How come there are no British and so few NI presenters/DJs on Irish radio...?

Wertz

As per title.
It's something I've noticed for many years...as someone who listens to a lot of UK radio, I'm often surprised at how so many Irish and Northern Irish end up with gigs on national BBC stations, as DJ's, presenters, journalists, some of them very high profile. Usually it's because these people are talented and very good at what they do, not going to argue with that, but perhaps it is some form of positive discrimination or some misplaced sense of a need to include the Irish for some political reason...

So on the flip side, how come, with little or no exception that I'm aware of do we not have any brits of nordies working on our radio stations in the frontline? I can only speak for the national commercials and RTÉ in this regard; local radio may differ (though I doubt it)...
When those same stations seem to be delighted with themselves when they get Canadians, Australians and Americans (that I'm aware of) to host/DJ or do journalist, why are our closest neighbours seemingly excluded?
Is it a simple case that the UK's industry is big enough to soak up any excess that might stray from home soil and they just don't crop up when there are jobs going, or is it more a case (as I suspect) that those in management positions in this country either wish to keep the airwaves free of UK accents or think that listeners may switch off in droves or that they may end up with a backlash against the station? Is the culture of apparent nepotism and the years of grooming of "big name" presenters in our national boradcaster, partially to blame?

What about you...do you think we should have more UK and NI talent on our domestic airwaves? Why or why not?
Additionally feel free to point out to me where there are in fact UK/NI people working in frontline Irish radio...maybe I missed someone very obvious...

dr.bollocko

Wertz wrote: »

As per title.
It's something I've noticed for many years...as someone who listens to a lot of UK radio, I'm often surprised at how so many Irish and Northern Irish end up with gigs on national BBC stations, as DJ's, presenters, journalists, some of them very high profile. Usually it's because these people are talented and very good at what they do, not going to argue with that, but perhaps it is some form of positive discrimination or some misplaced sense of a need to include the Irish for some political reason...

So on the flip side, how come, with little or no exception that I'm aware of do we not have any brits of nordies working on our radio stations in the frontline? I can only speak for the national commercials and RTÉ in this regard; local radio may differ (though I doubt it)...
When those same stations seem to be delighted with themselves when they get Canadians, Australians and Americans (that I'm aware of) to host/DJ or do journalist, why are our closest neighbours seemingly excluded?
Is it a simple case that the UK's industry is big enough to soak up any excess that might stray from home soil and they just don't crop up when there are jobs going, or is it more a case (as I suspect) that those in management positions in this country either wish to keep the airwaves free of UK accents or think that listeners may switch off in droves or that they may end up with a backlash against the station? Is the culture of apparent nepotism and the years of grooming of "big name" presenters in our national boradcaster, partially to blame?

What about you...do you think we should have more UK and NI talent on our domestic airwaves? Why or why not?
Additionally feel free to point out to me where there are in fact UK/NI people working in frontline Irish radio...maybe I missed someone very obvious...

800 years!
Thats why.

Sorry just thought I'd get in there before anyone else did.
In honest answer, I do not know. There have been a few. Maybe its an accent thing.
Also if they are from the six counties, would it be easier to get work in Britain?
Historically, would the public have accepted Northern possibly protestant commentator?
I see your point though.
It is a strange observation

ifconfig

John Kelly ? Derek Davis ? Tom McGurk ? (all NI born/bred)

English not sure .. Paddy O'Gorman maybe...


--Ian

Latchy

I would imagine that welsh radio has maily welsh speaking presenters as would scottish radio so makes sense to have mainly irish speaking/accent radio presenters ,although i am sure there is noting to stop any brits wanting to work at irish radio,as long as they can grasp the basic in gaelic maybe ? .

I have in the past heard irish radio news reports with english accents ,sometimes sports reports .There are many irish media people working on BBC tv news and radio, and one or two on sky news .

Wertz

ifconfig wrote: »

John Kelly ? Derek Davis ? Tom McGurk ? (all NI born/bred)

English not sure .. Paddy O'Gorman maybe...


--Ian

Kelly and McGurk I'll give you (wouldn't be a big listener to Lyric or R1 mind)...Davis? Always thought he was a Monaghan man myself, but seems you're right.

