RTÉ announce restructuring plans [MOD WARNING POST #5 PLEASE READ]

Long_Wave

SPDUB wrote: »

They're not closing the DAB network until April

I bet ya they won't close dab at all either.

watty

The RTE DAB is a duplication of Saorview. Saorview has better coverage and an addon USB stick (phone, tablet, laptop, Android, Mac, Windows) is under €10.

I'd say the extra "digital stations" are a fraction of the cost of DAB transmission.
The maddest ideas were the sell off The Guide (should be making profit), closing Aertel and moving Lyric (a cost and no real saving unless the plan was to close or automate).

They need a cap on "presenter" / "RTE Celeb" pay and drastically reduce number of managers. Stop naming radio shows after people.

dulpit

watty wrote: »

The maddest ideas were the sell off The Guide (should be making profit)

Should it? In the age of DVR and catch up TV is there a place for the RTÉ Guide?

Elmo

dulpit wrote: »

Should it? In the age of DVR and catch up TV is there a place for the RTÉ Guide?

If its making money, there is no real reason to close it, but if it isn't making money then it would be time to move on.

It's also a great free marketing tool for RTÉ, so RTÉ would also have to examine how much they spend on marketing and if there would be a likely increase in such cost if they stopped publishing the RTÉ Guide.

I'd put in a section for the player, shows coming up on the player, release dates and shows going from the player today.

watty

dulpit wrote: »

Should it? In the age of DVR and catch up TV is there a place for the RTÉ Guide?

I think people buy it mainly as a magazine. It's not needed for listings.

Personally I used to use Digiguide, but I've not renewed for years and almost entirely replaced TV with reading books, writing books and the occasional DVD.

AwaitYourReply

Long_Wave wrote: »

I bet ya they won't close dab at all either.

I would be inclined to agree. RTÉ tends to make dramatic announcements, similar to an exercise in "kite-flying" and then they tweak it after internal & external opposition and then a decision is eventually made to order a major review into the whole process which will go on and the final result will be delayed.

Elmo

AwaitYourReply wrote: »

I would be inclined to agree. RTÉ tends to make dramatic announcements, similar to an exercise in "kite-flying" and then they tweak it after internal & external opposition and then a decision is eventually made to order a major review into the whole process which will go on and the final result will be delayed.

This is no way to run a company.

AwaitYourReply

Elmo wrote: »

This is no way to run a company.

I would have to agree with you.

That said, maybe RTÉ like the Health Service Executive are crippled by so many vested interests that it cannot be clinical in how it goes about implementing major rationalisation & change even if and when it's required in order to secure it's own survival into the future.

I think the BBC across the water suffers a very similar dilemma whereas, the likes of commercial operators like Virgin Media Television (ex-TV3 Group), ITV, Sky can force through change a lot faster as they are essentially private commercial entities.

I want RTÉ to be successful but I dislike the public image it portrays especially in recent years with shows like: Dancing With The Stars, The Ray D'Arcy Show, The Late Late Show, Operation Transformation etc; The promo & marketing is nauseating at times. The massaging of egos and a clique of personalities being interviewed over & over again is boring and very repetitive for tv viewers & radio listeners.

RTÉ needs to welcome some brand new talent (not nepotism led) in different age segments from outside the usual RTÉ/Dublin 4 pool and give new fresh talent a chance to get their foot in the door and then nurture & develop those who have some potential to succeed.

Long_Wave

Just 3 weeks after it was announced that the guide was for sale, RTE announced "having considered a number of expressions of interest, none reached a level sufficient to merit a sale of the magazine"... Sure they hadn't even put out an official tender for the sale of magazine.

NIMAN

Whatever happened the financial crisis at RTE?
It seems to have all gone quiet.

I thought Dee Forbes was telling us there would have to be very severe cutbacks......no sign?

hotmail.com

AwaitYourReply wrote: »

I would have to agree with you.

That said, maybe RTÉ like the Health Service Executive are crippled by so many vested interests that it cannot be clinical in how it goes about implementing major rationalisation & change even if and when it's required in order to secure it's own survival into the future.

I think the BBC across the water suffers a very similar dilemma whereas, the likes of commercial operators like Virgin Media Television (ex-TV3 Group), ITV, Sky can force through change a lot faster as they are essentially private commercial entities.

I want RTÉ to be successful but I dislike the public image it portrays especially in recent years with shows like: Dancing With The Stars, The Ray D'Arcy Show, The Late Late Show, Operation Transformation etc; The promo & marketing is nauseating at times. The massaging of egos and a clique of personalities being interviewed over & over again is boring and very repetitive for tv viewers & radio listeners.

