RTE Gold discussion thread

its_steve116

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123600996#Comment_123600996

Cola Boy was actually Saint Etienne in disguise, with a different singer. They released it under a pseudonym because they felt had they done it under their usual name it would have killed their career.

zoobizoo

Yeah, Cola Boy were St. Etienne…….the tracks were "too cheesy for Saint Etienne to release.

Would be great if RTE Gold did a show where they played the SMASH HITS singles reviews of the fortnight whether they were hits or not.

ZaK23-54

RTÉ Gold’s Micky Mac I see will be one of the speakers at Vincent Hanley’ Summer School this weekend at Clonmel Arts Week - Sunday at 6pm.

Micky was on the first Radio 2 Schedule with Vincent so I am sure will have some stories to tell about the early days of Pop Radio in Ireland

ford fiesta

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123601300#Comment_123601300

And that singer on that Cola Boy song was Janey Lee Grace who worked with Wham, Kim Wilde and Boy George in the 1980s. She was a singer and a session singer in her own right throughout the 1990s.

She went to have a successful radio career on the BBC, most well known as part of the Steve Wright 'Big afternoon' Radio 2 show sidekicks team with Steve since 1999 until the show sadly ended in 2022. Janey also filled in on Radio 2 shows including Steve's Sunday Love Songs.

Declan A Walsh

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123601401#Comment_123601401

He was known as Michael McNamara in those early days.

ford fiesta

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123601631#Comment_123601631

Michael would have stories about the early days when they worked at Radio 2 - but Vincent was dublin on air during the week and Michael was mostly Limerick at the weekends, however he would have done shows from Dublin.

What they have in common is that they both presented programmes for RTE before Radio 2 in 1979 - on RTE local radio and on what we know now as Radio 1. Mark Cagney and others also were RTE radio names before 1979.

Declan A Walsh

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123601716#Comment_123601716

Mark Cagney was nabbed from the Cork pirates circa 1978 to present on RTE's then fledgling local Cork station appropriately called Cork Local Radio (no longer around). For Mark's first year with Radio 2, he continued his involvement with CLR before leaving the latter for good. Mark was one of the earlier examples of someone coming from the pirates to Irish legal radio, which at the time could only be an RTE owned station. The only earlier example I can think of is Declan Meehan who turned up on a temporary station for Trinity College in the mid 1970s operated (of course!) by RTE. Declan was still heavily involved in the pirate scene during that period and continued on until he was taken on by Radio 2 in 1979. Of course, in his case (unlike Mark), he was to return to the pirates during the following year.

Bringing it back on topic, both Mark and Declan would sound good on RTE Gold.

ZaK23-54

Sad to think that some that great class of 1979 are no longer with us..

Vincent RIP would be 71 now!

ford fiesta

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123601779#Comment_123601779

some are not ……though most original Radio 2 presenters and producers are still living after 46 years !

Marty, Michael Mc, Dave, Ronan, Aine Hensey are on RTE in some capacity in 2025. Others who joined at the time or very shortly afterwards are still on national radio such as Pat kenny, Iano, Philip king.

irlirishkev

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123595740#Comment_123595740

It does seem like a lot of Dave in a week.
Rick O'Shea is 6 days with The Gold Lounge on Sunday. I much prefer Rick.

ZaK23-54

I wonder what deal has Dave Fanning with RTÉ Gold..he must be getting €5K a month for Voicetracking 12 hours a week?

ford fiesta

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123607471#Comment_123607471

why do you think that ?

ford fiesta

Aidan is in for Ronan today and these past few days.

Think its voicetracked - though he sounds more "live" and natural than his weekend shows. however he is not asking for requests or messages, whatsapp number not being read out.

Amanda is in on mon and tue next week.

GSF

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123623759#Comment_123623759

It’s odd that Roman can’t do 2 weeks on advance- maybe he does and he’s off for a month but there is only a gap of one week on Rte Gold?

ford fiesta

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123624140#Comment_123624140

I read somewhere and as far as I know Ronan voices his shows for the week in one day, on a particular day (say each Thurs) - in the RTE radio centre.

Perhaps this arrangement is very tight - consider also he would have a tech op with him during recording.

ekkinak

Fanning's upbeat delivery suits the pre record format - you wouldn't necessarily notice it's not live.

