radio . this article needs additional citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . may 2008 learn how and when to remove this template message newstalk broadcast area ireland slogan it s not just news you know frequency fm 106 108 mhz sky 0210 upc ireland 932 astra 2f 12633 h 22000 5 6 first air date 9 april 2002 as newstalk 106 29 september 2006 as national station format news and talk owner communicorp sister stations today fm dublin s 98fm spin 1038 spin south west website www.newstalk.ie newstalk formerly newstalk 106 is an independent radio station in ireland . it is operated by news 106 limited a subsidiary of denis o brien s communicorp and broadcasts under a sound broadcasting contract with the broadcasting authority of ireland . the station is a quasi national covering most but not all of the state station as of 29 september 2006 previously having been an independent local radio station with a franchise for dublin . contents 1 format 2 audience share 3 history 4 quasi national licence 5 newstalk news network 6 references 7 external links format edit the station is the only commercial radio station in ireland to take on an exclusively talk based format . however musical interludes can be heard on weekend shows . news is broadcast every hour . shows are broadcast live from 06 30 00 00 on weekdays 07 00 00 00 on saturday and 08 00 23 00 on sunday . outside these hours best of versions of programmes are broadcast . the station s flagship morning programme is newstalk breakfast presented by shane coleman colette fitzpatrick paul williams and alan quinlan with vincent wall presenting business coverage between 06 30 and 10 00 . the pat kenny show is on air from 09 00 12 00 george hook presents high noon from 12 00 14 00 sean moncrieff presents moncrieff from 1400 1600 and chris donoghue and sarah mcinerney present newstalk drive from 1600 1900 . the multi award winning sports show off the ball is broadcast from 1900 2200 and on weekdays is followed by the the tom dunne show from 22 00 to 00 00 audience share edit from january 2009 to december 2009 newstalk recorded a national weekday reach of 8 % and a market share of 4 % in the dublin region newstalk had a reach of 12 % share of audience in cork newstalk s reach was 8 % while in the rest of the country newstalk s share was 6 % . 1 history edit this section does not cite any sources . please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . march 2007 learn how and when to remove this template message in 1999 the broadcasting commission of ireland bci invited applications for a number of new dublin radio services expanding on the then duopoly of 98fm and fm104 . one was for a speech based radio service . the independent local radio ilr national news provider independent network news was one of two applicants for this licence and its applicant company news 106 was awarded the franchise . however before the station even went on air several ilr companies decided that they did not want to be part of the venture and the station s shareholding was restructured with at launch 98fm fm104 clare fm carlow kildare radio lmfm east coast radio south east radio and wlr fm along with setanta being the shareholders in the company . the station first went on air under its original name newstalk 106 on 9 april 2002 with david mcwilliams the first presenter . in its original format it offered twenty twenty news every twenty minutes . the first 20 20 news bulletins were presented by several newsreaders including eimear lowe james healy dyane connor dimitri o donnell sean archibald and abigail reilly . in september 2004 the news service was reduced to every thirty minutes news 30 along with a revamped news team to replace the original journalists who had left the station by this stage . in summer 2004 the station signed eamon dunphy dropping david mcwilliams resulting in controversy . 2 in 2004 fm104 was forced to sell its stake as a condition of its takeover by scottish radio holdings . this meant that communicorp was able to take majority control of the station . setanta and hyper trust remained as minority shareholders . in 2005 elaine geraghty the original co presenter of the breakfast time programme on 98fm was appointed chief executive . on 22 may 2006 the bci announced that its new quasi national speech based contract was being awarded to newstalk who retained their 106 mhz frequency in dublin while surrendering its dublin ilr licence . newstalk were the sole application for the licence . it began quasi national broadcasts on 29 september 2006 . the media expressed concern at its relative lack of star names and proliferation of unknowns though noted the presence of george hook and se n moncrieff . 3 in 2009 ms geraghty resigned as ceo and frank cronin setanta s board representative since 2002 was appopinted ceo . schedule changes included the appointment of ivan yates former minister for agriculture to breakfast presenter damien kiberd to lunchtime presenter and the re engagement of eamon dunphy to sunday newspaper review programme presenter . this schedule together with the continuity of george hook off the ball sean moncrieff and tom dunne has driven the station to new heights of daily listenership and standing . the station now reaches 305 000 jnlr february 2012 people daily the fastest growing adult station in ireland . quasi national licence edit during 2006 newstalk were licensed to extend their coverage area to about 97 % of ireland . these quasi national broadcasts began on 29 september 2006 the sole official independent national radio station remains 100 102 today fm . newstalk news network edit newstalk is primarily known as being a radio station . however newstalk is also the provider of the only national radio newswire in ireland . newstalk provides rip and read copy and audio 24 7 and also provides a live stream of audio newsreading every hour . the latter is used mostly by local radio stations after 7pm across ireland . references edit dunphy to leave newstalk 106 jnlr listenership figures released on 11 february 2010 dunphy steps into mcwilliams shoes at newstalk . retrieved 15 april 2015 . mccaughren samantha 28 september 2006 . talk not so cheap as station spends 1m on advertising launch . irish independent . retrieved 28 september 2006 . external links edit official website listen live http www.liveradio.ie stations newstalk v t e national radio in the republic of ireland national newstalk today fm rt radio 1 rt 2fm rt lyric fm rt raidi na gaeltachta regional beat 102 103 south east iradio north east midlands north west west spin south west limerick clare kerry tipperary multi city classic hits 4fm spirit radio digital only all 80s mocha raidi r r rt 2xm rt chill rt choice rt gold rt junior rt pulse rt radio 1 extra see also local radio in the republic of ireland retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title newstalk & oldid 738542650 categories communicorpmedia in dublin city news and talk radio stations in irelandradio stations in northern irelandradio stations in the republic of irelandhidden categories use dmy dates from april 2014use irish english from april 2014all wikipedia articles written in irish englisharticles needing additional references from may 2008all articles needing additional referencesarticles needing additional references from march 2007county dublin articles missing geocoordinate dataall articles needing coordinates navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated 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