WLR FM Again

Scaldy Ned

I never listen to WLR but because of the Election i was listening to the Billy McCarthy repeat the other night and during the news it was reported that Donie Ormonde had been asked by Mary Coughlan to take over as Head man in the WIT or some such job.....Taking over from another FF Crony i might add....Now i'm Paraphrasing here but when interviewed he said something like....I told her shir what would i know about that job, and she said shir you'll be grand give it a go, since i took it i'm wonderin what i've got meself into.......WLR reported it as a cheery excerpt in the bulletin.
Now am i weird or something for expecting WLR to be asking

1...Isn;t this the type of croniesm that's brought the country to it's knees?

2...Given that we're looking for University status isn't it imperative that the best person for this job should be given it.?

3...Aren't you ashamed Donie that you're another crony being placed in an influential position so as to do the FF bidding as requested when needed ?

I've never been a fan of WLR....everytime i put it on there's ads on ...BUT this just takes the cake....Or am i wrong ?

Scaldy Ned

Since i've already done a WLR bashing thread i thought why not get it all out..
First off i've no axe to grind ...I just don't like them. I remember the old pirate radio days and even then Suirside was waaay better than them...Eddie Coady r.i.p.
When the licences were granted me and my mates were well pissed off. Given that they started off as a pirate station with all the rebellion that was associated with that ....as soon as they became legit they became more Like "The Man" than "The Man himself"....(The Establishment)

When they try to be serious they're crap
When they try to be funny....They're Crap
Cool....Crap
Modern....Crap
Informed....Never

Have you ever noticed how many ads they have on compared to other stations ?...Ah i hear you say how do you know this unless you listen...I know this because when i flick around between Today FM , Newstalk, Radio 1 & 2 I can always tell WLR....it's the station you pass that has the ads on....try it if you don't believe me...But the ads pay for the station you say....okay but i don't want to listen to ads all the time so i won't listen.
I tuned in last week to hear Billy McCarthy trying to do a Vincent Browne tough guy act on some canditate ....He was dismissed like a wounded fly.
I feel a bit better now getting it out of my system...i might add to this now and again, just for fun...feel free to join in
WLR is a bit like FF used to be....If you didn't vote for them and play Hurling you were'nt Reeeealy Irish. If you don't like WLR you're not really a Warerfordian......ARE YOU ????

seanybiker

I don't listen to the radio at all. Rather me scabbed mp3s.

kryogen

you really hate them enough to start a thread........with a poll..........

Adyx

Scaldy Ned wrote: »

Since i've already done a WLR bashing thread i thought why not get it all out..
First off i've no axe to grind ...I just don't like them. I remember the old pirate radio days and even then Suirside was waaay better than them...Eddie Coady r.i.p.
When the licences were granted me and my mates were well pissed off. Given that they started off as a pirate station with all the rebellion that was associated with that ....as soon as they became legit they became more Like "The Man" than "The Man himself"....(The Establishment)

When they try to be serious they're crap
When they try to be funny....They're Crap
Cool....Crap
Modern....Crap
Informed....Never

Have you ever noticed how many ads they have on compared to other stations ?...Ah i hear you say how do you know this unless you listen...I know this because when i flick around between Today FM , Newstalk, Radio 1 & 2 I can always tell WLR....it's the station you pass that has the ads on....try it if you don't believe me...But the ads pay for the station you say....okay but i don't want to listen to ads all the time so i won't listen.
I tuned in last week to hear Billy McCarthy trying to do a Vincent Browne tough guy act on some canditate ....He was dismissed like a wounded fly.
I feel a bit better now getting it out of my system...i might add to this now and again, just for fun...feel free to join in
WLR is a bit like FF used to be....If you didn't vote for them and play Hurling you were'nt Reeeealy Irish. If you don't like WLR you're not really a Warerfordian......ARE YOU ????

No I'm not......But that's because I'm not from Waterford.
I hear you can get new types of radios these days, apparently you can tune into "different" stations besides WLR and some of them even have an "off" switch. What a time to be alive!

Funfair

Scaldy Ned wrote: »

Since i've already done a WLR bashing thread i thought why not get it all out..
First off i've no axe to grind

You have 8 posts and this is the 2nd one on WLR and you have no axe to grind

angry_fox

Scaldy Ned wrote: »

Or am i wrong ?

Yes you are, why are you on about FF, they are gone. As you said didn't WLR report it as a cheery excerpt

Cabaal

do you really need to post two threads about the same rant?
http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056194108

Cabaal

If you don't like it then why listen to it and why even give a crap about it?

