Lyric fm's Breakfast show presenter - Marty Whelan.

Gotta respectfully disagree with you there, Ziggyman17.
It's a terrible mix of lolly pop classical and Great American songbook, crooner fare and an awful, awful lot of talking in a faux Terry Wogan way.
It's not what Lyric is supposed to be about. That's all.

If you like it, that's great - but it should not be funded by licence fee. It should be funded privately.

19,000 people like the music mix on that show, according to the last JNLR book. Thats the lowest number of listeners for a daytime programme on Lyric.
It's just my view that it simply is not the business of the state broadcaster to allow a playlist of The Dance of the Sugarplum Fairey followed by The Beatles followed by Frank Sinatra followed by the Intermezzo from Cavalleria Rusticana followed by Phil Collins on it's Classical Music service.

It's because I listen as much as I can, like you, that this alarms me. It weakens the raison d'etre of the service. A dangerous thing to do when Colm MacCarthy is looking hard at semi state services.

Yeah, Ziggyman, would agree with you that Lyric must renew it's audience, but at the moment the Whelan experiment does not seem to be working from a critical or numbers point of view.
I think a thousand years of classical or 'serious' music would have all the variation one might need but you have a point. There aren't enought music nerds out there to sustain it.

As for John Kelly, I also agree. His playlists are dodgy. He plays some of these self same crooners that Marty plays and some of the blandest, elevator muzak Jazz (with the odd great work thrown in, but only now and again).
He is ,in my view, a chancer who doesn't know that much about 'serious' music and is terrified of being found out and should be beaten with the same critical stick that Marty is subjected to here.

Crikey, poor Marty is getting a right bashing here! :mad:

I LOVE Marty!

I've followed him to Lyric. He's a total joy in the morning for someone like me who isn't a morning person! We need happy people to listen to. It's not very fair for anyone to say that Marty is only pretending to know anything about classical music, how do we know??? Some people need to get out and about a bit more and stop reading so much into what he does or doesn't play!

:P

I'm don't agree and goes against what I believe RTE are doing and that's de sensitise Lryic as the "members club" and attract normal Joe Soap to the station. Once again if they wanted someone who knew everything about the classical world to present the show they could have hired the head honcho of the classical music club of Ireland. They wanted a presenter who might attract a different type of listener. Something Lyric needs if it wants to survive.

bbability wrote: »

Hang on a second.. Since when did you have to "know" about music to present a radio show in this country

Never for pop music. There just isnt that much to it.

Always for classical music. A depth of knowledge of the subject is needed to present it well. And Marty sure aint got it. But pop music probably suits him well where you dont really need a knowledge of anything. Send him back there and inflict him on someone else.

ghiertal wrote: »

Marty gone off to Germany for the week. Wonder will he immerse himself in Bach, Beethoven etc. in the home of some of the best orchestras and choirs of the world. Oh no, he is going over to commentate on eurovision. Never thought i'd write that about a presenter (who is given most airtime) on Lyric fm. Really is shameful indictment of RTE. Anyway, let's be thankful for small mercies and enjoy the week with Trish.

Look on the brightside any of you still listening to the Corpse of Lyric. He may have heard Germany has produced a lot of great composers over the years. You will probably be treated to some Kraftwerk on his show when he returns.

Rebelheart wrote: »

Turned over to Lyric to see what was on at 8.35 when RTÉ 1 and Newstalk had their usual insufferable saturation "sports" coverage.

To my surprise, Whelan wasn't talking. It got even more curious: there was some really mellow music on. I stayed listening, hoping to get the tune's name and check it out later (as I used to do in the old days). Problem solved when the presenter came on afterwards: it wasn't Marty Whelan. I don't know who she was, nor do I need to know. But I liked her music choice, and I was introduced to a new piece of music.

Gabriel Fauré's Pavane was the name of the tune.

