Lahvlahn Thread from 12/01/17 - Now we're talking

Dan Jaman

Topaz, pushing it?
It's not that bad fuel.

Right2Write

Bottom line - Denis makes his money on the backs of suckers like Kevin.

joe6pack

Joe's driver must fuel up the merc
Sounds like he hasn't filled up in a while

Rock Lesnar

Ban the lotto, Ban Horse Racing, and Ban getting Petrol or Diesel for the car, problem solved

somesoldiers

Ha- Lotto ad while moaning about Topaz pushing the Lotto

Odyssey 2005

Lotto ad..bingo

vicwatson

sideboard wrote: »

It must be really nice to feel that most of you guys could listen to that piece of powerful radio, powerful enough to even move a 'hardened' presenter...and still find time to write (sic) your sick pieces...laugh on guys...

That you Dee Forbes?

Dia1988

"One particular person pushing the lottery in his TOPAZ garage""???

FrKurtFahrt

I know of a petrol station that sells Lotto, no problem there. It also has a room attached that holds about 10 poker machines and is accessible to anyone.

Rock Lesnar

Say no to lotto

Living Off The Splash

Duffy has a strange way of saying Lotto. Is is Lottto or Lot ow or Lot toe?

Fujitsu10

Lot TOE

Right2Write

Dia1988 wrote: »

"One particular person pushing the lottery in his TOPAZ garage""???

Ah yes, Denis - he likes to take a punt on various 'projects'.

somesoldiers

You wouldn't be moaning if you won a million

vicwatson

Did he just says the N21 ??

Dan Jaman

somesoldiers wrote: »

You wouldn't be moaning if you won a million

IT COULD BE YOU

Jan_de_Bakker

And a final bit of misery to finish the show ..

Mike Guide 69

Jaysus he sounds out of it!!!!

joe6pack

Can you get a speech stimulator?

Dan Jaman

Back to pain and misery just to round off the show.

vicwatson

Dia1988 wrote: »

"One particular person pushing the lottery in his TOPAZ garage""???

Did O'BRIEN not sell Topaz in 2015

sideboard

ButtersSuki wrote: »

Are you aware of the fees the presenter charges?
Are you aware of the tax rate he pays on these (having set up a one man company so he can pay corporation tax on these same fees)?
Are you aware of his utter hypocrisy regarding a wide range of matters but especially re. the publishing of his book in Germany after repeatedly criticising Irish political parties for printing their posters outside of the state?
Are you aware of his shameless plugging of his book, and his constant implication that the profits from same we're going to charity (when they were not)?

Need I go on? Trust me, there's an awful lot more.

Is that Donald??? Saint Donald???

Red Kev

"The Wexford Motorway ".

That'll be news to the good citizens of Wexford.

Dan Jaman

I've got a real pain in my hole listening to this.
Can I get a new battery, Joe?

PeterTheNinth

I'd say D'Arcy will love him for that.

vicwatson

Why are all RTÉ staff calling it HB Ink I/0 HP Ink, or is it just a D4 thing?

McDermotX

Rock Lesnar wrote: »

Say no to lotto

That reminds me.....have to do the lotto tonight.

/drops 600 quid

Fujitsu10

Darcy's soup that he had for his lunch... I'm on the edge of me seat, go on tell us all about it Ray. AAHHhh

Johnnio13

didn't have a lot of money growing up.
Sure there was 19 of them in the house.

ButtersSuki

sideboard wrote: »

Is that Donald??? Saint Donald???

Stunning comeback there, well done!

And you ignored the substantive part of the post.

djemba djemba

Ever the professional Joe got the plug in for Liveline: Callback

sideboard

ButtersSuki wrote: »

Are you aware of the fees the presenter charges?
Are you aware of the tax rate he pays on these (having set up a one man company so he can pay corporation tax on these same fees)?
Are you aware of his utter hypocrisy regarding a wide range of matters but especially re. the publishing of his book in Germany after repeatedly criticising Irish political parties for printing their posters outside of the state?
Are you aware of his shameless plugging of his book, and his constant implication that the profits from same we're going to charity (when they were not)?

Need I go on? Trust me, there's an awful lot more.

sideboard wrote: »

Is that Donald??? Saint Donald???

ButtersSuki wrote: »

Stunning comeback there, well done!

And you ignored the substantive part of the post.

