The Newstalk reshuffle

Loafing Oaf

PeterTheEighth wrote: »

What's gonna happen to *cough cough cough* marian *cough* finucane.

AFAIK they're just covering for Miriam O'Callaghan for the summer

PeterTheEighth

Loafing Oaf wrote: »

AFAIK they're just covering for Miriam O'Callaghan for the summer

Ah yeah, that would make sense alright. Only one hour then if they are replacing Miriam. I wish they would change that name Second Captains. It's a bit stupid.

longshanks

First captains, second captains... whatever.

Loafing Oaf

PeterTheEighth wrote: »

Ah yeah, that would make sense alright. Only one hour then if they are replacing Miriam. I wish they would change that name Second Captains. It's a bit stupid.

Yeah I assume they latched onto it first as a dig at Steve Staunton's vacuity but it was Ken who brought up the term. How are interviewees supposed to respond to respond to that sort of inane leading question without resorting to either further inanity or rudeness?

Anyway they're kind of stuck with it now...

constitutionus

super_furry wrote: »

Geroge Hook at lunchtime? Sweet Jesus.

Don't think they ever properly replaced Eamon Keane in that slot personally. What was the reason behind his departure?

"health"

or TBH he quit when orders from above came down to "talk up the economy" when we were about to face financial Armageddon. ya notice a FAIR few guest stop being invited on too as they were "off message"

about the only thing im happy with here is i was wrong in thinking pat rabbite was gonna replace ivan. i had a real fear that'd happen.

the pat kenny george hook double act will do well IMO and to take up what another poster said i reckon colette will be ok with shane.

her current show is MEANT to be feminst focused . so now she's just doing a normal show i reckon thatll be toned down .

but no bleeding way am i going near breakfast if williams is anywhere near it. be back to morning ireland for me.

i give em credit for doing such a big shake up, but also have to ask why with a europe of 500 million out there THIS is all we get on the national airwaves.

no broadcasters anywhere else on the continent up to the job?

PeterTheEighth

Hook staying on. Said that he didnt want to work up to 7pm any more so NT offered him lunch time instead.

So George is staying :pac:

PeterTheEighth

longshanks wrote: »

First captains, second captains... whatever.

That's probably what the NT finance people said when they were asked the question "Who were those people that walked out after we didnt give in to their ultimatum?"

Loafing Oaf

PeterTheEighth wrote: »

Hook staying on. Said that he didnt want to work up to 7pm any more so NT offered him lunch time instead.

So George is staying :pac:

Or maybe he's missing the tv gig more than he thought he did. And looked at the likes of Bill O'Herlihy and Terry Wogan, in their graves just months after retiring...

Ol' Donie

I don't pay any attention to those JNLR figures, since they appear to be b*llocks (I had no reason not to trust them, until the OTB fiasco. The old lads left, every single bloke I knew who was a fan stopped listening, and the JNLRs stayed constant. My arse.).

But is there any justification - manipulated or otherwise - for increasing the length of the show?

sheep?

Ol' Donie wrote: »

I don't pay any attention to those JNLR figures, since they appear to be b*llocks (I had no reason not to trust them, until the OTB fiasco. The old lads left, every single bloke I knew who was a fan stopped listening, and the JNLRs stayed constant. My arse.).

But is there any justification - manipulated or otherwise - for increasing the length of the show?

The 'hilarious' banter no doubt.

Thinking on it now, I'm quite looking forward to extended Pat leading into unknown Hook territory. Colour me interested at least.

Drag00n79

I notice they're saying the breakfast show now starts at 7am. Just wondering is the business show at 06.30 gone? It's a good daily show and gives the topic some depth.

jooksavage

Jesus, how the hell are they going to squeeze another 30 minutes every day out of the parched husk that is OTB?

Pity to see Moncrieff getting squeezed to accommodate other shows. I know Hook has his fans, more power to him, but even his fans have to admit that there's actually very little substance to him. I've never come away from a show knowing anything new or with a fresh perspective on anything. I don't think you have to be 100% impartial to be a good, entertaining broadcaster but the unique selling point and appeal of a contrary pensioner with entrenched views who's blind and deaf to dissenting voices and popular culture past 1965 is lost on me.

Theboinkmaster

Drag00n79 wrote: »

Just wondering is the business show at 06.30 gone? It's a good daily show and gives the topic some depth.

