Lyric fm's Breakfast show presenter - Marty Whelan.

jmcc

Aidric wrote: »

Has he ever been mistaken for Burt Reynolds?

He'd probably wish to be mistaken for Tom Selleck in Magnum P.I but everyone might just think he's the Higgins character but without the polish and wit.

Regards...jmcc

Yvonne23R

Aidric wrote: »

Has he ever been mistaken for Burt Reynolds?

Yes! (certainly not for Jackie Gleeson!)

But when you're out you see people taking him for Dermot Desmond the financier. And, I believe, vice versa.

jmcc

Yvonne23R wrote: »

Yes! (certainly not for Jackie Gleeson!)

The resemblance is uncanny.

But when you're out you see people taking him for Dermot Desmond the financier. And, I believe, vice versa.

In Venice, probably.

Regards...jmcc

Yvonne23R

jmcc wrote: »

It has been quite clear for a while now that you have been a shill for Marty's show.

LyricFM isn't for the average person. It is for the people who like Classical music. The average people have their 2FM and RTE1 and all the other stations.

Regards...jmcc

Isn't this verging on self-regarding snobbery and contempt for the Plain People of Ireland, whom Myles wrote about so approvingly?

Mart holds every listener as an equal in his eyes. That's part, but only part, of his great, infectious charm.

I don't understand what you mean by "shill." I suspect it's not a compliment. Nor do I imagine your using the term reflects well on you. But there is some grossness and coarseness of expression here, incommensurate with the alleged injury done by Marty's fine broadcasting.

Aidric

Yvonne23R wrote: »

Yes! (certainly not for Jackie Gleeson!)

But when you're out you see people taking him for Dermot Desmond the financier. And, I believe, vice versa.

Ah right. Thanks for the clarification. Do ye socialise much together? As a man of the people I suppose 'Mart' enjoys a pint of the plain with the ordinary people.

jmcc

Yvonne23R wrote: »

Isn't this verging on self-regarding snobbery and contempt for the Plain People of Ireland, whom Myles wrote about so approvingly?

No. It is the truth - something in short supply in RTE. More people listen to Middle Of The Road music and pop (the word being an abbreviation of 'popular'). Fewer people listen to Classical. Therefore the average person is, based on probability, more likely to listen to MOR and pop rather than Classical.

I don't understand what you mean by "shill."

In an dodgy auction there are sometimes people who drive up the price with fake bids. This is, I think, where the term orginates. Basically they are pretending to be ordinary bidders and people but they are not. It is quite an accurate application in this case, is it not?

Regards...jmcc

Yvonne23R

Like Mart himself, I see myself as quite ordinary and average. I even pay my own TV licence personally. My views are considered and highly informed. I have a delicate appreciation of broadcasting excellence, and of a gifted broadcaster.

jmcc

Yvonne23R wrote: »

Like Mart himself, I see myself as quite ordinary and average.

And of course you are therefore the exact target demograpic of Marty's show? While people who prefer Classical music to chat are not?

I have a delicate appreciation of broadcasting excellence, and of a gifted broadcaster.

Do you agree that his natural home is on talk radio rather than a Classical music station?

Regards...jmcc

Yvonne23R

iPods were invented for people who want uncontextualised music. Mart provides an organic, integrated narrative that a burgeoning audience laps up.

jmcc

Yvonne23R wrote: »

iPods were invented for people who want uncontextualised music.

You are wrong. The iPod is the ultimate in contextualised music because one would not put it on one's iPod otherwise. Is this another bit of reverse snobbery with the assumption that everyone who dislike's Marty's show owns an iPod?

Mart provides an organic, integrated narrative that a burgeoning audience laps up.

So do you agree that his natural home is talk radio where he can indulge in providing an "organic, integrated narrative" to his audience?

Regards...jmcc

Onthe3rdDay

At this stage I think I'll bow out of this debate... It's fishy enough as it is...Take this from the 2nd of January this year....

Yvonne23R wrote: »

I suppose you mean do I know Marty, and No I don't but I would like to meet him some day? I like his "Hugo" letters and Marty writes them. They're really funny / amusing although they don't seem to be on every day anymore. There is a lot of "Double meaning" in them like Brendan Grace or Frank Kelly's and I think I don't get it all always. But it's very good to have it and I think he does it very very well. It was never on when Liz Nolan or Paul Herriott did the morning show. And Trish Tayler doesn't have them her days wither.

I thought someone said here that Lyric gets 8% of the country turning in? It has to be one thing or the other. It gets me off to a flying start, especially on school days I can tell you. But I'm hoping to listen on Friday to see if Trish Taylor has Neven Maguire on.

Now I'm fairly certain that either Yvonne23R has gone on a writing course or it's a totally different person that writing under Yvonne23R. Other posters have already noticed. On top of this it appears that it's just a puff piece for the show. Obviously I could be totally wrong but I deal with this kind of stuff on a day to day basis and some of the basic tricks pop up.

Basically Marty obviously doesn't want to listen to former (or soon to be former listeners) of lyric. Unfortunately if management are on his side there's nothing we can do about it. Advertising and listenership figures don't really matter. Invest in a good web radio or a satellite dish, live in the parts of the country where you can get an FM signal from the UK. emigrate...

Aidric

Yvonne23R wrote: »

My views are considered and highly informed. I have a delicate appreciation of broadcasting excellence, and of a gifted broadcaster.

