The Pat Kenny Show

Onthe3rdDay

hawley wrote: »

A 30 per cent cut would mean that he would be earning about 410k with RTE but he'd still have to do Frontline

It was At Least 30 percent. You'd have to assume they started with an offer of half of what he was on and then it would have been negotiated up, but not to 400k. As far as RTE knew there was no one else that was going to pay him anything close to that amount, and the truth is in a normal market they wouldn't. It's Denis O Brien Money, just like the National team Coach getting a top up from the same man.

If Newstalk was run as a proper business there is no way 400k a year is a realistic figure for a station with such a small market share. According to it's own ratecard the Mid Morning show with Tom Dunne was 300 an ad. Top it up to 500 an ad for Pat and you're still struggling to make a profit, and the average ad would actually come in closer to less than 200 when you consider deals and packages. It's very rare for anyone to pay full price in this economy.

Does anyone not remember the many, many filler ads on The Today Show with Pat Kenny? They wouldn't sell the ads for less so.... RTE supports the Arts (Arse)

alaimacerc

meeeeh wrote: »

I know an example of an editor who lost his position in one of the national broadcasters. Because he was an employee he was kept on the books doing one show per two weeks for the same pay. Is that what you want? As anybody who ever had a company, contracts are very useful in unpredictable environment, and broadcasting is unpredictable.

Yes, very helpful, entirely ignore what I said, and throw in some presumably-utterly-unverifiable anecdote. Again: "contract" does not imply "easy to fire". Case in point, the very people we're talking about, plus any number of ludicrously high-profile examples. Full time direct employee does not imply "harder to fire". Though obviously, bonus cod-libertarian/bashing the public sector points for throwing that in. It all depends on the nature of the particular terms involved in each case. (Yes, FT employees do have statutory minimum rights, but those do not extend to "employment for life when there's no more job they were formerly doing to be done there.)

But then again you won't change your mind whatever I say because populist nonsense is just too attractive.

You appear to be arguing against your own point in the two clauses of what you say, above.

If the term "populist" was ever diagnostic or descriptively useful in Irish politics, it certainly ceased to be so when FF started to use it to mean "policies of parties who whopped us in the last general election due to our gross incompetence catching up with our deep-seated tribalism and corruption".

alaimacerc

Onthe3rdDay wrote: »

As for his finances you can't blame Pat if people want to give him large sums of cash for his time and effort. None of us would turn down the opportunity if it was given to us. I do have a problem however with RTE handing out silly money which makes no commercial sense.

You can blame him to an extent. He seems to have been the last "holdout" in contract renegotiatons, in circumstances that seem to in no way justify this. (RTE losing money, cutting back elsewhere, Pat's role scaled back -- and salary not.) He gives every impression of having a ludicrously entitled "because I'm worth it" attitude to his own "value". On air, he's mad some ludicrous statement about what he "would" he earning if he were in the US market. (Perhaps he meant to consider the hypothetical "in the absurdly unlikely event of me being able to attain such a position" to be implied.) Some of his antics with his "winnings" don't exactly encourage sympathy, so if he gets flak, he's earned it. But in these respects he's hardly unique. Few of us turn money down, and after we've gotten it for a while, it's human nature to rationale that we're "entitled" to it, and fully deserving.

So yes, the real problem is the above silliness. I think the legacy persists, indeed, because RTE presenters are still paid what seems like silly money in comparative terms, and that history has surely pushed up PK's "private sector" salary, too.

Amirani

vicwatson wrote: »

The Aer Lingus ad has forced me back to Rte or Today fm - 20 times a show is wayyyy to annoying

Yeah, the Aer Lingus ad is killing me.

Technocentral

NiallSparky wrote: »

Yeah, the Aer Lingus add is killing me.

PLus that old 40s style vo is so hackneyed and has been done in ads since the 80s, that ad by that plank Dunne for his gyms isn't much better either, I think the cheaper ad rates on Newstalk attract even poorer ads than RTE.

Roger_007

Listening to Moan Burton. What a depressing voice she has

Technocentral

Roger_007 wrote: »

Listening to Moan Burton. What a depressing voice she has

I'm more interested in the content, good news for the self employed like me.

ButtersSuki

Ha! ha! That technical snafu reminds me of Newstalk's early days!

randy hickey

Another pre-recorded interview, this time with AIB CEO.

Roger_007

randy hickey wrote: »

Another pre-recorded interview, this time with AIB CEO.

Great way to produce a 'live' radio program. Pat could be at home mowing the lawn while he is 'live' on radio.

ButtersSuki

randy hickey wrote: »

Another pre-recorded interview, this time with AIB CEO.

I rarely if ever caught PK on RTE, can't believe the amount of pre-records he's broadcast this week.

randy hickey

He could be off down the street cleaning windows to make an extra few bob.

theholyghost

If Pat takes 50k listeners and the SOK slot starts to slip like Tubs and G Ryan replacements would it have been worth it for RTE to pay a premium to Pat?

How many listeners does RTE need to loose to prove Pat is worth a big salary?

Skid X

It's a 2 1/2 hour show, with very few regular inserts like he had on the old Radio 1 programme (Cookery, Paddy O'Gorman, Marie-Louise O'Donnell etc.