ButtersSuki,

firstly, you are quite right, I did ignore the substantive part of your response and I have no excuse so please accept my apology for my rudeness if only for the time you took to enlighten me.

I deserved the flame.

My unacceptable response was initially fired by the 'trust me' that was at the end of your piece and I could hear the excessive use of that expression by one D Trump (if not him by 'carpet salesmen' that used to frequent this area - by the way, where have they gone? - back from rambling).

On the substantive part, I cannot argue one way or the other if you are correct in your assertions. Do you have first hand information - or have you read it somewhere? For the little radio experience I may have had, I know enough that if I cannot prove any information conclusively, then all I am doing is slandering off some innocent individual (even those on €400,000) by repeating such stuff. So forgive me if I am reluctant to readily accept all you say, but I am interested in how verifiable your information is, so pm me if not for general consumption.

I may not be JD's biggest fan, but he is where he is and by all measureable evidence (jnlr) is doing the business, so on that level, I cannot knock the man, nor what he is doing for voiceless sections of our communities. There are plenty of other platforms open to all to 'do a better job', despite the knockers I read on this thread. If it was as easy-peasy as some here seem to think, then good luck to them when they make their first million, but we both know the 'dead-ducks' around here couldn't script an ad, let alone do the business like Liveline.

dxhound2005

vicwatson wrote: »

Why are all RTÉ staff calling it HB Ink I/0 HP Ink, or is it just a D4 thing?

It's a human thing. If you pronounce P on its own you will notice the release of air that happens, and which doesn't happen if you pronounce B on its own. But in normal speech the release of air can disappear as the next part of speech is sounded, thus making it sound more like B.

The same happens with T before a vowel starting the next word, making it sound like D in normal speech. If you say Boards Dot ie in a sentence it will sound like Boards Dod Ie.

Unless you are very careful to pause and sound the P or T as if they are stand alone. Which I wouldn't expect from anyone.

Anyway you must have ears like a hawk.

Red Kev

sideboard wrote: »

ButtersSuki,


On the substantive part, I cannot argue one way or the other if you are correct in your assertions. Do you have first hand information - or have you read it somewhere? For the little radio experience I may have had, I know enough that if I cannot prove any information conclusively, then all I am doing is slandering off some innocent individual (even those on €400,000) by repeating such stuff. So forgive me if I am reluctant to readily accept all you say, but I am interested in how verifiable your information is, so pm me if not for general consumption.

His wages: http://www.irishmirror.ie/showbiz/irish-showbiz/joe-duffy-remains-silent-over-7876681

His company; he doesn't work directly for RTE, he works for a company called Claddaghgreen, which works for RTE, he owns the company with his wife, so he gets plenty of benefits out of this and doesn;t pay near the tax that he should; There's about a quarter of a million inthere in cash, somebody here got the accounts http://www.solocheck.ie/Irish-Company/Claddaghgreen-Limited-185841

Check the address out BTW, houses there cost well over €800,000. He has a Jaguar XF as well.

The book is printed in Germany by Hachette, a French company. Have a look at the inside page of the book the next time you see it on a shelf. There's a photo here of it somewhere as well.

He got a €50,000 tax break for the book, list from Revenue is here: http://www.revenue.ie/en/tax/it/leaflets/artists-exemption-section-195-1997-act.html He also got one for his autobiography "Just Joe". The exemption has to be granted, you don't just walk up there and get one automatically.

You'll have to believe us when we say that the book was plugged relentlessly by himself and RTE staff for months from mid 2015 till after the Easter Rising.

Dan Jaman

dxhound2005 wrote: »

It's a human thing. If you pronounce P on its own you will notice the release of air that happens, and which doesn't happen if you pronounce B on its own. But in normal speech the release of air can disappear as the next part of speech is sounded, thus making it sound more like B.

The same happens with T before a vowel starting the next word, making it sound like D in normal speech. If you say Boards Dot ie in a sentence it will sound like Boards Dod Ie.

Unless you are very careful to pause and sound the P or T as if they are stand alone. Which I wouldn't expect from anyone.

Anyway you must have ears like a hawk.

I also heard that weird pronunciation; just sloppiness on the part of employees of the National Broadcaster, who you would expect to know better.

dxhound2005

Dan Jaman wrote: »

I also heard that weird pronunciation; just sloppiness on the part of employees of the National Broadcaster, who you would expect to know better.

Stay away from the BBC in that case. They do this sort of stuff all the time. I just heard a woman on BBC TV saying Sue Bream Court. And instead of Going to they more often than not say Gonna.

