Action Stations!

IF THE current radio stations listened to the people, would they play the music they do, or have the shows that they do? I think it s quite simple it s about being out of touch.
Donal Scannell is in typically combative form. The former Radio Ireland DJ and Quadraphonic mainman is now a stakeholder in Fuse FM, one of the seven applicants for the licence for a youth-orientated radio station in Dublin.
While competition is intense (not surprisingly, since Scannell reckons that the average cost of preparing a bid is in the region of #80,000), the frontrunners in the race are thought to be Storm, Fuse and @2k.
Storm is possibly the highest profile bid of all, with shares held by PoD owner John Reynolds, Boyzone manager Louis Walsh, The Edge, John Rocha and DJ Johnny Moy. It s not solely a celebrity enterprise, though. Emap, the huge British publishing company, are involved, as are the publishers of The Examiner, Thomas Crosbie Holdings.
For their part, @2k makes much of the possibilities offered by the information age. Digital publishers 44k are one of the chief movers behind the application, as is Mary Cryan of the Irish Software Association. Radio expertise is brought to the venture by Dave Hammond, former head honcho at Today FM.
But what of Fuse FM? The brainchild of Fiona McLoughlin, a lawyer who previously ran her own independent radio production company, Fuse has taken shape over the past 18 months. McLoughlin is now CEO. One of her major coups was bringing Gordon McNamee on board. McNamee had, in the past, been vital in bringing London s Kiss FM from humble beginnings to great success.
Other stakeholders include Setanta Sport and Sherland Entertainments the company which owns The Globe, The Front Lounge, Rm Ra and Odessa. And then there is Scannell, who, if Fuse wins the licence, will become head of music.
A look over the licence applications reveals significant similarities in thinking among the various contenders. Virtually all of the applicants state their belief that young Dubliners are ill-served by the current state of radio.
However, Scannell and McLoughlin claim Fuse will be distinguished by the manner in which it reflects, rather than dictates to, its audience. McLoughlin points out, for example, that two people from a total staff of 30 will be dedicated to full-time audience research. This, she believes, is intrinsic to forming a real relationship with the listeners.
According to Scannell, there is no danger of this leading to the lowest common denominator playlist so beloved of other stations. Instead, he believes it will broaden the possibilities for new music and lead to the development of a Dublin Sound .
Let s say in 12 months time Bhangra is the biggest sound in Dublin, he begins. It won t be the biggest sound to everybody, but it will be the biggest sound to maybe a thousand people who care. Well, we won t play bhangra every five minutes of the day. But you will hear it. And if enough people want to hear more, then you ll hear more.
It is this kind of interaction with the audience which Fuse believe will lead to a genuine sense of community . Scannell and McLoughlin expound this idea with near-missionary zeal.
My personal ideology is about empowerment, Donal says. I think young people in this country don t really have that much control over what they pay for. I believe in selling things to people that I believe in. I mean, however clichid it sounds, they don t call radio stations things like Voice Of America without a reason. Radio really has the power to be a part of people s lives.
So, how would this impact upon Fuse s current affairs and news programming?
If you switch on the RTE News at 6 o clock, it s obvious that s not the same agenda as would appeal to you or me, Scannell replies. Our news will have a more global perspective and will be more about humanitarian issues.
I think young people are more global-orientated and generally more caring than older people and that s shown in their interest in issues like GM developments, global warming, and things like Greenpeace.
It is this stratum of society which Scannell believes is ignored by Official Ireland.
I think that the general views taken by the mainstream to represent Ireland, don t really do so at all, he says. If you look at the newspapers, things about our culture only appear at all once they ve put their heads above the parapet, so to speak. Even within the pages of Hot Press . . .Hot Press is changing at a steady, but slow, pace towards our culture, but at the same time Hot Press represents only one particular take on it. We are more about embracing the mass of the whole thing.
Though Scannell adopts a philosophical, time will tell attitude, it is clear just how much he wants Fuse to succeed.
I saw an interview last year with Eamon Dunphy and he was saying that Irish people too often settle for the mediocre. That is what, in effect, banjaxes the country people will settle for less than the best, because that is the thinking we have been trained into. That s one thing I have tried to avoid in my own life, and it s one of the things I think Fuse could put an end to in radio. As long as we aren t mediocre . . .