Lyric fm's Breakfast show presenter - Marty Whelan.

HeidiHeidi · 19-03-2014 4:08pm

Yvonne23R wrote: »

I agree with this. I never hear anybody talking badly about the programme in the street.

I do have a big problem with Hugo and Daphne though. It's not on every day. And I think Marty should perform it twice in the programme because some days I have left the house before it starts. It's now only on three times a week.

And on the talk business - in the morning you can't be having wall to wall light classical music or people will go back to sleep. Today or yesterday Marty played the Sleepers' Wake and that got a great laugh in our house.

Must. Not. Engage.

jmcc · 19-03-2014 4:33pm

Yvonne23R wrote: »

I never hear anybody talking badly about the programme in the street.

Perhaps because nobody actually talks about the programme "in the street".

Regards...jmcc

HeidiHeidi · 19-03-2014 4:36pm

Yvonne23R wrote: »

I agree with this. I never hear anybody talking badly about the programme in the street.

I do have a big problem with Hugo and Daphne though. It's not on every day. And I think Marty should perform it twice in the programme because some days I have left the house before it starts. It's now only on three times a week.

And on the talk business - in the morning you can't be having wall to wall light classical music or people will go back to sleep. Today or yesterday Marty played the Sleepers' Wake and that got a great laugh in our house.

OK, I couldn't resist biting..... why not? Surely talk is equally soporific?

And as for the paragraph before that - so Marty's programme is to be arrange and delivered exclusively for you, yes? OK, at least we're all clear now.....

Onthe3rdDay · 19-03-2014 5:24pm

Yvonne23R wrote: »

I wouldn't be surprised at this. I think at the time the only stations we could listen to legally were RTE so people who liked continuity music might well have enjoyed Network 2's technical transmissions.

The TAM ratings are now very carefully compiled and the figures are highly accurate as they have to be to please the advertising community that the particular programmes are directed at. And Marty Whelan's show is pulling in more and more people with every passing month. It's not at all as simple as one person not completing the survey skewing the stats.

That's not the case at all. In the 80's there was RTE Radio 1, RTE Radio 2 and FM3/RNaG. plus the BBC stations and all the pirates. You could also legally listen to anything else you could pick up. It wasn't illegal to listen to the pirates, which most people did.

The ratings figures are accurate once you have a certain amount listening, for example 25 percent of the listening population. However when you start going below 5 percent they're not accurate at all. You might have almost no one listening and still get 3 or 4 percent.

This is understood by everyone in the industry. When figures are that low one or two people can and do skew the stats. Have you noticed how there are almost no Ads on lyric. Agencies won't go near it because there's no real return they can measure.

Onthe3rdDay · 19-03-2014 5:30pm

jmcc wrote: »

And as for the TAM ratings, is it true that they ignored the UK/NI TV channels to inflate RTE's market share back then?

Regards...jmcc

It's more complicated than that. It seems that they surveyed houses across the country but with no bias towards more populated BBC receiving Areas, If you go looking for figures in Kerry, Clare and Galway at the time it was 100 percent RTE viewership because that's all they could get. That would then inflate the figures without any need to do anything else.

Harry Angstrom · 19-03-2014 5:36pm

Yvonne23R wrote: »

I agree with this. I never hear anybody talking badly about the programme in the street.

I do have a big problem with Hugo and Daphne though. It's not on every day. And I think Marty should perform it twice in the programme because some days I have left the house before it starts. It's now only on three times a week.

And on the talk business - in the morning you can't be having wall to wall light classical music or people will go back to sleep. Today or yesterday Marty played the Sleepers' Wake and that got a great laugh in our house.

Which is why Marty should be blasting out some Stravinsky and Mahler to get people out of bed, instead of playing Doris Day :pac:

HeidiHeidi · 19-03-2014 5:39pm

Harry Angstrom wrote: »

Which is why Marty should be blasting out some Stravinsky and Mahler to get people out of bed, instead of playing Doris Day :pac:

1812 Overture timed to finish at 7.30am every weekday morning

Yvonne23R · 19-03-2014 5:44pm

Onthe3rdDay wrote: »

It's more complicated than that. It seems that they surveyed houses across the country but with no bias towards more populated BBC receiving Areas, If you go looking for figures in Kerry, Clare and Galway at the time it was 100 percent RTE viewership because that's all they could get. That would then inflate the figures without any need to do anything else.

