Dee Forbes banging the RTE TV licence drum again 60m uncollected fee *poll not working - pl ignore*

kneemos

elperello wrote: »

Agreed, the BBC obviously can pay more and as my link shows they do.
People I never heard of on big money.

Has anyone done a calculation on how much cutting the big RTE salaries by say a half would affect the bottom line?

I suspect not very much.

Would you end up with a lot of nondescript presenters and they would lose even more listeners?

Wouldn't matter a lot. The real scandal lies elsewhere.
2FM somehow costs twelve million to run for example.
The exorbitant wages are probably a symptom of the disease.

dxhound2005

Independently-made shows include Question Time, The Apprentice, University Challenge and MasterChef, meaning the salaries of David Dimbleby, Lord Sugar, Jeremy Paxman, John Torode and Gregg Wallace do not appear in the published accounts.

Apparently Paxman gets £250,000 for half an hours work a week reading out quiz questions for a few months of the year. Anyone could do that for a lot less money. He used to get over a million for doing Newsnight, but he had to do more hours.

NIMAN

elperello wrote: »

Agreed, the BBC obviously can pay more and as my link shows they do.
People I never heard of on big money.

Has anyone done a calculation on how much cutting the big RTE salaries by say a half would affect the bottom line?

I suspect not very much.

Would you end up with a lot of nondescript presenters and they would lose even more listeners?

What do you mean we would end up with!! We have them now.
They think they are talented and famous in their own heads.

Have you ever listened to Joe Duffy or Ray D'arcy radio shows? Honestly most half-sensible people could do what they do. They often show they lack of knowledge on any topic that requires a bit of brain power.

Last week Duffy asked a blind woman, "why do you need a guide dog?"

I kid you not!

Kivaro

It is not funny how anti-worker/anti-Irish RTE actually is.
You'd have to wonder if they believe that the source of their never-ending funding is in Europe somewhere.

Dee Forbes and her elitist liberal crew have shown so much contempt for the regular people in Ireland that there will be repercussions in some manner in the future ..... so I've heard. RTE reminds me of the crowd that was in Cuba before the revolution; they thought that they were untouchable, until it was not the case. RTE believe that they are untouchable, and the government will always be there to protect them indefinitely.

RTE is a drain both intellectually and financially on Irish society. Their substantial salary requirements will continue to be a burden on us all. Of course it would be different if RTE actually gave the public an impartial depiction of societal and political events, but that will never be the case in their current format. To a lot of people, RTE represents the arrogance of those who have contempt to the vast majority of the people who just want to have a safe home and a safe place to look after their children while they are working.

RTE is a horrible quango, who deserve our contempt, but hey, they have the likes of Marty Morrissey and the funds required for the latest television program to celebrate our Irish icon.

Tangatagamadda Chaddabinga Bonga Bungo

RabbleRouser2k wrote: »

Jaysus...all the people doing podcasts in this coutnry...it's crazy.

Alison Spittle, Jarlath Regan, Roisin Ingle (think her name is), that wan that tried to get George Hook fired but lost her job instead, The 'didn't report my rapist and still wouldn't woman, Des Bishop, Eamon Dunphy...

God almighty, there's bloody tons of em... all interviewing one another. It's like RTE again, but no license fees-patreon's instead.

How many of them charge a Patreon fee?

RabbleRouser2k

Tangatagamadda Chaddabinga Bonga Bungo wrote: »

How many of them charge a Patreon fee?

Rosemary Maccabe is getting about 660 quid a month via her patreon... (any idiot that pays her is pretty much allowing themselves be robbed). Patreon is meant to give you early access to the shows-so that's the incentive, I guess. Blindboy has 4,750 patrons. So if they only give one euro, that's a solid almost €4700 per month. Jarlath Regan has a sponsor, and is also using patreon.
Second Captains podcast has about 11, 300 patrons via patreon.

So a large amount of em use patreon.

RabbleRouser2k

TheDavester wrote: »

Most of them will lose interest fairly quickly and try someutung else like Rosemary McCabe , who will give up and try another venture which will probably fail (Gave up a good journalist job to become blogger/influencer/gym staff/professionally offended) ...least rte has the common decenty and not go near her

She'll pull the 'influencer' tag and probably worm her way onto Ray D'arcy or Midday on VM1.
LON got onto D'Arcy, I think even Ryan thinks she's a nutter.

NIMAN

kneemos wrote: »

Wouldn't matter a lot. The real scandal lies elsewhere.
2FM somehow costs twelve million to run for example.
The exorbitant wages are probably a symptom of the disease.

You see this is likely the issue.

iirc, Dee Forbes or her predecessor said, around the time of the annual Top 10 RTE earners list being published, that their wages make up a very small percentage of their running costs, that to cut them would save very little.

