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´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio Ulster & ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio Foyle are at the heart of the community in Northern Ireland. With a recently refreshed schedule, we provide distinctive and compelling content across a wide range of subjects including news and current affairs, sport, documentaries, drama, comedy, music and arts.

Rooted in this place, we focus on deep audience connections and excellent content aligned to our purpose in ‘reflecting the lives, stories and tastes of individuals and communities in Northern Ireland as well as world issues that matter’. Our family of presenters is welcoming, warm and credible. Committed to an authentic two way relationship with listeners: bringing news, information, entertainment, escapism, companionship and ensuring audience voices are heard.

Our strategy is to maintain the performance of our linear services whilst growing our audience on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Sounds.

Radio is largely made up of long running strands but there are opportunities for shorter run series or content that fits in a new strand or seasonal offer. Our weekly Sunday 16.00 (60 mins) and 18.30 (30 mins) slots are integral slots to such output. Returning series currently include:  Bandstand, Kaz Hawkins, Nathan Carter’s Country Themes and The Siobhan Brown Soul Show. Recent commissions have included Inna Rhythm with Kwame Daniels, The Gary Lightbody Show, Alternative Ulster - John Peel’s Favourite Music Scene and The Roar of the Greasepaint.

´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio Ulster/Foyle music and arts output seeks to delight and inspire audiences with a blend of music and speech content that is entertaining and surprising. These can range from genre experts playing great music to deep dive into more audio-led content. We are especially keen to hear creative ideas with a strong digital, social media and ´óÏó´«Ã½ Sounds proposition.

We expect a new round of music commissioning to begin in early 2024 and a specific brief will be provided.

Themes for future music commissions

In any call for ideas, we are open to suggestions and encourage your creativity. We do ask that your proposals fulfil one, or a number, of these editorial priorities:

• Celebration of the music of this place- inclusive and representative of the people;
• Showcasing music-making across NI – perhaps through festivals, events, competitions, performances;
• Bringing listeners to established musical genres with a fresh approach;
• Building interest and knowledge of genres, albums, topical connections or artists;
• Expert presentation and curation of music – a credible and engaging guide for listeners;
• Using performance in a way which allows listeners to connect with music and for ´óÏó´«Ã½ RU/Foyle to reach new audience

 Programmes should have broad listener appeal but also be mindful that content and presentation style should be appealing to audiences in the 35 - 50 age range.

 Themes and genres that could work in these slots include: local artists and music-making, music that is reflective of our increasingly diverse population, local talent on an international stage and surprising musical stories from our past.

Tariffs for these slots are wide-ranging. This reflects our interest in propositions with a sliding scale of ambition, whether simple but engaging studio-based shows or those with more complex production requirements.  If your idea is dependent on a particular event please make that central to your pitch.

Presentation talent should be knowledgeable and credible but accessible and entertaining.  We also welcome ideas that would bring new presentation talent.

Diversity and Inclusion

Diverse representation on and off air is important to the ´óÏó´«Ã½.  By ‘diversity’ we mean reflecting Northern Ireland in all its cultural, richness as well as ensuring more wide-ranging representation of heritage and abilities.

 Compliance and ´óÏó´«Ã½ Editorial Guidelines

You will be required to deliver programmes that are in line with the ´óÏó´«Ã½â€™s Editorial Guidelines.

Commissioning Process

Your initial proposal should be no more than 500 words in length and clearly and concisely summarise your specific series idea. It should demonstrate your ability to produce the idea in the given timeframes, set out your editorial ambitions and address the editorial requirements set out above. It would be useful for you to specify the most suitable broadcast slots (detailed above) for your series proposal. If your idea has a connection to a specific event then outline how these programmes would interact in compliance with ´óÏó´«Ã½ guidelines.

Eligibility

Producers responding to this call for ideas may be required to submit core information about their business and experience for the ´óÏó´«Ã½ to evaluate if they meet ´óÏó´«Ã½ requirements for suppliers.

Commissions will require full agreement of Commissioning Specification, tariff and are Subject to Contract.