Listening to foreign stations didn't count because what matters is providing a forum for domestic talent, paying fees to Irish artists and generally supporting home grown industry. Pirates and external services didn't do anything for the Irish industry. See now how Marty Whelan provides a forum for up and coming talent as well as more mature performers like The Priests and the Celtic Tenors, for Cara O'Sullivan and for Vladimir. It's all about giving back and forming taste and keeping it in the country where we can. Or see the great work he does giving exposure to the Concert Orchestra under John Wilson who are doing a superb job now. Or Lesley Garrett when she was here last month. Or Seven Brides when it was in the Bord Gais. Or Chicago. He really keeps the spirits up for us all.

jmcc · 19-03-2014 5:45pm

Onthe3rdDay wrote: »

It's more complicated than that. It seems that they surveyed houses across the country but with no bias towards more populated BBC receiving Areas, If you go looking for figures in Kerry, Clare and Galway at the time it was 100 percent RTE viewership because that's all they could get. That would then inflate the figures without any need to do anything else.

I'm not sure when Galway got cable television but Dublin had the largest cable TV net in Europe in the 1980s. Waterford also had cable TV since the early 1970s as did Cork. Once people got multi-channel TV, their viewing habits changed considerably.

Regards...jmcc

jmcc · 19-03-2014 5:48pm

Yvonne23R wrote: »

Listening to foreign stations didn't count because what matters is providing a forum for domestic talent, paying fees to Irish artists and generally supporting home grown industry. Pirates and external services didn't do anything for the Irish industry.

Absolute rubbish! The Pirates did more for Irish music than RTE ever did. They promoted local bands and local talent.

Regards...jmcc

HeidiHeidi · 19-03-2014 5:50pm

Yvonne23R wrote: »

Listening to foreign stations didn't count because what matters is providing a forum for domestic talent, paying fees to Irish artists and generally supporting home grown industry. Pirates and external services didn't do anything for the Irish industry. See now how Marty Whelan provides a forum for up and coming talent as well as more mature performers like The Priests and the Celtic Tenors, for Cara O'Sullivan and for Vladimir. It's all about giving back and forming taste and keeping it in the country where we can. Or see the great work he does giving exposure to the Concert Orchestra under John Wilson who are doing a superb job now. Or Lesley Garrett when she was here last month. Or Seven Brides when it was in the Bord Gais. Or Chicago. He really keeps the spirits up for us all.

You keep harping on about this, as if Marty was single-handedly holding up the entire domestic music scene.

But you never address the many posters who point out that you seem to be in a minority of one (or two if you count SaveOurLyric, which I don't) who appreciates Marty's inane, pointless and frankly stupid chatter.

Is this a democracy or not? Can we organise an uprising and get things changed?

Onthe3rdDay · 19-03-2014 6:01pm

jmcc wrote: »

I'm not sure when Galway got cable television but Dublin had the largest cable TV net in Europe in the 1980s. Waterford also had cable TV since the early 1970s as did Cork. Once people got multi-channel TV, their viewing habits changed considerably.

Regards...jmcc

I'd agree 100percent with this and they knew that in RTE and TAM as well. That's why for every 20 houses used in Dublin there would be double in areas were there was no Multi-Channel. Technically you could then show how popular RTE was. A bit like Tractor Production in the Soviet Union, or Marty on Lyric FM.

Onthe3rdDay · 19-03-2014 6:09pm

Yvonne23R wrote: »

Pirates and external services didn't do anything for the Irish industry.

Complete and utter Rubbish. Back in the 80's and up to today BBC Radio 4 commission New Irish Drama, BBC Radio 2 Plays New Irish Artists. Many who have been blocked by the National broadcaster down here get an Airing on BBC Radio Ulster.

As for the Pirates many of them provided a top notch Local service which RTE could never do. I remember WKLR in West Cork sending people over to London to record shows for Christmas. This was before the days of easy cheap communication.

I also Remember Several of the Pirates in Cork and in other Parts of the Country Having proper Classical Music Programmes. They would never play what Marty plays because no one would listen. If it was a 3 hour Classical programme there would be no mama's and papa's or Doris Day. Why? because it's not good radio.

Harry Angstrom · 19-03-2014 6:09pm

Yvonne23R wrote: »

Listening to foreign stations didn't count because what matters is providing a forum for domestic talent, paying fees to Irish artists and generally supporting home grown industry. Pirates and external services didn't do anything for the Irish industry. See now how Marty Whelan provides a forum for up and coming talent as well as more mature performers like The Priests and the Celtic Tenors, for Cara O'Sullivan and for Vladimir. It's all about giving back and forming taste and keeping it in the country where we can. Or see the great work he does giving exposure to the Concert Orchestra under John Wilson who are doing a superb job now. Or Lesley Garrett when she was here last month. Or Seven Brides when it was in the Bord Gais. Or Chicago. He really keeps the spirits up for us all.

