The Newstalk reshuffle

Ol' Donie

+1 for Marc Coleman. Liked his show after OTB. Like the TD show too, though.

Anything changing at the weekend? Off The Ball muscling in on Futureproof or Down To Business?

I suppose Shance Coleman's Sunday Show is finished?

Pedalare Pedalare!

Some weird moves. Really think Jonathan Healy should be kept on. Even as one of the Breakfast Show presenters. Sunday Show?

A lot of younger talent in there should probably have gotten the push up too - Richard Chambers, Jess from Tech?

Jimmy Garlic

jimmyw wrote: »

Paul Williams is an odd choice I think,

Paul Williams is an oddball. A strange man. I wonder if he will be able to contain his rampant sensationalism.

PeterTheEighth

Pedalare Pedalare! wrote: »

Some weird moves. Really think Jonathan Healy should be kept on. Even as one of the Breakfast Show presenters. Sunday Show?

He is a good broadcaster but that on air persona of his drives me mad. He's really nailed that tone of ... you know the guy down the pub that everybody hates, who throws his arm over your shoulder and starts making derogatory, smart ar$e remarks about the guy at the end of the bar.

blue4ever

A few random observations:
Breakfast - Ivan is leavings, PW is a bizarre one - esp breakfast.
Pat extending the show will increase 'superficially' the ratings - but possibly not the average quarter hour. Its straight up against Ryan.
I think George makes a decent gamble. Healy was p1ssing up a down pipe against News at one (75k vs 350k). George might appeal to the floating listener - but not hell bent on all news.
Moncrieff: Yea, difficult one - I think he's really got a handle on the audiences and their likes - the more compact nature of the show (aka cutting it by and hour) might work - but I think its not very complimentary as he made the 1:30 to 4:30 slot his own.
Drivetime - well done RTE1 one an increase in figures in the 2017Q2 figures for this slot.

I note that the new females get all the billing front and center on the website - are they losing a share of the female audience and this is an attempt at plugging it?

Edit: the M/F balance in all radio is M49%/F51% - for any National Radio its reversed M51%/F49%. For Newstalk it's M61%/F39% - so, maybe the introduction of the Female voice is to try and address that gender imbalance (relative to the National picture)

ButtersSuki

The new presenters and the changes for me mark a shift away from the serious news and talk format the station was founded on to a more fluffy, light and dare I say it tabloid format; I fear it could be style over substance. It really feels a very celebrity and name driven shift away from its roots - Williams more than any other appointee hammers this home for me. I'll give the new shows a chance, but I fear the worst at this remove.

jooksavage

Pedalare Pedalare! wrote: »

Some weird moves. Really think Jonathan Healy should be kept on. Even as one of the Breakfast Show presenters. Sunday Show?

A lot of younger talent in there should probably have gotten the push up too - Richard Chambers, Jess from Tech?

Some pretty weird moves alright. I'm happy enough to see the back of Healy though. Every show followed the same format: breathless sighs of faux-exasperation with our callous, incompetent politicians, a phonecall or two to some misfortunate plebs (more breathless sighing) and every Friday a mutual on-air toss-off with Mick Clifford. Actually, come to think of it, I'm very glad they haven't given Clifford a full time job.

ButtersSuki

jooksavage wrote: »

Some pretty weird moves alright. I'm happy enough to see the back of Healy though. Every show followed the same format: breathless sighs of faux-exasperation with our callous, incompetent politicians, a phonecall or two to some misfortunate plebs (more breathless sighing) and every Friday a mutual on-air toss-off with Mick Clifford. Actually, come to think of it, I'm very glad they haven't given Clifford a full time job.

I'm not as harsh on Hely, he can do the rare illness thing a bit much though (not as bad as Tubs or Duffy however). I will miss the weekly call with Kevin Cullen of the Boston Globe however on that show, wonder if they can find a slot for that somewhere......

touts

Overall I like it.

Four hosts of the Breakfast show. Not sure about that. Hopefully they will focus on Collette Fitzpatrick and Shane Coleman. That's a good combination. Williams and Quinlan would be better floating across shows as Crime and Rugby correspondents but I'm not sure about having all four sitting at the table for a whole show. Four hosts will just dilute the airtime and analysis. Maybe they see Quinlan in a Des Cahill sort of role.

Pat to 9am is a very smart move. The 9am-10am slot is dead space for RTE. They are basically telling the Morning Ireland listeners to feck off and come back in an hour. If Newstalk can start to get those people tuning in at 9am they might stick with Pat rather than change back to Sean O'Rourke at 10am.

George moving to lunchtime is probably a short term fix for both. It's an easier time for George to slide to retirement and it allows them put a big name in the slot and build some audience. It could be that Hook is holding the seat for Ivan when he comes back after his latest debt wiping holiday in Wales. He's good friends with DOB so he's getting something when he comes back in a year. Maybe a weekend show up against Marian but the Lunchtime show might be more to his liking.