I don't think weird is a proper designation for this phenomenon. Weird means strange / bizarre. To me it is quite normal.

sligojoek

Dan Jaman wrote: »

I also heard that weird pronunciation; just sloppiness on the part of employees of the National Broadcaster, who you would expect to know better.

Mary Wilson has to be the worst. She pronounces British as Brishish. Not with a soft T in the middle but a full on BriSH ish. It's a T Mary not an SH.

Don't get me started on her Depushy polishical edishor.

Dan Jaman

dxhound2005 wrote: »

Stay away from the BBC in that case. They do this sort of stuff all the time. I just heard a woman on BBC TV saying Sue Bream Court. And instead of Going to they more often than not say Gonna.

Yep; standards have slipped beyond repair over there.

I don't think weird is a proper designation for this phenomenon. Weird means strange / bizarre. To me it is quite normal.

Making a B out of a P is odd. I thought I had misheard it from two reporters, to the point where I was sure they were actually talking about some company called HB. It became clearer when someone who could actually pronounce the letters came on and called it what it really is.

sligojoek wrote: »

Mary Wilson has to be the worst. She pronounces British as Brishish. Not with a soft T in the middle but a full on BriSH ish. It's a T Mary not an SH.

Don't get me started on her Depushy polishical edishor.

Probably under the mistaken impression that sounding like she's wearing cheap dentures is somehow cool.

sligojoek

I may not be JD's biggest fan, but he is where he is and by all measureable evidence (jnlr) is doing the business, so on that level, I cannot knock the man, nor what he is doing for voiceless sections of our communities. There are plenty of other platforms open to all to 'do a better job', despite the knockers I read on this thread. If it was as easy-peasy as some here seem to think, then good luck to them when they make their first million, but we both know the 'dead-ducks' around here couldn't script an ad, let alone do the business like Liveline.[/QUOTE]

All has to be is there. ie on the radio.

Anytime Im in anyones house around here its usually Ocean FM (Radio Redneck) Radio 1 or Today/i104 in that order.

I'd love to see the figures from when full time host, Philip Boucher Hayes, is on.

sideboard

Red Kev wrote: »

His wages: http://www.irishmirror.ie/showbiz/irish-showbiz/joe-duffy-remains-silent-over-7876681

His company; he doesn't work directly for RTE, he works for a company called Claddaghgreen, which works for RTE, he owns the company with his wife, so he gets plenty of benefits out of this and doesn;t pay near the tax that he should; There's about a quarter of a million inthere in cash, somebody here got the accounts http://www.solocheck.ie/Irish-Company/Claddaghgreen-Limited-185841

Check the address out BTW, houses there cost well over €800,000. He has a Jaguar XF as well.

The book is printed in Germany by Hachette, a French company. Have a look at the inside page of the book the next time you see it on a shelf. There's a photo here of it somewhere as well.

He got a €50,000 tax break for the book, list from Revenue is here: http://www.revenue.ie/en/tax/it/leaflets/artists-exemption-section-195-1997-act.html He also got one for his autobiography "Just Joe". The exemption has to be granted, you don't just walk up there and get one automatically.

You'll have to believe us when we say that the book was plugged relentlessly by himself and RTE staff for months from mid 2015 till after the Easter Rising.

Hi Kev,

this is exactly what I was afraid of - taking 'red-top' papers as validity for anything. Their history is full of taking an element of truth and 'churning' out a salable story regardless of the consequences for their target.
Let me give you my interpretation of the 'red-top' story: It is not unusual for anyone/entity, once they see or believe that they have a 'commercial' product, to try to exploit that to the maximum - I do this in my enterprise for example. Like, Joe, I have created a company and operate my business through that. Also like Joe (i'm sure), I pay my full income tax like any income earner on what my company pays me. But my company can/must earn even more money to pay for extra things to run my business or act as a shelter for times that are not productive to stay in operation. I hope you agree all is above board up to now.
I supply my customers with a service for which I get paid, as I'm sure Joe is supplying RTE with his company's service and like me - both parties seem to doing well, regardless of what you, Kev or I think of them. I see nothing wrong in this arrangement whilst jnlr figures remain as they do for this program.
Joe must be doing much better in his business than I am if he can afford an €800.000 house…but if he is doing the business, why not? Woiuld you too not live in a house and drive a car that you feel you are earning….and we can all see in public, that he is doing the business, so I say Good Luck to him and to you, me or anyone else who gets away from negativity and gets out to make a life for themselves.
On the book, it struck me a necessary piece of our history that up to now had never been told. Any of us on this site/forum or thread could have availed of the same revenue break, if we were minded to do so….and it is the sort of book that all radio stations should be publicizing as it is our history. How many stations would stop their 'money-making' enterprise to enlighten their listeners and the behest of changing their format? Btw, I doubt if this book made a single cent for anyone as history books are not generally in the money-making side of publication.
I am not JD fan and if I had a say in his earlier days, would have tried to encourage him into production or technical side of radio, but isn't it great when we get our smart ar£e kicked when we are proven wrong?