RTÉ needs to welcome some brand new talent (not nepotism led) in different age segments from outside the usual RTÉ/Dublin 4 pool and give new fresh talent a chance to get their foot in the door and then nurture & develop those who have some potential to succeed.

They continually dismiss the issue of pay of the top presenters as a nothing issue. That's it's just a bunch of begrudgers.

But the recent deaths of Gay Byrne and Marian Funicane in particular showed the real disdain for the amount paid to RTE presenters. It has really damaged the reputation of the station.

Joe Duffy being paid vast sums for 75 minutes a day, a programme that doesn't require much preparation.

Stuff like this just irritates people and RTE still refuses to address it.

AwaitYourReply

hotmail.com wrote: »

They continually dismiss the issue of pay of the top presenters as a nothing issue. That's it's just a bunch of begrudgers.

But the recent deaths of Gay Byrne and Marian Funicane in particular showed the real disdain for the amount paid to RTE presenters. It has really damaged the reputation of the station.

Joe Duffy being paid vast sums for 75 minutes a day, a programme that doesn't require much preparation.

Stuff like this just irritates people and RTE still refuses to address it.

The high pay levels are always a cause for concern - of course I recognise that they should be paid accordingly but there must be other ways to commend a uniquely skilled broadcaster once they hit a certain pay ceiling. They probably have to abide by existing contracts but in the real world, if the money is gone, the contract cannot be paid but this does not apply for some at RTÉ! I appreciate that NOT all working at RTÉ are treated so generously so I'm not getting at this cohort at all as I would suspect it probably irritates any of those staff on low pay and on insecure terms too.

It just seems RTÉ as an organisation expect praise from the public because it's "top stars" took some big cuts in recent times - the point was those crazy salaries also played a part in RTÉ's dire financial situation along with a drop in TV Licence Fee revenue, drop in commercial advertising, a less lucrative RTÉ Guide magazine, a less lucrative 2FM etc;

I would share similar concerns with high levels of pay some politicians, former ministers and so on enjoys excellent pay & benefits while they decide when Irish taxpayers can receive the state pension which is much later than the politicians. They'll say it's due to them working in a precarious profession which is all very fine although; many of them have other ongoing financial interests on the side. They can have it every way it would seem which is unfair.

It has never made sense to me that the office of An Taoiseach is apparently paid notably more than the President of the United States or UK Prime Minister. Even if you allow for the fact that they have their own private residences during office, these are much bigger countries with significantly bigger populations. Something very odd about how similar occupation roles are paid rather high in this country in comparison with bigger more powerful states.

AwaitYourReply

NIMAN wrote: »

Whatever happened the financial crisis at RTE?
It seems to have all gone quiet.

I thought Dee Forbes was telling us there would have to be very severe cutbacks......no sign?

"RTÉ locked in pay talks with unions opposed to salary freeze"

This was the headline for a story published in the Irish Independent on 1st February, 2020

"RTÉ is locked in talks with union representatives as it tries to thrash out the finer details of a salary restructuring plan in a bid to save €60m over three years.

Negotiations have been centred on the issue of salary increments.

RTÉ management says that given the company's current financial circumstances, it is not possible to pay them to staff members entitled to their annual increases.

However, the Trade Union Group (TUG) has said that non-payment of salary increments is "not acceptable" to its members.

It added that the current proposal being put forward is "inequitable".

Talks continued this week between RTÉ management and the TUG on counter-proposals put forward by the union, but both sides failed to reach a resolution.

A union source said that the talks, which are being chaired by former Labour Court chairman Kevin Duffy, will resume next week..."

Full article courtesy Irish Independent
https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/rte-locked-in-pay-talks-with-unions-opposed-to-salary-freeze-38916207.html

AwaitYourReply

Long_Wave wrote: »

Just 3 weeks after it was announced that the guide was for sale, RTE announced "having considered a number of expressions of interest, none reached a level sufficient to merit a sale of the magazine"... Sure they hadn't even put out an official tender for the sale of magazine.

Looking back I think the RTÉ Guide magazine used be regarded as Ireland's biggest selling magazine at one point although; RTÉ would have once had a monopoly for national TV & Radio broadcast stations in the state and it also had a monopoly in the advance publication of TV Listings for many years. I think it was a similar situation in the UK for many years with BBC and it's "Radio Times" magazine V's ITV+Channel 4 and it's "TV Times" magazine.

