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

Excess deaths is a very different metric (more available data and more reliable data) to the immediate Sentiment Analysis that Social Media provides.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sentiment_analysis

Feedback on Social Media is often quite raw and unfiltered. Negative feedback always appears quickly but it only becomes a problem if it gains momentum and becomes sustained. The danger is that "influencers" would start commenting negatively. That hasn't happened yet. Tubridy may have to tone down the wibbling about Ireland and start concentrating on London and UK events. But that might not work for his Irish listeners.

Regards...jmcc

Hilarious post

They might find their influence to be much less than they expected if the sentiment turns overwhelmingly negative. Their posts won't matter then. Tubridy's fame was very much a product of RTE's marketing and the speed at which the public changed their minds about him and the TV licence was amazing. RTE had tens of millions of Euro worth of problems with licence fees and had to be bailed out again. He went from being, as his supporters called him, "the most trusted man in Ireland" to being the face of the RTE payments scandal. That's what can happen when negative sentiment cascades. The time from him being taken off-air to being dumped by RTE was only a few weeks.

The PR fluffers in the media tend to get ignored when sentiment goes negative as people begin to talk to each other on Social Media and in real life.The PR people and influencers lose control over the narrative. The puff pieces will still appear but there will be a hunt for negative stories because those get readers. Not sure that Tubridy in the UK market has that kind of disaster potential as he's not even a Z-lister in terms of UK radio.

Regards...jmcc

I think his popularity was manufactured by RTE. Yes, he was popular because he was TLLS host along with the other slot benefits this afforded. People will watch the late late by default. Certainly those of a certain age. It doesn’t matter if my dog or Gaybo is presenting. I think most people thought it was rubbish, but he didn’t put anybody’s nose out of joint enough to bother anyone either. I think RTÉ got away with a lot, because people will largely just accept what’s given to them and leave the shows on in the background or else change channel or hit the streaming box. I really don’t believe there was actually a growing swell of popular support for Tubbs beyond a few more deluded people. I think largely people just put up with him. However, once it emerged that he was not Mr Nice and also that RTÉ had been pissing away the licence fees paid for by the working people of Ireland, it was the straw that broke the camels back. I think the lesson in all of this is that if you’re fairly established in Ireland, you can get away with a lot of mediocrity and just giving people what you want to give them and even though they’re annoyed with you they won’t say much. Just don’t overly take the piss out of them or you’re finished.

It's not toxic at all, you could say people were hearing the show and wondering why this guy was being paid nearly a million a year, and they were right to point out the value for money was rather poor

You'd swear he worked for noel Kelly or something

Which is far weirder than posting about the radio in fairness

The "clique" is in your imagination

And I'm impressed you've associated this imaginary clique with an un verified bullying incident, it's as if you are attempting to create issues where there is none. Could it be possible the issue lies somewhere between your chair and the keyboard?

Of course, he's the instigator of his own fate here. A man who climbs to the top of the RTE pay scale, presents the flagship chatshow for 14 years and has aspirations for the Phoenix Park in his future, isn't going to be simply escorted to the main door at Montrose and booted in the arse on his way out. He is above reproach to the extent that Bakhurst was quite happy to renew his contract last autumn and get him back on a primetime radio slot, probably his daily 9am address to the little people of Ireland.

Bakhurst had no qualms about giving the staff the finger to re-instate his lordship, despite the meltdown situation in RTE continuing and the licence fee fiasco probably going out of control as a result of it. That tells you how bulletproof Tubs was. All he had to do was be a small bit contrite on Day1 back in September, just be tactful and admit to a bit of the fault himself. But he couldn't do it. Beyond him. I'd say Bakhurst knew he would use his first show back to settle scores and throw the DG and everyone else under the bus live on air. He couldn't risk that, so Tubs was let go. I couldn't be happier for him!