sideboard

sligojoek wrote: »

Mary Wilson has to be the worst. She pronounces British as Brishish. Not with a soft T in the middle but a full on BriSH ish. It's a T Mary not an SH.

Don't get me started on her Depushy polishical edishor.

You don't let anyone down with your acute hearing...must listen into your programme for precise diction. When/where you on and I'll move the dial...:rolleyes:

sideboard

sligojoek wrote: »

I may not be JD's biggest fan, but he is where he is and by all measureable evidence (jnlr) is doing the business, so on that level, I cannot knock the man, nor what he is doing for voiceless sections of our communities. There are plenty of other platforms open to all to 'do a better job', despite the knockers I read on this thread. If it was as easy-peasy as some here seem to think, then good luck to them when they make their first million, but we both know the 'dead-ducks' around here couldn't script an ad, let alone do the business like Liveline.

All has to be is there. ie on the radio.

Anytime Im in anyones house around here its usually Ocean FM (Radio Redneck) Radio 1 or Today/i104 in that order.

I'd love to see the figures from when full time host, Philip Boucher Hayes, is on.[/QUOTE]

Sideboard response: - 'Sorry Sligojerk, can't make head nor tail of what your getting at...maybe it is past your best time?"

sligojoek

sideboard wrote: »

sligojoek wrote: »

Mary Wilson has to be the worst. She pronounces British as Brishish. Not with a soft T in the middle but a full on BriSH ish. It's a T Mary not an SH.

Don't get me started on her Depushy polishical edishor.

You don't let anyone down with your acute hearing...must listen into your programme for precise diction. When/where you on and I'll move the dial...:rolleyes:

I don't get paid to speak in public. If I did I'd make sure to do it properly.

sligojoek

sideboard wrote: »

All has to be is there. ie on the radio.

Anytime Im in anyones house around here its usually Ocean FM (Radio Redneck) Radio 1 or Today/i104 in that order.

I'd love to see the figures from when full time host, Philip Boucher Hayes, is on.

Sideboard response: - 'Sorry Sligojerk, can't make head nor tail of what your getting at...maybe it is past your best time?"[/QUOTE]

If you can't be civil don't bother engaging with me at all. Go back and run your business and stop stalking me.

ButtersSuki

sideboard wrote: »

ButtersSuki,

firstly, you are quite right, I did ignore the substantive part of your response and I have no excuse so please accept my apology for my rudeness if only for the time you took to enlighten me.

I deserved the flame.

My unacceptable response was initially fired by the 'trust me' that was at the end of your piece and I could hear the excessive use of that expression by one D Trump (if not him by 'carpet salesmen' that used to frequent this area - by the way, where have they gone? - back from rambling).

On the substantive part, I cannot argue one way or the other if you are correct in your assertions. Do you have first hand information - or have you read it somewhere? For the little radio experience I may have had, I know enough that if I cannot prove any information conclusively, then all I am doing is slandering off some innocent individual (even those on €400,000) by repeating such stuff. So forgive me if I am reluctant to readily accept all you say, but I am interested in how verifiable your information is, so pm me if not for general consumption.

I may not be JD's biggest fan, but he is where he is and by all measureable evidence (jnlr) is doing the business, so on that level, I cannot knock the man, nor what he is doing for voiceless sections of our communities. There are plenty of other platforms open to all to 'do a better job', despite the knockers I read on this thread. If it was as easy-peasy as some here seem to think, then good luck to them when they make their first million, but we both know the 'dead-ducks' around here couldn't script an ad, let alone do the business like Liveline.

