Irish Radio Is The Worst !

Jonny Harris

I have lived all over the world and have found Irish National and Local Radio not fit for purpose! Such a narrow choice of endless discusssions, sport and religion not to mention the diet of boy/girl bands.
Don't the programmers know that this type of pop is designed for children so why do all the stations play the same childrens music when the kids are at school?
Some of us would like to hear:
1.Less prattling on
2.A larger range of music going back to the mid sixties

Then Irish radio would be fit for purpose. Stop the Rot!

ps. I exuse Lyric Fm from the rest

pps. The Bai should be disolved

Tapes

Yes the choice is pretty poor in this country, Its worst in the mid morning when every radio station has a talk show on talking about the same tired topics.

mrsdewinter

You forgot that other great perennial talk-radio favourite: Irish people talking about what people in other countries think of us.
And... Yet another reason for not listening to Tubridy: that awkward moment when he interviews a UK personalideeee and throws in some dig about David Cameron/the Queen/Nick Clegg... I would *love* to see some UK TV host be as briskly rude about one of our public figures. It would certainly dent our air of impregnable self-congratulation.

jaydeep

Jonny Harris wrote: »

I have lived all over the world and have found Irish National and Local Radio not fit for purpose! Such a narrow choice of endless discusssions, sport and religion not to mention the diet of boy/girl bands.
Don't the programmers know that this type of pop is designed for children so why do all the stations play the same childrens music when the kids are at school?
Some of us would like to hear:
1.Less prattling on
2.A larger range of music going back to the mid sixties

Then Irish radio would be fit for purpose. Stop the Rot!

ps. I exuse Lyric Fm from the rest

pps. The Bai should be disolved

Your old and ignorant.How dare you suggest "Irish radio is the worst " some of the best radio in the world is produced here.

Liam Byrne

jaydeep wrote: »

Your old and ignorant.How dare you suggest "Irish radio is the worst " some of the best radio in the world is produced here.

His old what?

easychair

jaydeep wrote: »

Your old and ignorant.How dare you suggest "Irish radio is the worst " some of the best radio in the world is produced here.

Ignorant is an unusual choice of word, and from what the OP says he is the opposite of ignorant as he draws on his experience of radio elsewhere and radio in ireland.

Do you mean "ignorant" not in its universally understood meaning, but as an attempt to hurl abuse at the OP?

The subject is subjective and, while you may well think some of the best radio is produced in Ireland, it's equally valid to think otherwise. Your intemperate response does little to add to the argument.

Since I got a Wifi radio, I've listened to radio from around the world and have reassessed, based on experience, the quality of radio in Ireland. Truly some radio from abroad is appalling, and some of Irish radio compared favourably.

I enjoy good bits on Irish radio, and also listen to BBC Radio 4 most of all, and think we are so lucky to have access to such a diverse and wonderful station, free of charge!

Oh_Noes

Tapes wrote: »

Yes the choice is pretty poor in this country, Its worst in the mid morning when every radio station has a talk show on talking about the same tired topics.

I agree with this. Not that all the product is poor, some of it is excellent but it's infuriating they way they all schedule similar content in the same time slots. Drive time news discussion 5-7, all news magazine shows discussing the same issues as each other. Off the ball clashes with the RTE 7pm sports show, (I don't know what it's called), same thing more or less on 2fm, today fm and newstalk between 9-12. Saturdays it's sport across the board on all major national stations, no decent alternative content if you don't want to listen to sport.

It's like all the radio producers have no imagination when it comes to scheduling, they just presume one station does a sports show at a certain slot so they have to do it too, and everyone else follows.

There is some quality content on Irish radio like Moncrief, Off the Ball, Pat Kenny and one or two others but there's too much lazy production, much like their counterparts in Irish television who generally just clone and re-make UK shows.

Lapin

jaydeep wrote: »

Your old and ignorant.How dare you suggest "Irish radio is the worst " some of the best radio in the world is produced here.

The same cannot be said for grammar teachers by the looks of it.

Any chance of you backing up your comment?

CelticRambler

The quality of radio worldwide is declining which is hardly surprising. When you think of how "reality" and "talent" shows have bred a generation of humans with no more than a 30-second attention span, how can they be expected to cope with a real-time voice-only broadcast on the radio? No flashing lights, wild pan and zoom shots or time-lapse photography - how could it possibly compete when you've getting twenty texts a minute on your mobile?

For what it's worth, French radio is dire. Endless monologues or super-intellectual obscure discussions on France Culture; Endless musico-drivel on France Bleu (local radio); France Musique mostly offers only two types musique - jazz or baroque. France Inter is the closest to Radio 1 and three times a day they have the equivalent of Joe Duffy :eek: .