Like I said, I'm open to correction on this...

Paddy O Gorman lol

[edit] thread title adjusted accordingly

Sherifu

Dunno, could be they're not interested in working in Ireland.

Wertz

That's a fair point...maybe they're unaware that we even have a domestic broadcast service and think we fall under one of the BBC regions or something...

Pighead

It's probably because there is so much work over in England and Irish radio is probably perceived as being of a poorer quality. Only the really really rubbish DJ's end up over here. One last desperate fling of the broadcasting dice.

Thats how we ended up with DJ Spider.

mike65

Back in the day you could'nt move for English accents - on pirate radio. Very few stuck around on the airwaves as it was the "Bogger" applicants with fewer foriegn accents who won the licences in 1988. There are a few around of course but not regulars ie Myers/Aldous (thanks ArthurF) on Newstalk.

There might be a cultural bias lurking in the undergrowth.

Mike.

LordSutch

Wertz wrote: »

What about you...do you think we should have more UK and NI talent on our domestic airwaves? Why or why not?
Additionally feel free to point out to me where there are in fact UK/NI people working in frontline Irish radio...maybe I missed someone very obvious...

To be pedantic, I should point out that NI talent is UK talent, there is no 'UK and NI talent' as you put it, but I think I know what you mean

I agree 100% that it is rather strange given our proximity to the North & Britain that there are No Scots accents, No Welsh accents, No Yorkshire accents, No Southern English accents, No Cornish accents, & only Souther Irish accents on our airwaves (apart from Richard Aldous) on Newstalk maybe? Tracy Piggott on the TV, & the odd Nordie, and yet, the BBC & several regional Radio & TV stations throughout Britain & NI have many Southern Irish presenters who seem to do very well for themselves & the British public Love them all ~ Wogan being No One!

Good Question though, I dont know the reason either but it is really odd at the lack of GB/NI accents once you start thinking about it ~ given our proximity

Wertz

ArthurF wrote: »

To be pedantic, I should point out that NI talent is UK talent, there is no 'UK and NI talent' as you put it, but I think I know what you mean

Ooh a can of worms hath been opened. Personally I go with the "Island of Ireland" view myself, but legally speaking you are correct.
I made the distinction because whatever about the lack of anyone coming over from "the mainland", you'd surely expect some trickle down from the Province over the years, given that certain Ulster stations may have been hard to find work at if you were of a particular creed, and that the Republic may have been more open to nordies than to those from across the water.

The inspiration for posting this thread was reading a thread over in AH about annoying radio voices...it was only after reading through it that I copped the complete lack of any UK voices, though we have other nationalities from much further afield (some of whom got a mention, but most of the annoyances were homegrown and out of that mainly Dubs lol).
My main focus here (and why I got caught out by ifconfig) is on popular/commercial radio where you expect to see young vibrant talented people rising to the fore...if you compare and contrast the UK's no1 pop station, BBC R1, there are 3 (perhaps 4 if you include Judge Jules) DJ's of NI/Irish origin in the line up, that falls to 0% on 2FM/Today/FM/Spin etc...on radio 2, Wogan as mentioned, and yer man O'Leary (no real Irish equivalent to comapre to)....there are always Irish newsreaders, journos and presenters on that most British of establishments, Radio 4...you get the idea.
Maybe it's just that the BBC try to be all inclusive so as not to piss anyone off...the variety of the DJ line up on R1 is diverse in the extreme, but why bother to play to the Irish when you're not even supposed to be able to tune it in here?

I think there may be someone English on Phantom...could be wrong on that though...

LordSutch

Yeah I agree with everything you say Wertz, and I can only assume that the main reason for the lack of NI/GB voices on our Airwaves is something to do with cultural perceptions? in Britain they see Irish voices (Northern & Southern) as friendly neighbourly accents from other parts of the british isles, whereas we in the Republic tend to have this thing whereby anything outside the State is Foreign (including British accents) and indeed they are foreign 'politically speaking', but culturally? and on the Airwaves? and this is where we differ from the 'Brtitish' public's perception when it comes to accents (on the Airwaves).

Dunno if all this Psycho babble is a bit far fetched & off the wall ? but its the only reason I can think of.

