98FM is a local radio station in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

, Ireland, operated by

Bauer Media Audio Ireland Bauer Media Audio Ireland (formerly Communicorp Group) is a media holding company based in Ireland, owned by Bauer Media Group. History Communicorp Group Ltd was formed by Denis O'Brien in 1989. It launched its radio operations in Ireland that ...

, under a sound broadcasting contract from

Coimisiún na Meán () is the regulator of broadcasting and online media in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The commission was established in 2023 as a successor body to the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland. The commission came into being on 15 March 2023 under ...

. The station broadcasts on the 98.1 MHz FM frequency. 98FM's broadcast antenna is located on

Three Rock Mountain Three Rock Mountain (; archaism, archaic: ''Sliabh Ruadh'') is a mountain in County Dublin, Ireland. It is high and forms part of the group of hills in the Dublin Mountains which comprises Two Rock, Three Rock, Kilmashogue and Tibradden Mou ...

County Dublin County Dublin ( or ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland, and holds its capital city, Dublin. It is located on the island's east coast, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. Until 1994, County Dubli ...

at 5 kW, and can be heard in Dublin and neighbouring counties. 98FM also has a relay in north County Dublin, broadcasting on 97.4 MHz. Since 2022 the station has been marketed as "Dublin's Good Times".

Programming

The station broadcasts mainly

popular music Popular music is music with wide appeal that is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. These forms and styles can be enjoyed and performed by people with little or no musical training.Popular Music. (2015). ''Fun ...

, aimed at 25- to 44-year-olds. Its flagship programmes are ''The Big Breakfast'' with Brendan O'Loughlin and Rebecca Shekleton, ''The Sound of the City'' with Barry Dunne, ''The Big Ride Home'' with Brian Maher, ''The Fix'' with Leanne Hanafin and ''The Sound of the City at Night'' with Karl Dawson. The station broadcasts hourly news (half-hourly at peak times) along with sports, weather and traffic reports.

History and station information

The station's first broadcast was in 1989, as a rock station called Classic Hits—98FM and quickly overtook rival Capital Radio 104.4 (now

FM104 FM104 is an independent local radio station broadcast across Dublin, Ireland, on the frequency 104.4 MHz. It is operated by Capital Radio Productions Limited (unconnected with, and not to be confused with, Capital Radio plc), and is a sub ...

), sometimes attributed to the ''Morning Crew'' show, originally presented by Pat Courtnay and Elaine Geraghty, and to its evening talk show presented by Fr. Michael Cleary. Changes led FM104 to overtake 98FM in the Joint National Listenership Research survey. This led to a crisis at 98FM, with the station changing aspects of its programming, starting by dropping Pat and Elaine for the "Dawn Patrol". The ''Morning Crew'' name was later revived, but with a new presenting team. The station name was changed, dropping the 'Classic Hits' as was the slogan, and Chris Barry was recruited from

. The station eventually settled down to competing with FM104, and the two stations continue to compete to this day. In a JNLR survey in August 2009 what was then called Dublin's 98 was the most listened to breakfast show in Dublin; it also had the highest audience during Barry Dunne's daytime show and 98's ''Inbox'' had the second highest audience in the capital between 19:00-21:30. The station also did well at weekends with biggest audiences in Dublin on Saturdays and Sundays, though this was short lived and the station slipped back to the number 2 position in Dublin in the following survey. Currently 98FM have a market share (all adults 15+) of 6.4% and a listened yesterday figure 12% thus making them the fourth most listened to Dublin station behind

SPIN 1038 SPIN 1038 (or simply SPIN; pronounced "spin one-oh-three-eight") is a local radio station in Dublin, Ireland. It is owned by Bauer Media Audio Ireland and broadcasts on 103.8 FM under a sound broadcasting contract with the Broadcasting Auth ...

, Dublin's Q102 and

at numbers 3, 2 and 1 respectively. On 12 June 2008, the station was renamed ''Dublin's 98''. The slogan "Smile" was backed by the song "Smile" by

The Supernaturals The Supernaturals are a guitar-based indie rock band from Glasgow, Scotland. The band signed to Parlophone in 1996, and had a string of singles which were taken from their three albums and four EPs. Other members included Mark Guthrie, Derek ...