Sean Moncrieff is dead air for me. Just doesn't fit in with the profile of the station. It's interesting that they have cut an hour from the slot as it's proof that it's struggling. There are only so many ways you can run stories about aliens, fanatics, and weirdo's. It has become utterly predictable in it's attempt to be unpredictable. Every interview is basically the same & Sean has been phoning it in for a few years. His producer quit last week so it has all the hall marks of a show in trouble. If they wanted to give Paul Williams a slot I'd have given him that and let him go head to head with Joe Duffy on the bad news battle. Sean would be better off moving downstairs to Today FM.

The new drive time show is interesting. Chris is good but has been pushed around by Ivan. I think he could do well in that show. Don't know anything about Sarah McInerney but it's good to see a new name making a break through.

Good to see Off the Ball being kept on (not that there was really any doubt). That's by far and away the best Sports show on Irish (or UK) radio. The format works and the fact that they continued to be successful after the entire presenting staff walked a few years ago proves that.

Any news on the Tom Dunne slot? He just doesn't fit in the station and would also be better off downstairs in Today FM. Newstalk are never going to win a battle with the hundreds of other stations playing hits from the 90s. RTE's late debate is actually very good and the Vincent Brown show on TV3 also proves that there is a market for shows that bring on guests to discuss and analyse the day's news & events in that timeslot. But both those shows are very focused on Irish politics and especially the Dail. One of the best segments on Sky News is the panel preview of the next day's papers. There is a gap for a panel show that discuss national, world and business news and review the papers. That's a show Jonathan Healy could do well in if they got the right guests around him.

There is still a gap for a really good business show. The two best daily business shows on the radio are both early morning. Newstalk 6:30am-7:00am and Wake up to Money on BBC5 from 5:15am-6:00am. But it's hard to find a good slot for that type of show. Their target audience tends to be busy from 8am-6pm. Personally I'd have taken the 6:30pm slot and given that to business rather than more sport. Sport is very well covered from 7:00pm with off the ball. I'm not sure starting that at 6:30pm will attract many more listeners. In contrast a dedicated business show at that time would catch business people on their way home who might then stay tuned to the sports show.

It'll be interesting to see what they do on the weekends. Sunday mornings will have to be entirely changed with Collette Fitzpatrick and Shane Coleman moving to Monday-Friday shows. Maybe Ivan in a year but I hope they don't pack it with more pre-recorded & highlights shows.

PeterTheEighth

The three new morning presenters are on NT now talking about their new roles.

Paul Williams:
Williams: "I'm an absolute newbie, I am a virgin".
Jesus, dont oversell it paul.

Colette Fitzpatrick:
Yates: "And colette you have two small children".
Fitzpatrick: "And you're going to ask the guys how they manage to juggle things as well are you?"

Well Colette, if that's an insight in what's to come, then you can keep it and I'll go back to Morning Ireland.

kneemos

PeterTheEighth wrote: »

The three new morning presenters are on NT now talking about their new roles.

Paul Williams:
Williams: "I'm an absolute newbie, I am a virgin".
Jesus, dont oversell it paul.

Colette Fitzpatrick:
Yates: "And colette you have two small children".
Fitzpatrick: "And you're going to ask the guys how they manage to juggle things as well are you?"

Well Colette, if that's an insight in what's to come, then you can keep it and I'll go back to Morning Ireland.

Don't know about her or Williams. Can't see it working.

Goose81

Its pretty clear from listening there its going to fail, Williams sounds an absolute joke. Doesn't have a clue about politics or sport, what's he there for..

touts

Goose81 wrote: »

Its pretty clear from listening there its going to fail, Williams sounds an absolute joke. Doesn't have a clue about politics or sport, what's he there for..

Name recognition

ButtersSuki

Goose81 wrote: »

Its pretty clear from listening there its going to fail, Williams sounds an absolute joke. Doesn't have a clue about politics or sport, what's he there for..

MURDER. DRUGS. CRIME OVERLORDS.
SUNDAY WORLD/IRISH INDEPENDENT TABLOID SENSATIONALISM. EXCLUSIVE!!!!!

ButtersSuki

PeterTheEighth wrote: »

The three new morning presenters are on NT now talking about their new roles.

Paul Williams:
Williams: "I'm an absolute newbie, I am a virgin".
Jesus, dont oversell it paul.

Colette Fitzpatrick:
Yates: "And colette you have two small children".
Fitzpatrick: "And you're going to ask the guys how they manage to juggle things as well are you?"

Well Colette, if that's an insight in what's to come, then you can keep it and I'll go back to Morning Ireland.

Caught the tail end of it. They were collectively awful. Williams cracked some joke like "you had to be PC in Leitrim or you wouldn't get into the IRA".....huh?

PeterTheEighth

ButtersSuki wrote: »

Caught the tail end of it. They were collectively awful. Williams cracked some joke like "you had to be PC in Leitrim or you wouldn't get into the IRA".....huh?