That's a lot of airtime to fill. It's no surprise he has a significant number of pre-recorded interviews. It would be difficult to match the available slots with the availability of each the interviewees if they didn't use recorded material. They don't bother me at all, either way. It's all part of radio scheduling.

randy hickey

He's a Cork b'ai?

ButtersSuki

Skid X wrote: »

It's a 2 1/2 hour show, with very few regular inserts like he had on the old Radio 1 programme (Cookery, Paddy O'Gorman, Marie-Louise O'Donnell etc.

That's a lot of airtime to fill. It's no surprise he has a significant number of pre-recorded interviews. It would be difficult to match the available slots with the availability of each the interviewees if they didn't use recorded material. They don't bother me at all, either way. It's all part of radio scheduling.

I get what you're saying but save for Off The Ball which has always relied on pre-records given its time slot it just doesn't seem to sit well with me on Newstalk, a station I kinda expect to be "live".

Machismo Fan

I don't get the problem with an interview being pre-recorded, it's not really any different other than he can't use texts during the interview (which he doesn't really do anyway). So long as it's a good interview I don't really have a problem.

Skid X

ButtersSuki wrote: »

I get what you're saying but save for Off The Ball which has always relied on pre-records given its time slot it just doesn't seem to sit well with me on Newstalk, a station I kinda expect to be "live".

Fair enough, maybe they are going a bit overboard on the recorded interviews.

Perhaps they will have more live content as the show settles in at Newstalk and develops regular features and guests.

Roger_007

I didn't know that the 'gaddering' was also for dead people.

randy hickey

Ah yes, the old Friday Forum.

Judgement Day

Radio silence is golden...5 mins of Mammy Miriam with some god awful Cork/Clare quiz, followed by 5 mins of Sean O'Rourke waffle, followed by switch off. Window open and the noise of Enniscorthy's permanently grid locked traffic passing by below the window is less annoying to work to.

JM Skipton

Really very impressed with the PK show this week, I personally have found it very enjoyable. At the start of the week I was switching between Pat and Sean O'Rourke, now the "dial" has been permanently moved.

meeeeh

alaimacerc wrote: »

You appear to be arguing against your own point in the two clauses of what you say, above.

If the term "populist" was ever diagnostic or descriptively useful in Irish politics, it certainly ceased tis o waffles when FF started to "policies of parties who whopped us in the last general election due ss incompetence catching up with our deep-seated tribalism and corruption".

Did RTE have to give Pat redundancy? No, they just didn't sign the contract. The wage negotiations are much easier when you start with a clean slate.

As for FF nonsense, I can't even vote in this country, I don't overly care about Pat Kenny, for me having Ivan Yates back is way more important. It just means I dont need to "move the dial" from 10 to 12. But what I do dislike is people making empty and factless assumptions just because it suits their agenda. If RTE wants to overpay someone that is their or taxpayer's problem. If there are tax loopholes that people can avail of that is state's problem. Those contracts are beneficial for the institution and the individual.

alaimacerc

Roger_007 wrote: »

Listening to Moan Burton. What a depressing voice she has

I sometimes feel like I'm just about the last apologist for Labour left in the country, but I must admit I find her incredibly hard to listen to. Sounds a bit like a Risteard Cooper impersonation of Evelyn Cusack (who's bad enough to start with).

alaimacerc

theholyghost wrote: »

If Pat takes 50k listeners and the SOK slot starts to slip like Tubs and G Ryan replacements would it have been worth it for RTE to pay a premium to Pat?

How many listeners does RTE need to loose to prove Pat is worth a big salary?

At least a many as would actually pay said salary in ad revenue, if that's the only argument for stuffing his pockets with a half-mill. Let's be seeing the spreadsheet.

Even if this is costing RTE hard cash (which seems unlikely at this point, if what I've heard is any indication), this is a case of RTE having made a rod for its own back by overpaying PK when it had no sane reason to do so. (Kenny of course being a completely innocent victim in this, his "oh noes, please don't pay me so much, it's iniquitous, stoooop!" pleas being audible all the way down here in Cork.) Inflating the market, and "investing in the brand" that they had no actual ownership or control over.

SEPT 23 1989

Hope Geldof starts ranting:D

touts

SEPT 23 1989 wrote: »

Hope Geldof starts ranting:D

Probably got the rant out of this system last Monday when he heard St. Bono was Pat's first guest and not Sir Bob

Skid X

Bob seems to have calmed down in recent years.

I wonder if Pat will mention this?

http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/music/boomtown-rats-wont-tour-down-under/story-e6frfn09-1226636762640

THE Boomtown Rats don't like Mondays - and it seems like Australia doesn't really like them, either.
The Rats' tour of Australia has been officially cancelled because of poor ticket sales.

Sir Bob Geldof recently visited Australia to announce the band's reformation and announced the Aussie dates but it seems Australians just didn't care.
Initially announced for five shows across the country the band had to cancel its Melbourne, Adelaide and Brisbane dates in April because they hadn't had enough interest.

Yakuza

Stop shluurrrpin yer tae, Bob!

Yakuza

i'm getting déjà vu here (or at least déjà ecouté ) - has Sir Bob been on radio recently talking about Australia's mines, FIFO workers and apartments for AUD1.5m?