Liam Byrne

ArthurF wrote: »

in Britain they see Irish voices (Northern & Southern) as friendly neighbourly accents from other parts of the british isles,

Ouch! Now THAT'S a phrase that gets my back up! Maybe this is because so many interviewees from abroad don't seem to realise that we're a separate, independent country, but it's a serious pet hate of mine.....

ArthurF wrote: »

whereas we in the Republic tend to have this thing whereby anything outside the State is Foreign (including British accents) and indeed they are foreign 'politically speaking', but culturally?

Probably because they are foreign - both politically and culturally.

LordSutch

Sorry guys, I didnt mean to start a political war or anything, I just meant to refer to perceptions of accents throughout this group of islands lying off the North West coastline of Europe! (britain & ireland inc).

And OK then we are not even culturally connected to britain either ~ sorry.

mike65

Liam Byrne has just franked dr.bollockos opening gambit!

Mike.

Wertz

Liam Byrne wrote: »

Ouch! Now THAT'S a phrase that gets my back up! Maybe this is because so many interviewees from abroad don't seem to realise that we're a separate, independent country, but it's a serious pet hate of mine.....

Oh FFS :rolleyes: was this not done to death and beyond over in AH and other forums? For the love of all that's holy...it's exactly this attitude that has probably IMO kept those dirty Britishers off the airwaves here.
Who the hell doesn't know that Ireland is independent since we made world headlines on Lisbon? Why the hell does it even matter, once you yourself know?
Without going off on that tangent again the whole British Isles thing was geographical terminology NOT a political expression of ownership...only the mildly intellectually challenged and those looking for any excuse to get upset brought up the issue to begin with...

Liam Byne wrote:

Probably because they are foreign - both politically and culturally.

O rly?
Our living rooms aren't flooded with the output from a multitude UK TV stations, morning noon and night?
Most of our tabloid and increasingly our broadsheet media input doesn't originate in the UK?
Half our country don't follow a premiership team?
We don't source over half the music in our popular charts directly from the playlists of the above mentioned UK popular music station?
As nationalistic as I am, that kind of attitude pisses me off just as much and probably more than the British Isles thing does for you...
Since you consider the British to be foreign and culturally and politically different, you must also consider the Cannucks, Yanks and Aussies to be such (and of course you'd be correct)... so then, explain to me why our radio stations have seemingly no bother employing and handing off airtime to them but yet no-one of a UK persuasion manages this impressive feat, because it has me fairly stumped...



Mods; sorry for OT, if it's considered OT.
Oh and good call Dr.Bollocko
Additionally...Pighead manages almost two whole paragraphs, one of them a serious reply, without mentioning himself...did I wake up in a paralell universre?

Declan A Walsh

I have just seen this thread today. As Wertz wondered in an earlier post, Phantom does indeed have at least one English voice - in fact, it has at least two. They are Neil Austin, presenter of "Out to Lunch" , weekdays from 12 noon, and Richie Ryan, presenter of "Stadium Rock", Saturday afternoons. During the Euro championship, Richie Ryan used to, apparently, have a phone conversation on air with his Mum over in England!

I say "at least two" because Steve Conway, presenter of "Random Access" on Sunday evenings, has an English-sounding accent. I suspect he is in fact Irish, but I'm not certain on that fact. He was involved with both Irish and British pirates, including Radio Caroline.

So, at least one station has no hang-ups about British accents. I have to say that Phantom is the only one which comes to mind like that. There is of course Richard Aldous on Newstalk, but he is not a regular broadcaster. On the subject of Kevin Myers (again not a regular), I would argue that he is as much Irish (if not more so) as English... although the accent thing might be the issue here of course.

Liam Byrne

Wertz wrote: »

Who the hell doesn't know that Ireland is independent since we made world headlines on Lisbon? Why the hell does it even matter, once you yourself know?

Quite a lot of Today FM's guests, for starters....

...only the mildly intellectually challenged and those looking for any excuse to get upset brought up the issue to begin with...

Let me check - was it me that raised the correction/clarification ? If so, then your statement is both wrong and insulting; if someone raised it before me, then I'll let them stand up for themselves.

