The nationwide search for A New Local Hero is heating up, with Dakota Venn-Keane announced as South East Radio's Local Hero! Dakota will go forward onto the final long-list, which will include representatives from each of the participating stations. The Local Heroes – all 20+ of them – will be revealed in a series of announcements this week. Watch this space for regular news updates!

Introducing Dakota Venn-Keane

New Ross native Dakota Venn-Keane grew up in a music-swathed household, with his father involved in songwriting and rock bands for years. Having began to pen his own tunes at 16, the now 19-year-old cites a broad range of influences, ranging from AC/DC to 21 Pilots. A student of music production and technology at SETU in Waterford, the acoustic version of his song 'Seventeen' exhibited a catchy, Catfish and the Bottlemen-like indie charm. The future is bright in the sunny South East.

A New Local Hero: The Facts
As one of the central features of Irish Music Month, A New Local Hero is a major call to arms for Irish musicians and bands – with all 21 participating radio stations having reached out for submissions in recent months. Now with, over 80 artists having performed and been interviewed on local radio, one act from each station is nominated for the long-list of contenders for the national A New Local Hero award. A panel of industry experts will then choose just six acts to go forward and play at the special showcase event in The Academy, Dublin on Tuesday 15 October 2024.

Launched in 2021, Irish Music Month is an initiative of Hot Press and the Independent Broadcasters of Ireland, and is funded by Coimisiún na Meán.

What Irish Music Month means, across participating independent stations, is:

– More Irish music song plays

– More Irish music artist mentions

– More Irish music features

– More Irish artist gig pushes

– More Irish artist interviews

And – what's more – we'll be putting over €100,000 into the hands of music makers and their crews across the country too.

Irish Music Month is also supported by IMRO, RAAP, Live Nation, Rubyworks and Camden Recording Studios.

See the full list of participating radio stations below:

Clare FM
Classic Hits
Cork's 96FM
East Coast FM
FM104
Galway Bay Fm
Highland Radio
KCLR
KFM
Limerick Live 95FM
LMFM
Midlands 103
MidWest Radio
Northern Sound
Ocean FM
Radio Kerry
Radio Nova
Shannonside
South-East Radio
Tipp FM
WLR FM

• Irish Music Month - Irish Radio Supporting Artists - in association with IBI, Hot Press & Coimisiún na Meán's Sound & Vision Scheme, funded by the Television License Fee.

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