Seeing as I got a sound card for my ancient PC a while back and have unlimited broadband, I thought I'd check out RTE's streaming. Guess what? It's infinitely better than anything I can get on FM. The only trouble I have is when I'm supposed to be somewhere at, say, one o'clock and I forget that RTE's in a different time zone.

FunkyDa2

For what it's worth, French radio is dire. Endless monologues or super-intellectual obscure discussions on France Culture; Endless musico-drivel on France Bleu (local radio); France Musique mostly offers only two types musique - jazz or baroque. France Inter is the closest to Radio 1 and three times a day they have the equivalent of Joe Duffy .

Have a listen to FIP - 50 minutes of eclectic music, followed by 10 minutes of news(en Francais).

Deedsie

Depends what you are in to really... Newstalk do fantastic radio sports coverage... I have listened to sport on BBC radio and it's painful to listen too at times. The off the ball lads are both entertaining and knowledgeable...

LordSutch

Jonny Harris wrote: »

I have lived all over the world and have found Irish National and Local Radio not fit for purpose! Such a narrow choice of endless discusssions, sport and religion not to mention the diet of boy/girl bands.
Don't the programmers know that this type of pop is designed for children so why do all the stations play the same childrens music when the kids are at school?
Some of us would like to hear:
1.Less prattling on
2.A larger range of music going back to the mid sixties

Then Irish radio would be fit for purpose. Stop the Rot!

ps. I exuse Lyric Fm from the rest

pps. The Bai should be disolved

Jonny, I agree with you 100%, but you will discover that many Irish listeners will argue that Irish radio stations are just grand the way they are! Speaking in negative terms about Irish radio is not usually accepted by the masses (as you will discover). PS I think the standard of British radio is 2nd to none, I think its brilliant for all the reasons that Irish radio isnt - Its just a shame I cant get the Beeb in my car when driving around Dublin

Oh_Noes

LordSutch wrote: »

Jonny, I agree with you 100%, but you will discover that many Irish listeners will argue that Irish radio stations are just grand the way they are! Speaking in negative terms about Irish radio is not usually accepted by the masses (as you will discover). PS I think the standard of British radio is 2nd to none, I think its brilliant for all the reasons that Irish radio isnt - Its just a shame I cant get the Beeb in my car when driving around Dublin

Fair enough if you're British.

People want radio to be relevant to their lives and their environment, you can't really expect that if you listen to foreign stations.

I think they are "grand the way they are" apart from all the overlapping schedules. As said above, "Off the Ball" is a top class production, I've heard nothing to rival it on either UK or US stations.

Jerichoholic

Why do Irish stations still use the fake american accent on their bumpers and in some ads? It's really sad.

Lapin

CelticRambler wrote: »

For what it's worth, French radio is dire. Endless monologues or super-intellectual obscure discussions on France Culture;

I love all that stuff.

The Scientician

I try to avoid it if at all possible. Thankfully t'internet has made discovering new music easy without having to tolerate the irritating and inadequate gatekeepers of Irish radio.

guitarzero

I think the reaction to RadioNova coming on to these scene was enough "Whats going on? Real music on the radio? Somethings up...YEAH! A radio station that plays good tunes! How odd I should celebrate this.."

Other than maybe Phantom (crap music with guitars instead) its just endless, mindless, indefensible cr*p. The hosts, especially 104, dont me started, kill the messenger.

shannon_tek

Im quiet dissapointed by irish radio. For someone like me 'young' im not into talk shows which 95% of all sations seem to host. Spin SW always go on about their music non stop but its full with talk shows. same with RTE and today fm and local stations. grand i accept the world wish to listen but its tiring when i have to change the station after every song just to escape the talking . IMO i think Capital Fm is great. i know its outside of Ireland but least they play music all day long. I will admit that their are some station who play the best music at the right time eg. midnight to 2 am. few favourites being Live95 and R.Kerry 97.0 and i dont even live in those countys. I dunno what Dublin is like thats a whole other topic

guitarzero

Btw John Harris, are you THE John Harris, exposer of the law etc?

ballsymchugh

Jerichoholic wrote: »

Why do Irish stations still use the fake american accent on their bumpers and in some ads? It's really sad.

maybe it's the canadian djs employed at either today fm or 2 fm that are doing the ads?!!

for me, i listen to bbc 6music in the morning, and newstalk for the afternoon and the evening.
5live is grand, a good backup if moncreiff is on holidays, but richard bacon tends to drag out. it's great for insomniacs though, esp dr karl at 3am on wednesday mornings!
to the OP, you'll find that a lot of RTE's schedule is reactionary. their sports show is trying to compete with off the ball, there's a new history show on sundays to compete with talking history etc.
it's a case of people finding something they like, and the providers trying to get a slice of the action.