That's still there.

vkid

That's the morning show gone for me..Paul williams and co. No thanks.
Same for lunchtime. Used to.enjoy Healy but cannot stand George hook. A big load of meh....

wnolan1992

Ol' Donie wrote: »

I don't pay any attention to those JNLR figures, since they appear to be b*llocks (I had no reason not to trust them, until the OTB fiasco. The old lads left, every single bloke I knew who was a fan stopped listening, and the JNLRs stayed constant. My arse.).

But is there any justification - manipulated or otherwise - for increasing the length of the show?

I think what the announcement is saying is that the likes of Ger Gilroy will pop in after 6:30 to chat sport, similar to "The Last Word on Sport" on a Friday for example.

I presume they're just adding a sports element to the end of the show because maybe Chris and Sarah don't have much knowledge/interest in it, so having them host with OTB guys as guests sort of makes sense, as it leads to cross-promotion of the shows as well as filling a potential sports void.

I could be massively wrong on that of course, but I think that'w what they're going for, even if the announcement wasn't that clear.

ThisRegard

wnolan1992 wrote: »

so having them host with OTB guys as guests sort of makes sense, as it leads to cross-promotion of the shows as well as filling a potential sports void.

I don't think so considering there's a 3 hour sports show coming right up after it, don't see the need for it.

Harry Palmr

Hookie for two hours at lunch, dear God.
Coleman is respectably dull, as annoying as Yates is he does act as a counter to his pious middle of the road co-pilots.

wnolan1992

ThisRegard wrote: »

I don't think so considering there's a 3 hour sports show coming right up after it, don't see the need for it.

Dunno. We'll have to see how it plays out. Like, if it was twice a week for 15 minutes at the end of the Monday and Friday shows doing a review and preview of the weekend respectively, I would understand it. Like, there is a sports show on after, but OTB isn't drivetime, so maybe NT feel they need sport as part of their drivetime show.

serfboard

OK, the people who made this comment have a vested interest, but:

RTE wrote:

The new schedule will also address the criticism levelled at the station over the lack of female on-air presenters during its daily output.

Obviously Colette and Sarah are meant to address this, but Pat->George->Sean still means no wimmin on the air for seven straight hours ... :P

Mind you, thinking about it, RTEs schedule of Ryan->Sean->Richard->Joe->Ray means the same thing ....

mikeingalway

What's happened Jonathon Healy - never liked him.

AwaitYourReply

So that's what all the fuss was about this morning between Ivan & Chris - I wasn't sure if it was a big wind-up with Yates finishing up this Friday.

Yeah NewsTalk Breakfast has been growing on me and Ivan & Chris did well as I imagine it had a tiny budget when compared to the long established and massive listenership enjoyed by Morning Ireland on RTÉ Radio 1.

As a loyal listener of "The Right Hook" with George Hook, I wonder if any of the current regular features of his programme will remain with the new Drivetime programme due to launch. Popular slots on George's current show include The Right Hook Health Check-Up with Dr. Ciara Kelly, Bill Hughes and his Essential Songs of the 20th Century, Movies on The Right Hook with Philip Molloy, Right Hook Travel with Manchan Magan, Michael Graham shock jock ranting from USA, and so on etc; I enjoyed most of these slots. Perhaps some of these regular contributors will follow George to his new Lunchtime slot unless they will continue to air on the new Drivetime programme.

Eamon Keane was excellent on Lunchtime some years back and you also had Damien Kiberd doing the slot for a while too. Remember when Declan Carty did a late night programme called on weeknights called "Late Night Live" which used broadcast straight after "Off The Ball". It was axed when the economic downturn came about around 2008/2009 if I'm not mistaken. I'd have to agree with most contributors to this thread about the involvement of Williams and Quinlan on the new Breakfast Show on NewsTalk as they would not be inclined to draw my attention as both can sound quite depressing and we don't really need this early in the morning. The banter between Yates and O'Donoghue in between the more serious hard news struck a much better balance but perhaps they will shock us and deliver the goods. Good luck to all involved anyway. I will miss George doing The Right Hook.

CFlat

Why would they take an hour off Moncrieff, IMO the best afternoon broadcaster on Irish radio? It's not like they don't spend enough hours on serious political programmes before and after him. If you aren't interested in listening to music programmes in the afternoon, only for Moncrieff, we'd be subjected to the Duffy/D'arcy boresfest on Radio 1.