The very reason why I question Lyric's remit. If I want to hear about "Seven Brides...." or Chicago, I'll put on The Derek Mooney Show, or I'll listen to Aedin Gormley's programme (which I usually try my best to avoid).

Lyric had a certain specific raison d'être when it was founded, but it seems to me that this has become compromised over the years. Marty is the very epitome of this compromisation - he wouldn't know his Satie from his Satisfaction.

Yvonne23R · 19-03-2014 7:03pm

Harry Angstrom wrote: »

The very reason why I question Lyric's remit. If I want to hear about "Seven Brides...." or Chicago, I'll put on The Derek Mooney Show, or I'll listen to Aedin Gormley's programme (which I usually try my best to avoid).

Lyric had a certain specific raison d'être when it was founded, but it seems to me that this has become compromised over the years. Marty is the very epitome of this compromisation - he wouldn't know his Satie from his Satisfaction.

Actually I think Aedin's programme is one of the stars of the schedule. She has such a lovely lovely voice for a start with crystal clear enunciation and a lovely personality on air. And it's another one that shows that Lyric is about more that just the fusty world of Beethoven and Brahms, who have their place on Friday nights with Paul Herriott of course. And Marty Whelan actually plays Satie quite a lot, in hour one: the Gymnopedies feature heavily. They're serious but palatable at that time of the morning.

Aedin shows that the music from the movies and the shows are just as much part of the Lyric remit as anything else. Up there with Reels to Ragas and The Blue of the Night, Nova and the nightly Friday Concert from the NCH. Hans Zimmer and Maz Styner are as big in musical circles today as Bach and Beethoven were in the nineteenth century; ask anyone who knows their music, or look at something like the BBC Music Magazine.

SaveOurLyric · 19-03-2014 7:36pm

Yvonne23R wrote: »

Listening to foreign stations didn't count because what matters is providing a forum for domestic talent, paying fees to Irish artists and generally supporting home grown industry. Pirates and external services didn't do anything for the Irish industry. See now how Marty Whelan provides a forum for up and coming talent as well as more mature performers like The Priests and the Celtic Tenors, for Cara O'Sullivan and for Vladimir. It's all about giving back and forming taste and keeping it in the country where we can. Or see the great work he does giving exposure to the Concert Orchestra under John Wilson who are doing a superb job now. Or Lesley Garrett when she was here last month. Or Seven Brides when it was in the Bord Gais. Or Chicago. He really keeps the spirits up for us all.

This. I couldn't put it better myself.
And when you add in what Marty has done for the Wexford Opera Festival, widening its audience beyond the cosy club it used to be, you appreciate what a professional to his fingertips he is, and the rich contribution that he makes to Irish musical life.

Calina · 19-03-2014 7:51pm

If Marty is so effective, could he please get a talking arts show not at 7am in the morning and do something to promote the Abbey Theatre which gets ca 7million a year versus the ca 2 million a year the NCH gets.

And stop pretending he does anything much about classical music. He doesn't.

Onthe3rdDay · 19-03-2014 7:55pm

SaveOurLyric wrote: »

This. I couldn't put it better myself.
And when you add in what Marty has done for the Wexford Opera Festival, widening its audience beyond the cosy club it used to be, you appreciate what a professional to his fingertips he is, and the rich contribution that he makes to Irish musical life.

Yvonne23R we may have found your long lost identical twin. When you put your comments and Save Our Lyrics Comments into a program to check words and phrases it turns out to be the same person

HeidiHeidi · 19-03-2014 8:00pm

Onthe3rdDay wrote: »

Yvonne23R we may have found your long lost identical twin. When you put your comments and Save Our Lyrics Comments into a program to check words and phrases it turns out to be the same person

That's a scurrilous allegation :eek: I've got slapped on the wrist before for saying things like that.

But a not unreasonable one

(That's all I'm sayin'. For some strange reason I don't want to get banned from this thread. Although I should, just to give my head some peace.)

Onthe3rdDay · 19-03-2014 8:03pm

HeidiHeidi wrote: »

That's a scurrilous allegation :eek: I've got slapped on the wrist before for saying things like that.

But a not unreasonable one

(That's all I'm sayin'. For some strange reason I don't want to get banned from this thread. Although I should, just to give my head some peace.)