Just let me clarify - any facts that I might have pointed out have nothing to do with hiring / not hiring British presenters; for the record, one of the best presenters in my area has an English accent; it's not an issue for me.

I was merely replying to the post that used the phrase and implied -incorrectly, IMHO - that culturally we are the same....we're not.

There are similarities, and we have absorbed some of the culture, just as we've absorbed some of the American culture, but they're not the same.

Our living rooms aren't flooded with the output from a multitude UK TV stations, morning noon and night?

They are. But that doesn't mean that we're culturally the same. Same language, which also applies to the many Australian and American programmes on those - and our own - stations that we watch; in fact, the same goes for UK people watching those. Same language = some interest and much bigger potential audience, but culturally the same ? No.

Most of our tabloid and increasingly our broadsheet media input doesn't originate in the UK?

The worst ones do, yes. Again, that's not racist - just factual - most of the trash "newspapers" circulated here are the brain-dead ones.

Half our country don't follow a premiership team?

One aspect. Can you say the same about the cricket teams ? Do you think cricket or baseball or "wrestling" or American "football" are interesting ? There are minorities that follow them, sure, just as there are sizeable minorities that follow Spanish or Italian football here (and I remember when Futbol Italia was more popular than the Premiership, but it's not shown anymore).

We don't source over half the music in our popular charts directly from the playlists of the above mentioned UK popular music station?

I don't think we do, actually; an awful lot of it is American music. Thankfully there are a lot of new, decent, Irish bands and acts emerging, but surely we can thank America for a lot of the rubbish that's playlisted at least as much as the UK ?

As nationalistic as I am, that kind of attitude pisses me off just as much and probably more than the British Isles thing does for you...
Since you consider the British to be foreign and culturally and politically different, you must also consider the Cannucks, Yanks and Aussies to be such (and of course you'd be correct)...

Yup, I would be correct. And you're right in that statement - as I mentioned above. Not as much of an issue, since people don't come on air for interviews and confuse us with being Australian or American....but yeah - it's the exact same issue only less obvious.

....so then, explain to me why our radio stations have seemingly no bother employing and handing off airtime to them but yet no-one of a UK persuasion manages this impressive feat, because it has me fairly stumped...

Now let me clarify this again; I only corrected an earlier post - I never said that it was right that there be a bias against ANYONE who's capable, knows their stuff and can speak properly.

Also, off-hand I can only think of one person - Alison Curtis, but maybe I listen to different stations than you ? - so I don't know where the bulk "handing off airtime" that you mention applies ?

So please don't imply that my correction shows a bias; there's absolutely no bias and absolutely no racism from me, and I want to be 100% clear on that.

So no, I probably haven't contributed to the overall thread topic, and so I apologise for that; I have, however, replied to a post within the topic with - quite simply - the facts.

LordSutch

What I actually said in Post # 12 was . . .
"In Britain they see Irish voices (Northern & Southern) as friendly neighbourly accents from other parts of the british isles, whereas we in the Republic tend to have this thing whereby anything outside the State is Foreign (including British accents) and indeed they are foreign 'politically speaking', but culturally?"

I deliberately finished with a questionmark (so as not to upset people who abhore the very notion of a similarity in Media/Radio culture within this group of islands) I also used the term british isles with a small b and a small i so as not to upset sensitive people who also dislike the geographical proximity/similarity ........

Looks like I failed on both counts and this probably has something to do with the very essence of of the original question, & our perceptions of each others accents/ cultures on the airwaves.

We are after all, only 24 mailes away from the Large island next door, one third of this island strongly identify with the island next door, and lets be honest with ourselves, we too have a lot in common with the North & Britain (culturally) in many ways including TV & Radio broadcasting, and it would be very odd if we didnt . . . (given our proximity).

pirate reject

personally speaking I would rather have an english accent over an american one any day. Or indeed a real English accent over a faked American one put on to sound more DJish.

Just a few thoughts though

There is a higher percentage of Irish residents in the UK than UK residents in Ireland. I dont know the exact numbers, but from living over here myself I can tell you that its unusual for me to go a week without hearing at least a few Irish accents about the place (indeed I walked into my local corner shop the other day to be greated by a kid from Kildare behind the counter. And I dont even live in Kilburn). It therefore stands to reason that one of those is going to try their hand at presenting / reporting / DJ ing

Add to that the huge number of smaller stations in the UK for new talent to make a name for themselves and the fact that should a genuine talent become known in Ireland those larger stations / networks in the UK have the budget to poach them.