Harry Palmr

AwaitYourReply wrote: »

Eamon Keane was excellent on Lunchtime some years back

Nooooooooooooooooooooo! :eek: He was appalling. Total spoofer.

PeterTheEighth

The new schedule will also address the criticism levelled at the station over the lack of female on-air presenters during its daily output.

How very Newstalk to pander to the feminists, rather than put the person with most talent on air. I wonder will they introduce quotas.

Seriously though, RTE must be rubbing their hands looking at that. I can see a lot of people going back to Morning Ireland in droves, and possibly even people going back to Mary Wilson.

Genghis

Can't get enthused about Coleman on breakfast. Nice guy, articulate, intelligent but also inoffensive safe and conciliatory, which does make for a poor replacement for Yates.

Can't yet picture how Chris will do in evening, he works great with Ivan not so much without. As one poster said, maybe it's creating a place for Yates to come back to.

Love OTB but the wishy washy idea of melding the two shows looks messy.

Glad PK got extra hour he was being killed by SOR.

Lady Chatterton

tommyhayes1989 wrote: »

Really going to miss Ivan & Chris in the morning. Is he officially leaving Friday?

My ten year old daughter has been recording Chris and Ivan all week because she loves listening to 'Grumpy Ivan' and 'Nice Chris' during breakfast and on the drive to school. I know how she feels, it really will be 'Mourning Ireland' from next week

kneemos

CFlat wrote: »

Why would they take an hour off Moncrieff, IMO the best afternoon broadcaster on Irish radio? It's not like they don't spend enough hours on serious political programmes before and after him. If you aren't interested in listening to music programmes in the afternoon, only for Moncrieff, we'd be subjected to the Duffy/D'arcy boresfest on Radio 1.

An hour and a half of George and give MonCrieff two and half hours.
He's a class interviewer in fairness.

Loafing Oaf

MrsD007 wrote: »

My ten year old daughter has been recording Chris and Ivan all week because she loves listening to 'Grumpy Ivan' and 'Nice Chris' during breakfast and on the drive to school.

I think we've discovered Ireland's answer to Lady Mormont:

Gadfly Girl

Moncrieff is the only thing left I'll be willing to listen to, he's fantastic but Williams is truly scraping the barrel in my opinion. Would have loved to see people like Colette Browne or Beatty from Kildare FM.

Birdsong

Back to morning Ireland for me I think, couldn't listen to Paul Williams at all.

I am not sure how George at mid day will work out, I listen to the drive time show, and enjoy it. But won't be able to go listen at the new time & I'm sure that they're many like me, who won't be following him.

PeterTheEighth

Birdsong wrote: »

Back to morning Ireland for me I think, couldn't listen to Paul Williams at all.

Given the nature of Paul Williams previous line of work, is it really a good idea for him to be stationed at the same desk, at the same hours, for five days a week. Surely now Six Shooter O'Shaughnessy or any of the other criminals that Williams wrote about will now know where to find him?

Actually now that I think about it, could they move Chris O'Donoghue back to the morning show to co host with him.

jimmyw

Paul Williams is an odd choice I think, but why do they need 3 breakfast presenters plus the sports fella. Dont like Coleman

I am glad Hooky is staying at the station at least.I do like alot of his segments on the show, I wonder will he keep some of them??

Maybe Healy is moving to the weekend?

Icemancometh

Did Wooly leave off the ball? He was always worth listening too, really added a lot of personality to an otherwise dry setup.

SEPT 23 1989

I miss some half decent talk radio at night not the usual skank slurred radio discussions

Bring back Mark Coleman and Bill

_Kaiser_

I'll miss Ivan and Chris in the morning anyway.. don't think the replacements will be up to the task so I'm not sure where I'll switch to now.

Hook is ok in small doses but I won't be able to listen at lunchtime anyway

Moncrieff is ok but like Hook only in small doses - sorry, don't feel the love that others seem to

Kenny is good on current affairs but again I'd be in work anyway

All that's left for me then is the evening drive time and OTB by the look of it

Loafing Oaf

Icemancometh wrote: »

Did Wooly leave off the ball? He was always worth listening too, really added a lot of personality to an otherwise dry setup.

Yep, gone to Joe.ie, surprised at how widely this has been mourned actually.

Gadfly Girl wrote: »

Williams is truly scraping the barrel in my opinion.

Someone on politics.ie pointed out that this could be a massive (and hopefully entertaining) car crash. Williams isn't used to being contradicted so could see him throwing a big wobbly the first time he interviews a Shinner say.