I was baffled by that. I didnt know whether he was being facetious/sarcastic.. I presume that he was. They need to get somebody to play the Ivan Yates role or else it's gonna be awful. I think any day that Ivan was off and Nora Owen or any of the others were co hosting it was really dreadful.

ThisRegard

PeterTheEighth wrote: »

Colette Fitzpatrick:
Yates: "And colette you have two small children".
Fitzpatrick: "And you're going to ask the guys how they manage to juggle things as well are you?"

Well Colette, if that's an insight in what's to come, then you can keep it and I'll go back to Morning Ireland.

She was right. Would a bloke be asked the same question?

_Kaiser_

ThisRegard wrote: »

She was right. Would a bloke be asked the same question?

Without getting into the whole feminist/SJW nonsense, it was an off the cuff remark reflecting Yates's own age group and family life, not something for people to (look to) take offence over :rolleyes:

I caught this segment myself and I agree with Peter's assessment above.. doesn't bode well for the near future I usually listen between 8:30 and 10 and this + Pat Kenny really doesn't appeal (but then I can't stand Tubridy on RTE either so I Don't know where to move the dial to now). Chris and Sarah in the evening slot might be ok but I think Yates is going to be a big loss.

reason vs religion

_Kaiser_ wrote: »

Without getting into the whole feminist/SJW nonsense, it was an off the cuff remark reflecting Yates's own age group and family life, not something for people to (look to) take offence over :rolleyes:

It being off-the-cuff and reflecting Yates's views doesn't legitimise it. This was an interview to introduce her to Newstalk listeners and Yates asked her a trivialising question he didn't ask Williams.

Ol' Donie

ButtersSuki wrote: »

MURDER. DRUGS. CRIME OVERLORDS.
SUNDAY WORLD/IRISH INDEPENDENT TABLOID SENSATIONALISM. EXCLUSIVE!!!!!

Scumbags.

Don't forget scumbags.

pc7

I really thought they'd try and poach Joe Duffy from RTE 1

reason vs religion

pc7 wrote: »

I really thought they'd try and poach Joe Duffy from RTE 1

And match or better his €300k salary?! Pat Kenny has shown that listeners don't necessarily follow a presenter. And while I admit that Duffy perhaps generates more loyalty in listeners, he's a pretty mediocre broadcaster and I imagine a lot of Liveline's popularity relates to its place on Radio 1, giving it the feel of being the nation's forum.

sheep?

If there's one thing that'd make me stop listening to Newstalk, it's Joe Duffy.

ButtersSuki

reason vs religion wrote: »

And match or better his €300k salary?! Pat Kenny has shown that listeners don't necessarily follow a presenter. And while I admit that Duffy perhaps generates more loyalty in listeners, he's a pretty mediocre broadcaster and I imagine a lot of Liveline's popularity relates to its place on Radio 1, giving it the feel of being the nation's forum.

€416k actually

ButtersSuki

pc7 wrote: »

I really thought they'd try and poach Joe Duffy from RTE 1

Duffy wouldn't take the drop in fees nor would he work more than 75mins a day. Neither would suit Newstalk.

reason vs religion

ButtersSuki wrote: »

€416k actually

But I presumed that was justified (in RTE's mind anyway) by TV projects.

touts

reason vs religion wrote: »

It being off-the-cuff and reflecting Yates's views doesn't legitimise it. This was an interview to introduce her to Newstalk listeners and Yates asked her a trivialising question he didn't ask Williams.

Outgoing experienced host asks incoming inexperienced host controversial inappropriate question that might generate some discussion and publicity around the change and also allows incoming host show a concerned audience that she has some fight in her. Shocker!

They had that question & answer planned.

jimmyw

I heard Coleman say something like it will be different from the banter between Chris and Ivan..... Well Shane thats the problem the new show faces. It's the banter that sets off the present show from "Morning Ireland " or other shows in the morning.

I feel it will be bland, and Coleman is too dull for me. There MAY be some hot interview with Williams...........??

What I am really saying is that it may be boring.

Expunge

It looks to me that Newstalk is heading into a period of audience decline with both it's Breakfast and Drivetime shows being totally changed (personnel wise).

Even if both those shows are fantastic from the get-go (which I seriously doubt), how long would it take for them to bed in?
1 year, 2 years?

Many existing listeners will be lost before the recruiting of new ones will begin, I'd say.

Stretching Pat Kenny even thinner from 9am followed by Hook at lunchtime will not be enough to undo the damage at the 2 important shoulders of the schedule.

Radio listeners like the stuff they like to be the same for ever and ever, Amen.
Managing schedule change is always tricky, but this new schedule at both ends of the daytime schedule is like an earthquake.

They should have left Hook where he was and dealt with breakfast first or the other way round, if that was possible - not both together.

Ol' Donie

So what is the craic at the weekend?