Red Kev wrote: »

His wages: http://www.irishmirror.ie/showbiz/irish-showbiz/joe-duffy-remains-silent-over-7876681

His company; he doesn't work directly for RTE, he works for a company called Claddaghgreen, which works for RTE, he owns the company with his wife, so he gets plenty of benefits out of this and doesn;t pay near the tax that he should; There's about a quarter of a million inthere in cash, somebody here got the accounts http://www.solocheck.ie/Irish-Company/Claddaghgreen-Limited-185841

Check the address out BTW, houses there cost well over €800,000. He has a Jaguar XF as well.

The book is printed in Germany by Hachette, a French company. Have a look at the inside page of the book the next time you see it on a shelf. There's a photo here of it somewhere as well.

He got a €50,000 tax break for the book, list from Revenue is here: http://www.revenue.ie/en/tax/it/leaflets/artists-exemption-section-195-1997-act.html He also got one for his autobiography "Just Joe". The exemption has to be granted, you don't just walk up there and get one automatically.

You'll have to believe us when we say that the book was plugged relentlessly by himself and RTE staff for months from mid 2015 till after the Easter Rising.

Sideboard, you're relatively new here so I'll cut you some slack. On the surface the things you say about him appear to stack up, it is only when subjected to further scrutiny that the cracks appear in the facade.

I don't have time right now to write a full line by line reply to your questions but I will say the following:
1. RedKev has answered a lot of your questions already and with links to the source material
2. If you'd really like to trawl through my many thousands of posts you will see I have provided all the required evidence (with links)and backed up almost everything I have said about the charlatan - I've probably been the most vocal person on the thread in pointing out the gross hypocrisy of the man

One thing I do take issue with however is your assertion (and I'm paraphrasing here) that the show pays for itself. It absolutely does not. I'm on mobile right now so can't post the links, but if you look up the RTE Radio Rate Card (freely available if you search on google) you will see (from memory) a 30 second ad slot on RTE Radio 1 during Lahv Lahn costs approx. €1350. That's the rate card - no-one pays that. Discounts vary by media buying source/outlet and you'd likely pay somewhere between €700-900 for that slot. That's all well and good, but as I pointed out only days ago, there are regularly shows where the only ads are for RTE ventures, i.e. not a single paid advertiser has contributed any revenue to the show during broadcast. And as I have pointed out frequently, these RTE ads don't just magically appear, they require a team of people to write them, record them, produce them etc...therefore they're a cost, not revenue.

The show has no sponsor and is considered a "no go" by media buyers when offered the entity by RTE. Why? Because no-one (apart from Joe it seems) loves misery. Equally, the way he frequently attacks businesses on air is not seem as an attractive proposition for a sponsor to be associated with. That said, the previous sponsor of the show seem to have bought his silence through their sponsorship as the host conveniently ignored a topic that involved the sponsor which would have been the perfect material for the show. The show does not come anywhere near even break-even point from an advertising revenue standpoint. Media buyers throughout Dublin will advise their clients not to advertise on Lahv Lahn despite the (reported) listenership figures.

The show has a backroom team of 4 producers - 4 - for a 75minute show - AND a team of researchers. Philip Boucher Hayes lists himself on his bio on the RTE website as "the full-time host of Liveline". I would conservatively estimate that when you add in further additional crew members (sound engineers etc.) the show costs in excess of €1m a year - all at the taxpayers expense.

And yet all of that may even in some eyes be forgivable/excusable (not by me I might add, but some) were it not for the arrogance and ignorance of the host. On more than one occasion the self-appointed Doctor Duffy has administered "advice" (I'm using that term loosely) to people who needed professional medical and/or psychological help and instead were given what could best be described as unhelpful and at worst dangerous counsel from the host.

And this is before I even talk about his inexcusable and repeated defence of drink driving/drink drivers, his inexcusable and repeated defence of certain Fianna Fail politicians, his on-air of bullying of anyone who dares to have a different opinion than his own (there's been numerous occasions where he's completely lost it and shouted at callers) and the omnishambles that is the comedic event named "Funny Friday" (which essentially is a knees up for Joe and his cronies and an excuse for them all to charge the state broadcaster fees for a gig they otherwise would not have). None of these are laughing matters - esp. Funny Friday. And you know the worst part of all of this? I'm only scratching the surface on the list of his faults. We haven't even yet come on to his hypocrisy or regular flip flopping on issues, which I don't have time to discuss right now. He is a man of limited intellect and a smaller vocabulary who is in way over his head when discussing anything other than why the 123B to Marino was late this morning.

