Fiktiv UK - IRN

Independent Radio News provides a service of news bulletins, audio and copy to commercial radio stations in the United Kingdom and beyond. The managing director, Tim Molloy, succeeded long-term MD John Perkins in November 2009. Perkins had been MD of IRN since 1989. IRN's shareholders are GCap Media (54.6%), Bauer Radio (22.3%), ITN (19.7%) and The Radio Partnership (3.4%).

IRN launched on 8 October 1973 with the first bulletin read at 0600 by Australian newsreader Ken Guy on the opening morning of Britain's first commercial radio station, LBC. IRN was based at LBC studios in Gough Square, just off Fleet Street in Central London. The service was funded by cash payments from subscribing radio stations. On 5 October 1992, ITN took over the running of the IRN operation from LBC and moved into ITN's headquarters on Gray's Inn Road in London.

Computer technology was introduced in 1985 and in 1987, the Newslink advertising scheme (a national single advertisement, broadcast by IRN immediately adjacent to the news bulletin) was launched which funded the service and provided cash dividends of the surplus to client stations. Newslink adverts are broadcast by client stations around weekday bulletins from 06:00 to 11:00 and 13:00, and at weekends between 07:00 and 12:00. Sales of Newslink commercial spots are managed by GCap Media.

In 1989, satellite distribution of bulletins and audio was introduced and this was also the year that IRN and LBC moved into new studios on Hammersmith Road in West London. The satellite service was managed by Satellite Media Services who were based on the ground floor of Euston Tower. In 1991, the Sunrise Radio IRN service was introduced. The hourly news bulletins were broadcast on Sunrise Radio's channel on the Astra satellite in a move designed to serve smaller commercial, RSL and hospital stations who struggled to afford the expensive standard IRN satellite equipment. This continued until 31 August 2004, upon which the service moved to a dedicated channel on the Hot Bird 4 satellite at 13.0° East. From 2015, bulletins are broadcast via the Hot Bird 16A satellite at 16° East.

In 2001, audio cuts began to be distributed via the Internet and from 2 October 2005, audio cuts and packages ceased being distributed via the satellite audio channels and switched entirely to the IRN Net Newsroom Internet system.

IRN bulletins had a major overhaul in September 2002. The bulletin outcue for many years: "Independent Radio News", was dropped and all bulletins were of three minutes duration. All IRN branding was removed and the outcue reverted to a timecheck: "It's three minutes past XXX.". A shorter 90-second bulletin, known as IRN 90, replaced the previous 60 second overnight bulletin service.

IRN launched its first bespoke bulletin service in September 2003, with an hourly bulletin service for Magic 105.4 and a breakfast news service for Kiss 100.

On 1 October 2003, satellite distribution of the main IRN service switched from SMS and the Intelsat 707 satellite at 1.0° West to Kingston Communications and the Sirius 4 satellite at 4.8° East. On 1 January 2021, the service was switched to Eutelsat 9B satellite at 9.0° East.

In June 2008, IRN started supplying a feed of news, sport and entertainment stories and video to the websites of client radio stations.

ITN has provided IRN's news service for the past 29 years. IRN itself first broadcast in October 1973 - on the same day as LBC. That was the start of a relationship that still exists today, as IRN's first client was LBC.

IRN's role hasn't changed in those 48 years - it provides news 24 hours a day to commercial radio stations. Today, that's over 160 commercial news stations across the UK which receive breaking news and hourly bulletins from the talented team of radio journalists based at the heart of the ITN headquarters in London.

Its reputation for delivering the highest-quality current affairs, sport, financial and entertainment news means today it is one of the world's most successful radio agencies and the ultimate model of commercially-funded public service broadcasting. A unique revenue model means IRN provides its service free of charge to radio stations and is even able to pay some stations to use its service, so successful is its operation.

ITN has always been on the forefront of technological innovation and in 2005 the IRN net newsroom was launched - this innovative service gives radio stations quick access to national and international news including the latest headlines and packages, daily prospects and local weblinks for each story.

IRN is based at ITN in the basement of their Grays Inn Road headquarters in London. IRN also has studios in Westminster for political coverage. Most audio comes from ITV News and Channel 4 News television bulletins. Client stations contribute audio to the service and IRN also has agreements to use audio from CNN Radio and ESPN.

IRN transmits a live 3-minute national and international news bulletin on the hour 24 hours a day, known as 'IRN180'. Many stations take the national IRN bulletin during evenings and weekends when local newsrooms are unstaffed. A number of stations including Sunrise Radio broadcasts IRN bulletins followed by local news updates. Other stations such as Radio XL along with numerous community stations use the hourly IRN bulletins as their sole source of news.

IRN also transmits shorter, 90 second national news bulletins at the top of the hour during off-peak periods. These snappier bulletins, called 'IRN90', are often used by stations aimed at younger audiences.

In addition to a satellite feed with three separate channels, IRN also operates a serial data channel. This communicates with the IRN Demux 2 unit which the majority of commercial radio clients have. This demultiplexer allows up to eight serial data channels of text information to be transmitted. Client stations can (and normally do) have a Major Story Alarm (also known as an OBIT Alarm) in their newsrooms and studios. The IRN newsdesk can trigger an alert at any time, which will be picked up by the demux units and set off the alert. Reasons for doing this include a major incident/terror attack or the death of a member of the Royal Family (see Obituary Procedure). This alarm system is tested every Tuesday morning at 10:30.

All audio and copy is distributed via the IRN website. In addition to scripts and copy written by IRN journalists, access is also available to Press Association news wires and a breakfast showprep service from Murf Media. IRN also provides a feed of national news and sports stories to radio station websites.

Via FTP from its website, IRN transmits to stations a selection of snippets of audio (or 'cuts') to illustrate the main news of the day. Stations can incorporate these 'cuts' in their news bulletins as they see fit. IRN also provides scripts to introduce these 'cuts', which local stations can rewrite to fit their house style, or supplement with more locally relevant information.

The IRN audio channels also carry feeds of press conferences and sports reports, for local stations to broadcast live or record for later use.

IRN operates two audio channels on the Eutelsat 9B satellite: IRN1 transmits the hourly news bulletins and live sports reports. IRN2 transmits press conferences and live events.

In the event of a major news story (e.g. royal death or major terrorist incident), audio from ITV News Channel will be relayed on IRN1 and IRN2 with extended radio bulletins broadcast on the hour and additional 3-minute bulletins on the half-hour.

Many community, student and hospital radio stations around the UK take the hourly bulletin service. Copy and audio cuts are also used by BFBS Radio in addition to stations in the Republic of Ireland, Spain, Cyprus, UAE, South Africa and Australia.

IRN's sports output includes weekday breakfast, lunchtime and afternoon sports bulletins, audio cuts and packages and a full Saturday afternoon sports service.

IRN supplies match reports from every FA Premier League football match with reporters supplied by sports radio agency World Sports Communications and also sells licences to local stations to allow them to broadcast football match reports and commentaries.

Up to three reports each half, plus previews, goal flashes and half-time and full-time reports are sent from each match via the IRN1 and Astra satellite channels. One featured match each Saturday features live clockstart reports at 15:14, 15:26, 15:38, 16:14, 16:26 and 16:38. A classified football results check is broadcast every Saturday at 17:05.