Newstalk Megathread

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....

mike65

My breakdown of the hour between 8 and 9 am takes place in the following important context - Ger Gilroy was away so Clair Byrne did the show solo. This meant no bandinage and also reduced the oppotunites for random plugging and pleas for "txts at 30c"

8 News Bulletin Headline -Cancer Diagnosis, Murder Trail Impact Statement, EU Treaty of Lisbon Bill

Stories - Cancer, Ambulence Service Strike Threat, Impact Statement

8.03 News in brief

8.04 Eu treaty Bill (why was this after News briefs?)

8.06 Business Heads - Oil prices /McInerny statement

8.07 Sport headlines/Weather

8.07 Clair Byrne ramble about forthcoming attactions, plea for texts, e-mail and calls

8.08 Brian Kearney Story Audio of family statement outside court FG spokesperson for Justice on phone (off tape) Legal discssion between Byrne and University chappie who is often on Newstalk ends with text plea.

8.16 Cancer story, interview with Niall O'Higgins who formulated cancer action plan in late 90s.

8.23 Ad break

8.25 Buisness news - opening prices, oil price, Forbes rich list, McInerny statement, ECB interest rates

8.28 Pleas for texts, texts read out

8.30 News heads/weather/traffic/sport

8.35 Coming attractions ramble

8.36 Paddy Power sponsered competition

8.38 Ad break

8.41 Bray firefighters widow interviewed (Bertie Ahern to visit Bray today)

8.48 Brenda Power in-studio promo.

8.48 Rugby - George Hook off tape followed by JJ Williams on phone regarding Ireland-Wales match

8.51 Ad Break

8.53 Buisness update - repeats earlier stories only with added chat.

8.56 Fire fighters rep message read out by Byrne.

8.57 Paddy Power competition winner announced

8.58 Wind up and exit.

Looking through that list its fair to say there are only two items of any substance - the impact statement discussion and cancer plan chat with Niall O'Higgins.

Had Gilroy been in studio the previous nights Champions League results would have been gone into and more on rugby too no doubt.

Mike.

brettmirl

Oh one more thing I noticed from Tuesday's show was they kept refering to the fact it was "a specially extended breakfast show"....as they "had been on air since 6am."

Not quite sure why they had to keep telling me that they had been on air since 6am, when I tuned in after 7.30.

Dub13

mick_irl wrote: »

Not quite sure why they had to keep telling me that they had been on air since 6am, when I tuned in after 7.30.

:D...

dublinmadyoke

mick_irl wrote: »

Oh one more thing I noticed from Tuesday's show was they kept refering to the fact it was "a specially extended breakfast show"....as they "had been on air since 6am."

Not quite sure why they had to keep telling me that they had been on air since 6am, when I tuned in after 7.30.

Who bleeding cares if they were there at 6am build a bridge!!!!

radiofeed

mike65 wrote: »

My breakdown of the hour between 8 and 9 am takes place in the following important context - Ger Gilroy was away so Clair Byrne did the show solo. This meant no bandinage and also reduced the oppotunites for random plugging and pleas for "txts at 30c"

8 News Bulletin Headline -Cancer Diagnosis, Murder Trail Impact Statement, EU Treaty of Lisbon Bill

Stories - Cancer, Ambulence Service Strike Threat, Impact Statement

8.03 News in brief

8.04 Eu treaty Bill (why was this after News briefs?)

8.06 Business Heads - Oil prices /McInerny statement

8.07 Sport headlines/Weather

8.07 Clair Byrne ramble about forthcoming attactions, plea for texts, e-mail and calls

8.08 Brian Kearney Story Audio of family statement outside court FG spokesperson for Justice on phone (off tape) Legal discssion between Byrne and University chappie who is often on Newstalk ends with text plea.

8.16 Cancer story, interview with Niall O'Higgins who formulated cancer action plan in late 90s.

8.23 Ad break

8.25 Buisness news - opening prices, oil price, Forbes rich list, McInerny statement, ECB interest rates

8.28 Pleas for texts, texts read out

8.30 News heads/weather/traffic/sport

8.35 Coming attractions ramble

8.36 Paddy Power sponsered competition

8.38 Ad break

8.41 Bray firefighters widow interviewed (Bertie Ahern to visit Bray today)

8.48 Brenda Power in-studio promo.

8.48 Rugby - George Hook off tape followed by JJ Williams on phone regarding Ireland-Wales match

8.51 Ad Break

8.53 Buisness update - repeats earlier stories only with added chat.

8.56 Fire fighters rep message read out by Byrne.

8.57 Paddy Power competition winner announced

8.58 Wind up and exit.

Looking through that list its fair to say there are only two items of any substance - the impact statement discussion and cancer plan chat with Niall O'Higgins.

Had Gilroy been in studio the previous nights Champions League results would have been gone into and more on rugby too no doubt.

Mike.

Thanks for the detail and the running order of the programme.

Why do you think there are only 2 items of any substance ? Define 'substance'.

Why do you think the absence of Gilroy meant less opportunity for text interaction ? Byrne had the same opportunities surely ?

You are clearly disparaging in your use of language, e.g. 'plea' for texts (call for texts perhaps ?) and 'rambling' for forward selling - so you're not a fan - but what point are you making ? What did you think of that hour ? Did it work ? Was it good / bad ?

I think the show sounds better with Byrne on her own, although Gilroy has his moments.

I like that there's a lot of items in an hour and for anyone who commutes in to Dublin from outside the pale, like I do - I feel informed by the time I get to the city. It ain't perfect, but it's now a credible option as a talk station.

It's easy to slag - but informed debate it better.

mike65

Ah a bumptious newbie! Welcome!

No-one here has any time for the 30c texting marlarky, and the relentless pimping of same across the schedule is one of Newstalks less endearing traits.

As for the programme, its better without Gilroy in my view. I find him pretty self-satisfied.

Substance is in the eye/ear of the beholder I guess but only two items could be considered hard news. The rest being bite-sized factiods, Gilroys absence meant there was one less person to make a "request" for texts, had Byrne made up his deficit it would have been embarrassing. Curiously none of the texts was related to the road conditions so maybe that's Gilroys "baby" and Byrne is not a fan. Anyone know who the shows producer is?

Mike.

GhostInTheRuins

Interesting break down mike.

I used to listen to newstalk all the time but about 6 months ago it started to go downhill. The constant "Text us now for 30c, we'd love to hear from you", ad break-news-ad break and the non stop repetition has really got to me now.

Brenda Power's crusade to become the saviour of the health service is irritating. Her and Orla Barry should be taken off the air.

The only show worth listening to is Moncreif and I've realised that the only part that I really enjoy anymore is when he has the etymologist on on mondays.

Stephen

Terry Dolan ftw

Got to agree with everyone else here, the constant pimping of the poxy 30c texts pisses me off big time. I find myself switching over to my MP3 player more and more.

Badabing

I listened in one day last week and i couldn't bear the constant reference to 'text us at a cost of 30 cent' etc.. found it very annoying, also very rushed no time to debate anything, the fact that it only gets 50,000 lisenters might suggest that a radical overhaul is needed.

uRbaN

the fact that it only gets 50,000 lisenters might suggest that a radical overhaul is needed.

Yes, maybe include prank phone calls in the style of an old granny....thats still funny these days right?