There has been a huge increase in the UK over the last few years in the number of 'regional' accents being brought into the industry. The age of RP for national radio and local accents on local radio is well and truely gone. As the population becomes more fluid, moving about the country and from country to country, so the industry over here has identified a need to have its presenters appeal to a broader audience, not just those born and bred in that locality. This has also extended now to those non native populations, which include Irish. This has in turn given more opportunities to those who do not necessarily sound like a local. This in turn gives those regional accents a greater chance of being talent spotted and taken on by the larger broadcasters.

There is greater opportunity to make a living out of broadcasting over in the UK. Because of the large number of stations there is a wider selection to choose from for those wide eyed wannabe DJs and presenters from Ireland who want to be able to 'make it big' in the world of radio / TV. There simply is not the resources in Irish radio and television to make it worth the risk for a person to simply 'take a chance' on coming over to find a job in broadcasting. The industry is far more saturated and it is very much an employers market. I mentioned in another thread some time ago about a friend and ex colleague of mine who worked for a well known Dublin radio station and was forced to effectively bid against a colleague for his slot with the lower bidder winning. This was not a piddley community station. This was one of the big guys. Who in their right mind would come from the UK to put up with that.

Finally I do believe there is an element of hostility still towards the English accent when it comes to hearing them on the radio. Even after living here for 6 years I too am forced to admit that many of the radio accents on UK local music radio sound quite laddish and like it or not force images of beer swilling chavs into my head. I recognise this as a blatent predudice and one I am not proud of as from from knowing some of these DJs I know for sure that they are nice people. But the fact remains that when on the radio, just as Irish DJs put on a party persona to empathise with their audience so to do the UK jocks. And when this comes out on air I fear Irish audiences would interpret the persona as chavish. A DJ who cannot empathise with their audience is lost and I think certain people within Irish radio recognise this and fear taking on such a persona.

I know the last point will probably open up a can of worms and I just want to say that I am not suggesting for one minute that the English in general are chavs. However in my experience image is far more powerful than reality and unfortunately through the medium of programmes such as BB, Ibiza Uncovered etc etc etc there is an popular image of any English person in party mode as being chavish. I can guarantee this not to be the case (I have been to a few parties since Ive been here) but as I say if the image says its true then those watching the image believe it to be the case.

Pgibson

Almost all the ads on RtTE radio 1 have posh english accents.

I'd prefer Icelandic or Taiwanese accents...but its English accents that most Irish people look up to (and suck up to) as "superior".


.

Pgibson

P.S. I always listen to BBC Radio 4 (With REAL English accents)because I cant bear to hear the cringing put-on Dublin upper class trying to pretend to be English that you hear on RTE Radio 1

The inferiority complex that Dubs (in particular) feel for the Brits is sneered at in the rest of Ireland.

That why Dubs are called "West Brits" all over Ireland.

As I said...give me an Icelandic or Dutch accent any day.
Or indeed a Connemara accent.

.

Pgibson

P.P.S: The concept "CHAV" is a purely English concept.

It is unknown in Ireland,USA,Japan or Bulgaria etc..etc...

Most Irish people (those who have ever even heard that word)associate that word with the "Mrs Bucket" world of "Keeping up Appearances" that one associates with the on-the-make-lower-middle-class-English.


.

pirate reject

Pgibson wrote: »

P.P.S: The concept "CHAV" is a purely English concept.

It is unknown in Ireland,USA,Japan or Bulgaria etc..etc...


.

Apologies if anyone is unfamiliar with the word chav. To translate I mean essentially knacker, yob, lout, gob****e in a bulldog T shirt and burburryesque baseball cap with one flourescent yellow gold earing swilling beer singing Rule Britannia and throwing up over one of his mates.

sunny2004

Why is there no swedish on radio here ? :P

Liam Byrne

sunny2004 wrote: »

Why is there no swedish on radio here ? :P

Completely different question (and corresponding applicable set of answers).....having said that, I'd assume a lot of Swedish people can speak decent English at this stage ?

