Crime and Dublin radio talk shows

A_SN

Whenever I turn on the radio in Dublin and that I listen to a talk show, they're talking about crime, violence, i.e. gang violence, drug and gun trafficking, murders, car jacking, road rage and so on. I'm French, I used to listen to talk shows there as a kid, and all they ever talked about was sex and soccer, even though I believe there's more crime and gang violence in France.

So why so much talk of crime and violence on Irish radio shows? Why not more sex, relationships and other silly matters? Why so much dramatic stuff?

themont85

A_SN wrote: »

Whenever I turn on the radio in Dublin and that I listen to a talk show, they're talking about crime, violence, i.e. gang violence, drug and gun trafficking, murders, car jacking, road rage and so on. I'm French, I used to listen to talk shows there as a kid, and all they ever talked about was sex and soccer, even though I believe there's more crime and gang violence in France.

So why so much talk of crime and violence on Irish radio shows? Why not more sex, relationships and other silly matters? Why so much dramatic stuff?

Ah the Adrian Kennedy Phone Show influence. Topics are designed to induce controversy, such as getting a joy rider on the phone to shoot his mouth off. Cue the rush of callers calling him a 'bleeding scumbag' followed by a couple of lads defending it-'its a good buzz Adrian'. Controversial topics are a speciality of Adrian, actually you may want to steer clear of it at some stages-at least once a week they have a discussion about 'foreigners', complete with 'Adrian, I'm not a racist BUT'. Its all about the ratings for the show, sex isn't such a taboo as it once was here so wouldn't have the same potential as crime topics although i think he tried it at one stage but they gave it up and returned to the old reliables.

A_SN

Hehe yeah I was listening to that guy tonight, but even on Spin 105 they talk about stuff like that all the time too. That's strange that anything would be seen as better for the ratings than sex topics though haha.

But that's the thing I love about these radio shows, when I walk in Dublin I feel perfectly safe and all but when I turn on the radio it sounds like the city is under siege by gangs and madmen with guns, shanks and drugs. Kind of like a 1930s south side of Chicago.

MaltHouse Mouse

themont85 wrote: »

Ah the Adrian Kennedy Phone Show influence. Topics are designed to induce controversy, such as getting a joy rider on the phone to shoot his mouth off. Cue the rush of callers calling him a 'bleeding scumbag' followed by a couple of lads defending it-'its a good buzz Adrian'. Controversial topics are a speciality of Adrian, actually you may want to steer clear of it at some stages-at least once a week they have a discussion about 'foreigners', complete with 'Adrian, I'm not a racist BUT'. Its all about the ratings for the show, sex isn't such a taboo as it once was here so wouldn't have the same potential as crime topics although i think he tried it at one stage but they gave it up and returned to the old reliables.

And why would Adrian or anyone else for that matter NOT talk about these topics?? At this stage, drugs, guns, shootings and joyriders are more or less part of everyday life in this city. For example, in the past month, how many people have been shot or arrested for drug related crimes?!! Look at the amount of crime happening in the city and obviously it is going to make the news and get people irrate when one of their neighbours gets two bullets to the head or one of their children gets hit by a joyrider!

Ok, ok... Never mind the goings on in Dublin, let's just sweep it all under the carper, pretend that we live in an ideal world and talk about sex instead :rolleyes::mad:

A_SN

Well my point is, we have that too in France, unfortunately, yet it's confined to the 8 o'clock news and rap songs. On radio talk shows we talk about more "upbeat" stuff if we can put it like this. I mean seriously, these talk shows are more depressing that the news .

Not that I'm saying it's a bad thing to talk about it anyways, just noticing the difference and wondering how come.

MaltHouse Mouse

A_SN wrote: »

Well my point is, we have that too in France, unfortunately, yet it's confined to the 8 o'clock news and rap songs. On radio talk shows we talk about more "upbeat" stuff if we can put it like this. I mean seriously, these talk shows are more depressing that the news .

Not that I'm saying it's a bad thing to talk about it anyways, just noticing the difference and wondering how come.

Well, drugs, shooting and crime are part of everyday life so why shouldn't they be talked about?! I'm sure there are only so many shows that you can do on topic's as you suggested... Sex and football!

Yes, the topic's may in fact be depressing to you, but this is the culture that we now live in.

You can't please all the people all the time! :rolleyes:

themont85

MaltHouse Mouse wrote: »

Well, drugs, shooting and crime are part of everyday life so why shouldn't they be talked about?! I'm sure there are only so many shows that you can do on topic's as you suggested... Sex and football!

Yes, the topic's may in fact be depressing to you, but this is the culture that we now live in.

You can't please all the people all the time! :rolleyes:

Actually i used to quite enjoy it, it is what it is and it knows its target audience. But its undeniable that the show is set out for controversey, similar to Joe Duffy.

A_SN

Dude are you kidding? You can have whole shows about sex and relationships. Politics too. But that's an interesting point of view you have, to accept hearing about something in a show not for the entertainement sake but just because that's something that is out there. I'll still maintain that in Ireland people put a huge magnifier on crimes (they probably do the same too) whereas in France it seems we care more about the bigger picture i.e. the social picture of the country and the associated political issues rather than "some dude shanked another dude in some place". I guess the focus is different.

MaltHouse Mouse

A_SN wrote: »

Dude are you kidding? You can have whole shows about sex and relationships.

I can assure you that the fm104 phoneshow has in fact spoken about these issue's before. It was only a few weeks back when they were talking about people having casual sex and a 'lady' (I use the term lightly), who has 7 different children from 7 one night stands and has no idea who any of the children's father's are!

Have to admit though A_SN, the fact that all you want to hear on the radio is talk about sex and relationships worries me slightly!!

Yes, these topics have been covered before and no doubt will be covered again, but there is in fact more going on in the country than just sex and relationships.

You stated yourself in your first post that in France all they used to talk about was sex and football... Maybe listen to a sports based talk show instead?? And as for where you will find a talk show that talks about sex all the time, well, you have me stumped on that one.

If you keep talking about the same topic's time and time again. it's the fast track to losing listeners.

I'm totally in agreement with Themont85, the Adrian Kennedy Phoneshow know's it's target audience, hence why it is the most listened to late night talk show in the country.

Be it talking about sex, football, gun's, crime, bomb scare's or whatever, they are obviously doing something right!

A_SN

Well, it's not really that it's what I *want* to hear, it's more like what I *expect* to hear. What worries me is that you mention hearing about sex in a talk show *weeks* ago! On French radio talk show there's not a night they don't talk about such a thing as double penetration (going as far as to simply call it "double P"). Maybe we are just a culture of pervs (I mean, some very popular TV shows even have strippers on the payroll, and you can't watch a French movie without having an actress tricking you into seeing her nipples).

Anyways I'm just saying, it's legitimate to want to talk about what happens in the country, it's not something that only happens in Irish talk shows, however what I find surprising is the insistance to talk about the very worst things that happen out there, and I'm afraid I still don't understand why. Is it because criminality is still low enough that you can be shocked about the single events that take place? I mean, imagine talk shows in such cities as Detroit or Los Angeles talking about all the gang and drug-related violence that takes place in their area?

lampydoo

The fact of the matter is that crime is rampant in Ireland and for shows such as Liveline or the Adrian Kennedy Phoneshow not to address the problem would be a failure in their job as it is an topic always in headlines on papers and the television.

I don't think these shows particularly focus on just the crime issue in Ireland, there is always a wide and varied discussion on a range of topics from the trivial to the important issues facing the population.