its by a band called nada surf...funny video to it too, used to be on mtv alot a couple of years ago...

Nice one Parton, thanks. *rushes off to google Nada Surf*

yup, that's 'Nada Surf' with 'Popular'
Was a hit about 10/12 years ago
Great song, love the video too and lyrics are hilarious
they play here every so often, think they played Whelans last year but their sound has changed a lot since the days of 'Popular'

Phantom get a lot of mileage out of tracks like that, sometimes it's like Phantom is still living in 1995!
Themselves and Whelans share the 'Shine 3' cd, it must be in bits at this stage!

says it all about phantom, in a way. so many of their DJs seem to have stoppd listening to music (or buying music) in 1995. if i hear the smashing pumpkins again.....

If you took away Depeche Mode, Muse and 'Riders In the Storm', there'd be a hell of alot of dead air on Phantom.

(I still like it though)

what about theThe Violent Femmes......The Wannadies.?..ah sure thats all they used to play when the station started........

Don't just google...buy!! I cannot recommend this band highly enough. hugely underrated despite writing some of the best guitar pop since their debut way back when Phantom stopped listening to music.....

Must have is the album Let Go.....and my personal favourite tracks are Killians Red, Silent Fighting, Icebox, Paper Boats, Fruitfly, Do It Again.....ah just buy the lot!

Ha Ha. Yes. They must play DM's "Everything Counts" about 20 times a day

Im sorry I only get to log on here occasionally, but when I do, Im happy to clear up any myths that might be out there

First of all, its great fun when someone slags off Phantom for playing classic tracks (such as Nada Surf) but then others remark how good they are. Its almost as if people like the songs.

PoolCleaningBoy. Depeche Mode - Everything Counts. Very popular Phantom band. Lots of demand from listeners for them. That song "played 20 times a day" was played twice in the last eleven days. Happy to clarify that one.

Rockchicklet, no, presenters didnt stop buying music back in 1995. Just by way of clarification though, heres some science. Over 60% of music played on Phantom is from the last year, and about 15% is over 10 years old.

No commercial radio station is ever going to survive on kudos and credibility alone. It needs to appeal to as broad as possible an audience without diluting its musical output to the point where it becomes just another station.

I open the floor to questions...and requests

Simon Maher
Phantom 105.2

Two things;

1) For all the moaning out of folks (including meself) about the music and lack there of new stuff on the radio; Phantom has if you look at it programme by programme kept its word on mainly playing new music and profiling new acts.

2) What other capital city would you get criticism on a music board answered personally by a dj from the station? Fair play to Phantom...great resource for music and without it w'ed all be living in Ray D'arcy hell....

simon

You may think that the perception about your station is wrong, but when you talk to people about Phantom, the over-riding opinion is "not as good as I thought it was going to be". This is a huge pity because there was a massive groundswell of support out there for the station which you have slowly pissed away.

You claim to be a new music station and you have various stats to back up what you are talking about (ie 60 percent of music from the last year - didnt DM and Pumpkins release albums recently??) but the feeling i and many other listeners get whe we turn on 105.2 is of boredom. Certain bands are played to death - sometimes the station could be renamed Ham Sandwich FM - and certain DJs just dont know what they are talking about.

The really good shows happen to be at the weekend - I think sinead ni mhorda, emma meehan, nadine o'regan, richie ryan, richie mccormack, jim carroll and pearl are the real stars on phantom because they (1) sound enthusiastic (2) are really knowledgable about what they're playing (3) play music you dont hear elsewhere on any station (especially carroll and pearl) and (4) really engage with the listener. why arent those shows on during the week? why do they only get one go a week while you have really offputting jocks (i find that clown sinister pete and neill austin to be really annoying and im sure others do too - though i'm sure there are stats to show otherwise) on every day?

My requests? Less annoying NME new music and more interesting, challenging and different sounds. Yes, you are a commercial radio station but you're also an ALTERNATIVE station. At the moment, you're just FM104 with more classic alternative CDs.

I think Phantom are doing a great job to be honest, its less than a year in to 'official' broadcasting, and I'm sure there's been a lot of having to find their feet. The balance of music is just one of the things tnat I imagine has to be arrived at through a bit of experimentation, and I think they're finding the right balance between old classics you won't hear elsewhere (Talking Heads, Who, Bowie etc), Modern 'coomercial' indie like Maximo Park, Editors, Interpol and Irish bands you would never, ever hear on the radio anywhere else. What other station plays tunes by previously unheard of bands during the daytime? If it wassn't for Phantom there would be a hell of a lot less interesting music being made and countless bands would be starved of the opportunity to showcase their work, other than on late night specialty shows. As a music fan I thank my lucky stars for Phantom, I've been listening to it on and off (off when they were off air) for about 10 years, and wouldn't listen to anything else.

