Conflict marks Strawberry switchover

Colm Hayes has admitted to Hot Press that he feels bitter over a copyright row that has erupted between him, his on-air partner Jim Jim, and FM 104 over the ownership of characters that he and Jim Jim created for their Strawberry Alarm Clock programme on the station.

The multi-award winners are due to anchor the new 2FM weekday breakfast schedule from the beginning of March, with their programme renamed The 2fm Alarm Clock and broadcasting from 6 to 9am. But a clearly ebullient Hayes told hotpress that “the attitude FM 104 over the intellectual property issue shows they now feel a bit threatened by us.”
When I put it to him that FM104 might feel entitled to claim the copyright on characters created by him during the time when he was a staff member of the station, he refutes this. “I wasn’t a paid-up member of the staff. I was self-employed and they hired my services. So the issue of being a staff member doesn’t come into it. They’re still playing the jingles we made for them, but I don’t know what they hope to gain by claiming the copyright on those characters we created, as we’re the only people who can do the voices. I had hoped we would part amicably, wishing each other well, but it wasn’t to be.”
I ask Hayes if the switch to broadcasting to a national audience from a Dublin one will bring additional pressures. “No”, he states emphatically, “on FM104 our programme could be heard all over Leinster. We get calls from all of Leinster, from places as far away as Kilkenny and Wexford, so there’s really nothing new in that regard. Besides, most people in Dublin are from the country, and people from cities and the country now generally have the same tastes.”
At FM 104, the duo continually increased the breakfast audience of 15-34-year-olds over the past six years and a hugely-successful music breakfast show for this audience in the capital, scooping seven PPI Radio Awards along the way. Hayes adds, “We attracted 110,000 listeners every morning. They can’t all be wrong. Young people want good radio. They want to wake up and have a laugh before they go to school or work, and that’s what we gave them, as well as a good selection of music.”
He has no thoughts at all regarding the prospect of taking over from veteran Marty Whelan, but when I suggest that Gerry Ryan has in the past stressed the importance of the programme before him in the 2FM schedule, Hayes says “I’m not going to be Gerry Ryan’s warm-up act. I’ve worked with Gerry before and he’s a great broadcaster, but we’ll concentrate on doing our job and keeping listeners and creating new ones for our own show. If they stay on for Gerry, that’s fine.”
I wonder if he’ll be giving much thought to his radio rivals, especially Ian Dempsey over at Today FM.
“No. I never worry about the competition. It can be dangerous to do that. I think the best thing to do is concentrate on making your own programme as best as you positively can and let the competition look after themselves.”
I remind him of 2FM boss John Clarke claiming that there was no new talent in radio and that maybe some will now argue that having to poach established presenters from another station fits with that view. Hayes replies, “There’s plenty of talent in radio, but they’re all employed. Expecting John Clarke to use new and untried broadcasters is as silly as expecting Jose Mourinho to pick totally unknown players for Chelsea.”
FM 104's response
Dave Kelly, Director of Programmes at FM 104, made the following response to Colm Hayes’ comments:
“The trademark in the name ‘Strawberry Alarm Clock’ is owned by FM 104. It was picked during a discussion involving Dermot Hanrahan, myself, Colm Hayes and Kieran Phillips. We took the name from a ‘60s American psychedelic band. All the components in that programme are copyrighted to FM 104, and Colm Hayes signed a contract with us acknowledging this back around January 2005.”
From March, The 2fm Alarm Clock with Colm and Jim Jim will broadcast from 6-9am, Monday – Friday.