Newstalk Megathread

run_Forrest_run

sorry if this has been discussed already but I've had it with Newstalk...they have way too many adverts or they take too many ad breaks.
I know they are a commercial station but so is TodayFM which does not have as many breaks.
Also while I'm here, I'm fed up listening to Claire Byrne practically begging people to text them so they can make more money from the 30cent texts arrrrggg!

right, time for Pat Kenny
<rant over>

Dub13

I like NewsTalk but I do find they always rush topics.The breakfast show goes alone at about 100mph its as if they are trying to fit in way to much.

In saying that I would never listen to Pat Kenny

spank_inferno

The morning show being in radio peak time is probably one of their advertising cash cows. They need to keep dragging in the money to keep denis o'brien rich.

run_Forrest_run

spank_inferno wrote: »

The morning show being in radio peak time is probably one of their advertising cash cows. They need to keep dragging in the money to keep denis o'brien rich.

yeah i suppose, real tabloid radio

Roanmore

The Army of traffic watchers is a con. Help us with our traffic news and we'll charge you 30c.

Roanmore

run_Forrest_run wrote: »

sorry if this has been discussed already but I've had it with Newstalk...they have way too many adverts or they take too many ad breaks.
I know they are a commercial station but so is TodayFM which does not have as many breaks.
Also while I'm here, I'm fed up listening to Claire Byrne practically begging people to text them so they can make more money from the 30cent texts arrrrggg!

right, time for Pat Kenny
<rant over>

Read the Matt Cooper thread, it touches on this subject as well.

Dub13

Roanmore wrote: »

The Army of traffic watchers is a con. Help us with our traffic news and we'll charge you 30c.

I agree how many do they read out on any morning....very very few.

seamus

Ger Gilroy reads boards. Hi Ger!

The show used to be much more serious but it's starting to get tabloid now - bringing up relative non-issues and just giving tasters of them without any serious discussion.

They've also started having the hosts doing the ads now, "Yeah Carlton Hotels are fab" aswell as the standard "Sponsored by" jingle. I think they're trying to figure how many ways they can possible generate cash.

run_Forrest_run

seamus wrote: »

Ger Gilroy reads boards. Hi Ger!

The show used to be much more serious but it's starting to get tabloid now - bringing up relative non-issues and just giving tasters of them without any serious discussion.

They've also started having the hosts doing the ads now, "Yeah Carlton Hotels are fab" aswell as the standard "Sponsored by" jingle. I think they're trying to figure how many ways they can possible generate cash.

ah yeah, that feckin jingle, how about "Different Station, different jingle" please!

Dub13

seamus wrote: »

They've also started having the hosts doing the ads now, "Yeah Carlton Hotels are fab" aswell as the standard "Sponsored by" jingle. I think they're trying to figure how many ways they can possible generate cash.

Yea I found that a bit cheesy.

They rush way way to much they always seems to cut people off for the news or the ads.If you compair this to Dunphy before them he gave people a lot more time and was not afraid to run over time.If Ger Gilroy is reading this then try to slow the show down you have 2 1/2 hours to fit everything in.

Radio Mad.

spank_inferno wrote: »

The morning show being in radio peak time is probably one of their advertising cash cows. They need to keep dragging in the money to keep denis o'brien rich.

Especially as he's now paying half the Ireland football management team's wages.

themont85

In fairness having an entirely speech run station costs a lot of cash to run but I agree they could come up with more subtle ways of trying to turn a profit. I prefered it when it was just a Dublin station it seems these these days they are obsessed with 'Exclusives' and are realing itching for a more female audience with the whole Brenda Power crusade at the moment. I just can't stand her show-its worse than Liveline if possible. Ring up a station and have a moan about NTL or whatever. Could handle it once or twice a week but every bloody day. I hope it reverses its slide to tabloid radio cause there is still alot of talent there.

NewApproach

The Off the Ball programme is very good.

The quality of guests they have is impressive imo

BeatNikDub

Being an Independent radio they should have a certain amount of time allocated to advertising that they cant go over (BCI Guidelines).
I know where I used to work it was 10 minutes and im pretty sure its the same for all.

shockwave

I have to agree with the amount of ads,theres way too many. It feels like theres an ad every 5-6 mins.
The station is becoming unbearable to listen to.:mad:

CrowdedHouse

Roanmore wrote: »

The Army of traffic watchers is a con. Help us with our traffic news and we'll charge you 30c.

Yes this is taking the p**s OK

Why are the live AA roadwatch traffic reports gone ? Do they have to pay for those ? Cutbacks ?

phog

NewApproach wrote: »

The Off the Ball programme is very good.

The quality of guests they have is impressive imo

except for the monotone Simon Hick(s) - god but is he boring. They're good at begging for the text messages there too though.

mike65

It feels like the whole station is relying on those 30c injections. What I'd love to know is what % they get?

Anyway no good blaming Gilroy for the breakfast shows headlong rush, thats the producers remit and he/she is probably acting at thr behest of the station management regardlng style.

