Newstalk - Off the ball

Celly Smunt

I don't know if I'm alone in this argument, but am I the only one that feels off the ball gets far too much airtime on newstalk?

It's a sports show and people are interested in sport, fair enough, but to have the show running every evening giving no greater opinion than what you'd read in the back pages and then pretty much 2 days over the weekend dedicated to the show also is far too much. No sports midweek are worth dedicating such airtime to at such a young hour apart from the occasional final etc. It just feels like the slot could be much better allocated to an interesting show on science, history or even light politics and current affairs.

It seems that every time I tune into newstalk in the evening now I'm listening to rehashed sports headlines from 4 days previous.

kneemos

Save it for the weekend . Maybe a shorter show during the week.

Grolschevik

And pretty much all weekend, niche shows excepted. Thre isn't even a 1pm news show on a Saturday now. **** off to a dedicated sports channel and don't be annoying me.

soc160

Ratings are good, it's sponsored, makes money. Why would they change it?

To say it doesn't offer more insight is a ludicrous statement, they can review the days sport, during the soccer season they provide live updates and scores and have insightful interview, it's won a number of awards, the podcast's do well in terms of downloads too.

The weekend is more for live sports like GAA and Soccer and they cover live matches.


I think it's air time is justified in its being and the absence of things to replace it with. There is enough News and Current affairs on Newstalk that to have a 3 hour show out of 17 hours of live broadcast is acceptable.

Grolschevik

soc160 wrote: »

Ratings are good, .

There's no accounting for halfwits, so.

JeffKenna

Grolschevik wrote: »

There's no accounting for halfwits, so.

Takes one to know one

duffman13

Grolschevik wrote: »

There's no accounting for halfwits, so.

You like sport? Some people can't get enough of it. It's doesn't mean someone's a half wit. Grow up and change the station if it doesn't suit your tastes

Fran1985

Celly Smunt wrote: »

I don't know if I'm alone in this argument, but am I the only one that feels off the ball gets far too much airtime on newstalk?

It's a sports show and people are interested in sport, fair enough, but to have the show running every evening giving no greater opinion than what you'd read in the back pages and then pretty much 2 days over the weekend dedicated to the show also is far too much. No sports midweek are worth dedicating such airtime to at such a young hour apart from the occasional final etc. It just feels like the slot could be much better allocated to an interesting show on science, history or even light politics and current affairs.

It seems that every time I tune into newstalk in the evening now I'm listening to rehashed sports headlines from 4 days previous.

All very a matter of taste. They do sport VERY well. Its light entertainment and the ratings are good. A lot more people would be into sport than science or history and theyve spent all day covering politics and current affairs.

Grolschevik

duffman13 wrote: »

You like sport? Some people can't get enough of it. It's doesn't mean someone's a half wit. Grow up and change the station if it doesn't suit your tastes

That's the thing. I listen to Newstalk almost exclusively. I don't listen to music radio or phone-in shows. But it gets turned off at 7pm on a Friday and left off til Monday morning.

I might tune in to Talking History -- I used to more when I'd normally be driving during it. But I fail to see why sport needs three daily hours and almost all feckin' weekend.

And you're right. I don't like sport of any sort. In fact, I detest it.

Grolschevik

JeffKenna wrote: »

Takes one to know one

duffman13 wrote: »

Grow up

What are we? Seven?

JeffKenna

Fran1985 wrote: »

All very a matter of taste. They do sport VERY well. Its light entertainment and the ratings are good. A lot more people would be into sport than science or history and theyve spent all day covering politics and current affairs.

Have to agree with this. I find they mix sport very well with other topics of interest. Take the piece on the New Orleans Saints yesterday. As someone who has visited and has plans to visit New Orleans again I found it fascinating the link between the team and it's recovery from Katrina.

The next interview they had was Pearce Hanely who is currently playing Aussie rules. Again I found listening to his story of adjusting to life in Australia fascinating as I know so many people who have had to do the same.

I think some people here need to listen to the show before they cast judgement.

Fran1985

Grolschevik wrote: »

And you're right. I don't like sport of any sort. In fact, I detest it.

