150KTubs - future career in Virgin Radio and other soulful pursuits **Mod: Read OP**

alzer100

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121779355#Comment_121779355

A radio "talent" should not be used loosely. It is not some jargon or jingoistic catchphrase. A person with skill, creativity, warmth and artistic ability on air should possess talent in spades, unlike Mr Tubridy who sounds like he has very little of anything going for him in the "talent" department: "A radio personality position generally has the following requirements: Good clear voice with excellent tone and modulation. Great communication skills and creativity to interact with listeners. Knowledgeable on current affairs, news issues and social trends."

Tork

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121779967#Comment_121779967

That's definitely where my interest in this lies. We were led to believe over the years that he was so good and so much in demand, he deserved to be in the elevated position he was in at RTE. The man with the best radio and TV gigs, the man with the highest salary, the man handed other nice gigs on the side. And now that he's in the UK, he seems to be making little impact at all. He's on a two-bit radio station with about 5 listeners who aren't Irish. He might as well be sitting in an Irish studio for all the difference it makes.

Dr Turk Turkelton

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121780478#Comment_121780478

It makes one huge difference- we are no longer forced to cover his half million a year salary.

Tork

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121781120#Comment_121781120

In an Ideal world it should have bigger implications for him and all other RTE presenters who have been paid way above what they're worth. Would Joe Duffy or Ray D'Arcy fare any better in the UK? I don't think so.

NIMAN

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121781120#Comment_121781120

Instead we are p1ssing away the 500k by using it to pay off failed directors on the QT.

HildaOgdenx

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121781335#Comment_121781335

Would Joe Duffy or Ray D'Arcy fare any better in the UK? I don't think so.

Definitely not. They are and have been on the pigs back for far too long, and I would say they know that well.

I also think what Oliver Callan is being paid is far too much, for the hours involved. It suggests that RTE management have learned nothing and have no intention of cutting their cloth according to their measure. It's still money for jam, it seems, in the parallel universe of RTE.

jmcc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121781335#Comment_121781335

Duffy's Dublin stuff wouldn't transfer to the UK. Tubridy seems to be in much the same position.

Regards...jmcc

alzer100

So Tubs column in MOS and his regional irish show has reached a point of apathy.

Or perhaps he and his production team have ironed out all his crutches, cliches and issues and he has reached legend status with 8 million listeners?

rdser

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121782288#Comment_121782288

100%. Putting Callan on 150k, suggests nothing has changed.

amlinopta

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121783873#Comment_121783873

And Courtney on €400 per show of €2k per week as his understudy:

A source at RTE revealed: “Brendan's holiday cover contract has been renewed for another two years. When he does cover, he earns €400 per shift.30 Jan 2024

Tork

They're still in the ha'apenny place in comparison to Brendan O'Connor who's on €245,004 for doing 4 hours of radio a week. He, like D'Arcy and Duffy wouldn't even get a job on British radio, let alone earn such eye-wateringly high salaries.

NIMAN

Duffy or D'Arcy to uk radio, that did make me laugh. Good one.

Yeah, cos what the UK radio scene is missing is a burping misery guts who wants to talk about things that happened before most of us were born, or a dj of 30yrs experience who still can't hit the right buttons on a near daily basis and has dead air frequently.

HildaOgdenx

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121784396#Comment_121784396

Yes indeed. But my point re Callan was that he came in since the whole debacle came to light. And I am fairly sure I read somewhere that he said he didn't even have to negotiate that salary.

Unfortunately the others have contracts and presumably will continue being paid ridiculous money until their contracts come to an end.

Tork

I think there was a bit of an issue about him doing his corporate gigs on the side - that's lucrative as far as I know. But yes you're right about the salary. It does look like RTE has learned nothing. I wonder what an acceptable salary for that presenting job would look like?

MrMusician18

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121784702#Comment_121784702

When RTE landed on Callan as the replacement, his renumeration would have to make up for the loss of other income and income opportunities - such as shows and corporate events. It's not as simple as saying 1hr a week is not worth €150k.

I actually think €150k is poor value though and they should have gone with someone else who would have been able to do it for less.

Hyperbollix

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121784396#Comment_121784396

No one cuter than Brendan O' Connor in RTE. Tubridy did well for a man with all the charisma and ability of a stale piece of cheddar but he had the family pedigree and connections to smooth the way.

Brendan came up from Cork with a paunch, a face like a bulldog's slapped arse and about as much charm. He married well, became deputy editor of a national newspaper, got the covering role for Marian Finucane, and then took over the cushiest radio gig at the station.

Chocolatier

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121784396#Comment_121784396

Irrespective of the salary, while it may be four hours of radio a week, I would imagine it takes a fair portion of every day trying to stay on top of news, current affairs and whatever he'll be discussing at the weekend. It takes a lot of prep to sound like you're just having a casual chat.