Re. the JNLR the figures - a lot of that is from listener inertia after the news. Also, if you look more widely in the Radio Forum you'll see a lot of discussion on how the JNLR is compiled. It is not the objective measure you think and has many, many critics from within the industry.

And re. your easy as it looks etc. comment. No-one has ever handed me a job for which i was unqualified for on National radio through cronyism. I could host De Lahv Lahn in its current guise in my sleep, but it would be an altogether different show - one that would be immeasurably more professional.

For the purposes of clarity, I work part-time in academia and part-time in media/marketing (hence why I know so much about the topic), and I have complained to both RTE and the BAI regarding the host on numerous occasions.

As I said on the phone right now so can't post links, but if you look more closely you'll see that the Emperor has no clothes.

Dan Jaman

sideboard wrote: »

<snip bollox>
but isn't it great when we get our smart ar£e kicked when we are proven wrong?

I am glad to see you are of the masochistic type then, because you will enjoy learning about Joe.

pilly

Jaysus, it was all fun and games. What happened?

somesoldiers

pilly wrote: »

Jaysus, it was all fun and games. What happened?

Dissention in the ranks

Red Kev

sideboard wrote: »

Hi Kev,

this is exactly what I was afraid of - taking 'red-top' papers as validity for anything. Their history is full of taking an element of truth and 'churning' out a salable story regardless of the consequences for their target.
Let me give you my interpretation of the 'red-top' story: It is not unusual for anyone/entity, once they see or believe that they have a 'commercial' product, to try to exploit that to the maximum - I do this in my enterprise for example. Like, Joe, I have created a company and operate my business through that. Also like Joe (i'm sure), I pay my full income tax like any income earner on what my company pays me. But my company can/must earn even more money to pay for extra things to run my business or act as a shelter for times that are not productive to stay in operation. I hope you agree all is above board up to now.
I supply my customers with a service for which I get paid, as I'm sure Joe is supplying RTE with his company's service and like me - both parties seem to doing well, regardless of what you, Kev or I think of them. I see nothing wrong in this arrangement whilst jnlr figures remain as they do for this program.
Joe must be doing much better in his business than I am if he can afford an €800.000 house…but if he is doing the business, why not? Woiuld you too not live in a house and drive a car that you feel you are earning….and we can all see in public, that he is doing the business, so I say Good Luck to him and to you, me or anyone else who gets away from negativity and gets out to make a life for themselves.
On the book, it struck me a necessary piece of our history that up to now had never been told. Any of us on this site/forum or thread could have availed of the same revenue break, if we were minded to do so….and it is the sort of book that all radio stations should be publicizing as it is our history. How many stations would stop their 'money-making' enterprise to enlighten their listeners and the behest of changing their format? Btw, I doubt if this book made a single cent for anyone as history books are not generally in the money-making side of publication.
I am not JD fan and if I had a say in his earlier days, would have tried to encourage him into production or technical side of radio, but isn't it great when we get our smart ar£e kicked when we are proven wrong?

OK, the "red-top" link to his wages is available elsewhere: https://www.rte.ie/entertainment/2016/0315/775071-rte/ The Mirror one was the first up, so I picked that.

As regards your point as to whether Liveline makes money; I doubt it. Butterssuki has put up a few valid points regarding it. I'd also add that the 400,000 listeners are not exactly in the socio-economic demographic that is desired by advertisers. The listeners are for a large part elderly or not working, so not attractive.

400,000 listeners isn't a guarantee of quality either. The Sun is the largest selling paper in the UK, the News of the World used to be the largest selling Sunday paper. Both of them are well known for their cheap, nasty, trashy tabloid lies and rumours. So, no. It isn't a guarantee of listeners. Here's the latest graph for radio, listenership picks up for the News at One, then drops off significantly for the hour afterwards. (Source in link)

http://www.ilevel.ie/media-blog/radio/102865-jnlr-2016q1-national-listenership


My biggest issue with Duffy is how two faced he is. He claims to be a socialist and man of the people; (it could be argued as he is permanently saying this that he feels inside that he isn't); but he lives off an enormous public service wage, which he refused to cut during the recession whilst at the same time roaring at the government about cutbacks.

He lays into Apple, Facebook and others for paying almost no taxes; (and though this may be morally wrong, they are all behaving in a completely legal manner); yet he has no problem with using the same tax structures to increase his own income significantly.