It does seem to tend to be the same bunch of songs that are older than 10 years old though Simon. It's a rare occasion where I hear an old song on the station that makes me go "I love that song but haven't heard it in years".

Muzak, I can't agree more. For the station to survive they HAVE to play what people want and what I want is quality music, new AND old. I never heard any of CSS, New Young Pony Club or countless others until I started listening to Phantom. Keep up the good work Phantom.

Oh and my request Simon.....more from the God like genius that is AIMEE MANN please !!!

i get really f**king sick of people slagging Phantom. "OMG, I can't believe they're not playing the songs that I decided I wanted them to play in the last five minutes." Get a f**king iPod.

Phantom plays great music, is run by great people and is a great thing for breaking Irish bands.

Of course it's not perfect, but what is?

Una is absolutely right there, Phantom is not perfect, nor will it ever be. It's impossible to be all things to everyone all the time and we will never be able to keep everyone happy.

I dont agree with Rockchicklet however when she says Phantom has "pissed away" all the goodwill that surrounded it. Take a look at this thread, I think theres still plenty of goodwill there!

On the topic of the specialist weekend shows, well, I love them too and enjoy them. By their nature though, they are specialist shows. Which attract much smaller audiences. Thats a simple reality of commercial radio. Phantom needs well over a million quid a year in revenue to keep its head above the water, so needs to maximise its audience in the daytime on weekdays. I enjoy our weekday output, as do many others thankfully! Daily daytime output of the specialist shows you mention would get us endless credibility and lots of muso fans on messageboards but would bankrupt us pretty rapidly!

So for people like Rockchicklet, our daytime output which she doesnt like, enables us to have our more specialised late night and weekend output which she does like. Seven shows a week that you enjoy and even know by name Rockchicklet? Thats not a bad deal in my book.

On the classic tracks point, there is a point there. Older tracks tend to get "stale" quicker than newer tracks (its a tolerance thing). Its for us to make sure that we are swapping those tracks enough to keep them fresh. As Ive said before, feel free to suggest tracks and artists, old and new.

And yes, Yay for Aimee Mann, I'll play some today

Simon

i echo simons points in response to rockchicklet's post...much as i too prefer the weekend output, i'm not naive enough to assume that phantom would still be around in a years time if the entire weeks programming was comprised of similar content!

yeah phantom's not perfect, but perfection is unattainable anyway. bottom line is that life with phantom is better than like without phantom.

long may they run.


oh and a wee p.s. one small point i'd like to make is how pleasing it is to hear so many female djs and contributors on phantom, certainly bucks the trend

thanks for getting back simon, i didnt expect that

of course, the fact that we're talking about phantom implies there is goodwill BUT i really think that what we have now on 105.2 could be a lot better and i know i am not alone

there is a terrible irish "sure it will do" attitude which has come up here - just because phantom is there doesnt mean it is good. i really think it could be better and i think, in time, it will be certainly different but perhaps not better.

regarding the shows i liked, i didnt actually say i liked the week-day nighttime specialist shows. they're pretty poor because they're largely drawn from the same metal/industrial scope (bar The Producers). Why dont you put on the likes of Pearl or jim carroll during the week where they would get a bigger audience than they're getting at the weekend? I know those snows because they're the ones i've been really impressed by and have gone to the website to find out more about. i'm sure if they were in more high profile week-day slots, their audiences would be increased.

on the classic tracks bit - one request. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE get rid of some of the smashing pumpkins CDs. Please? i'll even listen to neil austin's show as penace if you promise me that. Get rid of two and i'll listen for a week.

And i'll be listening into your - usually quite good - show today hoping that you will play LCD Soundsystem, some new Animal Collective, Beirut and Bonde Do Role.

I agree with rockchicklet here, I prefer some of the weekend DJ's, but perhaps their shows are more enjoyable because they have less time to fill each week. They can focus more on the obscurities because their show is more concentrated. Whereas someone like John Cadell (sp?) has more time to fill each week, so we get alot of the old reliables - Greenday, Depeche etc

I like Richie McCormack but I only hear him when he's filling in for Cadell, I must have something else on during his regular show. I think he strikes the balance between new music and old UNfamiliar music pretty well. In fact I've only ever texted in once to Phantom, I think they overplug the phone number a bit, I sent one into him and he told me he wouldn't play the song because that album was rubbish. I laughed. He didn't mean it to be offensive and I liked his honesty. He was right too, the album was a bit rubbish.

You lucky, lucky B*stards..!! All we have down here in 'Fab' City is ONE show on a Sunday, Live95's "Green and Live" that would even contemplate playing half of the decent music Phantom plays. What I wouldn't give to be able to throw on a decent radio station on the way to work or while stuck in traffic going home and give the auld mp3 player the break it deserves!

I hate to have to say it but Phantom FM are also supporting us (Vesta Varro) more than our own local radio station.. plus I've heard some class up and coming bands on there when I've had the pleasure of tuning in.

