Will Leahy’s Breakfast Show on RTE Gold

Welsh Megaman

What do people think?

Really good so far - the old 2fm Friday jingles too

Einstein A. Gogo

Is it voicetracked?

griffin100

He plays music for aulfellas like me and presents like he's still on 2FM.

reg114

griffin100 wrote: »

He plays music for aulfellas like me and presents like he's still on 2FM.

Music for aulfellas, not sure Paulo Nutinis Pencil full of lead qualifies as that considering its from 2009. Seems to be a verry loose interpretation as to what makes a golden oldie song.

Its ok so far, but it will get quite repetitive unless they flesh it out a bit more, and thats the problem, do they have the money to do it or has it all veen spent on will and ricks wages.

griffin100

reg114 wrote: »

Music for aulfellas, not sure Paulo Nutinis Pencil full of lead qualifies as that considering its from 2009. Seems to be a verry loose interpretation as to what makes a golden oldie song.

Its ok so far, but it will get quite repetitive unless they flesh it out a bit more, and thats the problem, do they have the money to do it or has it all veen spent on will and ricks wages.

True, some of the material was recent. He also played Elbows song from the John Lewis Christmas ad, which has only just been released.

Eclectic song selection will make this show good, but we I really don't need the usual inane morning show sh1te. This morning he had in a character that used to be on his 2FM show telling crap jokes. I can stomach that a bit better on Ricks show in the afternoon. Us aulfellas are a grumpy lot!

Phat Dick

Einstein A. Gogo wrote: »

Is it voicetracked?

Some of it is live but the last hour may be voicetracked.

Welsh Megaman

Surprised he reads the news bulletins as well

Personally, I find him not too ‘brash’ and over-the-top like other breakfast show DJ’s.

Whereisgalway

He’s brillant

MikeyTaylor

Welsh Megaman wrote: »

Surprised he reads the news bulletins as well

Personally, I find him not too ‘brash’ and over-the-top like other breakfast show DJ’s.

Will Leahy the - DJ, solicitor, stadium announcer and now newsreader? Who knew!

ANXIOUS

He gets a mention from the secret producer on Twitter today. Apparently him and Rick are the only djs who get paid on gold.

Phat Dick

ANXIOUS wrote: »

He gets a mention from the secret producer on Twitter today. Apparently him and Rick are the only djs who get paid on gold.

I thought everyone already knew that.

Maz2016

So Will has been on a few weeks now. I listen from about 7:30-9. So far I like it. I’ve always liked his style of presenting. I do think some of the music is too old though. That’s just my opinion. As it’s digital radio, can they see how many people are tuned in on the apps? It’d be interesting to know

reg114

Maz2016 wrote: »

So Will has been on a few weeks now. I listen from about 7:30-9. So far I like it. I’ve always liked his style of presenting. I do think some of the music is too old though. That’s just my opinion. As it’s digital radio, can they see how many people are tuned in on the apps? It’d be interesting to know

Saw someone post the stats to all irish online stations, think Gold only got a few hundred listeners at any given moment which sounds about right.

They definitely have a lot more listeners than that,since the relaunch a couple of weeks ago! Going by comments and likes on their FB page they must be getting a couple of thousand listeners. Those stats you mentioned were dated back in March when the station wasn’t promoted at all!

jando11

How can those stats be in the public domain?.. RTE or any other station for that matter do not for commercial reasons release those.. so where ever those figures came from it will not be the real picture across the multitude of technologies that radio stations use to serve on various platforms.

reg114

zorro2566 wrote: »

They definitely have a lot more listeners than that,since the relaunch a couple of weeks ago! Going by comments and likes on their FB page they must be getting a couple of thousand listeners. Those stats you mentioned were dated back in March when the station wasn’t promoted at all!

Copied from the thread of the same name:

Stats for online Irish radio stations
Below is a snapshot in time of the number of active unique streams being served by online Irish radio stations (as of 16.30 today).

I can’t get the stats for some stations like Today FM because of the custom way they are setup. These were all the streams I could find, some stations have multiple streams so I combined them. For a true measurement of online listeners TLH (total listening hours) would be better.

RTE Radio 1 - 2559
RTE 2fm - 1936
4FM - 585
FM104 - 575
Radio Nova - 402
RTE Gold - 305
RTE Lyric - 236
8Radio - 169
All 80s Jukebox - 126
East Coast Radio - 67
Bird Hill Radio - 58
RNAG - 57
Pure Classic - 45
TrancePulse FM - 33
KISS Fm Ireland - 32
RTE 2xm - 21
Classix.ie - 20
RTE Radio 1 Extra - 16
Dublin City FM - 15
Phever.ie - 15
KFM - 13
RTE Pulse - 10
Storm NE - 9
CharityRadio - 6
Christmas FM - 6
RTE Junir Radio - 6


While it is a snapshot its a tiny audience for Gold

Loughc

Respect to the 6 ChristmasFM streams!

