Off The Ball Official Thread <Mod Note - Post #1, #533, #6651>

Les Ferdinand

If I was to put money on it I'd say they'll be back on Newstalk soon enough.

DEFTLEFTHAND

Where else will they go? I assume they want to stay on a national station, RTE can't afford them, Today Fm obviously is a no go, and 4fm is a complete joke station.

irishgeo

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

Where else will they go? I assume they want to stay on a national station, RTE can't afford them, Today Fm obviously is a no go, and 4fm is a complete joke station.

98fm?

ballsymchugh

irishgeo wrote: »

98fm?

that's just downstairs from newstalk, it's the same company so they'd have to go back working for the crowd they fell out with originally.

it's some gentleman's agreement they have. i thought they may be one company but a quick check on solocheck.ie shows that only eoin had his own company.

anyway i still think this is off topic now, as they're not on off the ball anymore.

Ol' Donie

irishgeo wrote: »

98fm?

Not a national station.

You lucky, lucky non-Dubs.

Skid X

irishgeo wrote: »

98fm?

No chance of them going to another Communicorp Station after Denis O'Brien himself apparently gave them the red card from Newstalk.

heybaby

98 fm simply cant afford to take on an extra 5 staff. Considering they have been losing advertisers as fast as they have been losing listeners, I refer you to Barry Dunnes shift constantly having ad free hours. Think about it they got rid of darragh O Dea and replaced him with a syndicated Ryan Seacrest show, which is costing them next to nothing. And even if they had the money, where would you schedule them ? Dermot and Dave are perfect for drive. If you put them on after drive then they have the exact same slot they grew tired of on Newstalk. Anyway it completely ignores the demographic 98fm is pitching at and the demographic an OTB style programme would appeal to.

As regards Denis O Brien making a decison regarding the ex OTB lads , Id say that is a load of nonsense. I cannot see O Brien taking a forensic interest in the scheduling of one of several radio stations under the communicorp family, communicorp being one of many businesses he currently owns and in truth being a very small business in terms of turnover in comparison with his mobile network interests in the carribean which are worth billions.

The majority of OTB listeners would be male. So if the ex OTB lads are to find a new home elsewhere they would have to go to a station where most of the audience is male .. ie Nova , or they would have to go to a national station where the audience would be larger automatically, this would leave Today fm or 2FM, but again you have the same issues regarding scheduling, because today fm arent going to move Matt cooper and 2FM already have Game ON scheduled starting at 7.

Its quite conceivable the ex OTB lads wont ever work together again, certainly not as a unit, in fact its very unlikely. The Radio business is not like anoraks, it isnt sentimental, newstalk has moved on and eventually the listeners will forget. Doesnt mean to say the programme wont be missed. People are hoping for a happy ending here, I dont think its realistic.

Loafing Oaf

I still can't believe if they had something definite lined up with another Irish station that word wouldn't have leaked out somewhere. Is there a gossipier community anywhere than the Irish media?

I wonder could the new venture they keep hinting at be some kind of self-starting online thing? Hard to see how that could be anything more than a hobby though...

armchair fusilier

ballsymchugh wrote: »

anyway i still think this is off topic now, as they're not on off the ball anymore.

OK, but there was hardly ever a post on this forum about Newstalk's weekend sports show - except to complain about Ken's match commentaries. That's what OTB is now, the weekend sports show all week long. This thread will die a natural death once the future of the lads is resolved.

JonathanAnon

That "Get In The Game" stuff is cringeworthy..

mike65

The next (quarterly) radio numbers are out in a week, but will not be a measure of the changing of the guard, that will have to wait until the end July figures.

Diabhal Beag

Hearing from my sources that Nora Casey is taking over OTB with Ger back on weekends :pac:

Loafing Oaf

Diabhal Beag wrote: »

Hearing from my sources that Nora Casey is taking over OTB with Ger back on weekends :pac:

Great to have a poster with the inside track!:p

Seriously though, she wouldn't be any more out of her depth than she already is discussing any non-business topic on Breakfast

heybaby

Loafing Oaf wrote: »

Great to have a poster with the inside track!:p

Seriously though, she wouldn't be any more out of her depth than she already is discussing any non-business topic on Breakfast

I actually like her on breakfast myself, not crazy about chris o donoghue who sounds like he's about 12, as regards the JNLR's they are out tomorrow.

blue4ever

and the voting is........

