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Newstalk unreserved apology for George Hook’s comments

Update 15/09/2017: George Hook suspended from duties at Newstalk

Newstalk issued an unreserved apology for George Hook’s comments about rape on the station on Friday.

Managing Editor, Patricia Monahan said that comments made were “totally wrong and inappropriate and should never have been made.”

George Hook has apologised for his comments. He said:

“I wish to apologise unreservedly for comments I made about rape on my radio programme on Newstalk yesterday (Friday). It was unacceptable to suggest in any way that blame could be attributed to victims of rape. I apologise for the comments which caused hurt and offence, and for this I am truly sorry.”

Head of the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre Noeline Blackwell, called for editors and journalists to collaborate with the organisation after the controversial remarks by George Hook about a trial in Britain.

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Bryan Dobson moves from TV back to radio

RTE Newscaster Bryan Dobson is to move from flagship TV news (Six One) to flagship radio news (Morning Ireland).

Dobson who began his broadcasting career with Radio Nova in the 1980s started presenting the RTÉ Six One news in 1996.

He is no stranger to radio and morning Ireland as a twitter search will show. He has presented stints on Morning Ireland in August each year.

The very best of luck to Mr. Dobson as he returns to radio full time!

see if you can spot Bryan in this Radio Nova poster.

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hankering for HF

If you miss the sounds of those old giants of shortwave like VOA, Radio Moscow et al, here is a site to pump your cans with sounds of powerful stations that traded their international diplomacy in a currency that was measured in kilowatts by the hundred.

The Shortwave Archive is gathering old recordings of large and small, regular and wonderful radio stations of the 1.6 to 30MHz bands. Enjoy.

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a short RTE wave for All Ireland Finals on Shortwave

There has been no announcement from RTE about where to hear the All Ireland hurling and football finals this year.

since the mid 1990s RTE has rented transmitter space to broadcast our national games across the continent of Africa.

Last year’s All Ireland hurling final was broadcast from 1300-1700 on 15320KHz with an impressive 250 kW from South Africa.

update: 03/09/2017 game time. No sign of RTE on 31m or 19m markers are to last years locations.

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BBC Radio 1 Vintage Pop Up to air for 50th

September 30th to Oct 1st BBC Radio 1 will celebrate 50 years on air with a pop up station featuring previous and current presenter each hosting 1 hour.

from Gazette
Foo Fighters will kick off a month of celebrations to mark the 50th anniversary of BBC Radio 1.

The US rockers will perform in the station’s iconic Live Lounge, but from their own studio in Los Angeles, on September 1 to launch the special event.

Jay Z, Chris Martin, Miley Cyrus, Harry Styles and The Killers are also among those taking part in Live Lounge Month.

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How are the class of 2009 USA pirates doing?

Back in 2009 as The Boat That Rcked (Pirate Radio) was hitting the screens the following article was run in Focus On Film.

How did the stations mentioned fare over the last 8 years.

AM 1330 The Blaze at Arizona State University — Online Only
Edge Radio 106.7 — blog appears to be a click farm
WRPO-FM old website offline – now a low power station.
Pirate Cat Radio — Stream is down and blog is over 1 year out of date.
1.5 / 4 is the score card, the half point where an on air is now only online.

Modern Pirates on the airwaves: Richard Curtis’ Pirate Radio remembers a time when pirate radio was the only way outlaw stations could reach an audience hungry for new music. Since that period in the 60s, much has changed with broadcasting standards, internet communications and radio technology. We wanted to know, however, does pirate radio still exist, and what makes it necessary. Mike Johnston reports.

You don’t have to break out your eye patch or learn to preface every statement with “Aarrrrr” to be a modern radio pirate. All you really need is a computer and the desire to be heard. There is a potential audience of 1.6 billion internet users worldwide and, as the technology that enables digital broadcasting continues to evolve, its ability to compete with traditional analog radio also increases. For example, both Shoutcast and Ustream now have iPhone apps that allow listeners to receive digital broadcasts wherever they go. more….