I don't like 2FM but you don't see me starting two threads about it within 40min of each other.

Life's too short to give a crap about such things

comeraghs

Seriously! If you don´t like WLR use that dial button & change it!


OP What radio station do you enjoy listening to?

Personally! I enjoy their sports programme with Kevin Casey & their GAA comentary if I can´t make it to a match! & the Sunday morning thing with Maria McCann is quite good sometimes & I enjoy Ian Noctor!

jimbojazz

But isn't WLR supposed to make your whole week:D

mike65

Never listen to it apart from the 9 am news.

jmcc

WLR got the licence for Local radio in Waterford. That's a completely different thing to what most of the pirate radio stations were about. The pirate radio stations, in general, were about the music with a thin layer of community stuff.

I think that there was a place for music driven radio stations as well as community/local radio but this was a political decision by people who really didn't seem to understand broadcasting. Suirside was an interesting station but technically, it wasn't in the same league as WLR at the time. ABC was also quite interesting and some of their technology was innovative. It was like they were trying to recreate a local version of Radio Luxembourg at times. Of the two, ABC seemed to put a lot of work into developing their station and connecting with their audience. I don't think that they ever had a chance of getting the Waterford licence though. WLR had shifted in terms of technology and broadcasting to being a local radio station before the licence had been granted. But then you can't please all the people all of the time. But when those licences were granted, that old pirate buzz was gone.

I don't listen to WLR generally as the kind of work I do requires concentration and even the DJs on Lyric FM bother me so much that I end up listening to music on CD/tape/MP3. But for local news events such as the election, when Deefer radio/TV (RTE) in Dublin are ignoring Waterford as usual, WLR is useful.

Regards...jmcc

molby

Great for sport especially GAA and soccer. Its great for them who can't attend matches due to health or old age.Not for everyone but is the most listened radio station in Waterford.

dayshah

They are a local station, so should be benchmarked against other locals.

I think they are above average for a local.

That said, I think their news is not good. To be honest I think boards.ie is the best for up to date news (lick lick), but there is often better coverage at the national level of things that happen in Waterford than from WLR.

Also Billy McCarthy is too much of a lick-arse. I remember the fawning interview he gave to Bob Tweedy. Not one challenging question. Billy stated that some people sent in negative texts, but he won't read them out.

I suppose I shouldn't single out Tweedy, but its just one example of how Billy McCarthy simply wont give a challenging interview to a local businessman. I suppose WLR have an eye on advertising revenue, but come on Billy, there is more to morning radio than hearing about someone not getting their bins collected.

There is some fella on a Sunday morning that is fairly decent. Maybe he can take over from Billy McCarthy.

Sully

Mod Note

One topic will do thanks, merged

Scaldy Ned

Thanks for the replies all
I notice from the poll that it's only the people who disagree with me that have answered....the poll results show most so far agree....(no doubt wlr staff will be on clicking option 3 soon )
As far as an axe to grind ...No not really , it's just that as i was on last night i wanted to get my dislike of them out there and see if i was alone in that.

One thing i will concede is that their coverage of the Hurling is excellent.....I will grant that and yes i do listen when that's on.....but switch as soon as it's over.

Thanks for letting me know about the on/off switch adyx ....I'll have to look for that on mine

I listen to a lot of Radio so i do feel like i have an opinion on what's good and what's not....At the moment i like newstalk and Radio 1....a sign of my age i spose
But when i listen to WLR i just feel like they're patronising the people of Waterford.....I will refrain from getting more personal about the presenters than i already have but suffice it to say ...they are all from the same Gene pool
Scaldy

Gardner

crosby family who own the news and star have recently bought into wlr! bought jillio the bikers share. out and out blue shirts!

homolumo

Scaldy Ned you are spot on about Donie Ormonde, appointed in the week leading up to the election and all. Current President is a FF man as well but his position is up for grabs in the next few weeks.

MitchKoobski

Can't put up with Billy McCarthy at all.

Remember listening to Deise AM one day. They were talking about Gardai wanting to increase the limit on part of the outer ring road from 50 to 60. Everyone was doing 60 on the road anyway, and were giving out about 50 being too slow anyway.
He had a bunch of auld biddies on, and for once they put down the torch and pitchforks and agreed that it should be raised. They drive the road everyday and go 60 anyway, and get there faster and no harm done. The same as did the guard he had on. But not Billy. Oh no. He attacked every single point raised and got close to just shouting' MURDERERS' at them.
"So we may as well increase all the limits then?"
"No point in seatbelts then I take it?"
"You should be ashamed saying this as a member of the gardaí síochana."
"You're giving people an excuse to speed and drive to excess!"

