Newstalk Megathread

ateam

The station has potential. It is only relatively new, so I think it does need time, RTE has been around for 80 years. But there are many problems:

Claire Byrne: Too opinionated for her own good. She lacks experience to give her opinion and is rude to guests.

Morning Programme: Too much text messages, not enough time spent talking to the hundreds of guests they have on in the morning. Seems disorganised.

Brenda Power: The Health Famine was a disaster. It did not spark a national debate on the health service or cause a resignation or anything, all it did was bore viewers and lead the HSE to ignore Newstalk. A big mistake. She is an ok presenter though.

Orla: Not sure about this, quite indifferent to her. No real presence either way.

Eamon Keane: Needs to be dropped. He's inexperienced, a terrible interviewer and loves the sound of his own voice. Nuts about text messaging as well. He never properly challenges his guests on many points, not quite sure how he got that programme at all.

Moncrieff: Yes not bad as other people mentioned.

Hook: Text crazy to make money and likes the sound of his own voice. Plus is he a trained journalist?

General stuff: News doesn't start on time on a regular basis and the news in brief section is ridiculous, all news on the radio is news in brief. Also they definitely use "ghost texts" and stick oh that's John from Sligo or that's Ann from Tipperary to say to listeners, we're not just a Dublin station. I doubt many people outside of Dublin text in..yet anyway.

Imhof Tank

ArthurF wrote: »

I have Radio Five for great Sports coverage (newstalk take a feed off Radio Five for the footie

Presume you mean the Saturday/ Sunday shows. OTB doesnt take a live feed off anybody

LordSutch

You might indeed be right, I rang newstalk once about coverage of a match & I commented that their coverage was nearly as good as the Beeb, then they told me that it was the Beeb (courtesy of a live feed)!

Must have been a weekend.

steve927

Like many posters here i have listened to Newstalk from the beginning but as much as i hate to admit it, its gone ****e altogether. I find myself plugging in the ipod much more frequently. The only show of top class quality is OTB. I used to love the breakfast show and i thought that Gilroy did a great job covering for Dunphy at the time, i felt he always asked the questions that i wanted asked if that makes sense. Unfortunately the show has gone seriously downhill since the arrival of Claire Byrne, she's appalling, far too "tough" as another poster pointed out. They rush every guest that they have, get them off air and then spend the next 3 minutes talking to each other instead of using that time on the guest. I think if Ger was on his own again things would improve somewhat.
I think Brenda power's show is planned by whatever she hears on the breakfast show on her way into work, terrible. Orla - brutal but improving, never thought i'd be saying that. Keane, loves himself but covers the main issue of the day fairly well and often gives another angle. Moncrieff has lost the "underground" feel it once had by appealing to kids i.e. poetry competitions etc but i'm still a fan. George - is it just me or does he not cover news issues anymore and has it just become a feature based magazine type show???
I'm truly saddened by Newstalk's descent into rubbish radio and i cant see how things will improve. BTW Stylo, in case you were wondering, i'm actually qualified the have an opinion based on your criteria;)

Gunther_Gloop

I really enjoyed Newstalk on Saturday and Sunday mornings up until recently. Carol Coleman is/was good and fearless and had some good discussions going, but now it's all Claire McKeowan with a panel of D4 chatterers discussing the merits of candy coated toothpicks or the top ten reasons to use a sunblock. What a bunch of twaddle. I think Carol might still be on, but it's all a bit lost in a muddle of McKeowannumbness.

And what's happening with the business show on Saturdays? Before McKeowan there's a business repeat show, then after her there's another business show that basically goes over the same stuff.

Now I mainly just listen to Marion Finucane on Sunday mornings and forget the rest.

As for the rest of the week, I quite like Newstalk.
Orla Barry is one step away from being Claire McKeowan (who she has in once a week I think), but I still like her humour and style.

Eamonn Keane is good when he's not over emphasising and over-hyping what's coming up and over-dramatising the importance of something.

George Hook is good, but I more regularly listen to Matt Cooper at that time.

I like Moncrieff too, although I rarely hear all the show.

In all, it's a good station with a good range of presenters.

Just get rid of Claire McKeowan before it's too late!!

brettmirl

How long has Claire McKeowan (sp?) been on that slot?

Roisin Ingle used to present.