Skid X

RTE Gold is also on Saorview and Virgin Media, there could be a decent amount of people listeners there.

JDxtra

It'll be an uphill battle for the station, and the number of listeners will be a fraction of what’s available on FM (at least for the next few years). DAB has been mishandled / ignored in Ireland. Even today, the operators have not reset the clocks on the service! I see Will is online looking for feedback on what cars support DAB. Lol. Half the people commenting may actually have it, but either it’s not available in their area or they can’t figure it out. FM just works, and for the time being will trump DAB in Ireland.

As discussed in another thread, RTE Gold would be a good addition to FM but it's never going to happen.

JDxtra

Skid X wrote: »

RTE Gold is also on Saorview and Virgin Media, there could be a decent amount of people listeners there.

I have never listened to radio on the TV - seems like a waste of electricity! I imagine many feel the same, it's just not for everybody.

Skid X

JDxtra wrote: »

I have never listened to radio on the TV - seems like a waste of electricity! I imagine many feel the same, it's just not for everybody.

I disagree, I know plenty of people who listen to the stations on television, particularly outside the DAB coverage areas.

JDxtra

Loughc wrote: »

Respect to the 6 ChristmasFM streams!

I'm sure they've a lot more now than when those stats were captured. I see they've moved providers, and I can't grab the stats easily.

JDxtra

JDxtra wrote: »

I have never listened to radio on the TV - seems like a waste of electricity! I imagine many feel the same, it's just not for everybody.

Skid X wrote: »

I disagree, I know plenty of people who listen to the stations on television, particularly outside the DAB coverage areas.

I've done it myself a fair bit. My TV has a feature to turn the screen off but leave the audio playing, so it sorts the electricity issue.

Maz2016

I must say I like some mornings. Love the ceile song on a Friday morning. God I’m slowly turning into my dad!! When we first found out Will Leahy was coming back to weekday radio, all my work colleagues were really excited. Unfortunately most of them have now switched back to Ian Dempsey or classic hits. As much as they love Will, they find the Music too old. I’m the only one left that still listens. I too find some of it way too old. Not sure what age market they are aiming for

AwaitYourReply

Maz2016 wrote: »

I must say I like some mornings. Love the ceile song on a Friday morning. God I’m slowly turning into my dad!! When we first found out Will Leahy was coming back to weekday radio, all my work colleagues were really excited. Unfortunately most of them have now switched back to Ian Dempsey or classic hits. As much as they love Will, they find the Music too old. I’m the only one left that still listens. I too find some of it way too old. Not sure what age market they are aiming for

RTÉ Gold is aimed at a 35+ audience and delivers a music playlist made up of classic hits as well as quality album tracks spanning five decades.

Source:
http://radiotoday.ie/2017/10/will-leahy-and-rick-oshea-join-rte-gold/

griffin100

AwaitYourReply wrote: »

RTGold is aimed at a 35+ audience and delivers a music playlist made up of classic hits as well as quality album tracks spanning five decades.

Source:
http://radiotoday.ie/2017/10/will-leahy-and-rick-oshea-join-rte-gold/

Will played the Jumbo Breakfast Roll song this morning and most of the Only Fools & Horses theme tune. I much prefer Rick OSheas music tastes / playlists.

Maz2016

griffin100 wrote: »

Will played the Jumbo Breakfast Roll song this morning and most of the Only Fools & Horses theme tune. I much prefer Rick OSheas music tastes / playlists.

I know I actually switched off this
Morning. I like a mix of music but find the range on the breakfast show too broad and doesn’t always flow well

griffin100

Will referenced Boards this morning as one of the places they check for comments about the show. So if you're reading this, despite my complaints, I still listen to you until 9am when PK comes on.

Maz2016

griffin100 wrote: »

Will referenced Boards this morning as one of the places they check for comments about the show. So if you're reading this, despite my complaints, I still listen to you until 9am when PK comes on.