Mike.

Dub13

mike65 wrote: »

Anyway no good blaming Gilroy for the breakfast shows headlong rush, thats the producers remit and he/she is probably acting at thr behest of the station management regardlng style.

Thats true,i remember a few years ago Gilroy stud in for Dunphy when he was away Gilroy was very good much better than he is now.I can only put this down to having more time back then while using a different format.

Its getting to the stage now were its simple rude they are cutting most interviewees off mid sentence just so the news or ads can be on time.

The Black Oil

'Health famine'

Wonderful.:rolleyes:

brettmirl

Have they dropped the "army of traffic watchers" thing. Not heard them mention it in a few days now.

Of course, now they are banging on about the health famine thing instead.

*yawn*

I think it was Wednesday morning. They had some consultant on about the state of the health service. He was very passionate about the topic and was very interesting to listen to. Claire cuts him off mid-sentence, have to wrap it up there.

Then herself and Ger start going on about Valetine's Day and asking for people to text in about what they hope to get for Valetine's Day.

Let the topics flow and cut out the clutter.

run_Forrest_run

nope, they are still on about the army of traffic watchers, heard Ger going on about it this morning...i feel sorry for the idiots who text in to them to let them know about the traffic! Let AA do their job properly!

mike65

WTF is a health famine?

Mike.

brettmirl

They had some interviewee on who used the phrase "health famine" and they've since jumped on it as their next campaign.

On Wednesday next week they are doing "a day in the life of the health service".

They are looking for people to email in to take part. The email address is healthfamine@newstalk.ie !

Mossy Monk

I always had Newstalk on in the car in the mornings. mp3 player gets all the attention instead. Pleads for 30 cent text messages got annoying and the cutting off of people mid sentence got annoying too. I will only turn it on at 2pm now when Moncrieff goes on the air. Before that not a chance.

run_Forrest_run

I agree with you Mossy Monk. The pleads for texts is getting very annoying, " we want to hear from you about what you had for breakfast this morning" or " Joan in Sligo is annoyed with the weather, so text us now, we want to hear whether you agree or disagree with Joan"....

parasite

It's called a health famine as people are leaving the country for better health care :rolleyes:

CrowdedHouse

Anyone know what happened to the morning newsreader Tara Duggan ? - I used to like her voice.

Is she on at another time(I haven't heard her) on hols,left ?

Imhof Tank

If the OP's point is specific to the morning show - then I agree 100%, and apart from the format of the programme, there is a problem and its Claire Byrne, not Ger. She was on one morning insisting that all cars had fog lights fitted as standard, and had an argument with a texter on that issue.

I dont like Brenda Power's voice either - too doe eyed.

However, I cant praise Off The Ball highly enough and I think its quality is enough on its own to justify the station's existence - I wouldnt have a problem with the ad breaks or the text requests, I would just about notice that the ad breaks come a little closer together towards the end of the show.

nevey

I have given up on newstalk breakfast show - the real low-point which made me move the dial was a few months ago when they got people to phone in to compare pot-hole sizes around the country. This is brain-dead radio.
There have seemed to be fewer and fewer high-profile correspondants on also. Maybe it's because they start so early - they have to spread the good stuff too thinly throughout the show and fill the void with stupid text-ins.
I found myself listening to it earlier this week for the first time in ages. After about 5 minutes, they got on to the topic of nick-names and sure enough "have you had any interesting nick-names .... text us in on 53106". Appalling stuff. Just appalling.

run_Forrest_run

Imhof Tank wrote: »

If the OP's point is specific to the morning show - then I agree 100%, and apart from the format of the programme, there is a problem and its Claire Byrne, not Ger. She was on one morning insisting that all cars had fog lights fitted as standard, and had an argument with a texter on that issue.

I dont like Brenda Power's voice either - too doe eyed.
...

Well my point was really aimed at the station in general, they seem to go overboard with ads.

Yes, when a show is nearing the end, they go to ads with 10 minutes to go, come back with, chat for about 5 minutes and then they go to ads again before taking the hourly news...sad I know this but it happens all the time.

and yes, Brenda Power bugs me also, the show has way too much oestrogen flowing around it!

run_Forrest_run

CrowdedHouse wrote: »

Anyone know what happened to the morning newsreader Tara Duggan ? - I used to like her voice.

Is she on at another time(I haven't heard her) on hols,left ?

text them to ask, they would LOVE to hear from you

Dub13

Does anybody remember when David McWilliams did the breakfast show,now that was much better proper morning radio.

jprender

Isnt it time for an ad break about now ??

Text me for 30c to let me know what you think.

Dudess

CrowdedHouse wrote: »

Why are the live AA roadwatch traffic reports gone ? Do they have to pay for those ?