G'way will ya?

Minstrel27

I am indifferent about WLR FM. Some days I will listen. Others I don't. Your poll does not cater for this view point. Shame.

ziedth

Minstrel27 wrote: »

I am indifferent about WLR FM. Some days I will listen. Others I don't. Your poll does not cater for this view point. Shame.

+1 I voted for the positive option as I'm pretty much meh about radio in general let alone WLR. I'm not a fan of Billy either I'll admit.

Psychedelic

homolumo wrote: »

Scaldy Ned you are spot on about Donie Ormonde, appointed in the week leading up to the election and all. Current President is a FF man as well but his position is up for grabs in the next few weeks.

Just a bit more about this in case anyone is wondering:

The new chairman of WIT has rejected suggestions that his appointment is further proof of political cronyism. Donie Ormonde was appointed by Tainaiste Mary Coughlan to succeed Redmond O’Donoghue. He served as a Fianna Fail TD from 1982 to 1987. New elected Fine Gael TD Paudie Coffey says this appointment may not be in the best interests of WIT's long term ambitions. However Donie Ormonde rejected that.

From WLR's Facebook page.

Boooourns

Musically the radiostation is butal, didn't they recently get rid of Roddy Cleere who actually had a decent radio show promoting new Irish music.
There was another really good show that was on Fridays with the lead singer from the band Skunk (local ska band) and he at least played something different (not sure if it's still going).
Billys show is just a joke now tbh, he has his listeners but you ask anyone aged between 18-40 if they listen to it and you get a no and then the subjects brought up daily are pretty embarrassing, a relation of mine rings in the whole time and she's known as a real nosey one. Poor Billy thinks he's a bit of royalty walking around town too.
The station basically caters for the older generation (which would be fine if they'd admit it) it just plays itself safe and doesn't challenge itself.
I was forced to listen to it in work on occassion so i had to put up with it for a few hours and i know that others i worked with from other counties found it embarrassing for us.

Thankfully i never listen to it anymore, i love the radio and i'd have Today fm or Newstalk on when i'm listening.

sparkling sea

Why is Suirside in the poll they didn't even apply for a licence - this should be changed to ABC.

WLR FM are a local station who do extremely well in the JNLR's - they do exactly what a local station is meant to do. Its a community radio station.

They are not and will never be a music station and I don't think they were ever particularly interested in music. The old ABC was a music station and I think all the original DJs had worked on music stations in other countries before coming to Ireland to set up ABC.

The radio industry in Ireland is very heavily regulated, its difficult to get a licence unless you have a lot of business clout and money behind you, the clout probably explains why Beat got the licence as it was a consortium made up of the WLR owners and other prominent businessmen, yes men.

sparkling sea

Scaldy Ned wrote: »

Since i've already done a WLR bashing thread i thought why not get it all out..
First off i've no axe to grind ...I just don't like them. I remember the old pirate radio days and even then Suirside was waaay better than them...Eddie Coady r.i.p.
When the licences were granted me and my mates were well pissed off. Given that they started off as a pirate station with all the rebellion that was associated with that ....as soon as they became legit they became more Like "The Man" than "The Man himself"....(The Establishment)

When they try to be serious they're crap
When they try to be funny....They're Crap
Cool....Crap
Modern....Crap
Informed....Never

Have you ever noticed how many ads they have on compared to other stations ?...Ah i hear you say how do you know this unless you listen...I know this because when i flick around between Today FM , Newstalk, Radio 1 & 2 I can always tell WLR....it's the station you pass that has the ads on....try it if you don't believe me...But the ads pay for the station you say....okay but i don't want to listen to ads all the time so i won't listen.
I tuned in last week to hear Billy McCarthy trying to do a Vincent Browne tough guy act on some canditate ....He was dismissed like a wounded fly.
I feel a bit better now getting it out of my system...i might add to this now and again, just for fun...feel free to join in
WLR is a bit like FF used to be....If you didn't vote for them and play Hurling you were'nt Reeeealy Irish. If you don't like WLR you're not really a Warerfordian......ARE YOU ????

Dont think the ethos behind WLR was ever to be anti establishment and whats the obsession with Suirside, they had closed down years before the licence application hearings ?

sparkling sea

Gardner wrote: »

crosby family who own the news and star have recently bought into wlr! bought jillio the bikers share. out and out blue shirts!

They have a 75% share holding in both WLRFM and Beat I think.

Musicman2000

sparkling sea wrote: »

Why is Suirside in the poll they didn't even apply for a licence - this should be changed to ABC.

