Coimisiún na Meán has approved funding of €2.4m for the independent commercial radio sector under the Sound & Vision 4 Broadcasting Funding Scheme.
Allocations to individual radio stations range from €35,000 to €95,000. The Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Catherine Martin TD, made the funding available for this special round of the scheme, administered by Coimisiún na Meán.
Commercial radio stations will use this funding to produce programmes covering a range of topics of interest to their listeners, agreed in consultation with the Independent Broadcasters of Ireland.
The topics are Media Literacy; Digital Transformation; Gender, Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion, and Developing Communities and Communities of Interest.
Radio stations benefiting from the cash include Cork’s 96FM, FM104, Today FM, Beat 102-103 iRadio, Q102, Radio Nova, Sunshine, Classic Hits, C103, Clare FM, East Coast FM, Galway Bay FM, Highland Radio, KCLR, KFM, Live 95, LMFM, Midlands 103, Midwest Radio, Northern Sound, Ocean FM, Radio Kerry, Shannonside, South East Radio, Tipp FM, WLR fm and Newstalk.
Media Development Commissioner Rónán Ó Domhnaill said: “We would like to thank Minister Martin for the provision of this funding, which will enable the independent commercial radio sector to develop high quality, new and additional programming to engage their audiences around the country. The funding will also assist stations to explore opportunities that increase audience engagement through training and outreach activities, in particular for minorities and newer communities.”
A full list of the successful projects being offered funding for Round 50 is available to download here.
Round 51 of the Scheme is now open, seeking funding applications from broadcasters and independent producers, and the closing date for this round is Thursday, 14th December 2023.