They actually don't. It's considered advertising for AA, so it's strange. Maybe they told AA to take a hike cos AA wouldn't pay them

Stylo

Have none of you noticed that AA don't actually know their arse from their elbows. They're just brilliant at telling you where the heavy traffic is ...... when you're already in i !!! I've often thought I should head to those places that they say are 'bumper to bumper' as the problem is probably long gone by the time they broadcast it. As a traffic alert agency they are crap - that's my tuppence worth

S

Dudess

Some of the people who do their bulletins hurt my ears...

themont85

Dudess wrote: »

Some of the people who do their bulletins hurt my ears...

I had a thread about this a while ago. One of their newsreaders sounds like a 14 year old boy going through the whole voice breaking part of life, and its a female newsreader too.

I like Gilroy and most of the old presenters, wish Roger Greene would do that Media Matters show on Sundays again. I thought that was a good show.

I agree about when they had McWilliams and Damian Kiberd doing lunchtime. Newstalk back then was different to some of the crap RTE put out. Then they introduced that show with Orla Barry. Its not the worst in fairness and I can understand why they did it, certain sector of the market ect. But Brenda Power, the 30c texts and the whole 'We're great, we broke this story EXCLUSIVELY on Lunchtime' is really dumbing it down to a tabloid level. Moncrieff is the same as always and so is the Right Hook and OTB. Only shows which seem not to have been stifled by managment.

Dudess

Well I was actually talking about the people who do the AA traffic bulletins.

radiofeed

Dub13 wrote: »

Does anybody remember when David McWilliams did the breakfast show,now that was much better proper morning radio.

'Proper radio' - with no listeners ? Proper mistake.

Dub13

radiofeed wrote: »

'Proper radio' - with no listeners ? Proper mistake.

Maybe but it was good listening IMO.

radiofeed

Dub13 wrote: »

Maybe but it was good listening IMO.

Agreed. Good in parts - but never really connected with a wide audience imo. Preppie, posh style had niche appeal and could divide an audience (love him/hate him), but just not enough audience. ..and no doubt he was very expensive. Was never gonna last. And then there was Dunphy.....Dunphy at breakfast ?? Doing evening drive in the morning was never gonna work - he just didn't get it.

Dub13

radiofeed wrote: »

Agreed. Good in parts - but never really connected with a wide audience imo. Preppie, posh style had niche appeal and could divide an audience (love him/hate him), but just not enough audience. ..and no doubt he was very expensive. Was never gonna last. And then there was Dunphy.....Dunphy at breakfast ?? Doing evening drive in the morning was never gonna work - he just didn't get it.

Yea I agree.The best bit of morning radio I have heard on Newstalk was Ger Gilory (on his own) when he was filling in for Dunphy.

dublinmadyoke

shockwave wrote: »

I have to agree with the amount of ads,theres way too many. It feels like theres an ad every 5-6 mins.
The station is becoming unbearable to listen to.:mad:

I am so so sick of Newstalk! I am not listening to it anymore. I used to listen to it everyday morning, noon and night (apart from off the ball) but now I just have had enough!! Its rubbish the same topics being discussed all the time!! The breakfast show is so repetitive.....

mike65

Funny this came up, I decided to tape an hour of the Breakfast show and do some analysis. Will have the results for tomorrows programme in a day or two.

Mike.

dublinmadyoke

looking forward to the results....

Greenman

Roanmore wrote: »

The Army of traffic watchers is a con. Help us with our traffic news and we'll charge you 30c.

I agree there, it should be a free text for traffic info.

uRbaN

What really killed the Breakfast show for me was the day Wayne O'Donoghue was being released.

They had a guy at the prison who had nothing of value to say. Claire Byrne insisted on calling O'Donoghue "the convicted Killer of.....etc" and kept referring back to the fact that he was a murderer. Without getting into Murder issue, i just found the whole thing smutty and cheap.
Later in the show they had John Waters on reviewing the papers, and he (rightly IMO) made a rant about gutter journalism & sensationalism as he was reading some rubbish printed in one of the tabloid rags on the same subject. Basically, he was saying the lad had done the crime, done the time, but he will never be allowed have a normal life I Ireland.

Thereafter, CB only referred to him as Wayne O'Donoghue.

Another annoying aspect of th show is constant telling of the time, it 08:41 time to cram Johnnie Giles into a 60 second Yes/No act.

/end rant

brettmirl

About two days ago, they had a link where the plugged for people to text "53106 for the cost of 30c" three times.

They asked for comments on the previous interview, then plugged a competition and finally (and in the same link) asked people to text yes or no to their poll of the day.

Time that in my opinion would have been better spent finishing off an interview in it's natural course as opposed to stopping it short to try milk money from the listeners.

Dub13

They don't even read out many of the 30c texts,still there must be fools out there texting away.

dublinmadyoke

Have Newstalk a problem with fecking money or something??? everything is 'text us for 30 cent crap'.... all the time... and that nut job Eamon Keane does it more than anyone... Newstalk was great when it first started but over the past few months it is crap, real bad radio.... 'different nation different station' using the same VOICE OVER GUY does my head in....