In the UK, you had to have the "Radio Times" to access BBC tv & radio station listings and the "TV Times" for both ITV regions & Channel 4 tv station listings. Later this changed and both magazine publications along with other generic versions were allowed to carry all stations programme listings. Once this happened the game was up for BBC/ITV/Channel 4 in UK and the same eventually happened here in Ireland with the RTÉ Guide. We used only get the RTÉ Guide in our house at Christmas time for the bumper double issue!

Jpmarn

The Late Late Show programme this Friday night went out with a wauful lack of definition. Was there an inexperienced crew working the show tonight ahead of election weekend which will require huge resources.
My rant on RTÉ Gold is nearly all the shows are gone. It is only Will Leahy and Rick O'Shea left on the weekday schedule. I miss the Classic Album and Classic Chart Countdown with the now Late Larry Gogan RIP.

watty

AwaitYourReply wrote: »

The high pay levels are always a cause for concern - of course I recognise that they should be paid accordingly but there must be other ways to commend a uniquely skilled broadcaster once they hit a certain pay ceiling.

It's news to me that any couldn't be adequately replaced by a media studies student. One radio newsreader sounds like he never used an autocue, or he is being fed cards changing in the middle of sentences.

Then more advert than weather in the Radio news. Far too much distracting jingles and adverts in the Morning & Evening RTE 1 Radio news, that it's impossible to concentrate on the content.

Also most of these highly paid names are merely presenters following a script or able to chatter on a phone in.

"Uniquely Skilled"? Yet they argue that without the high pay the Independents or BBC, ITV, etc would entice them away. Well, let them go and stop naming shows after people.
Stop with the franchises, voyeur, reality and other copies of UK, USA and Italian TV. Some real drama, documentaries, local culture, local music and local sport.

We have no shortage of real writers, musicians, sportspeople, journalists and experts in every field outside of RTE. Instead they seem determined to create in house celebrities and copy all the worst aspects of US & UK TV, which unlike the 1970s is available nationwide. Satellite, Cable and Broadband.

Unlike UPC (Virgin is a rented UK brand) they are our State Broadcaster, funded by a tax on TV reception even if you never watch or listen.

STB.

Holy shít. Good to see you back Watty.

The Cush

STB. wrote: »

Holy shít. Good to see you back Watty.

+1

Had even checked Rip.ie over the years to see it your name had popped up

AwaitYourReply

watty wrote: »

It's news to me that any couldn't be adequately replaced by a media studies student. One radio newsreader sounds like he never used an autocue, or he is being fed cards changing in the middle of sentences.

Then more advert than weather in the Radio news. Far too much distracting jingles and adverts in the Morning & Evening RTE 1 Radio news, that it's impossible to concentrate on the content.

Also most of these highly paid names are merely presenters following a script or able to chatter on a phone in.

"Uniquely Skilled"? Yet they argue that without the high pay the Independents or BBC, ITV, etc would entice them away. Well, let them go and stop naming shows after people.
Stop with the franchises, voyeur, reality and other copies of UK, USA and Italian TV. Some real drama, documentaries, local culture, local music and local sport.

We have no shortage of real writers, musicians, sportspeople, journalists and experts in every field outside of RTE. Instead they seem determined to create in house celebrities and copy all the worst aspects of US & UK TV, which unlike the 1970s is available nationwide. Satellite, Cable and Broadband.

Unlike UPC (Virgin is a rented UK brand) they are our State Broadcaster, funded by a tax on TV reception even if you never watch or listen.

When I entered my views on the subject, I was thinking of only a select few who were good when they were still in their prime.

I would agree 110% about letting them walk into private commercial operators if they do not accept salary scale on offer going forward at RTÉ. As far as I know Brian Carthy (RTÉ GAA) and Tracey Piggott (RTÉ Racing) among those not retained in their current roles.

I am dumbfounded at how the levels of salaries in Ireland are so much higher than most other developed nations, many of which are substantially larger in terms of economy & population. It's almost as if it's become a cultural thing in Ireland and this bad example is not helped by those working for the establishment.

Our Taoiseach (present & past) get paid more than US President, UK prime minister etc; but when office holders in the past have been challenged, the answer back is often along the lines of, we do not have an official residence or holiday retreat so not a like for like comparison or so they will claim!

saabsaab

Will the new Government review RTE's finances and redevelopment a priority?

Jpmarn

They have already made some cuts in digital radio channels. On a typical weekday on RTÉ Gold up until last Christmas there was about 4 or 5 live programmes on the channel. Now there is only 2 live programmes, Will Leahy for breakfast and Rick O'Shea immediately afterwards. There is nothing on in the afternoon just auto DJ. The late Larry Gogan was never replaced. Gone is Amanda Fennelly, Classic chart countdown and the Classic Album.