Me too, what a pleasure to listen to Lyric again in the mornings, plenty of good music introduced by a a calm soothing voice which doesn't,t try to outshine the excellent choice of music.

Dirigent wrote: »

That was the wonderful Trish Taylor. How can she resist the temptation to hum along with the tune she's just played?

If RTE only realised that these unsung people are the real stars.

In fairness to Marty, notwithstanding his being the worst classical music presenter in western europe, I heard him at the Eurovision and he was really good. Each to his own.

Rewards for those who can crack the tough breakfast radio slot (Irish Times)

SIOBHÁN O'CONNELL

But with young people emigrating, things are about to get a lot tougher for radio

BREAKFAST RADIO is one of the most competitive segments of the Irish media market. Win breakfast and you win the day, is the mantra for all radio bosses.

Veteran DJ Marty Whelan’s early morning programme on Lyric FM has lifted average quarter-hour listenership by 33 per cent since he took over the slot last August. And he hasn’t lost listeners in any age group.

Whelan’s laid back banter and mellow playlist, which can run from Elgar’s Salut D’Amour to Tony Bennett’s I left My Heart in San Francisco , is proving to have increasing appeal, even if a lot more people still hear his Tesco ads than his breakfast musings.

Whelan’s career has had a fair share of ups and downs since he left RTÉ in 1989 to join Century Radio. During his years in exile from Montrose, Whelan was most visible for his Daz commercials. Even when the RTÉ eventually brought him back, it wasn’t all plain sailing. Whelan was on holiday in 2007 when he learned his 2FM radio show Marty in the Morning was to be axed.

According to OMD chief executive Dave Harland: “Marty and Lyric are small players in the radio landscape. But what’s good about Marty is that he is a personality who can work across a number of RTÉ platforms, in the same way as Miriam O’Callaghan and Hector Ó hEochagáin.”

Peter McPartlin of ad agency Carat says Whelan’s programme is an important mainstay to start the Lyric schedule each day.

“He has a regular and stable following and, although small, the profile of that audience is attractive to advertisers: older, white collar, urban adults who arguably want an alternative to the mainstream to ease them into the day.”

Lyric has proved so adept at bringing in established presenters such as Gay Byrne, George Hamilton and Eamon Lawlor that it’s something of a retirement home for silver-haired RTÉ broadcasters. Lyric’s overall market share is 1.7 per cent, on a par with peer station BBC Radio 3 (1.3 per cent) though Classic FM in Britain does a bit better with almost 4 per cent share.

Joan Harris, media director of Focus Advertising, says: “Marty is on air in the most competitive time slot on radio where he competes for listeners with Morning Ireland on Radio 1, Hector Ó hEochagáin on 2FM, Ian Dempsey on Today FM and Ivan Yates and Chris O’Donoghue on Newstalk. However, Marty offers a niche product, a blend of classic music and entertainment.”

The only two other national radio programmes to have increased their adult listeners in the past year have been Morning Ireland and the breakfast show on Newstalk, with the latter growing by 30 per cent.

Ruth Ní Fhloinn of ad agency Mediaedge:CIA observes: “Newstalk has shown the healthiest increase across all major target groups. It has increased its breakfast listenership by 23,000, which is massive considering how much competition there is and that other shows covering similar political and economic issues have lost listeners.”

Listenership figures have also risen for Newstalk’s evening drivetime show presented by George Hook.

Harland notes the importance of the breakfast show to Newstalk is underlined by the decision to extend the programme run time to 10am. “From an entertainment perspective, the last hour of the show tends to be more relaxed and conversational,” says Harland. “People want current affairs and news at the start of the day but after 9am they want something a bit lighter.”

Elsewhere in the breakfast radio arena, Hector Ó hEochagáin is broadening 2FM’s listenership base outside of Dublin and FM104 has relaunched its Strawberry Alarm Clock show with the return of Jim-Jim Nugent who used to present 2FM’s breakfast show.