I have 105.2 on preset for every time I get up to Dublin.. Enjoy it.. you seriously don't know how good you have it guys!

Strangegravy

Ah good ole Phantom - its a cool station. Of course theres things we would all like to chage about it but i think thats because we all hold it so close to our hearts! Sure if i had it my way it'd be post punk 24hrs a day.... but then it'd just be BenniFM! (hmmm enterprising idea....!)

Phantom has done lots for Irish bands - i've become aware of plenty of acts doing their thing since the station came to air. What i also like is that there is a very personal touch to the shows like Edels and Simons in that they'll play and have on bands and people that they like and are interested in - not just allocated guests that they HAVE to have on.

And also Jack Hyland is a legend! :-)

erk! think i may have opened something of a can of worms with my initial 1995 comment re phantom!
twas meant to be tongue in cheek for the most part (perhaps didn't come across that way though)
i commend phantom on how well they've done in the last year, sure there's room for improvement but the same applies to all the other stations too

one place i think phantom does fall down somewhat though is in the one off shows like for instance the 10 year Jeff Buckley show that was on recently
am not sure who was presenting it, but my girlfriend (who is a massive JB fan) had a listen and was pretty disappointed with it
perhaps it's not fair to compare with RTE Radio 1 who are funded by our license money, but i found the recent shows they had on on iconic albums of the 70s, 80s and 90s were excellent, in their presentation, in the guests they had on and most importantly in how au fait everyone on the show was with the album and artist/band being discussed (something my girlfriend felt wasn't particularly the case with the Buckley show on Phantom)

Would be interested to hear from anyone else who heard that show and whether they would agree?

It's no belfield FM, that's all I'll say :p

I think Phantom is one of the best things that happened to Irish radio in ages. Funnily enough, I was discussing this on another board (non music related, car enthusiast site) and the general concensus is that even if the playlist isn't 100% perfect, at least it plays decent tunes for when you are driving to and from work rather than having to listen to a talk show about how some overpaid football player in England tore his cruciate ligament or something. No disrespect to people who like sport, but some of us aren't interested and want some tunes.

I'll preface the following comments by saying they are not intended as critical: If there is one thing I would like to see Phantom embrace more, it is a wider definition of alternative/independent music. Lots of people make independently released music, it just isn't "indie" rock (that isn't intended as a criticism of indie rock by the way). Stuff like the techno or electro thats released on labels like Bpitch Control or Kompakt rather than just the "indier" side of dance music like LCD soundsystem (which is also great) or more avant garde stuff? other genres? How about some Soul? Maybe there are shows on Phantom that cover this sort of stuff that I'm not aware of? Like I said, not a critcism, more a wishlist

They're really plugging the hell out of this Lennon album.

I wouldn't have thought a few months ago that HMV would be placing Lennon's album in amongst all the high profile new releases, just shows the power that RTE have, doesn't it?

Thanks all for the continuing comments and suggestions. All are much appreciated. Im not going to bore you to tears with some of the contractual reasons why we cant do certain shows or can only do certain shows at certain times but needless to say, its complicated! We have percentage quotas for various musical categories and age groups, all watched closely by the regulator and even more closely by our competitors. We will continue to work on it though and as time goes on, hopefully bring some of your suggestions and our own plans to fruition.

On the topic of the Darfur/Amnesty album, we were asked to help out with publicising its release and we were happy to oblige. Anything that keeps situations like that currently going on in Darfur is good in my book. Awareness is no solution, but its a start.

Simon

Binokular, have a look here at jim carroll's playlist which is the only show which seems to be playing a mix of stuff like that - http://www.phantom.ie/content/view/126/179/

Also check out Pearl's show is probably the best show on the station IMHO - http://www.phantom.ie/content/view/124/188/

question to rockchicklet...'challenging' music..please explain and give examples. To me 'challenging' music is one of two things:

1. a term often used my music snobs
2. happy hardcore

I loved phantom FM when i lived in the capital 10 odd years ago, when travelling back from the north on sunday evening, couldnt wait to get near to the city limits to tune in, ahhhhh good music! Always tune in anytime I'm down. keep her lit.

PQ

Fair enough, it was for a good cause. You have to admit though, it was a bit overkill. In the past few days almost every show I heard was plugging the album as if they were the first of the day to do so, then it would be on during the ad breaks aswell.

And as a Lennon fan, I find most of the tracks played were pretty poor covers (stand up U2 and Greenday). Thats just a matter of opinion though.

Imagine being at a party, and someone says, "em, I think the choice of music isn't challenging enough"....

sweet jesus, listening to music on the radio isn't supposed to be like doing the f*ckin high jump...

I think Phantom does a great job and they have the hardest task, they are the only radio station that have a stated mandate to stick to and over the last twelve years since the start, Phantom is the only station worth a toss in this town...

still awaiting my education.......surely would have rolled off the tongue?

PQ