Karen Coleman is still on Sundays.

ronbyrne2005

Obviously Newstalk spent a fortune for first few years on critically acclaimed high quality shows in order to established station and get the national licence from authorities. They were losing money hand over fist doing this and now they are going more tabloidy to boost numbers and keep costs down. Few high quality international guests like they had at start. Claire Byrne is brutal and her show becoming too light and jokey.

LordSutch

What irks me about karen Coleman is her totall unashamed bias on certains issues 'The Israel/Palistinian' question comes to mind.

I wont say which side she 'Supports' but its so blatently obvious, and its this blatent bias that I just cant abide, thank God for Radio4 & Radio5 for proper unbiased & indepth discussions.

dRNk SAnTA

Is anyone else getting pissed off with hook?

What annoys me is the way he "summarises" the issue himself during interviews instead of letting whatever expert he has on speak. He is such a know-it-all.

Also, sometimes he has a suprisingly poor grasp of issues that he probably covers 50-100 times each year. He continues to throw out typical tabloidish opinions.

As an example, I've noticed Matt Cooper (who i don't listen to often) has got quite a good grasp on the issues affecting broadband in Ireland. He knows when he's being waffled to and is willing to get technical. Hook is completely unable to do this.

ronbyrne2005

dRNk SAnTA wrote: »

Is anyone else getting pissed off with hook?

What annoys me is the way he "summarises" the issue himself during interviews instead of letting whatever expert he has on speak. He is such a know-it-all.

Also, sometimes he has a suprisingly poor grasp of issues that he probably covers 50-100 times each year. He continues to throw out typical tabloidish opinions.

As an example, I've noticed Matt Cooper (who i don't listen to often) has got quite a good grasp on the issues affecting broadband in Ireland. He knows when he's being waffled to and is willing to get technical. Hook is completely unable to do this.

Hook can be bamboozled allrite but at least(like him or loathe) he has strong opinions /personality and is open to changing his mind.

Poochie05

mick_irl wrote: »

How long has Claire McKeowan (sp?) been on that slot?

Roisin Ingle used to present.

I'm not sure how long Claire McKeown has been on or if it's permanent but it's been for at least a month. I used to enjoy Roisin Ingle but switch off instantly when I hear her prattling on about nothing.

Poochie05

dRNk SAnTA wrote: »

Is anyone else getting pissed off with hook?

As an example, I've noticed Matt Cooper (who i don't listen to often) has got quite a good grasp on the issues affecting broadband in Ireland. He knows when he's being waffled to and is willing to get technical. Hook is completely unable to do this.

I switched to Hook about a year ago and really enjoyed his show. He seemed to always ask the questions I was asking myself and was generally interested in letting the guests talk. I found Matt Cooper too whiney but I've switched back to Matt Cooper recently, as Hookie is annoying me (he won't even let the regular experts talk in the travel slot or technology slot). I found Matt much improved. He seems to be a bit more upbeat and not as aggressive when he's interviewing. Maybe I've just caught him on a good week though!

More Music

Hook can find it hard to compose a question on the fly, he uses a lot of filler words. He will start asking a question, stop halfway through and ask a different question. Maybe he loses his train of thought if somebody is on talkback into his ear.

He also answers a lot of his own questions before the guest takes over.

However, I do switch between Hook and Cooper depending on who is patronising us with stupid traffic reports from AA. AA asks us to send in reports but please don't do it while driving. I don't think children listen to the shows.

I realised a while back that an hour of these drivetime shows only consist of around 40 mins of actual content. The rest of the hour is full of ads, news, sports and traffic updates. I have never benefited from a traffic report, not once.

Imhof Tank

Hook appears to interview guests from a script. If he gets an answer which cries out for elaboration, 98% of the time he will just say “right” and then move on to the next scripted question without pausing for breath.

I know interviews have to follow a format so to speak, but with Hook its as if he isn’t actually listening to what the guests are saying.

berliner

I won a portable toshiba DVD player on George Hook's show last week so I'm going to have to be loyal to my benefactor from now on.Hookie RULES!!:)

Hardrain

Good station bar Moncrieff, can't stand the guy. Smug as the day is long.

Gunther_Gloop

I used to think Moncrief was smug, but he doesn't come across that way on the radio. Like P.K., he works best on radio I think.

I'd still like to hear from the person who thinks Claire McKeowan is worth hearing or seeing or experiencing in any way. "And for the next hour we'll look into the 50 best foot massages and how best to varnish your underwear after a luxurious bath."