. That year, Dublin's 98 was named PPI Music Station of the Year at the PPI Radio Awards. On 3 April 2009, the station released a new logo with the slogan "Dublin's Best Music Mix". On 31 May 2010, the station's name returned to being called 98FM. 98 run hourly news, sport and weather bulletins from the Dublin News Centre between 6 am and 7pm. From pm to midnight syndicated news is broadcast on the station The news is read half-hourly during peak times (this is between 6am and 10am and 4pm and 7pm). In November 2012, the station dropped the ''Morning Crew'' title when former

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

presenter

Ray Foley Raymond Foley is an Irish television host and radio presenter. Having worked at Dublin's 98FM and SPIN 1038 early in his career, Foley moved to Today FM in 2004. In 2006, he moved to midday and presented ''The Ray Foley Show'', with sidekick ...

took over the breakfast show replacing

Aidan Power Aidan Power (born 30 March 1979) is an Irish television and radio presenter. Career Born in Templeogue, Dublin, Power was educated at St. Mac Dara's community college and then Ballyfermot College of Further Education, Ballyfermot Senior Colleg ...

and Claire Solan. In 2013 it was announced that 98FM had poached Adrian Kennedy and Jeremy Dixon from rival station FM104. The two had been synonymous with the stations late night Phoneshow, but moved to 98FM to present a mid-morning talk show "Dublin Talks". The show began in March 2014 - and ran until March 2021. It was announced on 22 December 2015 that Ray Foley would cease to present the station's breakfast show. He said he would focus on his television work in 2016. In August 2019 after winning Music Station of the Year, Music Programme of the Year and Music and arguably the most prestigious prize of radio, Music and Entertainment Broadcaster of the Year Dara Quilty left the station to move to New York City where he is working with his band Apella and is now a host on

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

Awards

, - , 2006 , , ''98FM'' , , Best Breakfast Programme in Ireland at the PPI Radio Awards , , , - , 2006 , , ''98FM'' , , Best News Broadcasts at the PPI Radio Awards , , , - , 2008 , , ''98FM'' , , Music Station of the Year at the PPI Radio Awards , , , - , 2009 , , ''The Morning Crew'' , , Breakfast Programme of the Year at the PPI Radio Awards , , , - , 2010 , , ''Dermot and Dave'' , , Breakfast Programme of the Year at the PPI Radio Awards , , , - , 2011 , , ''Dermot and Dave'' , , General Music Programme of the Year at the PPI Radio Awards , , , - , 2011 , , ''The Morning Crew'' , , Breakfast Programme of the Year at the PPI Radio Awards , , , - , 2012 , , ''The Morning Crew with Aidan and Claire'' , , Breakfast Programme of the Year at the PPI Radio Awards , , , - , 2012 , , ''Dermot and Dave'' , , General Music Programme of the Year at the PPI Radio Awards , , , - , 2012 , , ''Dermot Whelan'' , , Music Broadcaster of the Year at the PPI Radio Awards , , , - , 2013 , , ''Dermot and Dave'' , , General Music Programme of the Year at the PPI Radio Awards , , , - , 2013 , , ''Dave Moore'' , , Music Broadcaster of the Year at the PPI Radio Awards , , , - , 2013 , , ''98FM'' , , Music Station of the Year at the PPI Radio Awards , , , - , 2015 , , ''Dara Quilty'' , , Music Programme of the Year at the PPI Radio Awards , , , - , 2015 , , ''Dara Quilty'' , , Music Broadcaster of the Year at the PPI Radio Awards , , , - , 2016 , , ''Dara Quilty'' , , Music Broadcaster of the Year at the PPI Radio Awards , , , - , 2016 , , ''Dara Quilty'' , , Music Programme of the Year at the PPI Radio Awards , , , - , 2017 , , ''Dara Quilty'' , , Music Broadcaster of the Year at the IMRO Radio Awards , , , - , 2017 , , ''Dara Quilty'' , , Music Programme of the Year at the IMRO Radio Awards , , , - , 2018 , , ''Dara Quilty'' , , Music Programme of the Year at the IMRO Radio Awards , , , - , 2018 , , ''Dara Quilty'' , , Music Broadcaster of the Year at the IMRO Radio Awards , , , - , 2018 , , ''98FM'' , , Music Station of the Year at the IMRO Radio Awards , , , - , 2019 , , ''Dara Quilty'' , , Music Broadcaster of the Year at the IMRO Radio Awards , , , - , 2019 , , ''Dara Quilty'' , , Music Programme of the Year at the IMRO Radio Awards , , , - , 2019 , , ''98FM'' , , Music Station of the Year at the IMRO Radio Awards , , , -

References

{{Local radio in Ireland 1989 establishments in Ireland Contemporary hit radio stations in Ireland Mass media in Dublin (city) Radio stations established in 1989 Radio stations in the Republic of Ireland

Programming

History and station information

Awards

See also

References