I'm enjoying his return to playing music, I may not like everything he plays but he's uncovering a few gems.

channelsurfer2

Irish Times interview at weekend Dave says he does 5 minutes talking so thats 25mins in total for his mon to fri slot.

ford fiesta

Dave's live shows on 2FM were un-predictable, un-planned and therefore entertaining just like John Peel's BBC Radio 1 shows - granted the music scene of the 80s, 90s and the early 00s was a lot more exciting.

However I don't think voicetracked and scripted suits Dave much on Gold and like Ronan Collins you don't get to hear the real presenters radio personality

druss

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123636873#Comment_123636873

I kind of agree on the voice tracking not suiting the two you mentioned. Even more so with Ronan Collins. Other DJs are much better at it. My current favourites are the John Connolly "ABC to XTC" and the Eric Moore "Golden Years" shows. I based on continent and the entire schedule makes more sense to me at the later times I'm listening to it. The schedule always seems too early at IE times.

I must say that Dave's current "Favourite Album Fanning" series improves on this a lot, as it comes across as a lot more ad hoc and chatty with guests. And as a sales pitch for his show, his quote in the Irish Times nails it for me.😀

Here’s his pitch to listeners, who he is well aware are a specific demographic. “I’m saying to people, listen, you know that record collection you have at home, the one you are going to buy a new turntable for? You’re never going to buy a new turntable, with all due respect, blokes, and anyway your wife has put your record collection in the attic. Or in the skip.” If this resonates, Fanning’s message to you is: “Worry not. I’ll play your record collection for you. I’ll play the music you like and I’ll shut the f**k up.”

In fact, I think RTE Gold should record that as a promo.

New Scottman

why does he assume that his listeners are henpecked & don’t play their collections? I still play my records & CDs & even occasionally, tapes.

odyssey06

I like the Dave Fanning show when he puts a bit of effort into 'curating' it eg songs from a particular year, and yes the big tracks from that year but also the ones he thinks deserved more attention.
If someone just wants the records they know, they can just Youtube or Spotify it.

ford fiesta

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123641228#Comment_123641228

"curating" - why has this annoying word become popular in the past 5 / 6 years replacing ordinary words such as making, doing, selecting, creating ??

odyssey06

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123644388#Comment_123644388

"selected, organized, and presented using professional or expert knowledge."

To distinguish from your own playlists or that of some randomer on Spotify or Youtube.

ford fiesta

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123644507#Comment_123644507

We all know the meaning of curated.

My point was that it's a pretentious sounding word that people have recently latched onto for every day conversations. It makes the "curator"😁 (human person) some sort of specialist genius…. when more related ordinary words could be used instead.

I wasn't just referring to it in a music / playlist sense.

GSF

I suppose it’s to annoy old fellas

ford fiesta

Fanning played Terence Trent D'Arby 'If you let me stay' yesterday evening.

Can you imagine Dave playing him in the height of TTD's success in 1988 (and at the height of Fanning's Radio 2 show)?

I suppose a lot of the 1980s acts that were ridiculed and slated by many listeners, the music press and DJs back in the day have become credible in the past decade or 2 and it's now OK to play them. If you were around in the 1980s you'll know what I mean.

TheBMG

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123647408#Comment_123647408

I do remember a lot of the ‘credible’ music press being all over TTD at the time with that first album (rightly so) so maybe it’s not all that surprising Fanning would play him now. Not holding my breath for Mel and Kim though !

ZaK23-54

Why do RTÉ not promote GOLD?

It is a success without much promotion with some top DJ’s

Glad to see Dave Fanning gets a mention in the Irish Times about his show - not enough know about it -

ford fiesta

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123650811#Comment_123650811

Putting Gold on FM would help greatly. No promotion at all from RTE on their existing Radio, TV or On-Line - RTE Gold seems is self promoted. In fact I have never heard any of RTEs digital radio stations being promoted or advertised. The listings aren't even in their own RTE Guide, or any newspaper !!

On a side note earlier today - Micky Mac name checked Amanda would be in on all 80s Saturday from 2pm to 5pm and Aidan name checked Truffles would be in.

It turns out Amanda is presenting it today.

New Scottman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123647408#Comment_123647408

My brother used to buy the NME back then and I remember TTD being on the front cover. The NME was the cool magazine then so….

Not as many music tribes now as in the past.