Amz

I got stuck listening to Claire McKeowan interviewing Conor Lenihan a few weeks ago. It was the biggest FF love in I've ever heard on a station. She couldn't get enough of him, it was like the sun shone out of his posterior or something. I know it's meant to be a fluffy show, but that was just crazy.

IRISHSPORTSGUY

Dub13 wrote: »

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

Agree 100%.

dublinmadyoke

God lads,

Newstalk really is pure rubbish! Take for example they are now interviewing each other ‘as in news presenters’ on the blandest of topics!

I am sick to death of listening to the same voiceover guy with his fecking ‘different nation different station’. It really has become extremely amateur.

Orla Barry does my nut & so does that Brenda wan.. Orla was doing a interview with a person this morning and her phone cracked (for a second- due to coverage) and automatically she said while of course she stuttered ‘AM AM AM AMMMMM ….. your phone isn’t great there so AM AM AM AM AMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM we’ll try and get back to you!!!!!!!!!!! With that you could hear the interviewee saying ‘oh sorry’ demonstrating that her phone was fine and the listeners could hear her.


I actually get annoyed now listening so I have decided that from now on I am turning off!


The end.

dublinmadyoke

Gunther_Gloop wrote: »

I used to think Moncrief was smug, but he doesn't come across that way on the radio. Like P.K., he works best on radio I think.

I'd still like to hear from the person who thinks Claire McKeowan is worth hearing or seeing or experiencing in any way. "And for the next hour we'll look into the 50 best foot massages and how best to varnish your underwear after a luxurious bath."

lol....That is real funny- funny cos it true .....

DMC

A reason never to go back.... "comedian Joe Rooney on why he listens to Newstalk"

/me deletes from presets

Mossy Monk

dublinmadyoke wrote: »

Orla Barry does my nut & so does that Brenda wan.. Orla was doing a interview with a person this morning and her phone cracked (for a second- due to coverage) and automatically she said while of course she stuttered ‘AM AM AM AMMMMM ….. your phone isn’t great there so AM AM AM AM AMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM we’ll try and get back to you!!!!!!!!!!! With that you could hear the interviewee saying ‘oh sorry’ demonstrating that her phone was fine and the listeners could hear her.

I really hate her and her am am am am's. I have only listened to Newstalk 4 times in the last month and that was for Off The Ball.

The Black Oil

Dustin with David Norris? Give me a break.

mike65

When? :eek:

Mike.

Dub13

The Black Oil wrote: »

Dustin with David Norris? Give me a break.

Yea it was mad....only listened to about 20min of it but it sure was 'different'.

LordSutch

Dustin with Norris = appaling cheap amature rubbish, I listened for about three mins before I nearly smashed the radio into a thousand pieces.

Absolute crapp .............

BeatNikDub

Newstalk really has gone down the tubes. I rarely listen to it now compared to a few years back I would have had it on from 7.30am till getting home from work after 6pm....maybe switching off at Damian Kybird the odd time.

Were they trying to shake things up when going national and it just hasnt worked?
Brenda Power is deplorable, Orla's show has gone stale, as has MonCreiff's.
The morning show is entrely rushed and has an air of smugness about it that I just dont like.

Still enjoy Hookie the odd time though, when he gets going he is great. And the travel and film features every week are very enjoyable.

Will be interesting to see who gets Station of the year at the PPI's

The Black Oil

I honestly don't know why I keep waking up to the breakfast show but I don't think there's anything else talky at around 6am. It is rushed as people have said. It's really annoying how they often say the interviewee's first name (and 'we'll have to leave it there' towards the end because you know they're cramming. Maybe I should switch to BBC World Service if I was something able to set it on my stereo.

Who was that one who used to present a Saturday morning show? I think it was before they went national, Sophie something? Her voice was quite soothing and she seemed to have a brain.

dublinmadyoke

The Black Oil wrote: »

I honestly don't know why I keep waking up to the breakfast show but I don't think there's anything else talky at around 6am. It is rushed as people have said. It's really annoying how they often say the interviewee's first name (and 'we'll have to leave it there' towards the end because you know they're cramming. Maybe I should switch to BBC World Service if I was something able to set it on my stereo.

Who was that one who used to present a Saturday morning show? I think it was before they went national, Sophie something? Her voice was quite soothing and she seemed to have a brain.

Sophie Gorman... She did my head in also - 'text us and tell us how you feel...... for the cost of 30cent'