Elmo

Jpmarn wrote: »

They have already made some cuts in digital radio channels. On a typical weekday on RTÉ Gold up until last Christmas there was about 4 or 5 live programmes on the channel. Now there is only 2 live programmes, Will Leahy for breakfast and Rick O'Shea immediately afterwards. There is nothing on in the afternoon just auto DJ. The late Larry Gogan was never replaced. Gone is Amanda Fennelly, Classic chart countdown and the Classic Album.

Gold was originally like that, this is not exactly new. Never really understood why the upped the live output on the channel. Will and Rick were just given a place to retire until they are suitable for Radio 1.

AwaitYourReply

Elmo wrote: »

Gold was originally like that, this is not exactly new. Never really understood why the upped the live output on the channel. Will and Rick were just given a place to retire until they are suitable for Radio 1.

Yes, this is what I recall as it was essentially a playlist service with no live presentation input from DJs over the air.

All this reminds me of the "test broadcasts" you often heard ahead of a new station launch such as for example: Century Radio which had it's test broadcasts prior to it's launch in September, 1989. You just heard music and station jingles - no news/no sport/no traffic updates, no commercial breaks and no DJ presenters until the day it launched with a full schedule of programmes including:

Marty Whelan (with John Saunders) on Century's Breakfast Show,
Declan Meehan & Bob Gallico on Drivetime,
The Biggest Jukebox in Ireland (before Simon Young/John Clarke did Ireland's Biggest Jukebox on 2FM) etc;

Looking back, many of Ireland's stations that started broadcasting through the night for the first time used to have live DJs unlike nowadays where it's replaying daytime content. I recall when 2FM had late night shows like Nightrain, Nightrain Extra, Moloney after Midnight, Nightime on 2FM although; RTÉ Radio 1 had "The Irish Collection" with Alf McCarthy at 02:00am introducing programmes first aired during the previous daytime. On Cork's 96FM I think Rob Allen used do the overnight shift for many years.

Back to RTÉ restructuring, some listeners have expressed upset & frustration over plans by RTÉ to close channels like RTÉ Gold and other channels as part of it's digital radio network although; RTÉ has insisted these stations will be closing this year. RTÉ GOLD should replace RTÉ 2fm on 90-92 FM as it would probably explode if older listeners who still enjoy pop/rock music over talk/speech radio content could access it in FM Stereo in the car and on all radio equipment with FM band option. 2fm could survive using an alternative method online/tune in/RTÉ Radio Player/Saorview/Sky digital when RTÉ''s dab trial is shut down.

Today's youth audience will be more inclined to listen via other Online methods through various Apps whereas; a certain cohort of older listeners would have found it difficult to access RTÉ Gold even to date. I reckon there is growth potential with RTÉ Gold going forward if it is available more widely and if there was proper marketing around such a service as it's been starved of funding as no commercial advertising supports any of the current digital-only RTÉ stations since day one. On the other hand, I'm not convinced that there would be as much potential growth on RTÉ 2fm due to the competition from all the local & regional independent radio stations around Ireland.

Sources:
https://www.irishtimes.com/business/media-and-marketing/rt%C3%A9-gold-needs-to-be-saved-listeners-ready-for-action-as-station-axed-1.4178709

https://www.thejournal.ie/rte-gold-listeners-reaction-station-closure-5014013-Feb2020/

political analyst

Shutting down the DAB platform might save some money. But I don't see why the digital-only radio stations could not continue broadcasting on Saorview, Saorsat and digital cable, to be honest.

AwaitYourReply

I'm not sure if figures have ever been published & released in respect of RTÉ's Digital-Only radio stations as shown below here:

RTÉ Choice - no longer broadcasting

RTÉ Gold
RTÉ Radio 1 Extra ( = RTÉ Radio 1 LW 252 kHZ)
RTÉ 2XM
RTÉ pulse
RTÉ junior (RTÉjr)
RTÉ chill

None of the above stations were permitted to carry any commercial advertising from day one so; they have been unable to generate a revenue stream which prevents them from being self-financing unlike other radio stations like RTÉ Radio 1, RTÉ 2fm etc; These RTÉ DAB/Digital-Only radio stations are not marketed or promoted either so; I'm not sure what RTÉ was thinking by letting them go to air on this basis as they were always going to be vulnerable at a time of economic recession not to mention future technological advances and changes to listener habits. There's no public debate on whether any of the Digital-Only stations warrant a lifeline - it's all or nothing which sounds like accountants axing left, right & centre.

