Independent Radio News
- IRN redirects here. IRN is also a country code for Iran.
Independent Radio News provides a service of news bulletins, audio and copy to commercial radio stations in the UK and beyond.
It was founded in 1973 along with London's LBC radio station.
Shareholders include GCap, EMAP and ITN.
IRN's editorial services are provided by ITN ON.
The Managing Director of IRN is John Perkins.
IRN's Editor is Jon Godel.
IRN's services are taken up by many, though not all, commercial radio stations in the UK. Other providers of news bulletins, audio and copy include Sky News Radio.
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.
On 15th October 2008, IRN announced that Sky News was to replace ITN as its main supplier.
Bulletins
At the top of each hour, IRN transmits three minute national news bulletins to stations across the UK via satellite, 24 hours a day. These bulletins, known as 'IRN180', are often broadcast overnight on local stations that do not have a journalist to provide overnight news cover.
IRN also transmits shorter, 90 second national news bulletins at the top of the hour during the night. These snappier bulletins, called 'IRN90', are often used by stations aimed at younger audiences.
Audio and Copy
All audio and copy is now collected by stations via IRN's Net Newsroom system. Journalists at IRN upload all copy and audio to their website.
Stations which have the technology download the scripts and audio from the IRN server into their own newsroom editing software.
Station without this can go to the IRN website, login and download scripts and cuts manually.
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.