Ooh! Boss not pleased with Marian! [Article]

Lenny Lovett

The last line is interesting. I doubt it's true though??

Irish Times RONAN McGREEVY


THE MANAGING director of RTÉ Radio has said Gerry Ryan did not appear to be under a lot of stress in the weeks before his death.
“I would not have said he was stressed about work and I would have been the person who he dealt with on a lot of these matters,” said Clare Duignan.
She admitted to be being “very surprised” by the comments which Marian Finucane made on her radio show the day after Ryan was found dead in his apartment on April 30th.
Ms Finucane told listeners Ryan had been “really, really very stressed. He was stressed about RTÉ and other things in his life” when she had dinner with him on the Tuesday before he died.
Ms Duignan responded: “I’m not saying that the conversations that Marian seemed to base that on didn’t take place, but I have had conversations with family and close friends and I have not had a sense that was the case.”
In an interview with The Irish Times , Ms Duignan said she challenged Ryan about his failure to take a 10 per cent pay cut and warned him that he was in danger of losing touch with his listeners.
“We would have had plenty of words and exchanges about that, whether that caused deep profound stress or not, I don’t know,” she said.
However, she said she also had many similar “challenging conversations” with other presenters.
She also revealed that she and the head of 2fm John McMahon had had a conversation about Ryan’s health just 20 minutes before she found out he was dead. The pair had discussed ways of trying to persuade the presenter, who had called in sick the night before, to live a healthier lifestyle. “He was a man in his 50s; he liked to eat and drink and socialise. He was not a gym bunny and you worry about somebody like that especially when they are in a highly pressurised job.”
Ryan often spoke of his fondness for alcohol. However, Ms Duignan said Ryan missed very few days and never appeared to be the worse for wear or hungover.
“I certainly never saw Gerry in any situation where drink had interfered with his work to the tiny scintilla,” she explained
Ms Duignan also said that presenters’ salaries, which caused so much controversy in the past, would be considerably lower in the future.

FlutterinBantam

I'll believe it when I see it.

Lenny Lovett

I can picture it now. Marion gets a pay cut so she rings Joe to complain:

Joe: So they’ve cut your money Marion?
Marion: Eh, they ah have uh Joe. Down to ah €250,000 Joe.
Joe: Gawd, dats shockin Marian. How will ya survive?
Marion: Ah eh ah I don’t know Joe. It’s ah terrible. They don’t appreciate ah me Joe.
Joe: And you and the husband to feed Marion?
Marion: Eh no Joe. Shur he earns his own money. It's only me Joe and eh they expect ah me to uh survive on a eh quarter of a a million Joe? For eh about eight hours ah work a week Joe?

Joe: (Gasps) I know Marion... I know. Have ya tried the St Vincent De Paul, Marion?
Marion: Ah I have Joe, shur they have ah less eh money than me Joe.
Joe: Ah never mind Marion, shur we’ll have funny Friday next week!

constitutionus

Now im the last fecker to justify gerry ryans wages but surely the very fact ms duignan was confronting an employee about taking a paycut would contradict the opinon that he wasnt stressed at RTE ?

looks like a pissing match to me with marion.

on the last part , like the previous poste i'll believe it when i see it too. about the only way i see it happening is if the liscence fee gets taken away from em and they have to operate in the real world.

JonathanAnon

Lenny Lovett wrote: »

The pair (John McMahon and Marion Finucane) had discussed ways of trying to persuade the presenter, who had called in sick the night before, to live a healthier lifestyle.

Marion tried to persuade him to live a healthier lifestyle What did she suggest, starting him on 80 Marlboro a day. In any case, it wasnt her place to make such comments publicly about G.Ryan. I just wish one of the RTE heads had the balls to stand up to their employees once in a while.

Fuzzy Clam

JonathanAnon wrote: »

Marion tried to persuade him to live a healthier lifestyle What did she suggest, starting him on 80 Marlboro a day. In any case, it wasnt her place to make such comments publicly about G.Ryan. I just wish one of the RTE heads had the balls to stand up to their employees once in a while.

I don't see where you got that quote from

I see this:
"She also revealed that she and the head of 2fm John McMahon had had a conversation about Ryan’s health just 20 minutes before she found out he was dead. The pair had discussed ways of trying to persuade the presenter, who had called in sick the night before"

She being Clare Duignan.

JonathanAnon

"She also revealed that she "

Seems I misread it, I took it that the second she was Finucane.

Poly

JonathanAnon wrote: »

I just wish one of the RTE heads had the balls to stand up to their employees once in a while.