When RTÉ Gold closes down later this year, RTÉ Radio 1 will also have to fill a gap in it's current schedule slot: "RTÉ Gold on RTÉ Radio 1" between the hours of either 2:00am or 03:00am until either 05:30am or 06:00am during the very early hours.

Given all of the cutbacks at RTÉ will we find that RTÉ Radio 1 closes down straight after Late Date at 02:00am once RTÉ Gold shuts down permanently?

The last live RTÉ tv news bulletin now ends at 09:30pm most (if not all) nights of the week.
I'm not sure if "Late News Extra" still exists on Friday nights after The Late Late Show anymore?
RTÉ 2 and RTÉ News Now tv stations do not provide live RTÉ News bulletins after 9 O'Clock News which is very poor coverage from Ireland's national public service broadcaster.

Harry Palmr

RTE should be looking to use soarview's soon to be slightly emptier MUX's to get commercial channels on the platform - Today FM, Newstalk, Q102, Cork 103, Red FM, Beat FM, Galway Bay FM, a few others

AwaitYourReply

Harry Palmr wrote: »

RTE should be looking to use soarview's soon to be slightly emptier MUX's to get commercial channels on the platform - Today FM, Newstalk, Q102, Cork 103, Red FM, Beat FM, Galway Bay FM, a few others

RTÉ probably do not want a situation whereby; "other commercial" radio stations may cause listeners to channel hop away from it's remaining four radio channels:

RTÉ Radio 1 (FM output)
RTÉ 2fm
RTÉ Radio na Gaeltachta (RnaG)
RTÉ lyric fm

Although, Saorview has the likes of Virgin Media Television (formerly TV3, 3e, UTV Ireland) channels currently on it's TV platform maybe the commercial radio station owners of the likes of Today fm, NewsTalk etc; are not willing to make themselves available on Saorview due to the fees required versus potential audience share in return?

The only non-RTÉ radio channel currently available on the Saorview radio platform is the religious service, "Radio Maria Ireland" to the best of my knowledge.

Elmo

Digital stations will require RTÉ to go to the minister & dept with no current minister able to make any really decisions it’s likely the those channels will remain for a number of months after DAB switch off, as Saorview is not a trial service.

News-wise 2FM also airs no news after 7pm, unlike their independent competitors

AwaitYourReply

I appreciate that with a "caretaker government administration" in place during the interim period that an outgoing Minister will be reluctant to make any major decisions although; it may also depend on RTÉ's dire financial situation too as it's recent General Election coverage must have cost the organisation a considerable amount. If negotiations to form a new government were to collapse at the 11th hour this would most likely lead to yet another General Election after Easter and then we would be in uncharted territory.

I was glancing at an RTÉ in-house staff report on it's planned launch into Digital Radio services back in the day via below link.

https://www.superannrte.ie/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=407:RTE-Digital-Radio-Servicesnow-available-407&catid=10&Itemid=115

Aside from hourly news bulletins until 7pm, I'm not sure if there is much live output broadcast live on RTÉ 2fm after sports programme "Game On" has wrapped up each evening. Back in the good old days (around mid '80's) you had all these shows broadcasting live on RTÉ Radio 2FM with 2FM news on the hour every hour while the station was on air.

Barry Lang's Hotline @ 7:00pm,
The Dave Fanning Show @ 8:00pm,
Lights Out with Gerry Ryan @ 10:00pm, (Tony Fenton covered Lights Out on Sat/Sun @10pm)
Nightrain with Mark Cagney @ 12midnight til 01:50am closedown (Mike Moloney covered Nightrain on Sat/Sun @ 12midnight)

watty

political analyst wrote: »

Shutting down the DAB platform might save some money. But I don't see why the digital-only radio stations could not continue broadcasting on Saorview, Saorsat and digital cable, to be honest.

Yes. Also Saorview coverage is better, a €9 stick on a laptop, phone or tablet can add it. DAB is an obsolete duplication.

Johnboy1951

watty wrote: »

Yes. Also Saorview coverage is better, a €9 stick on a laptop, phone or tablet can add it. DAB is an obsolete duplication.

While I agree with this completely, I would point out that internet transmission of those stations is definitely desirable. Not providing streams of all present stations is a huge backwards step.

Unfortunately those USB sticks require a decent reception area/aerial to get the Saorview signals, which can be impossible when out and about and extremely inconvenient even when at home. Internet streams are much more easily accessible.

Any updates on the closure of the digital radio stations (RTE Gold etc.)? Gonna happen?