ButtersSuki

Jesus, Alan Quinlan doing sport in the morning? Every sentence will start with "yeah, well, ya know"....

Declan A Walsh

I will suspend judgement on these changes until I hear all concerned in action.

In relation to Paul Williams, he used to host a program on the north-west station Ocean FM - in an opt-out for the Leitrim area.

constitutionus

SEPT 23 1989 wrote: »

I miss some half decent talk radio at night not the usual skank slurred radio discussions

Bring back Mark Coleman and Bill

the late debate on RTE is pretty good (when its hosted by cormac, FEAR it when keelin shanleys on )

i miss mark and bill to.

fupping mad, but entertaining mad.

newstalks looking to be VERY tame now. not a contrarian insight past hook. sarah and chris for instance will be very bland. practically the same person in different genders. though it IS funny how often sarah gets things spectacularly wrong.

Lonestar1

Lets hope Oisin (Langer) is gone, he makes so many mistakes presenting his sports report, he should come with tippex!

Ol' Donie

+1 for Marc Coleman. Liked his show after OTB. Like the TD show too, though.

Anything changing at the weekend? Off The Ball muscling in on Futureproof or Down To Business?

I suppose Shance Coleman's Sunday Show is finished?

Pedalare Pedalare!

Some weird moves. Really think Jonathan Healy should be kept on. Even as one of the Breakfast Show presenters. Sunday Show?

A lot of younger talent in there should probably have gotten the push up too - Richard Chambers, Jess from Tech?

Jimmy Garlic

jimmyw wrote: »

Paul Williams is an odd choice I think,

Paul Williams is an oddball. A strange man. I wonder if he will be able to contain his rampant sensationalism.

PeterTheEighth

Pedalare Pedalare! wrote: »

Some weird moves. Really think Jonathan Healy should be kept on. Even as one of the Breakfast Show presenters. Sunday Show?

He is a good broadcaster but that on air persona of his drives me mad. He's really nailed that tone of ... you know the guy down the pub that everybody hates, who throws his arm over your shoulder and starts making derogatory, smart ar$e remarks about the guy at the end of the bar.

blue4ever

A few random observations:
Breakfast - Ivan is leavings, PW is a bizarre one - esp breakfast.
Pat extending the show will increase 'superficially' the ratings - but possibly not the average quarter hour. Its straight up against Ryan.
I think George makes a decent gamble. Healy was p1ssing up a down pipe against News at one (75k vs 350k). George might appeal to the floating listener - but not hell bent on all news.
Moncrieff: Yea, difficult one - I think he's really got a handle on the audiences and their likes - the more compact nature of the show (aka cutting it by and hour) might work - but I think its not very complimentary as he made the 1:30 to 4:30 slot his own.
Drivetime - well done RTE1 one an increase in figures in the 2017Q2 figures for this slot.

I note that the new females get all the billing front and center on the website - are they losing a share of the female audience and this is an attempt at plugging it?

Edit: the M/F balance in all radio is M49%/F51% - for any National Radio its reversed M51%/F49%. For Newstalk it's M61%/F39% - so, maybe the introduction of the Female voice is to try and address that gender imbalance (relative to the National picture)

ButtersSuki

The new presenters and the changes for me mark a shift away from the serious news and talk format the station was founded on to a more fluffy, light and dare I say it tabloid format; I fear it could be style over substance. It really feels a very celebrity and name driven shift away from its roots - Williams more than any other appointee hammers this home for me. I'll give the new shows a chance, but I fear the worst at this remove.

jooksavage

Pedalare Pedalare! wrote: »

Some weird moves. Really think Jonathan Healy should be kept on. Even as one of the Breakfast Show presenters. Sunday Show?

A lot of younger talent in there should probably have gotten the push up too - Richard Chambers, Jess from Tech?

Some pretty weird moves alright. I'm happy enough to see the back of Healy though. Every show followed the same format: breathless sighs of faux-exasperation with our callous, incompetent politicians, a phonecall or two to some misfortunate plebs (more breathless sighing) and every Friday a mutual on-air toss-off with Mick Clifford. Actually, come to think of it, I'm very glad they haven't given Clifford a full time job.