He rants against wealthy people living in riches, yet has an expensive house here, a holiday home in the south of France and drives a Jaguar. He rants against things like private education, yet sent his kids to €6,000 a year schools. he rants against private patients skipping queues, yet availed of the same services when he broke his leg a number of years ago.

And that brings me to the main point; Joe Duffy is an broadcaster with RTE. As such he is bound by the Broadcasting Act to act in an impartial and unbiased manner, which he rarely does. He takes sides, on moral, social and political issues (his rants against Donald Trump being of note lately). As such he is wiping his arse with the laws of the land.

If he wants to use a programme as a personal pulpit to preach to the gallery, then by all means join a private radio station like Newstalk or Today FM, but not on the taxpayer funded state broadcaster.

He is unfair, aggressive, shouts people down, allows lies and mistruths to be represented as fact and as pointed out above has often used the programme in a nepotisitc fashion to promote his friends and colleagues.

The original idea of Liveline was conceived in the "Womens Hour" programme of the 1980's and was developed by Marian Finucane as a programme where we the listeners had our say. In the past few years the programme has repeatedly featured material that is of interest to Joe Duffy and is not dictated by the listeners (A 79th birthday special for Syl Fox being a highlight). Witness the amount of times that he has friends on, or programmes where he rings people for their opinion, happily ignoring the listeners, ringing in trying to give their opinion, which is the whole actual point of the show. It's disrespectful at the very least.

I'll wrap this up by referencing something that happenend a few months ago (August 2016) and coincidentally was mentioned this morning on RTE; the Pat Hickey affair.

When Hickey was initially arrested he was 2a very fit, very tough man", when he was still incarcerated after a couple of days Joe decided he was "a very ill man with a heart condition", he was also " a genuinely lovely man", a "loving grandfather" [Duffy has never met Pat Hickey, but knows this much about him].

Anybody who rang in, to critiscise the OCI had it shouted (yes, shouted) at them repeatedly that the ticket touting that Hickey did "is not a crime in Ireland", conveniently ignoring the fact that it's a crime in Brazil where Hickey was arrested. At the same time he is constantly ranting on against ticket touring in Ireland (U2 and Ed Sheeran in the past couple of weeks alone).

The cherry on the cake was the interview that Duffy conducted with a police chief in Rio de Janiero. It was a pre recorded 15 minute segment, where we the listeners had no right to ask questions or contribute; remember: the programme is supposed to be about us calling in and Duffy is supposed to be the moderator. I've no idea if you heard it as it is Joe Duffy in a nutshell; shouty, arrogant, aggressive, offensive, twisting what the person is saying and losing control against the person he is calling.

the fact that he suggested the Brazilian police should use their guns to threaten a journalist was particularly sickening when you consider that Veronica Guerin was a former employee of RTE and probably worked in that same studio as Joe Duffy.

Link to the conversation is here:
http://www.rte.ie/radio1/liveline/programmes/2016/0825/811944-liveline-thursday-25-august-2016/?clipid=2268545
http://www.rte.ie/radio/utils/radioplayer/rteradioweb.html#!rii=b9%5F21043416%5F53%5F25%2D08%2D2016%5F

sideboard

ButtersSuki wrote: »

Sideboard, you're relatively new here so I'll cut you some slack. On the surface the things you say about him appear to stack up, it is only when subjected to further scrutiny that the cracks appear in the facade.

I don't have time right now to write a full line by line reply to your questions but I will say the following:
1. RedKev has answered a lot of your questions already and with links to the source material
2. If you'd really like to trawl through my many thousands of posts you will see I have provided all the required evidence (with links)and backed up almost everything I have said about the charlatan - I've probably been the most vocal person on the thread in pointing out the gross hypocrisy of the man

One thing I do take issue with however is your assertion (and I'm paraphrasing here) that the show pays for itself. It absolutely does not. I'm on mobile right now so can't post the links, but if you look up the RTE Radio Rate Card (freely available if you search on google) you will see (from memory) a 30 second ad slot on RTE Radio 1 during Lahv Lahn costs approx. €1350. That's the rate card - no-one pays that. Discounts vary by media buying source/outlet and you'd likely pay somewhere between €700-900 for that slot. That's all well and good, but as I pointed out only days ago, there are regularly shows where the only ads are for RTE ventures, i.e. not a single paid advertiser has contributed any revenue to the show during broadcast. And as I have pointed out frequently, these RTE ads don't just magically appear, they require a team of people to write them, record them, produce them etc...therefore they're a cost, not revenue.