It's hard to stand up to her if she's never there.
Maybe thats her plan, just stay out of Montrose and avoid the bosses and send a courier in to collect the paycheck.
Actually, the amount she's paid she probably needs to send securicor to collect

GSF

Lenny Lovett wrote: »

I can picture it now. Marion gets a pay cut so she rings Joe to complain:

Well I consider her in the same group as Pee Flynn and Fingleton in terms of her arrogance

JonathanAnon

On the positive note, seeing as how Marian sends in her agent in to negotiate her deals, it will be a lot easier to tell the agent "sorry, but we no longer require the services of your client" when he arrives in to discuss the renewal. As opposed to having to tell Marian herself

Poly

JonathanAnon wrote: »

On the positive note, seeing as how Marian sends in her agent in to negotiate her deals, it will be a lot easier to tell the agent "sorry, but we no longer require the services of your client" when he arrives in to discuss the renewal. As opposed to having to tell Marian herself

RTE Boss: "Marian who? we haven't seen her in months, we thought she left"

Bard

Poly wrote: »

RTE Boss: "Marian who? we haven't seen her in months, we thought she left"

followed by: "... er... are we still paying her?... must look into that, I suppose"

tampopo

Poly wrote: »

RTE Boss: "Marian who? we haven't seen her in months, we thought she left"

ha ha ha !!! very good!!

The Muppet

constitutionus wrote: »

Now im the last fecker to justify gerry ryans wages but surely the very fact ms duignan was confronting an employee about taking a paycut would contradict the opinon that he wasnt stressed at RTE ?

.

Agreed, I don't understand why she would claim he wasn't stressed over his work when in his last interview which TV3 did on him he spoke of the problems ha had had in RTE. It was also mentioned by his colleagues in the Late Late show tribute to him .

It's all pretty much in the public domain at this stage.


A question to the OP , is the quote posted the full article or have you edited it?

DublinWriter

Lenny Lovett wrote: »

I can picture it now. Marion gets a pay cut so she rings Joe to complain:

shureshureshure
Reeeeeeeeight.......

Oh, the humanity.

Seriously, I've just finished reading G.Ryan's 'autobiography' (paid a yoyo for it in Oxfam, Degsy) and he talked at length about using a certain slimming drug that's known to put a lot of pressure on the aul' ticker. He was going on about it so much that he was pulled up by senior management in RTE.

Want to talk about stress? Try working as a junior doctor in an A&E on the weekend or a Dublin Fireman and earning not much more than minimum wage. I've no sympathy for someone who was paid nearly a half-a-million Euro a year by our state broadcaster for a three-hour morning show and later received a 100 grand advance from Penguin for writing a book complaining about it.

FlutterinBantam

Dublin Fireman earning not more than the minimum wage.:eek:

Get outa here!!

Badabing

Marian seems to justify her salary because RTE are desperete to keep her, do we know for a fact that Newstalk approched her? because they can't afford her now or for the last 3 years.

dixiefly

what would Marian get from Newstalk for a similar show to the one she is doing in R1? I would have thought no more than €150K, also she would prob get max 1 month off during the summer.

The next negotiations should ensure she is paid no more than a small percentage more than she would get in the open market, so I would have thought €160-170 absolute max for her (and that is still to much imo)

RTE will be showing no balls if the pay her more than €200 in the next round.

mike65

Why she'll leave if - ah! Clever.

RTE feels a bit like a Premier League side where the talent are so well paid and famous that management can be weak, always looking to have a "happy dressing room" rather than laying down the law.

GSF

dixiefly wrote: »

what would Marian get from Newstalk for a similar show to the one she is doing in R1? I would have thought no more than €150K, also she would prob get max 1 month off during the summer.

Yes I'd guess that at a minimum NewsTalk would require her to turn up most weekends. Seems only fair really!

Poly

GSF wrote: »

Yes I'd guess that at a minimum NewsTalk would require her to turn up most weekends. Seems only fair really!

yeah, other stations are probably picky about that,
Employees turning up for work and all.

constitutionus

have a looksy at this

www.independent.ie/national-news/rtes-miriam-and-pat-accept-days-of-megabucks-are-over-2307303.html

seems the words getting about that duignan means business.

had to laugh at sean o roukes comments though. apparently 218k isnt megabucks to him



someone might want to remind these precious little darlings what a low wage actually is. no wonder most of the media let blair horan away with that "30k is a low wage" bull.

most of em seem not to know whats really going on out there in modern ireland.

Lenny Lovett

The Muppet wrote: »

A question to the OP , is the quote posted the full article or have you edited it?

I certainly didn't edit it. I just copied it direct from the Times website. Why??

stepbar

Have you ever thought that his stresses were related to his family and personal financial circumstances? A man of his standing would have had a lot of calls on his time and money. I know of a high profile radio personality who, quite literally, hasn't got a pot to p1ss in so it would not surprise me if this was the case. I don't know if GR fell into this category but with a family of 6 (?), an ex wife, a partner and kids, the 'canteen' in the 4 seasons and so on, it would not surprise me if his stresses were outside RTE.

JonathanAnon

stepbar wrote: »

Have you ever thought that his stresses were related to his family and personal financial circumstances?

Yeah, I agree with this stepbar, Marian Finucane had no right to say what she said about him being under huge work pressure.. The man was paid a fortune, would you not expect there to be any pressure in the job? I mean does she think RTE should pay him over half a million euro and then let him to sit at home relaxing and listening to the radio all week... oh wait..

FlutterinBantam

Seems most people in here understand the incongruity of the wage structure out in Montrose.


Why don't the managers?



Major difficulty here from John Q Taxpayer's point of view:eek: