The decision by Radio Ireland to defer presentation of its Mark 2 programme schedule to the Independent Radio and Television Commission (IRTC) last Thursday, and the resignation of programme controller John Caden, are linked in a policy crisis at the independent national broadcasting service.
That crisis is the result of a division within the board of Radio Ireland as to how best to cope with the disappointing 1 per cent share of the audience which it achieved in its first three months on air.
The Joint National Listenership Research (JNLR) figures published last month for the programme year 1996-97 show that RTE Radio 1 and 2FM have a combined listenership of 54 per cent while all local radio has an audience of 45 per cent. These listening figures have a direct impact on Radio Ireland, as they have on RTE radio.
The figures show that serious inroads have been made into the national broadcaster's listening figures by local radio. Unless the strategy of the newly-appointed director of radio at RTE, Helen Shaw, produces a change in listening habits, the movement in favour of local radio could result in a 50-50 shareout.
Radio Ireland is caught in the wedge between local and national radio. The JNLR figures would suggest that the farther away the listener is from Dublin the greater the preference for local radio.
That raises questions about RTE's role as the national broadcaster. It creates a problem, a fortiori, for the second national broadcaster, Radio Ireland.
Apart from the dominant factor of local radio, there is an added problem for Radio Ireland if it is to compete with RTE (and presumably that was the intention in its franchise): Radio Ireland does not have access to medium-wave transmitters by which a considerable section of the audience listens to RTE.
Since the demise of Century Radio, choice, unusual in Irish broadcasting experience, runs along national versus local lines. There is, of course, a sizeable audience for local radio in the greater Dublin area, as the JNLR figures show in the performance of 98FM and FM104, and in Cork with 96/103FM.
RTE's 2FM schedule is downmarket and the only justification for its meretricious schedule is that it is constructed as a competitive one against the Dublin and Cork local services. The Dublin local services are not truly local but rather jukebox-driven commercially.
As things stand RTE's radio services are scheduled, in their daytime models, against Radio Ireland, originally against Century Radio and against the Dublin and Cork independent radio services, but without much effect against the latter.
Radio Ireland's present scheduling strategy is similarly positioned against RTE. I suspect that in its new schedule Radio Ireland is about to alter target and go downmarket against Dublin and Cork local radio.
ONE other factor which should be noted from the JNLR figures is that 80 per cent of those surveyed had never listened to Radio Ireland at all. Looking at the composition of the station's board of directors and investors, I am surprised that for a group of successful business people, each distinguished in his or her own field, how appallingly inadequate the promotion and marketing of Radio Ireland has been.
I can only come to the conclusion that this lack of marketing is not an accident. John McColgan, its chairman, had a vision of what Radio Ireland might achieve in its programming. He and Moya Doherty are experienced national broadcasters who must know that the vision they have for Radio Ireland can be a success only if the audience knows of it.
Perhaps this vision is not shared by other board members, which may explain the absence of a marketing and publicity strategy.
Nevertheless the McColgan/Doherty commitment was the key reason the IRTC favoured Radio Ireland. The IRTC must now require of the station that it fulfils the conditions of its franchise as a national broadcaster.
Were the regulatory body not to fulfil its obligations, then those consortia which bid for the national radio licence could seek remedies in the matter of the franchise award.
John Caden's resignation can be read only as underlining serious differences of opinion between the board of Radio Ireland and the programme executives about programme policy.
The board has panicked in the face of the dismal ratings. It has opted for a quick fix with Ginger Radio, a British-based group of consultants.
But Ginger Radio has no experience in national broadcasting and the nature of its comments in public so far seems to suggest a trip to the record shops for a good supply of discs.
Ginger Radio might be able, from its British experience, to suggest ways in which Radio Ireland could travel the entertainment route rather than the disc one. But this is not the axis on which Radio Ireland should turn.
Radio Ireland's programming is actually quite good and its present predicament can be resolved in time. Anybody familiar with broadcasting strategies must know that it takes time and a lot of it to make an inroad into an audience.
The station's best programming is in its morning current affairs and its post 7 p.m. slots. Emily O'Reilly and Mark Costigan have distinguished themselves in their Daybreak programme and in their pacing of their questions and answers, giving the impression of a listening culture.
Eamon Dunphy's The Last Word is a serious attempt at establishing a radio style of some merit, and the listening culture is evident in the production style. John Kelly in the Eclectic Ballroom and Donal Dineen in Here Comes the Night have added strands to the broadcasting fabric.
Radio Ireland has also succeeded in bringing new voices to the microphone and even when holiday substitutes were introduced maintained that initiative in bringing Kevin Myers and Eamonn O Cathain on air in substantial roles.
Radio Ireland has already become a discernible overall voice within a broadcasting context in which identity has become neutral and in which listeners cannot easily identify to which service they have tuned.
Radio Ireland must certainly reconstruct the schedule. But it should not abandon its positive elements. And it should certainly not dumb down towards 2FM.
One way of addressing the problem would be for Radio Ireland to provide real alternatives to RTE in its schedule. 1. For example, news and current affairs ought not to be on air at the same time on both services.
Radio Ireland may have other opportunities. However, E's scheduling on Radio 1 is not all that imaginative for a national service with considerable resources.
Much of its quality programming is parked away from the listener in off-peak hours. And the RTE chatshow format sounds tired.
Another issue which should be examined carefully is why 45 per cent of the audience now listens to local radio. The reasons for this large percentage have to be identified.
The important local ingredient is an obvious draw but the nature and content of the RTE Radio 1 and 2FM schedules may also be a factor. The reality is this: the RTE radio output has been rejected by a sizeable percentage of the population.
For its part, Radio Ireland needs a strong midday schedule. With Emily O'Reilly moving to such a slot, under the plans laid by John Caden, things could improve significantly.
However, Radio Ireland's news and current affairs resources must be beefed up and/or used more profitably. The O'Reilly/Costigan Day- break programme, notwithstanding its quality, is essentially doing what Morning Ireland does. An alternative is needed.
Of course Radio Ireland is a commercial station but it is also a national service. This does not mean only that it can be heard throughout the country, but that the station genuinely serve the national interest. That interest is best served by both enrichment and genuine choice.
Choice of music is not, I hope, what the IRTC intends for the independent national radio network.
While the directors of Radio Ireland are of course entitled to secure their investment, they also have undertaken a wider responsibility for a valuable national asset.
The directors have not in general an expertise in national broadcasting. This may explain the difficulties that they have in dealing with broadcasters in management. The board, in its enthusiasm or anxiety, may be trying to play a hands-on role in programming.
My recollection of Century Radio is that such a style of management infected it to its detriment. To lose two heads of programming in six months says something about the way in which Radio Ireland conducts its business.
It is to be hoped that the whole future of the company will not be dictated by consultants who know nothing about running a national service, not to mention an Irish one. Otherwise the directors of Radio Ireland may have to be severely nudged by the IRTC.
First principles may need to be re-established. Radio Ireland is part of an overall national broadcasting strategy to provide national choice and pluralism. It must find a voice for what John McColgan presented in the application to the IRTC: that `vision' of which he spoke.
Radio Ireland could statistically satisfy the IRTC licence condition of a 40 per cent speech content by placing that element in off-peak hours. It could, but such a strategy would destroy the notion of an independent national radio with something to say for itself. In those circumstances Radio Ireland would be no different from services currently on offer in Dublin on independent local radio.
The promoters of TV3 will be looking with some interest at the way in which the IRTC conducts a quality audit on the new Radio Ireland schedule. The whole affair could damage the concept of quality national broadcasting and leave RTE as the only player in the field, which would not be good for it or the listener.
Muiris Mac Conghail teaches communications at the Dublin Institute of Technology and is a former controller of programmes at RTE