Did he? What did he say?

dave98

Will Leahy is probably one of my favourite radio presenters. I love his style. Evening radio simply isn’t the same without him. Jaysus I often remember driving out of Limerick City on an evening singing away to the tunes and seeing other drivers singing along too, knowing they were also listening to 2fm. Such a stupid decision to drop him from DriveTime. Great memories though.
As much as I love Will (and I really do), I have very mixed feelings about the breakfast show. I think some of the music is diabolical. He should concentrate on hits from the 80’s/90’s/naughties. Maybe the odd ones from the 70’s but certainly not some of the yawn songs that are on.
Even that “Good morning, good morning song”. I hated it, now it’s growing on me but if it was any other presenter I would have switched off straight away.
Will, if your reading / you do fantastic publicity for Limerick so thank you and I wish you the best. But maybe reevaluate the playlists

AwaitYourReply

I remember Will Leahy mainly from his Saturday presenting slots and of course his work in recent years on the Rose of Tralee television show on RTÉ One television. Yeah I do wish RTÉ Gold was available for broadcast 24/7 on FM rather than be restricted to DAB/Saorview/Online methods only, especially given that it could increase audience share from it's older target market who probably still listen more to radio via AM/FM signal reception around the country. I also think that the age demographic for RTÉ 2FM will not tend to listen in such large numbers via the traditional FM band either now or, in the years ahead particularly those who are fortunate to live in DAB areas (Dublin, Cork, Limerick etc;) or who have access to broadband internet connectivity in their area. I think RTÉ 2FM is no longer essential listening to the nation or as popular amongst the youth today and RTÉ really needs to be bold about all of it's radio/tv/online presence going forward. 2FM may have done somewhat better in recent radio listener ratings but it has still lost massive ground over many years and the unexpected death of the late Gerry Ryan in 2010 exposed how irrelevant the station had become apart from "The Gerry Ryan Show" and I say that as a loyal listener of 2FM for many years but have switched off completely in the last 10 years. Presenters like Dave Fanning & Larry Gogan should be on either RTÉ Radio 1 or RTÉ Gold full time at this stage rather than getting token slots on today's 2FM. RTÉ needs to move with the times and be ahead of the curve rather than reacting when it's too late. A reduction in the range of channels, more focus on high quality home produced programming.

griffin100

Maz2016 wrote: »

Did he? What did he say?

He listed some social media outlets that they read comments about his show / Gold on and named boards.ie

Maz2016

griffin100 wrote: »

He listed some social media outlets that they read comments about his show / Gold on and named boards.ie

That’s interesting. I don’t know if he read this but the music has certainly improved this week. Didn’t change back to 4fm once! I’d love to go to his 80’s nights. I’d say they’d be great craic

Rock Solid

Maz2016 wrote: »

That’s interesting. I don’t know if he read this but the music has certainly improved this week. Didn’t change back to 4fm once! I’d love to go to his 80’s nights. I’d say they’d be great craic

Bring back the More Music Drive, now that was a fantastic show and Will was at his best then, 2FM in the evenings has never been the same, as for RTE Gold in the mornings, the music format is terrible, he seems to play a lot of rock music and absure 80s songs, often plays a heavy rock song followed by a lovesong and then a b side of an unknown 70s band. There's no flow to it.

Never Say Never Again

People need to get over the more music drive, 2fm has long moved on.

Never Say Never Again

Never Say Never Again wrote: »

People need to get over the more music drive, 2fm has long moved on.

For the worse in my opinion. I never listen to 2FM now.

Ursus Horribilis

And it shows how the audience who are too old for 2fm/Today FM don't really have anywhere to go.

real rocker

I can't understand why new releases are part of the mix on this show given that the station title suggests oldies. Why not let 2FM or RTE Radio 1 handle this brief. Just saying.

reg114

real rocker wrote: »

I can't understand why new releases are part of the mix on this show given that the station title suggests oldies. Why not let 2FM or RTE Radio 1 handle this brief. Just saying.

Yeah said this a couple of weeks ago, it undermines their mission really. Its not like there arent 1000s of amazing songs from yesteryear they could choose from.

ford fiesta

real rocker wrote: »

I can't understand why new releases are part of the mix on this show given that the station title suggests oldies. Why not let 2FM or RTE Radio 1 handle this brief. Just saying.

The new songs are from established GOLD artists. simple really.

reg114

ford fiesta wrote: »

The new songs are from established GOLD artists. simple really.

But that would indicate a loose interpretation of what Gold refers to. For me Gold is music from yesteryear, that would pretty much disqualify any new releases even if it's from a Neil Diamond or a Joan Armatrading.

Never Say Never Again

My issue is rte gold is them playing 00s songs that are ten a penny on almost every FM station.

ford fiesta

Never Say Never Again wrote: »

My issue is rte gold is them playing 00s songs that are ten a penny on almost every FM station.