WLR FM are a local station who do extremely well in the JNLR's - they do exactly what a local station is meant to do. Its a community radio station.

They are not and will never be a music station and I don't think they were ever particularly interested in music. The old ABC was a music station and I think all the original DJs had worked on music stations in other countries before coming to Ireland to set up ABC.

The radio industry in Ireland is very heavily regulated, its difficult to get a licence unless you have a lot of business clout and money behind you, the clout probably explains why Beat got the licence as it was a consortium made up of the WLR owners and other prominent businessmen, yes men.

BCI=corrupt

SillyMcCarthy

I've got to agree with you all about WLR!
It's a total heap of c***!
That clown knows EVERYTHING about NOTHING!

You have to be literary crooked to work there
& I mean crooked in every sense of the word.

robtri

its the fecking worst thing on radio....
totaly ****....

good thread....

jimmyw

I am not jumping on the band wagon here but, I have to say this station are really amateurs when it come to radio.First of all one of my bugbears is the news, firstly nearly without fail there is always gaps in it whereby there is no sound at all and sounds of other stuff coming in, really annoying.

Next Billy McCarthy only wants views the same as his own, no one else's matter. Marie McCann is like a teenager with all her giggling every five minutes, jeez it really gets up my nose, you are supposed to be professional..Ian Noctors show is boring with boring topics, and his voice is annoying too. No comparison with Cooper, Hook and even Wilson is easier to listen to.Some one mentioned Roddy Cleere is gone:eek:, is that true WTF! Jeff/Geoff Harris whatever, seems to be stuck in everthing.

I think there is click there with McCarthy,Harris, Reddy (I am a relation of hers!) and others there.That newsreader Sinead Aherne is hard to listen to aswell.( Where is that other new girl gone?)I do think Karen Doyle is the best, even though she is only rarely on.They also keep banging on about the glass factory, WIT uni status :rolleyes:YAWN YAWN.Get over it.

Before you say it, KCLR are just as bad with all the bloody sport so I dont listen to it either if I can avoid either of them, only reason is someone else is listening to them and i am doing stuff in the same room.Otherwise I listen to Newstslk, Radio 1 or todayfm sometimes.

nkay1985

WLR is shocking. I can safely say that I never listen to it. It embarasses me to think that this is our local radio station! It seems like it's stuck sometime thirty or forty years ago. And don't get me started on the sanctimonious *bleep* that is Billy McCarthy.

STIG83

Oliver Carroll i cant stand!! His voice gets under my skin :mad:

Flyin Irishman

I think WLR, and what they provide, is important. Its very community-based, and acccessible. Thats why so many people listen to it.

Personally I dont like it though, its all a little too wholesome and granny-friendly. I get a terrible Eoin McLove vibe when I listen to it....

Godsentme

Flyin Irishman wrote: »

I think WLR, and what they provide, is important. Its very community-based, and acccessible. Thats why so many people listen to it.


The only reason people listen to wlr is they may here some local news or snippets, not because Queen billy is unmissable.

All the National stations are accessable. Joe Duffy/ Moncrief/ G.Hook etc. And they are not afraid to read out adverse comments about themselves unlike that bitch we have.

deisemum

I used to like listening to Timmy and Nicola's breakfast show but when Nicola left and Ms. Aoibhin "I'm so bloody perfect" Fallon took over I switched to Todayfm and Newstalk.

Jaysus but she's painful and so full of it.

Scaldy Ned

Driving up the country will show that most Local stations are if anything worse than WLR ....Who listens to Irish country music ??? I;ve never actually met anyone that does. This is the music i usually hear on a lot of them.
Nevertheless that's not an excuse.
Im 48 and proud to be a Warerfordian because growing up we always felt that Waterford always had an edge to it..... probably resisting the culchee tag that always annoyed us

There were skinheads, suede heads,boot boys,Punks,Mods......you name it we had it and power to the FreeWheelers who also gave an edge to that particular scene.....It seemed that most people were part of something at some stage


So how did WLR emerge from this tradition or sub culture ????

They didn't and to be honest have never catered to any of them except with some tokenism now and again. The fact is that WLR is probably managed and comprised of mainly the same people now as it was then......The tweed jacket wearing 22 year olds who have now probably become the Merc driving conservatives they were always aspiring to be.
This their problem...No edge and have never managed to tap into the rich and varied subculture that has always been part of the Waterford youth Pshycy......

Scaldy

SillyMcCarthy

What other radio station would feature a Trans-Gender Group as part of their news bulletin! That in my view speaks VOLUMES for what's running the place.

