''No Disco'' is

RTÉ (RTÉ) (; Irish language, Irish for "Radio & Television of Ireland") is the Public broadcaster, national broadcaster of Republic of Ireland, Ireland headquartered in Dublin. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on RTÉ Television, telev ...

's former flagship music television programme, broadcast on

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television channel,

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, from 1993 – 2003. It was presented by

Donal Dineen Donal Dineen (born 5 May 1969) is an Irish radio presenter, photographer, film maker and former television presenter from County Kerry. Until recently he presented an assortment of loud ' noise/ electronica and world music on his ''Small Hours' ...

Uaneen Fitzsimons Uaneen Fitzsimons (11 April 1971 – 22 November 2000) was an Irish music critic, television presenter and DJ. She presented alternative music programmes on RTÉ television and radio during the 1990s and became an influential music c ...

and, following the death of Fitzsimons, Lawrence "Leagues" O'Toole. When Fitzsimons died in a car crash in November 2000, there was a gap in programming for some months afterwards, until the series returned with O'Toole as presenter on 28 February 2001. Musicians and bands such as David Gray,

The Frames The Frames are an Irish rock band based in Dublin. Founded in 1990 by Glen Hansard, the band has been influential in the Dublin rock music scene. The group has released six studio albums. In addition to Hansard, the band's current line-up incl ...

David Kitt David Kitt (born 1975 in Dublin, Ireland) is an Irish musician. He has released eight studio albums to date: ''Small Moments'', ''The Big Romance'', ''Square 1'', ''The Black and Red Notebook'', '' Not Fade Away'', ''The Nightsaver'', ''Yous'', ...

and

The Divine Comedy The ''Divine Comedy'' ( it, Divina Commedia ) is an Italian narrative poem by Dante Alighieri, begun 1308 and completed in around 1321, shortly before the author's death. It is widely considered the pre-eminent work in Italian literature and ...

attribute a large portion of their success to exposure on ''No Disco'', and these were among the thousands who lent their support to a campaign to have the show retained by RTÉ. However, the show was cancelled in 2003, in a move that caused much controversy among its viewers – at the time it was the only RTÉ show showcasing

alternative music Alternative music may refer to the following types of music: *Alternative rock *Alternative pop *Alternative R&B *Neo soul, sometimes known as alternative soul *Alternative reggaeton *Alternative hip hop *Alternative dance *Alternative metal *Chris ...

and there was no replacement show lined up to take its place. There was a repeat of this situation in December 2008 when TV 3 purchased Channel 6 and dropped Night Shift. In recent years ''The Last Broadcast'', '' Other Voices'', and ''(When) Under Ether'' have acted as some form of replacements for the gap that has emerged but none with the same success.

Cancellation

''No Disco'' was suddenly cancelled by Network 2 in 2003. Thousands of people signed an online petition demanding the show be reinstated - the petition had 2,000 signatures within a week and 4,000 signatures by April of that year. Many of the signatures of support were from industry professionals, radio stations, record companies, record shops and promotion companies. Music experts within the national media, such as

Tom Dunne Thomas Dunne is an Irish radio broadcaster with Newstalk, and a singer/songwriter with the band Something Happens. Prior to joining Newstalk, Dunne worked on Today FM, presenting his very successful and hugely popular radio program, "Pet Soun ...

(of

Today FM Today FM is an Irish national commercial FM radio station, owned and operated by Bauer Audio Ireland Limited. Broadcasting since 17 March 1997, it broadcasts mostly music, with a daily news and current affairs programme. Today FM holds a lic ...

at the time),

Dave Fanning David Fanning (born 27 February 1956) is an Irish television and radio broadcaster, rock journalist, DJ, film critic and author. Fanning currently hosts weekend midday magazine/chat show ''The Dave Fanning Show'' on the Irish national radio sta ...

( 2FM), Tony Clayton-Lea (''

The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...

''),

Jay Ahern Jay Ahern was an Irish radio presenter with RTÉ 2fm. He left the station in 2003 and was replaced by Dan Hegarty. He was amongst the industry professionals who were outspoken about the loss of the music television programme, ''No Disco ' ...

(2FM, Vital Distribution) and Kim Porcelli (''

Hot Press ''Hot Press'' is a fortnightly music and politics magazine based in Dublin, Ireland, founded in June 1977. The magazine has been edited since its inception by Niall Stokes. History ''Hot Press'' was founded in June 1977 by Niall Stokes, who co ...

'') spoke about the central role ''No Disco'' had in bringing about significant improvements to the Irish music industry.

References

External links

Interview with Uaneen Fitzsimons
1990s in Irish music 2000s in Irish music Irish music television shows RTÉ original programming {{Ireland-tv-prog-stub