On the "In the News" podcast which covered Tubs first week, the question came up about whether a return to RTE is in the offing down the road. The contributor believed it was unlikely given the anger still within RTE. I think he over estimates how deeply embedded in "Official Ireland" Ryan Tubridy is and how disinterested in the feeling of lowly staffers and certainly the general public the DG actually is. I would place a large bet, with Paddy Power of course, that Tubridy will be broadcasting from RTE again in the short to medium term. Memories are short and there is an audience for his brand of beige in Ireland that doesn't exist anywhere else. Mainly though, Tubs is a paid up member of the "one big club" that the rest of us aint in. So even if worst case scenario his media career hits the rocks, one of his many cronies will put him on a board somewhere and give him a handsome salary for being Ryan Tubridy. He will never know a day's hardship. Which is why I will never worry about being accused of "bullying" or whatever nonsensical auld blather his fanboys come up with in an attempt to stop honest debate.

Not particularly interested because it's so blatantly obvious, however I'd like to know if boards are involved

Bakhurst was in a very difficult position with rehiring Tubridy. RTE had spent a lot of money promoting Tubridy and had made him a star. Losing him to another Irish broadcaster would have meant that all that money and work would have been wasted and another broadcaster would have benefited. In purely business terms, it would have made sense to get Tubridy back at a lower salary and with a repayment of the 150K. However, the mood of the public, as reflected in the licence fee non-payments, had also changed. Bakhurst came out of the negotiations ok in that he was seen to give Tubridy a fair chance at some sort of redemption.

The fact that no other Irish broadcaster hired Tubridy for anything close to Tubridy's RTE salary might have been a shock to those who bought into the idea that RTE had to pay its stars so much to prevent them going elsewhere. At a management level in the Irish radio industry, the salaries paid to others will be under the microscope and it could lead to a very different RTE and industry.

Regards...jmcc

They now know nobody in rte is worth over 90k

tell us all truthseeker! This is now becoming less Q102 and more Qanon

Don't feed the troll.

I'm no fan of bakhurst. If he'd had any backbone he wouldn't have even considered offering tubs a chance to come back to radio after showing us what a little weasel and a talentless weasel he was.

If tubs had admitted that his salary was more than declared maybe the public would have accepted an explanation and apology and accepted him back.

But the man's arrogance was his downfall.

But I do think that bakhurst is right to have publically stated that he will not deal with agents.

Forbes dealing with agents notably N K is what got them into this mess imo.

It was important that Bakhurst had to be seen to be fair. It protected RTE and left the new management more room to manoeuver on Tubridy and its other contractors. I'm not sure that it was a question of backbone so much as one of due process. He had inherited what can only be described as a highly dysfunctional organisation and was in fire-fighting mode. There were Oireachtas appearances and auditor reports to be considered. In allowing Tubridy to seal his own fate, the move by Bakhurst effectively stopped any claims that RTE treated Tubridy unfairly. That was some risky high-level corporate politics.

The political angle on this is interesting because RTE is effectively the state broadcaster and is ultimately answerable to the minister and the government. RTE had problems with licence fee non-payments and needed to be bailed out. RTE's Tubridy payments scandal created a massive political problem because all parties were piling on to criticise RTE and its previous management. RTE needs to be seen to take action having received the bailout. The organisation is to have 400 jobs cut. The salaries will have to be reviewed and the arrangements with contractors who should have been employees are also to be resolved. RTE's problems haven't ended because it dumped Tubridy.

In taking a job with a UK broadcaster for a fraction of what he was paid on RTE, Tubridy has effectively destroyed the credibility of the previous RTE management and DG and also strengthened Bakhurst's position for RTE negotiating the new contracts for RTE talent. Far from being a good example, Tubridy has become a terrible warning to other RTE contractors because it now seems that broadcasters in the Irish radio market won't pay the same as RTE even when these people become available.

Regards...jmcc

In fairness to miriam she has experience with Xmas and kids 😂

I think that's the message

https://archive.ph/0xk9V

Didn't know there were Irish app stores. The quote is a "thoughts and prayers" one from an unnamed source in that it is exactly what one would expect them to say. Don't forget who owns the London Times and the Wireless Group (Virgin's parent company).

Regards...jmcc