STIG83

Some unhappy listeners ringing into Billy MacCarthy today, complaining about the sex scenes in Spartacus and Shameless!! one listener said oh its "soft porn"

Asmodean

To be completely honest the ONLY reason I ever tune into WLR is that because it reminds me of home and at times the usual jingle/advertisements etc can be kind of comforting, but thats about it to be honest.
It's like that annoying friend everyone has but you don't want to tell him to **** off because he used to be cool and you have a lot of good memories together

ziedth

STIG83 wrote: »

Some unhappy listeners ringing into Billy MacCarthy today, complaining about the sex scenes in Spartacus and Shameless!! one listener said oh its "soft porn"

They are of course right.

It's on after the watershed, it is kinda what Rome was like, if you don't like it don't watch it. Otherwise piss off like.

STIG83

^Somebody said that too, if you dont like it, dont watch it.
Not sure was another caller male or female and they said they were going to start recording it on Monday nights from now on, to brighten up their Monday nights!!

Boooourns

jimmyw wrote: »

I am not jumping on the band wagon here but, I have to say this station are really amateurs when it come to radio.First of all one of my bugbears is the news, firstly nearly without fail there is always gaps in it whereby there is no sound at all and sounds of other stuff coming in, really annoying.

Next Billy McCarthy only wants views the same as his own, no one else's matter. Marie McCann is like a teenager with all her giggling every five minutes, jeez it really gets up my nose, you are supposed to be professional..Ian Noctors show is boring with boring topics, and his voice is annoying too. No comparison with Cooper, Hook and even Wilson is easier to listen to.Some one mentioned Roddy Cleere is gone:eek:, is that true WTF! Jeff/Geoff Harris whatever, seems to be stuck in everthing.

I think there is click there with McCarthy,Harris, Reddy (I am a relation of hers!) and others there.That newsreader Sinead Aherne is hard to listen to aswell.( Where is that other new girl gone?)I do think Karen Doyle is the best, even though she is only rarely on.They also keep banging on about the glass factory, WIT uni status :rolleyes:YAWN YAWN.Get over it.

Before you say it, KCLR are just as bad with all the bloody sport so I dont listen to it either if I can avoid either of them, only reason is someone else is listening to them and i am doing stuff in the same room.Otherwise I listen to Newstslk, Radio 1 or todayfm sometimes.

I mentioned it mate, hope someone else can confirm it but i heard he was given the boot as they wanted to shake up the station. Disgraceful treatment as he's given so much to the local music scene.
I think there's a night (or i missed it) in the Forum dedicated to him as a thanks from the music scene.

dayshah

STIG83 wrote: »

Some unhappy listeners ringing into Billy MacCarthy today, complaining about the sex scenes in Spartacus and Shameless!! one listener said oh its "soft porn"

They should watch Caligula

In fairness its such a boring movie it would turn you off porno.

Professey Chin

STIG83 wrote: »

Some unhappy listeners ringing into Billy MacCarthy today, complaining about the sex scenes in Spartacus and Shameless!! one listener said oh its "soft porn"

Spartacus is pretty much to be fair.
Except I dont see a reason to complain about it :pac:

SillyMcCarthy

No one rang in to complain!
That was just Fr. Billy throwing his own spin just to
give some controversy to his own banality!

I think the above poll reflects actual reality!

dayshah

Boooourns wrote: »

Musically the radiostation is butal, didn't they recently get rid of Roddy Cleere who actually had a decent radio show promoting new Irish music.

Well, I'm listening to Decades with Roddy Cleere now.

MitchKoobski

In fairness to em I was listening to the "Easy Listening on Sundays" with Timmy Ryan earlier and I fair enjoyed meself.

doublejj

too be honest it caters for certain age.group category....i never liked it esp when a number of years ago they put the small court cases that were on in the district court on every friday....yes you can report in the media but the inaccuriccies were awful....my brother done something very minor(drunk and abusive)and they reported it all day long.......he endured a terrible time in work and on appeal it was quashed......i like timmy ryan,but the click there is unbelievable.....liz reddy dont get me started

abouttobebanned

Timmy Ryan & Geoff Harris are two diamonds in the rough. My problem with WLR has always been its ultra conservatism which, I suppose is prevalent in most provincial stations but the amount of rules and regulations for what they can and can't say is just ridiculous.

Then again, I don't listen to much radio these days. I find that I turn into a cranky old man.

200motels

I listen to WLR a bit and it's not that bad, but it needs an overhaul of DJ'S and a show to cater for rock music.