ButtersSuki

jooksavage wrote: »

Some pretty weird moves alright. I'm happy enough to see the back of Healy though. Every show followed the same format: breathless sighs of faux-exasperation with our callous, incompetent politicians, a phonecall or two to some misfortunate plebs (more breathless sighing) and every Friday a mutual on-air toss-off with Mick Clifford. Actually, come to think of it, I'm very glad they haven't given Clifford a full time job.

I'm not as harsh on Hely, he can do the rare illness thing a bit much though (not as bad as Tubs or Duffy however). I will miss the weekly call with Kevin Cullen of the Boston Globe however on that show, wonder if they can find a slot for that somewhere......

touts

Overall I like it.

Four hosts of the Breakfast show. Not sure about that. Hopefully they will focus on Collette Fitzpatrick and Shane Coleman. That's a good combination. Williams and Quinlan would be better floating across shows as Crime and Rugby correspondents but I'm not sure about having all four sitting at the table for a whole show. Four hosts will just dilute the airtime and analysis. Maybe they see Quinlan in a Des Cahill sort of role.

Pat to 9am is a very smart move. The 9am-10am slot is dead space for RTE. They are basically telling the Morning Ireland listeners to feck off and come back in an hour. If Newstalk can start to get those people tuning in at 9am they might stick with Pat rather than change back to Sean O'Rourke at 10am.

George moving to lunchtime is probably a short term fix for both. It's an easier time for George to slide to retirement and it allows them put a big name in the slot and build some audience. It could be that Hook is holding the seat for Ivan when he comes back after his latest debt wiping holiday in Wales. He's good friends with DOB so he's getting something when he comes back in a year. Maybe a weekend show up against Marian but the Lunchtime show might be more to his liking.

Sean Moncrieff is dead air for me. Just doesn't fit in with the profile of the station. It's interesting that they have cut an hour from the slot as it's proof that it's struggling. There are only so many ways you can run stories about aliens, fanatics, and weirdo's. It has become utterly predictable in it's attempt to be unpredictable. Every interview is basically the same & Sean has been phoning it in for a few years. His producer quit last week so it has all the hall marks of a show in trouble. If they wanted to give Paul Williams a slot I'd have given him that and let him go head to head with Joe Duffy on the bad news battle. Sean would be better off moving downstairs to Today FM.

The new drive time show is interesting. Chris is good but has been pushed around by Ivan. I think he could do well in that show. Don't know anything about Sarah McInerney but it's good to see a new name making a break through.

Good to see Off the Ball being kept on (not that there was really any doubt). That's by far and away the best Sports show on Irish (or UK) radio. The format works and the fact that they continued to be successful after the entire presenting staff walked a few years ago proves that.

Any news on the Tom Dunne slot? He just doesn't fit in the station and would also be better off downstairs in Today FM. Newstalk are never going to win a battle with the hundreds of other stations playing hits from the 90s. RTE's late debate is actually very good and the Vincent Brown show on TV3 also proves that there is a market for shows that bring on guests to discuss and analyse the day's news & events in that timeslot. But both those shows are very focused on Irish politics and especially the Dail. One of the best segments on Sky News is the panel preview of the next day's papers. There is a gap for a panel show that discuss national, world and business news and review the papers. That's a show Jonathan Healy could do well in if they got the right guests around him.

There is still a gap for a really good business show. The two best daily business shows on the radio are both early morning. Newstalk 6:30am-7:00am and Wake up to Money on BBC5 from 5:15am-6:00am. But it's hard to find a good slot for that type of show. Their target audience tends to be busy from 8am-6pm. Personally I'd have taken the 6:30pm slot and given that to business rather than more sport. Sport is very well covered from 7:00pm with off the ball. I'm not sure starting that at 6:30pm will attract many more listeners. In contrast a dedicated business show at that time would catch business people on their way home who might then stay tuned to the sports show.

It'll be interesting to see what they do on the weekends. Sunday mornings will have to be entirely changed with Collette Fitzpatrick and Shane Coleman moving to Monday-Friday shows. Maybe Ivan in a year but I hope they don't pack it with more pre-recorded & highlights shows.

PeterTheEighth

The three new morning presenters are on NT now talking about their new roles.

Paul Williams:
Williams: "I'm an absolute newbie, I am a virgin".
Jesus, dont oversell it paul.

Colette Fitzpatrick:
Yates: "And colette you have two small children".
Fitzpatrick: "And you're going to ask the guys how they manage to juggle things as well are you?"

Well Colette, if that's an insight in what's to come, then you can keep it and I'll go back to Morning Ireland.