This reads like a statement from the German Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda circa 1940.

Onthe3rdDay

wear sunscreen...

Yvonne23R

jmcc wrote: »

You are wrong. The iPod is the ultimate in contextualised music because one would not put it on one's iPod otherwise.

So do you agree that his natural home is talk radio where he can indulge in providing an "organic, integrated narrative" to his audience?

Regards...jmcc

You couldn't have all talk. Marty needs something to bounce off, like Rebecca, or Hugo, or Neven, or the interviews with Renee Fleming, or the musical interludes. There are now regulations on how much talk we're allowed, so it couldn't go much higher. But the comments from callers and emails are uniformly positive.

jmcc

Yvonne23R wrote: »

You couldn't have all talk.

Do you believe that Marty's home is on talk radio?

Perhaps he's been exiled to LyricFM like the others because he lost tens of thousands of listeners [1] and the numbers switching off were even beginning to eat into the late Gerry Ryan's show? At least that's the way that it was written in the Independent article. [2]

Marty needs something to bounce off, like Rebecca, or Hugo, or Neven, or the interviews with Renee Fleming, or the musical interludes.

What you and Marty appear to miss is that Marty is just the interlude between the music. LyricFM is a music station where the music comes first. It is not some talk radio station.

But the comments from callers and emails are uniformly positive.

That is a very serious sign for any show because it indicates that people are switching off and no longer care about calling, texting or e-mailing. And you never did explain how Marty was able to read all those cards praising his music choice that were sent before he played the music.

Regards...jmcc
[1] "However, the JNLR figures from late last year showed that his audience had dwindled by 27,000, while Gerry Ryan's had fallen by 28,000."
[2] http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/alarmed-rte-radio-axes-martys-show-26280022.html

Yvonne23R

Is that air? 2007. The Independent. Dated and unreliable, at best.

You should see the Audience Focus Group output.

jmcc

Yvonne23R wrote: »

Is that air? 2007. The Independent. Dated and unreliable, at best.

One might say the same of Marty. But it did apparently report the facts. Marty's show was axed after losing tens of thousands of listeners. Dad-dancing hadn't been included in the Oxford English Dictionary at that time but it might explain the reaction of the younger demographic to Marty's show.

You should see the Audience Focus Group output.

What did they do, haul in the usual RTE canteen inmates and ask them if they like Marty? Did they promise them an interview on some RTE show if they really liked his show?

Regards...jmcc

Yvonne23R

It's done by the Research Unit, to the highest standards of scientific rigour and objectivity.

jmcc

Yvonne23R wrote: »

It's done by the Research Unit, to the highest standards of scientific rigour and objectivity.

I trust RTE's engineering people however marketing is another question entirely.

Have they figured out if Marty's natural home is talk radio and his sojourn on LyricFM is merely a temporary exile?

Regards...jmcc

Yvonne23R

Mart is musical to the core of his professional being. It's his lifeblood, and he will continue to share it with us. Loving the show, everyone writes in, and can you take me to Verona with you?

jmcc

The movie 'Hannibal' is on ITV2. That character would definitely not appreciate Marty's interruption of good music.

Regards...jmcc

Yvonne23R

I don't think that theme music is on the playlist. Send in the details and a reason to play it and who knows?

jmcc

Yvonne23R wrote: »

I don't think that theme music is on the playlist. Send in the details and a reason to play it and who knows?

Such a lack of knowledge would be quite unpalatable to Hannibal Lector. The "theme" music is based on the Goldberg Variations (Bach) and "Vide Cor Meum" is by Patrick Cassidy. But then they are both elegant pieces of music that should remain unsullied by the interruption of someone who considers his cheeky chappy chat more important than the music.

Regards...jmcc

Judgement Day

I just wish that RTE would give him a pay rise so that he could afford to give up the inane Tesco advertising work.

Yvonne23R

Patrick Cassidy is well known and has been in for the chats. Mart is indefatigable in his exertions in giving a leg up to up and coming Irish talent because that's what the show is all about. And that soothing piece has been on the list in the past so if you mail in you could get a dedication and the auld mensh if you've anything coming up. I don't know the other one but it's probably gathering dust in the record library and could be called up if you give it context.

pwurple

Judgement Day wrote: »

I just wish that RTE would give him a pay rise so that he could afford to give up the inane Tesco advertising work.

Maybe if he used the extra income to learn how to pronounce some of the composers or performers it would be worth it...

Yvonne23R

I've never heard Mart depart from the pronunciation given in the Announcers' Handbook. Some of the new acts can have funny names, mind.

Almaviva

Yvonne23R wrote: »

I've never heard Mart depart from the pronunciation given in the Announcers' Handbook.

To be fair to him, nor have I.

Yvonne23R wrote: »

Some of the new acts can have funny names, mind.

This is also true. Some foreigners just have funny names, and you would think they would change them to a proper English stage name. Engelbert Humberdink takes the gingerbread. Come to think of it, surely that is a nom de plume anyway. And a good one.

Yvonne23R

Englebert was a decent skin at the Eurovision and granted us an interview that didn't make it into the Marty Show, or into the TV coverage.

Almaviva

Yvonne23R wrote: »

Englebert was a decent skin at the Eurovision and granted us an interview that didn't make it into the Marty Show, or into the TV coverage.

'us' being ... ?