Marty Whelan on the dole

Anto Bean

Do you remember when Paddy o'Goman met Marty Whelan in the dole que back in 1992 ish ?

Lady Chatterton

Marty went through a rough patch around that time, he left RTE to work for Century Radio and then Century closed.

I remember he was doing Daz commercials for a little while too but fair play to him he got back to work in RTE and he seems to be doing okay for himself now.

barneysplash

My brother and his mates were off on a lads weekend in Amsterdam
years ago and met Marty in Dublin airport. They said he was an absolute gent.

I think he's a great presenter, he comes across as genuine and sincere, maybe
his tough times have given him perspective that a lot of the so-called funny or clever
hosts don't have. The object of their shows seem to be: brow-beat your guests and
audience or bend the conversation back to your favourite subject:

Ryan Tubridy: The Kennedys / America, and how the Irish alone built it.

Ray D'Arcy: How Ireland became more confident around Italia 90 /
There's a sense that we lost something during the boom.

Morning Ireland: Wanting to convince your listeners that you are CNN
sytle news giant at the centre at the beating heart of world affairs, by doing
stories about obscure overseas issues and "our place on the global stage".

Colm Hayes: Gerry Ryan 2.0 - human interest setting to the maximum.
Empathy and pathetic shaggy-dog story sensors on full blast. Set course for
€750,000 paycheck in 2 years, warp factor 10!

delux

Marty Whelan's great! Does anyone *not* like him?

I was in the car the other day switching between Mary Wilson and George Hook...it was so depressing. It got me thinking that I actually hate everyone on radio no matter what station
Don't get me started on Morning Ireland or Marian F. :rolleyes:

JonathanAnon

Marty seems like a good lad.. I think he appreciates the work more than the rest because he knows what it's like not to be working. He's always great on the LLS Eurosong show.. that's his forté

Yakuza

His radio style wouldn't be my cup of tea, but over the years I've seen / him at some past pupil functions (we went to the same secondary school, albeit a decade apart) and he comes across as being a fairly daycent and well-grounded bloke.

Rebelheart

delux wrote: »

Marty Whelan's great! Does anyone *not* like him?

Are you for real, mister? Try this thread for starters.

With his incessant waffle and abysmal low-brow pop and country music choices, Marty Whelan has single-handedly destroyed LyricFM in the morning. It's horrible now, truly horrible.

HeidiHeidi

Rebelheart wrote: »

Are you for real, mister? Try this thread for starters.

With his incessant waffle and abysmal low-brow pop and country music choices, Marty Whelan has single-handedly destroyed LyricFM in the morning. It's horrible now, truly horrible.

This.

Doodah7

Rebelheart wrote: »

Are you for real, mister? Try this thread for starters.

With his incessant waffle and abysmal low-brow pop and country music choices, Marty Whelan has single-handedly destroyed LyricFM in the morning. It's horrible now, truly horrible.

Low brow pop and country... elitist much? Since when has classical been a higher 'brow' than other forms of music?? Frankly it is snobbish, elitist opinions like that which ensures that classical music remains a niche category. Let me guess, you look down your nose at Andre Rieu et al because they might be a bit , gosh, populist!?!:eek:

In any event, it's just your opinion. My opinion is that I enjoy his show very much for the half an hour or so I hear it in the car on my way to work. Yes I would like a little more classical pieces, but the majority of what he plays is quite inoffensive and pleasant.

If you really need your high brow music at that hour of the morning, listen to your iPod or bog off to Radio3 or Classic FM.

Singlehandedly destroyed Lyric FM, would you listen to yourself...

mike65

tallpaul wrote: »

Low brow pop and country... elitist much? Since when has classical been a higher 'brow' than other forms of music?? Frankly it is snobbish, elitist opinions like that which ensures that classical music remains a niche category. Let me guess, you look down your nose at Andre Rieu et al because they might be a bit , gosh, populist!?!:eek:

In any event, it's just your opinion. My opinion is that I enjoy his show very much for the half an hour or so I hear it in the car on my way to work. Yes I would like a little more classical pieces, but the majority of what he plays is quite inoffensive and pleasant.

If you really need your high brow music at that hour of the morning, listen to your iPod or bog off to Radio3 or Classic FM.

Singlehandedly destroyed Lyric FM, would you listen to yourself...

That's exactly the problem it seems! Its a bit like jazz - trad and swing verses Be-bob and Modern. Ronan Collins v John Peel

Marty is the Woegan version of Terry Wogan

Expunge

Low brow pop and country... elitist much?

Oh dear. Here we go. The old snob arguement.
If I don't agree with Israeli foreign policy, does that make me an anti-semite?

Before Marty Whelan arrived onto Lyric, there was little or nothing of the pop or country stuff which he has embraced. It was meant to be a place on the dial for classical music (and other minority music) in all of it's forms. That was why it was set up and is about 90-95% funded by licence fee.

I'm sure you'd agree there are many, many other places to get the other forms of music mentioned. The mixing of all these genres together with a token little bit of classical on Lyric is just a waste of licence fee. There simply is no need to fund this for the sake of 31,000 listeners each morning.
Might be better to shut the whole thing down now.

If you really need your high brow music at that hour of the morning, listen to your iPod or bog off to Radio3 or Classic FM.

If it's all the same with you, I'd rather get it (it's just music to me) from the place where RTE promised to provide it - Lyric FM and for which I pay through my licence fee.