The name RTE Gold was coined 10 years ago when it was just much older music on a loop with hardly any jingles or imaging and no presenter.

Oldies stations have to move with the times unfortunately. Gold stations in the UK are cutting back on playing 60s and some 70s.

The local stations here too are playing more 90s and 00's on their Oldies shows.

Now I do have an issue with Larry Gogan playing hits from 2/3 years ago on the Golden Hour!! It was fine for him to do this in the 80s when songs became instant classics, but the music is terrible now.

AwaitYourReply

Fair enough, we are all getting older and things need to be updated & refreshed from time to time. Given that most commercial & local radio stations play a mix of new and old, it would make better sense for a niche station like RTÉ Gold to avoid playing music from 2000 to the present day in order to protect it's whole raison d'etre - As long as you have national station 2FM playing music aimed at younger audiences which in turn will tend to frequently source material from the last 17 years why would Gold want to become similar to other stations such as: 2FM, Today FM, Classic Hits 4FM, Cork's 96FM, Cork's RedFM, C103FM and so on.

Maybe Gold no longer wants to play as much from the 1950s decade and if it wants to start capturing more in it's younger demographic such as: 30-35yrs age group they could play more music from the 1990's than previously aired on RTÉ Gold's earlier days when it was originally a playlist only service. I would be disappointed if Gold ventures beyond year 2000 years at this stage as there is a risk in it becoming too similar to other stations up and down the country that try to keep everyone happy. Gold needs to match what it says on the tin by delivering on the listeners expectations in playing older classics which should not mean that an artist who had a string of hits during the "Gold" era to be allowed have comeback or re-release versions aired on a station that dedicates itself to the golden years.

I have huge regard for Larry Gogan and his legendary "Golden Hour" and "Just-A-Minute" the 60 second quiz although; I would not be impressed if tracks from as recent as 2014/2015 were played during "The Golden Hour" on 2FM as that is demeaning the segment if it is not going to adhere to a golden oldies protocol. This suggest that there is pressure to push Larry Gogan off 2FM by insisting that more recent music is played on "The Golden Hour" but that is a complete contradiction in the concept. If they want to mix and match then you cannot have "The Golden Hour" with the odd chart hit thrown in for good measure! For this reason, Larry Gogan should have switched to RTÉ Gold or RTÉ Radio 1 and Dave Fanning also seems lost at 2FM these days and should be given a regular slot elsewhere as he still has something valuable to offer too whether it be: Showcasing new music talent from around the globe/Guaranteed Irish/Movies & Soundtracks.

Ursus Horribilis

I wonder who is RTE Gold's intended demographic.

Never Say Never Again

If we are honest, rte gold only exists to give rte staffers who are no longer needed at 2fm something to do.

Ursus Horribilis

Maybe they should develop it. The BBC has 6 national stations. RTE is trying to be all things to all men with fewer stations.

AwaitYourReply

I think it's interesting that RTÉ Radio have been broadcasting output directly from "RTÉ Gold" on RTÉ Radio 1 in the form of a simulcast from 03:00am to 05:30am each morning. This is one way of getting "RTÉ Gold" broadcasting more widely on the FM band network during this time slot.

Perhaps simulcasts of RTÉ Gold on Radio 1 may be extended if further cutbacks are made to the RTÉ Radio 1 programme schedule and other parts of RTÉ TV & Radio network as a whole. News on RTÉ 2fm is to be dropped during the hours: 7:00pm to 06:00am due to cost reasons. I've heard it reported at different stages that RTÉ "Aertel" teletext service will be shut down, "RTÉ News Now" tv channel is also set to be closed down and RTÉ Radio 1 Longwave 252Khz are among other items facing closure in due course. Even the orchestras at RTÉ are not safe and may be merged although; this is not certain yet.

Meanwhile some lands on RTÉ's Montrose headquarter campus in Donnybrook being sold for housing which will require the set of tv soap opera "Fair City" to be moved to elsewhere on the remaining campus. RTÉ management knows in order to have any chance of competing into the future, it will need to be leaner and meaner.

If you look over at the BBC, you will find that despite it's huge resources it too has also been forced to make major cutbacks such as removing BBC three tv as a linear tv channel > online only and showing much less by way of live UK news coverage on the domestic BBC News Channel in the evenings by merging it's output with BBC World News channel instead etc;

Welsh Megaman

Is it wrong to admit I enjoy hearing ‘Joyce Country Ceili Band’ at this time every week?

Maz2016

Well I downloaded it I think Will’s show has come on leaps and bounds.

Mondo from Dublin

This thread died.... So is anybody listening?