Liz: U2, Radio and Hot Press

Hot Press is the most well-known music magazine in Ireland and it began in 1977 when there were only three available newspapers and one radio station throughout Ireland. When the magazine was first started there were only about 100 on staff, which is a small amount of people. The first issue of Hot Press was quite conservative, as much of the Irish media continues to be. Hot Press is still published today and it continues to write not only about music but about the happenings of the country.

As much as I dislike U2, they really gave the music industry a huge kick-start in Ireland. Once U2 became successful, they insisted upon staying in Ireland and using the Irish music industry to record their music, make their music videos, and find people to work on their international tours. By staying in Ireland, other reputable bands such as R.E.M. realized Ireland is where the music industry is at, and became recording their albums in Ireland as well. This helped the music industry solidify and become stable.

As previously mentioned, thirty years ago, Ireland had only one radio station. It was in 1987 that commercial radio became legal, and by the end of that year there were 3 radio stations! Today, in 2007 there are around fifty radio stations throughout Ireland. The radio here is very conservative and most DJ’s try not to put anything promiscuous on the radio. According to the editor of the magazine, the radio tries to play music that can easily be taken home to one’s mother and everybody in the industry has a fear of losing their job at any moment. Besides being slightly conservative, there is a rule that 30% of the music played on each station must be Irish.