It's not at all, I'm just saying she might have a long lost twin:D

Yvonne23R · 19-03-2014 11:15pm

Calina wrote: »

If Marty is so effective, could he please get a talking arts show not at 7am in the morning and do something to promote the Abbey Theatre which gets ca 7million a year versus the ca 2 million a year the NCH gets.

And stop pretending he does anything much about classical music. He doesn't.

Well I don't think the Abbey needs Marty behind it because it has been going from strength to strength in recent years.

Marty Whelan is an expert on opera, Italian opera especially. He doesn't claim to be an expert on other kinds of classical. But that's how he bonds with the lsiteners because he's on the same level as us. He's exploring the repertory with us, inch by inch and row by row. There's a place for real experts like Liz Nolan, George Hamilton, Lorcan and even Trish Taylor, but it's the people Like Marty, Gay, Aedin, and Paul Herriott who are somewhat feeling their way along who give Lyric FM its special feel of being on the same level as the common listener like ourselves.

It doesn't claim to be a museum like the BBC Radio 3 service. And it's not a university or a school of music. It's showbusiness like the DIT Conservatory, the Bord Gais and all. It's more lively and mixed. I often think that it's like waking up with a lucky bag or a jukebox on random play when Marty comes on in the morning. Marty's whole aim is to shine sunshine up on us and he does. And the rapidly rising listener numbers prove this inconclusively.

HeidiHeidi · 19-03-2014 11:22pm

Yvonne23R wrote: »

Well I don't think the Abbey needs Marty behind it because it has been going from strength to strength in recent years.

Marty Whelan is an expert on opera, Italian opera especially. He doesn't claim to be an expert on other kinds of classical. But that's how he bonds with the lsiteners because he's on the same level as us. He's exploring the repertory with us, inch by inch and row by row. There's a place for real experts like Liz Nolan, George Hamilton, Lorcan and even Trish Taylor, but it's the people Like Marty, Gay, Aedin, and Paul Herriott who are somewhat feeling their way along who give Lyric FM its special feel of being on the same level as the common listener like ourselves.

It doesn't claim to be a museum like the BBC Radio 3 service. And it's not a university or a school of music. It's showbusiness like the DIT Conservatory, the Bord Gais and all. It's more lively and mixed. I often think that it's like waking up with a lucky bag or a jukebox on random play when Marty comes on in the morning. Marty's whole aim is to shine sunshine up on us and he does. And the rapidly rising listener numbers prove this inconclusively.

Well i don't know about you, but I'm a grumpy cow when i wake up, and the last thing I want to hear is Marty wittering on with his drivel about Daphne, and his lame jokes. I don't want sunshine in the morning, I'd quite like some nice music and some coffee. I can sort the coffee myself (just about), it'd be nice if Lyric FM would provide what we pay them to provide - the music. There are about fifteen other chat stations on the go in the morning, is it too much to ask that Lyric (LYRIC - the clue is in the name!) plays some music?

ETA - And what's this about rapidly rising listener numbers? I strongly suspect that you and SaveOurLyric are the only Marty listeners left!

Onthe3rdDay · 20-03-2014 12:18am

Yvonne23R wrote: »

And the rapidly rising listener numbers prove this inconclusively.

Firs time I've been able to agree with Yvonne23R:D

On a more serious note, If Lyric doesn't claim to be a museum like BBC Radio 3, why do Producers and spokespeople from Lyric always compare the station to Radio 3?

jmcc · 20-03-2014 11:40am

Yvonne23R wrote: »

It doesn't claim to be a museum like the BBC Radio 3 service.

But it does have out of place artifacts like Marty Whelan and Gay Byrne. Strange that.

Regards...jmcc

jmcc · 20-03-2014 12:07pm

Yvonne23R wrote: »

Marty Whelan is an expert on opera, Italian opera especially.

Really? He has a few CDs, has he? It seems that he impressed some RTE management droid with his "knowledge" of Opera but that story is probably public relations spin for dumping yet another failed RTE DJ into Lyric FM as a digout. Perhaps when Tubridy's figures fall low enough, he will be dumped into Lyric FM with a books review programme.

If your beloved Marty is such an expert on Opera then why didn't the RTE management give him his own programme on Opera? Simple question.

Regards...jmcc

Calina · 20-03-2014 12:12pm

Yvonne23R wrote: »

It doesn't claim to be a museum like the BBC Radio 3 service.

BBC Radio 3 is not a museum. Nor is Classic FM. They are specialist music stations. The sort of specialist music that regularly fills the NCH, for example.

