Gay Byrne

dubtom

To my surprise I tuned in to lyric on sunday and found old gay byrne doing a show,actually a regular show,every sunday 4 to 6 pm. Brought back memories and a blessed relief from sunday afternoon sports coverage. Have to admit I enjoyed listening to him after all these years.

Latchy

Ah Gaybo , Every time i meet a collette i say ' roll it there 'honey

FunkZ

Lol, Gaybo is great. I'll tune in next Sunday!

DublinWriter

dubtom wrote: »

To my surprise I tuned in to lyric on sunday and found old gay byrne doing a show,actually a regular show,every sunday 4 to 6 pm. Brought back memories and a blessed relief from sunday afternoon sports coverage. Have to admit I enjoyed listening to him after all these years.

Well, he does have to justify the 200K RTE still pay him every year as part of a golden-handcuffs agreement.

I do agree though, he is the consummate professional. He would have retired a lot earlier had not Russell Murphy fecked off with all his money in the early 80's.

juuge

Another RTE veteran that doesn't understand the term 'best before'.

FlutterinBantam

The really funny bit of course is that Ryan and Kenny and Tubridy,and Finucane, et al,will all have golden handcuff clauses built into their eventual departure, which will ensure the taxpayers money rolls in while they sit at home,doing "Charity" work!!!.

Time someone lifted the veil of greatness, out there in Montrose and got in with the Dyson.

mike65

Oh Flutterin' why the hate?

Mike.

FlutterinBantam

Would that it were only hate Michael,unfortunately all fact regretfully.

Latchy

DublinWriter wrote: »

I do agree though, he is the consummate professional. He would have retired a lot earlier had not Russell Murphy fecked off with all his money in the early 80's.

I read about that chapter of his life in his book ,jeez that was scary to say the least .

juuge

DublinWriter wrote: »

I do agree though, he is the consummate professional.

Yeah especially the way he handled the annie murphy interview, a total professional.

sheesh

juuge wrote: »

Yeah especially the way he handled the annie murphy interview, a total professional.

wow long memories in here! yeah he let himself down there but he was very good in his day. I can only assume he was trying to get some sort of reaction from her or maybe he slipped up either way she didn't go for it. lol.

dubtom

Anyone remember on the late late where he asked some professer if he was drunk and it turned out the guy had parkinsons or something. Ulick O'Conner,of all people,tried to bail gaybo out. It's the only time I ever saw gay under pressure,embaressed and stuck for words. I can still see him cringe.

Latchy

dubtom wrote: »

Anyone remember on the late late where he asked some professer if he was drunk and it turned out the guy had parkinsons or something. Ulick O'Conner,of all people,tried to bail gaybo out. It's the only time I ever saw gay under pressure,embaressed and stuck for words. I can still see him cringe.

He was playing to the moral majority of irish society at the time and aware of it to.Who else was there at the time to contest him doing that show ...Frank Hall ? Who did rte send out to interview the beatles at Dublin airport in 63 ? ,sombody who hated pop music at the time .....yeah Frank Hall .

DublinWriter

dubtom wrote: »

Anyone remember on the late late where he asked some professer if he was drunk and it turned out the guy had parkinsons or something. Ulick O'Conner,of all people,tried to bail gaybo out. It's the only time I ever saw gay under pressure,embaressed and stuck for words. I can still see him cringe.

The guy in question was Professor R.D.Laing, who was genuinely drunk and never said he had Parkinsons. I think you're confusing this incident with another.

Although Gay Byrne was the consumate professional, Laing was to modern psychology what Einstein was to modern physics. Byrne was totally out of his depth when it came to interviewing on more serious topics and obviously knew nothing about Laing.

Yes he did play to the moral majority at the time, he was a broadcaster not a politician. Compare and contrast the utter deference with he treated Mother Theresa of Calcutta, even shedding a tear or two and totally avoiding confronting her about why she was against birth control of any form in one of the most poorest and most populous areas of the world.

I also agree that the Annie Murphy interview was a disgrace.

mike65

Gaybo was a man who for 12 hours a week (and more later) presented live without a net radio and tv, he will have interviewed/talked with more people than you or I will have sunday dinners its hardly a surprise some were cock-ups while many more were just kinda dull. That does'nt excuse some failures like Annie Murphy but I'd cut him some slack for his work dragging olde Ireland out of the prewar era. Anyone remember his coverage of Anne Lovett? That was worth many Mother Teressa cring-fests.

Mike.

juuge

There are many and varied examples of Byrnes incompetence over the years. His remark about Annie Murphy's son was despicable, saying, on live national television, if he (her son) turned out to be half the man his father (bishop) was, he'd be doing well.
A bishop who was dishonest in many, many ways, an adulterer and a coward to boot, what an example to us all.
Byrnes more recent behavior toward Sinéad O'Connor was ever more spooky. The countless times he almost orgasmed in her company again on live television, only to be totally brushed off by Sinéad was a cringed filled experience to all that viewed it. There's the time he persuaded the northern Ireland secretary to sing a song on the very day a massacre occurred etc etc.
He will be remembered for the Calor housewife of the year and that's about his style.

tbh

I'm no great fan of his, but saying all he'll be remembered for is housewife of the year is totally laughable. He really was the conduit for change in this country, as somebody said, remember the Kerry babies etc. the only place the public had to discuss these issues was on the radio show. And discuss it they did - I still remember hearing letter after letter outlining shocking abuse which, up till then, had been pretty much brushed under the carpet.

DublinWriter

mike65 wrote: »

Gaybo was a man who for 12 hours a week (and more later) presented live without a net radio and tv, he will have interviewed/talked with more people than you or I will have sunday dinners its hardly a surprise some were cock-ups while many more were just kinda dull.

Very true Mike and I was going to make that very point myself.

We all have our 'bad-hair' days, thankfully most of us have them in private.

In this intolerant "I pay your wages!" era we all expect perfection, even when we evaluate national figures retrospectively.