Look, I'm sure Marty Whelan is a decent fella and a great survivor, it's just plain wrong to allow him play whatever the hell he wants on Lyric without any reference to what Lyric is supposed to be. That's not to say he shouldn't do it some place, but not at the licence fee payers expense.

Singlehandedly destroyed Lyric FM, would you listen to yourself...

He has gone along way to making a strong argument for Lyric's closure in it's present form with the assistance of management there.

Almaviva

tallpaul wrote: »

Low brow pop and country... elitist much? Since when has classical been a higher 'brow' than other forms of music??

Since always.

tallpaul wrote: »

Frankly it is snobbish, elitist opinions like that which ensures that classical music remains a niche category.

No it isnt. It recognising that it a superior form of music. It doesnt mean anyone is unwelcome to listen to it.

tallpaul wrote: »

Let me guess, you look down your nose at Andre Rieu et al because they might be a bit , gosh, populist!?!:eek:

Look down on, yes. But not becuase they are populist (or even popular), but because they are low grade music.

tallpaul wrote: »

but the majority of what he plays is quite inoffensive and pleasant.

Damning with faint praise ? Why accept music that is 'inoffensive' ?

tallpaul wrote: »

If you really need your high brow music at that hour of the morning, listen to your iPod or bog off to Radio3 or Classic FM.
Singlehandedly destroyed Lyric FM, would you listen to yourself...

Classic FM is not great shakes itself. It was inferior to 'original' Lyric. Yes the Lyric of old has been destroyed. With no acknowledgement from RTE of what they were doing, which is very poor from a public service broadcaster. Single handedly no. Unfortunately there is a cohort of similar low level pop DJs, but Marty is the leader in the race to lower Lyric to trash radio.

Tombo2001

Firstly, there is no shame in being on the dole.

Fair play to Marty for doing it, and not being to proud about it.

Second, its an interesting piece of information. Because when I think about it, as a broadcaster, Marty Whelan has the air of someone who is grateful for what he has. I cant always say that about some of RTE's bigger stars.

pconn062

tallpaul wrote: »

Low brow pop and country... elitist much? Since when has classical been a higher 'brow' than other forms of music?? Frankly it is snobbish, elitist opinions like that which ensures that classical music remains a niche category. Let me guess, you look down your nose at Andre Rieu et al because they might be a bit , gosh, populist!?!:eek:

In any event, it's just your opinion. My opinion is that I enjoy his show very much for the half an hour or so I hear it in the car on my way to work. Yes I would like a little more classical pieces, but the majority of what he plays is quite inoffensive and pleasant.

If you really need your high brow music at that hour of the morning, listen to your iPod or bog off to Radio3 or Classic FM.

Singlehandedly destroyed Lyric FM, would you listen to yourself...

The poster said he destroyed Lyric FM in the morning (which he has), not Lyric as a entire entity.

DownBeaten

pconn062 wrote: »

The poster said he destroyed Lyric FM in the morning (which he has), not Lyric as a entire entity.

The hopeless "moderation" on radio threads precludes one from making comments about the eponymous presenter, however much of the material he and his producers select for his playlists would be unknown for the other 21 hours of the day on that station, but not other, more popular radio stations. One has to wonder why.

squonk

I can't see Marty doing anything wrong to be honest. If anything he puts a bit of personality on what is, otherwise, a station for the old, bored and close to death. The few times I've heard Lyric it was attrocious. Saturday afternoon is filled with musical stuff! Christ on a bike! Claiming that's high brow, would people on here ever cop themselves on! The TV ad for Lyric banging on about seriously relaxing music would, frankly, make me want to slit my wrists if I was listening to that during the day. I'm still alive, I intend to be alive for a long time to come and my heart is still beating so the only time I want to hear music like I hear in that ad is at my funeral.

pconn062

squonk wrote: »

I can't see Marty doing anything wrong to be honest. If anything he puts a bit of personality on what is, otherwise, a station for the old, bored and close to death. The few times I've heard Lyric it was attrocious. Saturday afternoon is filled with musical stuff! Christ on a bike! Claiming that's high brow, would people on here ever cop themselves on! The TV ad for Lyric banging on about seriously relaxing music would, frankly, make me want to slit my wrists if I was listening to that during the day. I'm still alive, I intend to be alive for a long time to come and my heart is still beating so the only time I want to hear music like I hear in that ad is at my funeral.

The only one claiming it's highbrow is you.

Clearly with the attitude you have to the content, you are not their target audience.

Expunge

You write a lot of truth, I think, Squonk.

The few times I've heard Lyric it was attrocious. Saturday afternoon is filled with musical stuff! Christ on a bike!

The scheduling of music is all over the facking place. 2 or 3 hours of Doris Day followed by Skyfall followed by Deliverance on a Saturday is madness and frequently unlistenable.

The TV ad for Lyric banging on about seriously relaxing music would, frankly, make me want to slit my wrists if I was listening to that during the day.

This boils my wee as well. Someone marketing the station has clearly decided that making any reference to Classical etc. is to be avoided at all costs and the message should be that it's a free form of Prozac.

All the above and Marty being on Lyric points to a lack of understanding of what the station was supposed to be and an arrogant disregard for those who expect a radio service of Classical etc. from the State Broadcaster.
They'll have you jailed for not paying the Licence Fee but are not interested in providing the service they are obliged to do.