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Midnight on St. Patrick’s Day 2014 and Irish radio has changed.  Phantom 105.2 - a radio station that had been built from pirate roots in a shed in Sandyford, ceases broadcasting in Communicorp's Marconi House. 

The dream of a group of people to bring indie and alternative music to the masses, fell, as the reality of commercial broadcasting claimed its first victim.  Phantom sinks into the dark, in preparation for TXFM – a rebranded operation with a fraction of the staff, to act as a younger, cooler sibling to Today FM.

So we look at this moment in Irish broadcasting from three perspectives – the regulator, the owner, the audience. 

The Regulator. The business of radio is a tricky one.  Be creative, be different, be exciting… but do it all within a hugely structured environment. Oh, and make money from advertising and sponsorship along the way.  I worked in radio for 17 years.  The IRTC, BCI and BAI have all been there along the way, and it’s true - it is a strict working environment with regular checks on radio stations to ensure they are playing by the rules.  This in turn ensures that standards are kept as high as possible.  Did a high level of regulation put excess pressure on an already struggling operation? Did adhering to the programming policy of Phantom ultimately contribute to its own downfall?

The Owner. There has been much speculation about why Phantom didn’t work.  Or more importantly how come it operated with a significant degree of success… until it got a licence and the original owners were bought out.  There are other specialist radio stations operating in the market and they have, so far, kept the wolves from the door. I think it’s interesting to note that the rebrand of Phantom with the loss of a raft of full and part-time positions was felt as a shiver through the industry as opposed to an earthquake.  Was there a sense of inevitability that the station, which scored an extremely low audience share, was never going to make it?  Parent company Communicorp is an extremely successful broadcasting group.  If the figures didn’t stack up, it just wouldn’t survive.

The Audience.  Ireland has had a great relationship with radio audiences.  The last 20+ years of radio through the National, Regional and Local licence network has created something quite unique globally, and advertisers knew it. But have we reached a fork in the road with our first broadcasting casualty?  Is smart technology the biggest threat to the traditional broadcast model.

Crucially in 1989 there was no twitter (for news updates), no message forums (for discussion on current topics), no streaming music services for your favourite artists (for the ‘best music mix’).  While the 30+ audience is used to the radio network from the FM dial, are the 15+ audience going to dictate how this pans out?

One thing is certain. Those people who worked with Phantom deserve enormous credit.  Their personal investment in creativity, and love of music made a deep impact on broadcasting here.

Paul Moriarty is Head of Insight at Newsaccess Media Intelligence. Newsaccess is the leading provider of media monitoring and media analysis service in Ireland. For more information on Newsaccess click here.