Currently at 43,000 - up in the last survey, but down 5,000 on the same twelve months last year.

C

armchair fusilier

blue4ever wrote: »

and the voting is........

Currently at 43,000 - up in the last survey, but down 5,000 on the same twelve months last year.

These are still Mcdevitt & Co. figures though.

styron

armchair fusilier wrote: »

These are still Mcdevitt & Co. figures though.

49/52 (ie. 94%) ... the final three weeks in March were under the new regime.

starviewadams

http://www.herald.ie/entertainment/around-town/is-off-the-ball-team-about-to-bounce-back-onto-2fm-29225993.html

JonathanAnon

Ah ffs, does this mean I have to go to the bother of tuning a third channel preset on my radio..

ballsymchugh

JonathanAnon wrote: »

Ah ffs, does this mean I have to go to the bother of tuning a third channel preset on my radio..

that was my thought precisely. i haven't listened to 2fm since 2002!

soc160

ballsymchugh wrote: »

that was my thought precisely. i haven't listened to 2fm since 2002!

Wow wow wow! There's a "2" FM?

Synode

2fm needs a good shakeup alright. Haven't stayed on it in years.

ballsymchugh

soc160 wrote: »

Wow wow wow! There's a "2" FM?

there's a 4fm and all now. it's gone mental lately!

Ol' Donie

ballsymchugh wrote: »

there's a 4fm and all now. it's gone mental lately!

Actually burst out laughing when I read that.

Anyway, just put it where you used to have 106. Simple.

Edit: having said that, i'm not at all comfortable with the idea of accidentally putting it on when i'm driving in the morning, only to hear hector do his crash-inducing "let yourself go" schtick.

ballsymchugh

Ol' Donie wrote: »

Actually burst out laughing when I read that.

Anyway, just put it where you used to have 106. Simple.

i'm in england. only have 4 presets on the wifi radio, RTE1, newstalk, 5live and 6music. it'd pain me to go and tune in 2fm!!

Ol' Donie

I do understand that. Considering there isn't one single show on 2fm worth listening to (for even five minutes).

But since this nonsense started a few months ago i haven't listened to newstalk at all (in half hearted protest). But upon reflection, most of it is pretty poor. George is proud of the fact that his show is about opinon, but most of it is without any actual substance. The Tom Dunne show is rubbish. The only worthwhile presenter is Moncrieff, but a lot of the topics on his show are at best mildly interesting.

ballsymchugh

Ol' Donie wrote: »

I do understand that. Considering there isn't one single show on 2fm worth listening to (for even five minutes).

But since this nonsense started a few months ago i haven't listened to newstalk at all (in half hearted protest). But upon reflection, most of it is pretty poor. George is proud of the fact that his show is about opinon, but most of it is without any actual substance. The Tom Dunne show is rubbish. The only worthwhile presenter is Moncrieff, but a lot of the topics on his show are at best mildly interesting.

moncrieff is what gets me through having to live here. when you here presenters on 5live apologising when a guest says something like being 'pissed off', i get a kick any time moncrieff calls someone a bollox.

have to say though, i've been enjoying some of off the ball recently. i find the interviews to be much more in depth and respectful. even though the humour isn't as quick, it's getting better.

Ol' Donie

If the lads do go to 2fm, do you reckon it would be head to head against ger on otb? What do 2fm do at drive time?

Ger was always pretty good, but better with Ken etc to bounce off. Had a lot of time to fill on the weekend show with less interesting co-presenters.

armchair fusilier

They posted this on twitter back in January.

https://twitter.com/OffTheBallNT/status/296341599473000448

There's many a true word spoken in jest and all that.

wnolan1992

So if they were to go to 2FM would it be all five? Or I wonder would it be Eoin as presenter, Ken doing the football show, either Simon or Mark as producer and Murph as a weekly contributor? I also think the current presenter of Game On could feel rightly hard done by if he was just replaced. I don't listen that often, but when I do I always find him to be an alright presenter.

That said, the whole premise of having a sports show on 2FM is completely bonkers. Just put it on R1 where it belongs and leave 2FM to either do what it was set up to do (be a music driven station) or die off.