And given the call centre approach, I wouldn't be surprised if being able to speak the language was sidelined as a prerequisite soon!!!!

But given the "English" that's spoken on programmes like the Eurovision and stuff, I'd reckon that there's a lot more potential for grating than Joe Duffy accents, English accents or American accents ?

Actually, I've just spotted something that I hadn't noticed in the thread title - the "so few" was for NI only, but it says "no" British.....surely there are at least some, somewhere in the country ?

Given the small number of stations, there are bound to be less than - say - Irish on British radio, but IMHO if the talent is there and the accent isn't grating, then there's no reason not to have it......as stated above, the "west Brit" accent is a LOT worse....at least an actual British accent is genuine!

BTW, apologies if my reaction earlier was a little OTT; some aspects - interviewees being ignorant of this country, websites advertised in Irish stores (such as Adobe's or Subway's ".co.uk" - WHY ???? :mad: ) and call centres that say "oh, you're in Ireland" after giving you a wrong address all tend to make me a little sensitive about the subject....I'm not a raving armalite-waving psychotic nationalist, but I do hate the way we are disrespected on occasion or by some sectors....facts are facts, and there ARE huge sectors in the UK that couldn't be arsed.....it's probably just shoddy laziness and lack of professionalism, and TBH it might be our own fault because we should probably just tell them feck off until they're prepared to provide a proper service for this country....we don't, so they don't bother.....

But aside from that, anyone talented and non-grating is fine by me......we have plenty of our own that can't talk properly, so anyone who can would be an improvement, regardless of where they're from!

Pgibson

pirate reject wrote: »

The age of RP for national radio and local accents on local radio is well and truely gone. .

The concept of "RP" is another uniquely English activity which has no parallel anywhere else in the world.

It means "Received Pronunciation".

When a working class or lower middle class person needs to "move up" in the world they have to COMPLETELY CHANGE THEIR ACCENT and way of speech and life to that of the Upper middle class.

Instead of saying "Give us a beer matey" they are trained like monkeys to say "I say old chap,would you terribly mind giving me a G& T."

This is a product of a society more rigidly class divided than anywhere else in the world.

You still hear it on BBC Radio 4 (My own favourite radio station.).



.

.

Liam Byrne

Pgibson wrote: »

The concept of "RP" is another uniquely English activity which has no parallel anywhere else in the world.

It means "Received Pronunciation".

When a working class or lower middle class person needs to "move up" in the world they have to COMPLETELY CHANGE THEIR ACCENT and way of speech and life to that of the Upper middle class.

Instead of saying "Give us a beer matey" they are trained like monkeys to say "I say old chap,would you terribly mind giving me a G& T."

This is a product of a society more rigidly class divided than anywhere else in the world.

You still hear it on BBC Radio 4 (My own favourite radio station.).

While I'd previously have been completely against such pretensiousness, I'm beginning to think there might be a place for it again, so that "hangin' wit' ma homies" and "a big shout out to...." or "give it up for...." get consigned to the bin where they belong, along with "they was...." (a football pundit favourite :P )

Declan A Walsh

Liam Byrne wrote: »

Actually, I've just spotted something that I hadn't noticed in the thread title - the "so few" was for NI only, but it says "no" British.....surely there are at least some, somewhere in the country ?

I already gave examples of English people on Phantom FM in an earlier post in this thread... have a look back there.

Pgibson

The real question is "How come Dubliners are so hung up on "British" everything?"

We are surrounded by Iceland,Norway,Denmark, Holland, Belgium,France etc..etc...

Yet Dubliners,who rule this country, can see no further than the UK,to whom they look up to.....and suck up to.

I have never seen or heard a news item from Iceland on Irish television or radio.

Its only "up the road" from us in the North Atlantic but it might as well be on the far side of the moon.

Culturally we are still slaves to the British.
.

mike65

:rolleyes: Ireland is surounded by the sea and Britain not any of the countries you list.

Iceland 300,000 cold people and a lot of rock and ice, they were the talk of the town in the early 90s as Ireland became shopping mecca for the people of (looks up spelling of captial) Reykjavík.

One of the odder consumer booms of our time and yes it was on the news.

Mike.