archive
 0
 0
 1
 7
 0
None
 6
 2
 22
 14
 0
Listen
again
 4
 0
 1
 2
 1
Live
streaming
Yes
 10
 2
 31
 15
 6
No
 0
 0
 0
 7
 4
Streaming
solutions
Windows
 9
 2
 20
 5
 6
Winamp
 0
 1
 4
 0
 0
Real
Player
 10
 1
 1
 1
 0
iTunes
 0
 2
 2
 1
 1
Streamtheworld
 0
 0
 1`
 0
 0
Other‐embed
 4

 1
 10
 7
 2
In
general
Irish
radio
websites
are
relatively
basic
in
design
and
functionality.
The
overall
theme
is
a
brochure
site,
a
print
centric
website
with
add‐on
elements
such
as
audio
or
interactivity.
Only
about
one
third
of
the
websites
were
defined
as
‘websites
with
a
dynamic
content’.


The
re‐launched
RTÉ
2FM
website
was
one
example
during
the
period
of
the
audit
of
a
significant
shift
by
a
radio
station
to
a
 more
 dynamic
 approach
 although
 RTÉ
 Radio
 1’s
 development
 of
 a
 new
 on
 demand
 portal
 for
 its
documentary
content
also
showed
elements
of
a
dynamic
shift
in
the
Radio
One
online
presence.
60