TXFM (formerly Phantom 105.2) was a

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 ...

-based

radio station Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based rad ...

, founded in 1997 as a

pirate radio Pirate radio is a radio station that broadcasts without a valid license, whether an invalid license or no license at all. In some cases, radio stations are considered legal where the signal is transmitted, but illegal where the signals are rec ...

station. TXFM broadcast under a contract awarded by the

Broadcasting Authority of Ireland The Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI; ) is a former broadcasting authority which regulated both public and commercial broadcasting sector in Ireland. It was established in 2009, effectively replacing the Broadcasting Commission of Irel ...

(BAI). The station ceased broadcasting on 26 October 2016. TXFM played mostly

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

with an emphasis on local artists, as well as alternative

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and

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from local and international acts. Apart from general programming TXFM also has run many specialist shows dedicated to a specific genre of rock or to premiering new Irish and international acts. Following the re-advertisement of the 'Alternative Rock' radio licence by the BAI in December 2015, no formal applications had been made by the closing date, and on 30 March 2016 it was announced that the station was to cease broadcasting by October of that year.

History

1997–2014: Phantom

Until 2003, Phantom operated as a pirate station, staying on air the majority of the time, apart from outages caused by frequency collisions with newly licensed stations, fear of raids by Comreg, and once, the theft of their transmission equipment from

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 ...

. Since 2003, they have operated as an

internet radio Internet radio, also known as online radio, web radio, net radio, streaming radio, e-radio and IP radio, is a digital audio service transmitted via the Internet. Broadcasting on the Internet is usually referred to as webcasting since it is not ...

station, and under two temporary radio contracts (2003 and 2004) from the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland. Funding for Phantom during their pirate era came from

sponsorship Sponsoring something (or someone) is the act of supporting an event, activity, person, or organization financially or through the provision of products or services. The individual or group that provides the support, similar to a benefactor, is k ...

and advertising from local bands and promoters and even contributions from station staff. A number of times during this period, the station went off air for licence applications. After two successful temporary licenses, Phantom applied for an alternative rock license offered by the BCI for Dublin in July 2004. They finally won a licence for an alternative rock station for Dublin in November 2004, beating the Zed FM consortium,

XFM Radio X is a British national commercial radio station focused on alternative music, primarily indie rock, and owned by Global. The station launched in 1989 as a pirate radio station named Q102, before being renamed Xfm in 1992. The station b ...

and two other applicants. Phantom's expected launch was delayed due to a legal challenges against the BCI regarding the license from Scrollside Ltd./Zed FM. An unsuccessful challenge to the High Court was followed by an appeal to the Supreme Court which was rejected on 6 April 2006. Phantom returned to the airwaves on 31 October 2006, broadcasting on 105.2 FM. Phantom 105.2 won the award for best music driven local station at the 2007 PPI Awards. Phantom Foals Interview

In 2010,

Communicorp 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 ...

took a 30% stake and the station was relocated to Marconi House in January 2011 where it shares facilities with

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 ...

and

Newstalk Newstalk (formerly NewsTalk 106) is a national independent radio station in Ireland. It is operated by News 106 Limited, a subsidiary of Bauer Media Audio Ireland, and broadcasts under a sound broadcasting contract with the Broadcasting Aut ...

. A number of redundancies resulted from the move and cost cutting including the redundancies of Marketing Manager Brian Daly and Traffic Manager Laura Lee Conboy (she continued with her presenter role) along with the resignation of Chief Executive Ger Roe and the dismissal of General Manager Simon Maher. Ricky Geraghty replaced Ger Roe as CEO and Keith Walsh replaced Fiona Scally as programme director. In August 2012, it was announced that a number of weekend presenters would be leaving the station in a bid to cut costs.

2014: Job cuts and restructuring plans

On 14 February 2014, the board of directors of Dublin Rock Radio Ltd, trading as Phantom 105.2 announced that up to twenty staff would be made redundant. In a statement issued to the press, managers of the station said that the

had granted permission to restructure the business "in order to ensure its long-term viability". In February 2014, it was announced that an agreement had been reached with the

to restructure the station resulting in the loss of many full and part-time staff with the exception of a handful of presenters. The station would then be rebranded as TXFM with closer operational links with

, also owned by

and who also broadcast from the same building. On 16 March 2014 the station ceased broadcasting as Phantom 105.2. The last live show was Power House presented by John Caddell. Back to back music was then broadcast with the station being renamed ''105.2'' with no reference to Phantom. A number of on-air, backroom and support staff lost their jobs.

2014–2016: As TXFM

It was subsequently confirmed that TXFM would relaunch on 31 March 2014, with a mix of existing and new presenters. Initially, it was announced that only three of the daytime presenters would be left. In the event, more presenters were kept on. A number of new weekend and once-a-weeknight presenters were included in the new schedule, including musician Gavin Glass who went on to Radio NOVA. The new lineup would see presented programmes from 7am to midnight on weekdays, including nightly two-hour specialist shows from 10pm; weekends would see a mix of presenter-led and specialist shows, including a Saturday night 'indie anthems' marathon. On 30 March 2016, the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland announced that no applications had been received for the license held by Dublin Rock Radio Limited, broadcasting as TXFM. Some of the station's specialist content such as The Set-List, Metal March, TXFM Evenings, The Pick-Up, Souled Out, Transmission, Nialler 9, Friday Nights, The Listening Post and Another Side were axed from the station at the end of June 2016, while Songs in the Key of Life with Nadine O'Regan made the transition from its slot on TXFM to sister station Today FM which is also a national radio station. From July 2016, the stations schedule was reduced to only a few hours of live content each day with the majority of the schedule made up of automated songs.

Closure

The station ceased broadcasting on Wednesday, 26 October 2016 at 20:12h with the full 14 minutes 57 seconds of

Pulp Pulp may refer to: * Pulp (fruit), the inner flesh of fruit * Pulp (band), an English rock band Engineering * Pulp (paper), the fibrous material used to make paper * Dissolving pulp, highly purified cellulose used in fibre and film manufacture ...

's "The Day After The Revolution" as the final song. The JNLR radio figures released that week showed that in its final three months on air, the station's listenership had actually increased from 16,000 (Q2 2016) to 19,000 (Q3 2016).

Relaunch

Communicorp Media launched an alternative indie digital radio station called Today XM paying homage to TXFM on 17 May 2018. The digital radio station's logo is similar to TXFM and plays a similar playlist - however the station has no regular shows or presenters.

Awards

* PPI Music Driven Local Station Of The Year (2007) * Digital Media Awards – Best Entertainment Content (Web/Mobile) (2008) * Irish Web Awards – Best Radio Station Website (2008 & 2009) * Highly Commended in the Allianz Business to Arts Awards 2010 (Best Sponsorship of an Event) * PPI New Irish Music/Musical Talent Programming (2013) Icon – Songwriter Special * PPI Awards 2016 - Left of the Dial Documentary by Cathal Funge.

References

External links

*
TXFM iPhone App on iTunes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Txfm Communicorp Former pirate radio stations Pirate radio stations in Ireland Mass media in Dublin (city) Modern rock radio stations Rock radio stations in Ireland Radio stations established in 1996 Defunct radio stations in the Republic of Ireland Radio stations disestablished in 2016 1990s in Irish music 2000s in Irish music 2010s in Irish music