I am at a loss to understand how you justify It's My Life by Bon Jovi on any Lyric FM show given that Lyric has traditionally had a specialist remit.

I mean, it gets played on 4FM, 2FM and probably every single local station in the country.

Yvonne23R · 20-03-2014 12:23pm

Calina wrote: »

BBC Radio 3 is not a museum. Nor is Classic FM. They are specialist music stations. The sort of specialist music that regularly fills the NCH, for example.

I am at a loss to understand how you justify It's My Life by Bon Jovi on any Lyric FM show given that Lyric has traditionally had a specialist remit.

I mean, it gets played on 4FM, 2FM and probably every single local station in the country.

I think the answer is that it's played probably because Lyric wants to appeal to normal people as well as to people with limited musical taste. It's all about linking people together because all music is as good as any other. It's a mistake to claim that the heavy classical is better than the rest. It's just older - and a lot of it is old hat and forgotten. The music that gets played is only a small fraction of all the classical there has been. A lot of the dreary stuff never gets used in films or on adverts and so it's forgotten.

Music has moved on so Lyric is covering the whole run of music from Beethoven to Bacharach and up to Bon Jovi and even beyond. We can't stay stuck in the past. Otherwise where will the young listeners to Lyric come from???

HeidiHeidi · 20-03-2014 12:30pm

Yvonne23R wrote: »

I think the answer is that it's played probably because Lyric wants to appeal to normal people as well as to people with limited musical taste. It's all about linking people together because all music is as good as any other. It's a mistake to claim that the heavy classical is better than the rest. It's just older - and a lot of it is old hat and forgotten. The music that gets played is only a small fraction of all the classical there has been. A lot of the dreary stuff never gets used in films or on adverts and so it's forgotten.

Music has moved on so Lyric is covering the whole run of music from Beethoven to Bacharach and up to Bon Jovi and even beyond. We can't stay stuck in the past. Otherwise where will the young listeners to Lyric come from???

Well by this logic 2FM should be playing the Four Seasons Concerto and a bit of Mozart and Stravinsky and Ravel every now and then, because "all music is as good as any other". Then we'll wind up with a load of generic stations, all playing all sorts of music and with no differentiation at all between them. What's the point of that?

Radio stations are aimed at different markets, that's why there's more than one of them.

Lyric used to be aimed at those with an interest in classical music (ie me), 2FM was aimed at those with more of a taste for Bon Jovi (ie not me). I'm indulging in gross generalalisation there, but you get my drift.

Why is it suddenly Lyric's aim to appeal to EVERYONE, resulting in them apparently appealing to no-one apart from Yvonne and her clones?

ETA - and "Lyric wants to appeal to normal people" does it? So what does that make the rest of us? Abnormal?

Calina · 20-03-2014 12:38pm

Yvonne23R wrote: »

I think the answer is that it's played probably because Lyric wants to appeal to normal people as well as to people with limited musical taste.

Do you have any idea how ignorant, insulting and condescending this sounds? Do you seriously think I have a limited musical taste? If you do, you are wrong. But this is not surprising.

Additionally, normality is not defined by what music people listen to.

Yvonne23R wrote: »

It's all about linking people together because all music is as good as any other. It's a mistake to claim that the heavy classical is better than the rest.

I have never claimed this. I have said I want to hear classical music and classical music only on the supposedly classical music station in the country because I can listen to dad rock on almost every other radio station in the country any time of the day.

Yvonne23R wrote: »

It's just older - and a lot of it is old hat and forgotten.

Most of Beethoven's music has had a longer shelf life than Duran Duran. The fact that you think it is old hat and forgotten suggests that you could perhaps go and listen to 4FM as that seems to be the music you want to listen to.

Yvonne23R wrote: »

The music that gets played is only a small fraction of all the classical there has been.

On Marty's show this is definitely true

Yvonne23R wrote: »

A lot of the dreary stuff never gets used in films or on adverts and so it's forgotten.

You're clearly not qualified to comment.

Yvonne23R wrote: »

Music has moved on so Lyric is covering the whole run of music from Beethoven to Bacharach and up to Bon Jovi and even beyond.

Again with the insults.

Yvonne23R wrote: »

We can't stay stuck in the past. Otherwise where will the young listeners to Lyric come from???

The station is not age driven. It was never designed as a station for people of a certain age, but of a certain taste in music.

Yvonne23R · 20-03-2014 1:59pm

HeidiHeidi wrote: »

all music is as good as any other

ETA - and "Lyric wants to appeal to normal people" does it? So what does that make the rest of us? Abnormal?

What does ETA mean? I'm confused.