Thats your problem there. The listenership figures will show u that more people like sport than history. The station is aimed at the majority snd theyre not going to get rid of a program with strong listenership and bringing in revenue amd replace it with something that less people will tune into. Its a business

kneemos

Fran1985 wrote: »

All very a matter of taste. They do sport VERY well. Its light entertainment and the ratings are good. A lot more people would be into sport than science or history and theyve spent all day covering politics and current affairs.

Used to listen to it the odd time even if not really interested.
It is entertaining,informative and well done.

Grolschevik

Fran1985 wrote: »

Thats your problem there. The listenership figures will show u that more people like sport than history. The station is aimed at the majority snd theyre not going to get rid of a program with strong listenership and bringing in revenue amd replace it with something that less people will tune into. Its a business

Fair point. And if the revenue helps support stuff I am interested in, even more so.

But there's so much of the shi'ite! And catering to a common denominator has proven to be bad for music, literature, journalism, politics, and public discourse, so I'm not a fan.

EDIT: Although it used to be WAY worse when Hook dedicated the last half hour of his show to sport, even though OTB was coming up next.

Mantis Toboggan

Grolschevik wrote: »

Fair point. And if the revenue helps support stuff I am interested in, even more so.

But there's so much of the shi'ite! And catering to a common denominator has proven to be bad for music, literature, journalism, politics, and public discourse, so I'm not a fan.

EDIT: Although it used to be WAY worse when Hook dedicated the last half hour of his show to sport, even though OTB was coming up next.

Well you know what to do then, move the dial. Newstalk have been a breath of fresh air when it comes to sport and it's much better than that usual trash which is on other radio stations.

Grolschevik

As I said above, I do move the dial every time it comes on. To off. I just wish I didn't have to.

Fr Tod Umptious

Off the ball is a good fit for Newstalk. It offers both news and talk.
If there is a show that should not be on then its Tom Dunne, which is basically a music show.

What I like about OTB is that it's far more than a discussion about will Liverpool beat United on Saturday.
It delves into far more aspects of sport, as the other poster said, The New Orleans Saints, Pierce Hanly playing AFL, and last night they had an item on the split in the IFA in the '20s that formed the FAI.
All worthy topics for a news talk station.

soc160

Grolschevik wrote: »

Fair point. And if the revenue helps support stuff I am interested in, even more so.

But there's so much of the shi'ite! And catering to a common denominator has proven to be bad for music, literature, journalism, politics, and public discourse, so I'm not a fan.

EDIT: Although it used to be WAY worse when Hook dedicated the last half hour of his show to sport, even though OTB was coming up next.

Roughly 1/5 of the output is dedicated to sport, in terms of actual on air time across the week that is. The bulk of which comes at the weekend so you'll find there isn't really that much of it in fairness.

If you just took Monday to Friday it's 14 hours out of 90 hours of live on air output.


Ya cant really expect them to ignore sport for some. You'll see in a few weeks people getting sacked into the rugby world cup and the response it generates across the station.

duffman13

Grolschevik wrote: »

What are we? Seven?

In fairness when you insinuate someone is a half wit because they enjoy sport and a sports show then these are the kind of responses you are going to get. Completely understand you are not interested and that is fine. I dont enjoy some of the shows on Newstalk either but I wouldnt disrespect people who do by calling them half wits. Realistically the show reaches very good and dedicated listnership. The weekend shows can be a bit much however you are really not going to get great output on a weekend on Newstalk.

elefant

I live outside of Ireland, the only thing on Irish radio I listen to is Off the Ball. It's the same for many (I'd nearly say the majority actually) of my Irish friends here.

Now obviously we're sports-fans, but that's still a pretty impressive level of interest (anecdotally) in an Irish radio show for a sector ex-pats to be showing. I think that speaks to the quality of the show. For any other Irish news I would just read it online, and it's the same for the other Irish ex-pats here, but Off the Ball is a superb sports production, and the level of analysis and insight is far, far above anything else on Irish television or print media. Why would they change it?