HildaOgdenx

Dare I say it, I quite enjoyed Brendan O'Connor's tv show, most of the time. He certainly was far more watchable than Ray D'Arcy. Admittedly I am borderline allergic to the latter, so I never even tried.

jmcc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121783859#Comment_121783859

Think that the subject was the Irish centre in Camden. He's lookiing very old in those photos. There was an obligatory book mention at the end. Not sure if this is a rehash of the shows from the last few days or a preview of the shows for next week.

Regards...jmcc

jmcc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121785192#Comment_121785192

O'Connor's TV show was consistently beating Tubridy's LLS, I think. RTE management being RTE management, they cancelled O'Connor's TV show instead of getting rid of Tubridy.

Regards...jmcc

Tork

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121785175#Comment_121785175

It's still a very well paid job. And when you compare it to what Callan is getting for 5 hours of radio, you can see how well he's doing out of it.

Chocolatier

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121785192#Comment_121785192

He has grown on me over the years. I used to be disappointed when I switched on of a Saturday morning and he was filling in for Marian. Now I'm disappointed when I switch on and Dearbhail McDonald is filling in for him. And yes, he's better on TV than either Tubridy or D'Arcy. 

Chocolatier

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121785909#Comment_121785909

Of course it is. But it's RTE, home of hyper-inflated compensation. They never seem to learn or change. New DG, same mess.

Gen.Zhukov

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121785909#Comment_121785909

I worked it out before and it's €1560 per hour of on-air time which equates to someone working a 40 hr week at €3.25m pa

Radio only- Byrne and Duffy got more for TV stuff

That's bad enough, but he's an incredibly annoying presenter

Callans kicks nailed it a while ago:

Guest re the Dublin riots - 'Yeah it was terrible, with the broken windows and....'

OC (BOC) - 'Well we won't talk about that as there's no windows here to defend themselves'

😁

Chocolatier

After working in the Indo on peanuts for years, I'd say Brendan O'Connor was in seventh heaven to get the RTE gig, with a payday that's a fantasy for most jobbing journalists.

hotmail.com

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121784723#Comment_121784723

But given his very light workload, one a hour a day. Probably 2 or 3 hours of preparation a day (being generous with that) - that adds up to a max of about 20 hours a week work for this job.

Given as well the very long holidays he will get (8 to 10 weeks off a year) and only 20 hours a week, he will be more than able to have other gigs on the side.

It's not like working 40 hours a week on building site and you're so knackered you can't do anything else.

HildaOgdenx

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121785909#Comment_121785909

Callan is overpaid, imo for the hours and the work involved. The 'new regime' should have started as they meant to go on. It doesn't seem like anything was learned from what has happened with Tubridy et al.

The others - Duffy, D'Arcy, O'Connor and the rest of them - are vastly overpaid, but as I said, unfortunately they are on ridiculous contracts since the good old days when money was evidently no object.

And we, the great unwashed, were assured that they HAD to get those salaries in case they left. 🥴

It would be funny if it wasn't so sickening.

jmcc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121786366#Comment_121786366

The new reality in which Tubridy finds himself must be scaring them. Duffy may not be going for another contract. Turbidy is stuck in the UK until further notice and isn't on the same money as he was getting in RTE. The possibility that there will be an RTE contract waiting for him if he retruns decreases with every new RTE revelation about "exit" payments and other wastes of licence fee money.

Regards...jmcc

Tork

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121786366#Comment_121786366

With Callan's contract they were pushing an open door. I think they could've got him or somebody else for much less than €150k, easily. We now know that it doesn't really matter who's presenting these big RTE shows. All you need is somebody who's capable, and there are plenty of presenters out there who are that. Also, most radio presenters have egos and would like nothing more than to be sitting in front of a microphone in a studio. They should've used that to their advantage, not pretended it was still 2022.

It will be interesting to see what happens when these older contracts come back up for renewal. My feeling is that Joe Duffy will retire rather than drop down to a lower pay scale. He's in his late sixties now so retirement doesn't look that ridiculous for him. O'Connor and D'Arcy will be the litmus tests for the supposed changes in RTE. It's almost funny that the higher you move up RTE's salary scales, the worse the presenters get. It is laughable to think that any UK stations would want these people. RTE's negotiators are the biggest bad guys in this. NKM were able to negotiate these ridiculous salaries because they knew RTE would cave. You'd wonder now what would've happened if somebody had had the balls to say No.

jmcc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121786506#Comment_121786506

Given the way that Turbridy was dumped, I think that D'Arcy is most at risk. Politically, in media terms, RTE needs O'Connor more than it ever needed Tubridy or D'Arcy. The Dublin media is quite incestuous and O'Connor is the editor of the Sindo Life magazine (I think). The last thing that RTE would need is more negative publicity from the print media.The way that the Indo/Sindo quickly shifted from "Tubridy as victim" to "Bryan who?" is an indication of how rapidly things can change in the media. Unlike O'Connor, D'Arcy has no such connections.

Regards...jmcc