Conor White at airtime buyer Mindshare says 2FM’s breakfast show had been in freefall and that Hector has stopped the rot. “FM104 is still the lead Dublin station but Q102 is strong too. With a new team on the 98FM breakfast show, it will probably have a strong recovery in the next six months.”

Still struggling is the rebranded Classic Hits 4FM. The station recently moved its breakfast presenter Gareth O’Callaghan to an afternoon slot and has replaced him with Jim McCabe.

Ní Fhloinn says the most disheartening outcome for her in the last listenership report was the sharp decrease in 15-34 listeners. “This audience isn’t simply switching off their radio – they are leaving the country. I predict that we will see a further decrease of the under 25 audience when the next report is published in August.

“National stations are suffering to the benefit of the local stations. The fight for national listenership, particularly people under 45, is going to get tougher.”

Good man Marty!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

TimmyTarmac wrote: »

"Veteran DJ Marty Whelan’s early morning programme on Lyric FM has lifted average quarter-hour listenership by 33 per cent since he took over the slot last August. And he hasn’t lost listeners in any age group."

Source? Is it the JNLR? The article does not say. This 'fact' is hard to find.
So in summation, Mr. Whelan loses almost a third of the existing audience while on the Lunchtime programme on Lyric (according to the JNLR) and now on Breakfast, no listeners are added (so far).
The old boys club at the agencies tell The Irish Times what a great oul skin Marty is and what a great fit he is for Lyric but don't say they'll spend an extra cent of advertiser's money on Lyric.

That article is flimsy at best. Christ, if this is what passes for an article at The Paper of Record, I'd be looking elsewhere for information on serious things like the state of the economy etc.

Agree 100%

Saw that Article myself and wondered. If Marty had grown the audience by that amount RTE would be crowing about it all over the place. The last JNLR figures show him holding steady. This looks like a puff piece with a large part of it devoted to a minority radio station with an audience that is less than 5% of Morning Ireland's.

Even if Marty were increasing the number of listerers, and I agree that there is no proof yet, that is not really the point. The audience for inane chirpy presenters and MOR playlists is bigger than that for classical music. Hence the term "minority station". If you got rid of all of the music from Lyric in the morning and replaced it with something on the lines of liveline I'd bet it would triple the audience overnight.

Having said that I listened to the programme this morning and it was great. Oh yeah. MW is on holidays and Trish presented instead. Enjoy.

pinkypinky wrote: »

Marty-free zone this morning!

He might have been kidnapped.

johnnyk66 wrote: »

We live in hope;)

Well, if the ransom was 5 cents, I wouldn't pay it. I'd offer them 10 euro to hang on to him for a little bit longer.

Gloomtastic! wrote: »

Isn't it good to see begrudgery knows no age or class barrier on this wonderful little island of ours.

Isn't it good to see that legitimate criticism of widespread rank mediocrity in our pay-the-license-or-go-to-prison public service broadcasting system is always characterized as "begrudgery" on this wonderful little bankrupt island of ours.

doomed wrote: »

People who listen to Lyric are actually normal thanks. The assumption that normality implies a preference for vacuous "look at me" RTE B listers over really knowledgeable presenters is depressing.

If they really think Marty will bring new music to the people then put him on Radio 1 or 2 FM with its much larger listernership and leave Lyric alone.

I agree. While I can see the point that it is not entirely Marty's fault that Lyric's breakfast show has been dumbed down, that he is part of a larger strategy to try to market Lyric to a wider audience, it is a fundamentally flawed strategy. It won't work. The best way to attract listeners to a classical music station is classical music. Lots of great, timeless music presented by knowledgeable, discreet presenters is the best way to win listenership. To claim that classical music is esoteric or for snobs only is also wrong. Classical music was the popular music of its time. It was listened to by everyone, rich and poor. All that a person needs to appreciate classical music is a pair of ears. All that a person needs to spot a guff-spouting, has-been, supermarket-and-scratch-ticket-shilling chancer is a pair of ears.