Dub.

Joe Duffy is an Irish Joseph Goebbels. His sole purpose is to stop the little people from getting so upset that they may protest.

Protesters, and people who question the system are the lowest of the low in Duffys eyes.

He is a genuine enemy of the people.

gucis

Not the worst. One of the worst.

Shane10

irish radio is terrible. this is the theme of most shows.."text in your favourite colour" or some sh1t like that or lets do a poll on some stupid random subject. pathetic. dont get me started on the local stations(embarrasing).

Off the Ball are brilliant, the only programme i try and tune into as often as i can.(credit where its due). Other than that i tend to tune in BBC5 Live for there football commentaries and football discussions.

neris

cd player in my cars been broken last few weeks and Im getting sick of the radio now. theres way too much talk on music stations. if i want talk i,ll listen to newstalk. Also it seems that alot of the music stations get their ad breaks on at the same time and either side of the ads is the dj waffling on. the "comedy" sketches on some of the breakfast and drive time shows (fm104 & 98fm) are just cringeworthy and really badly done.

Yahew

Sigh. The OP clearly wants stations with endless playbacks of 60's music. Irish people like to talk and whine, and - on internet forums - whine about the talking and whining, and in fact - in that sense - RTE gives us what we want. English radio is more serious, with it's radio 4 type shows and strange panels, and only there is it "better" than RTE.

( However RTE is fairly eclectic see here)

The US is radio programmed - the same 20 for years, not months - or, in terms of it's talkshows absolutely savagely mad. Utterly lunatic. Australian radio is also dire, but less fanatical.

And yes. Have lived everywhere I mentioned. Cant speak for non-English countries, although I have visited plenty I havent listened to the radio much. I think Ireland the best of the 4 countries I have lived in for radio.

Yahew

Radio isnt about music playing - stream your music. It is about drama, talk, art etc.

fred252

i've spent a lot of time in the states, canada and australia and irish radio exceeds most of the drivel you encounter over there.

Yahew

Yes, Dont make me link to Michael Savage. Or Christian Radio.

Dont make me do it.

Jonny Harris

Yahew wrote: »

Radio isnt about music playing - stream your music. It is about drama, talk, art etc.

Hi I think you are trying to wind me up and I don't know the John Harris you are on about. Now, Once and for all. If zenithclassicrock had a full time fm licence I would'nt have to tune into the drivel that is Irish Radio. Internet is great at home but when you step out the front door we are at the mercy of
the clueless programmers and DJs (alot of who don't understand music)desparately trying to be funny and entertaining. There are probably a couple protesting "too loudly" on this thread.
What happened to giving the people what they want?

Yahew

Where what people want = what you want.

I assume that the phone-in programs have a lot of listeners. Also the internet works outdoors these days.

Jonny Harris

Not on my radio in Wexford when I am walking the dogs it does'nt.

Jonny Harris

Hi Yahew ,
Are you sure you don't have a vested interest in keeping the status quo?

eth0_

Jonny, you might enjoy RTE 2XM. Have a listen.

LordSutch

Oh_Noes wrote: »

Fair enough if you're British.

People want radio to be relevant to their lives and their environment, you can't really expect that if you listen to foreign stations.

I think they are "grand the way they are" apart from all the overlapping schedules. As said above, "Off the Ball" is a top class production, I've heard nothing to rival it on either UK or US stations.

Being British has nothing to do with it, the point the OP is making is that Irish Radio is well below par when compared to next door. Having lived in Britain I must say I totally agree with him! Listen to any of the Irish radio stations at morning rush hour, they are all doing the same thing, talking about the same subjects, talking talkin & more talking, then the same again at evening rush hour 5pm-7pm, all talkin about the same things again, all at the same time, all with the same agenda, the adverts are also of very poor quality, and then you have a very limited music collection on most Irish radio stations too, very bland selections, very repeditive, very limited collections (Nova breaking through to a small degree) with Lyric doing a decent impersonation of Classic FM, but mainstream Irish radio is total pants.

Getting home & listening to stations from outside this State is a breath of fresh air, just a shame I cant get them in my car . . . .

Deedsie

I like Irish radio, they discuss the topics of the day. Keep people informed somewhat.