The show has no sponsor and is considered a "no go" by media buyers when offered the entity by RTE. Why? Because no-one (apart from Joe it seems) loves misery. Equally, the way he frequently attacks businesses on air is not seem as an attractive proposition for a sponsor to be associated with. That said, the previous sponsor of the show seem to have bought his silence through their sponsorship as the host conveniently ignored a topic that involved the sponsor which would have been the perfect material for the show. The show does not come anywhere near even break-even point from an advertising revenue standpoint. Media buyers throughout Dublin will advise their clients not to advertise on Lahv Lahn despite the (reported) listenership figures.

The show has a backroom team of 4 producers - 4 - for a 75minute show - AND a team of researchers. Philip Boucher Hayes lists himself on his bio on the RTE website as "the full-time host of Liveline". I would conservatively estimate that when you add in further additional crew members (sound engineers etc.) the show costs in excess of €1m a year - all at the taxpayers expense.

And yet all of that may even in some eyes be forgivable/excusable (not by me I might add, but some) were it not for the arrogance and ignorance of the host. On more than one occasion the self-appointed Doctor Duffy has administered "advice" (I'm using that term loosely) to people who needed professional medical and/or psychological help and instead were given what could best be described as unhelpful and at worst dangerous counsel from the host.

And this is before I even talk about his inexcusable and repeated defence of drink driving/drink drivers, his inexcusable and repeated defence of certain Fianna Fail politicians, his on-air of bullying of anyone who dares to have a different opinion than his own (there's been numerous occasions where he's completely lost it and shouted at callers) and the omnishambles that is the comedic event named "Funny Friday" (which essentially is a knees up for Joe and his cronies and an excuse for them all to charge the state broadcaster fees for a gig they otherwise would not have). None of these are laughing matters - esp. Funny Friday. And you know the worst part of all of this? I'm only scratching the surface on the list of his faults. We haven't even yet come on to his hypocrisy or regular flip flopping on issues, which I don't have time to discuss right now. He is a man of limited intellect and a smaller vocabulary who is in way over his head when discussing anything other than why the 123B to Marino was late this morning.

Re. the JNLR the figures - a lot of that is from listener inertia after the news. Also, if you look more widely in the Radio Forum you'll see a lot of discussion on how the JNLR is compiled. It is not the objective measure you think and has many, many critics from within the industry.

And re. your easy as it looks etc. comment. No-one has ever handed me a job for which i was unqualified for on National radio through cronyism. I could host De Lahv Lahn in its current guise in my sleep, but it would be an altogether different show - one that would be immeasurably more professional.

For the purposes of clarity, I work part-time in academia and part-time in media/marketing (hence why I know so much about the topic), and I have complained to both RTE and the BAI regarding the host on numerous occasions.

As I said on the phone right now so can't post links, but if you look more closely you'll see that the Emperor has no clothes.

Thanks once again ButtersSuki, your analysis (above) is extensive and I can easily understand that you are going some distance to give me your perspective. I wish too that I had more time to be a more regular contributor.

I am relatively new to taking to Boards, gleam more often though.

As an academic, I take it that you have more info than that profered by Red Kev, but didn't find 'hard evidence' in his post to convince me otherwise (you above all should know 'red-top' papers are not serious stuff). As someone in the media area, you must also know that you must have 'primary' information - is this in your posts and could you give me pointers please - to back up your claims.

As I read down through your post, I think I am beginning to understand how we are approaching this issue from different viewpoints. A lot of your post concentrates on the money, either marketeers buying slots or th overall RTE stream of income for this slot. Funnily enough, I see the program, firstly as Public Broadcasting - giving a platform to voiceless citizens (and I don't mean to belittle anyone by that), and/or raising to a national audience, issues of a wider public concern. Neither of these issues are areas of 'money-spinning' broadcasting (Nor should they be), this in my view is real Public Broadcasting and the spirit of. That RTE can command such a large audience justifies to us, as taxpayers, just why we need this type of radio and long may it live!!

Also, somewhere in the furthest parts of my recall, I think I learned that JD studied Social Science - not an area to become a 'quick-rich merchant'. This is an area where there is great empathy with others…and for all of his failings, he seems to have brought that onto the national airwaves. I wish we could be a little more empathetic to someone in the public eye.