They obviously have to try compete with rival stations, I guess that is what the people want, the radio industry is in a better position to decide what content people want to hear. Irish people like to talk, it's just in us! The reason talk radio is so successful here.

I used to listen to wogan before he retired, think he was a talker too!

And, it might not be your cup of tea but I think it's fair to say the vast majority of Irish listeners are happy with the status quo. I would like a new show from 14:30 to 16:30. It dies a bit there. Livelines entertainment is based solely on content of the day!

LordSutch

Deedsie wrote: »

And, it might not be your cup of tea but I think it's fair to say the vast majority of Irish listeners are happy with the status quo.

Indeed they are, but the rest of us . . . .

Deedsie

LordSutch wrote: »

Indeed they are, but the rest of us . . . .

Why would an industry change to appeal to the minority, when the majority are quite happy? Listenership figures allow them to negotiate better terms for advertising... Advertising equals profits . . . .

ballsymchugh

Deedsie wrote: »

Why would an industry change to appeal to the minority, when the majority are quite happy? Listenership figures allow them to negotiate better terms for advertising... Advertising equals profits . . . .

to add to that, the BBC tried to please the minority, that being the asian community with the asian network radio station. that's due to close soon because it's not worth the hassle. 6music was also marked for closure but survived due to a massive internet campaign.
when a massive state funded organisation like the bbc can't provide for everyone, why would a commercial station in a smaller country like ireland target a small minority, no matter what it is they want?

Jonny Harris

I believe if you want to open an FM station you need to stump up about 100,000 euro a year. What is that for? Have News and weather on the hour and there is probably a few more rules I don't know about. The whole set up smells.
Who are the BAI? to stop stations opening? There is plenty of dead frequencies on the FM waveband. It would enhance the experience of living here to have some variety on the airwaves. Some of the apathetic comments who love things as they are, are in a state of denial.
Wake up and smell the coffee lads !

ballsymchugh

Jonny Harris wrote: »

I
Wake up and smell the coffee lads !

or get a wifi radio!

Jonny Harris

wifi radio does not work here in Wexford. Any other suggestions? Thanks ethO ,2xm sounds refreshing but only on the web.

ballsymchugh

Jonny Harris wrote: »

wifi radio does not work here in Wexford. Any other suggestions? Thanks ethO ,2xm sounds refreshing but only on the web.

2xm is a DAB station, is that not available in the southeast yet?

Breoithepaul

I agree with the comments re. Off the Ball it's well worth tuning into.

eth0_

Jonny Harris wrote: »

wifi radio does not work here in Wexford. Any other suggestions? Thanks ethO ,2xm sounds refreshing but only on the web.

What do you mean 'wifi radio does not work here in Wexford' ? You obviously have internet access if you're able to post on boards.ie?

orourkeda

Jonny Harris wrote: »

I have lived all over the world and have found Irish National and Local Radio not fit for purpose! Such a narrow choice of endless discusssions, sport and religion not to mention the diet of boy/girl bands.
Don't the programmers know that this type of pop is designed for children so why do all the stations play the same childrens music when the kids are at school?
Some of us would like to hear:
1.Less prattling on
2.A larger range of music going back to the mid sixties

Then Irish radio would be fit for purpose. Stop the Rot!

ps. I exuse Lyric Fm from the rest

pps. The Bai should be disolved

Irish Radio?. It's a disgrace joe

ballsymchugh

eth0_ wrote: »

What do you mean 'wifi radio does not work here in Wexford' ? You obviously have internet access if you're able to post on boards.ie?

i think he means out and about, away from the house.

Deedsie

Jonny Harris wrote: »

Some of the apathetic comments who love things as they are, are in a state of denial.
Wake up and smell the coffee lads!

The most pathetic comment here is "Irish Radio Is The Worst!"

It is clearly not the worst, who are you to tell people they are in a state of denial...

I likes what I likes...

Jonny Harris

No DAB in Wexford. Alright maybe its not quite the worst in the world but why do they all sound the same? I woud'nt dream of making you listen to what I like so why are you happy to force me to listen to what you like?

Yahew

Jonny Harris wrote: »

No DAB in Wexford. Alright maybe its not quite the worst in the world but why do they all sound the same? I woud'nt dream of making you listen to what I like so why are you happy to force me to listen to what you like?

Whose forcing you to listen to anything. We told you to get an internet radio, nobody suggested you listen to RTE 1 if you dont want to.

The internet - works outdoors these days even in Wexford.

LordSutch

Told you Jonny, they love it just the way it is

Deedsie

Great history programme on Newstalk. I have grown up listening to Sunday sport on RTÉ and I love it, won't be the same without Micheál this year though.