She may well be correct in this, but I think the unreported issue is the average wage of the RTE employee, the standard worker who none of us ever see.

I would imagine they would have a very high average salary in RTE. A bit like the ESB etc. Big wages and big increases offered within what basically is an unregulated closed shop organisation.

Cutting back on the wages of Ryan Tubridy, Joe Duffy, D'arcy etc may not save RTE, but it would make it obvious to the ordinary person in the street, the ones who pay all their wages (Dee Forbes included), that they are trying to make things better from within. If it was a private company that was losing such amounts of money, then they would let people go or else cut wages. Basic economics.

I have long said that RTE should have a wage cap, and I'd put it at maybe €150,000. We are a tiny country, and that would be more than enough. If the likes of the people I named above feel undervalued, they could hand in their notice and go into the open market and see how much they'd get. For people in RTE to be on €700k annually to present a one hour radio show each day and the LLS on a Friday night is scandalous. And for the likes of D'arcy or Duffy, 2 obviously very limited presenters, to be getting €500k and €400k annually is madness.

And this is even forgetting the fact that some of the big earners are paid as contractors, so they can avoid paying the normal tax that me and you have to pay.

It needs a root and branch read-out from top to bottom, but why would someone on the gravy train herself want to start such a process?

The J Stands for Jay

fritzelly wrote: »

- a monkey could do the same job

I would watch that it it was on TV. Old people trying to convince a monkey to agree with them that the size of a tin of Roses is a disgrace

Well, maybe if it was on Netflix. The hassle of getting the remote for the soarview box and seeing it up to record the series because the rte schedule didn't suit me is too much

The J Stands for Jay

fritzelly wrote: »

lol Niman

Joke's on us; we're paying for it..

AndyBoBandy

NIMAN wrote: »

You see this is likely the issue.

iirc, Dee Forbes or her predecessor said, around the time of the annual Top 10 RTE earners list being published, that their wages make up a very small percentage of their running costs, that to cut them would save very little.

She may well be correct in this, but I think the unreported issue is the average wage of the RTE employee, the standard worker who none of us ever see.

I made a similar point on this thread a few months back. The shocking story in RTÉ is probably the hundreds/thousands of folks doing very menial/low skilled jobs, yet pulling close to & north of €100k a year as well as the ridiculous overtime rates & perks folks in RTÉ get to do their normal job outside of regular 9-5 hours.

That would be the scandal, and I'd guess that all those folks are absolutely delighted that the likes of Tubridy, D'Arcy & Duffy are the headline makers when it comes to overblown RTÉ salaries.

AndyBoBandy wrote: »

I lived (worked) in Lithuania for about 18 months a few years ago, and subsequently visit there at least once a year now. They are roughly half the size of Ireland in terms of population size. They have 4 national TV stations, all of which are completely self sufficient, are really slick in terms of their production capabilities, and guess what, no TV licence/tax in Lithuania.

The TV licence was probably necessary 20/30/40 years ago when advertising revenue was basic, and quite low, but in this day and age with multiple platforms, and most likely hugely increased revenue streams (particularly around sports advertising), it’s merely become a guaranteed stream of income that RTÉ don’t have to lift a finger to receive, and when the level of expenditure gets so bloated (see massive salaries, ludicrous overtime/out of hours bonus* and random payouts to ex staff whose contracts were not renewed), they come cap in hand to the government demanding more from their free money tree so they can continue to provide the plebs with the services they claim must be preserved.

*I remember reading somewhere that the ground staff/gaffers/riggers who rip the sets apart and rearrange the studios after certain shows have finished for the day/week are on huge additional benefits/bonuses because their job takes place outside of the regular 9 to 5 time slot that a lot of people work. RTÉ unions looking after their members because their members simply do the job they are employed to do.

I’d say if we actually knew how bad it was it would send shockwaves through the country, but who is ever going to expose such behaviour?

We only ever hear about the headline news like Tubbers on €600k, but I’d say the real story is the hundreds and hundreds of regular joes in there on €70k -€100k a year for doing very basic jobs, getting topped up with all sorts of ridiculous bonuses.

gormdubhgorm

grahambo wrote: »

And then there's the salaries of the bigshots
Ryan Tubridy - €500,000 per year is the biggest Joke of all
That salary puts him on a par with the likes of Claudia Winkleman, Alan Shearer, Fiona Bruce of the BBC.
He is nothing compared to them.
BBC can justify big salaries as it is broadcast around the world, and the content is generally quite good.
No one outside of Ireland know's who Tubb's is.

https://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/rte-director-general-calls-for-changes-in-tv-licence-fee-as-60m-uncollected-annually-840770.html

Alan Shearer was given a roving reporters role by the BBC for the South Africa world cup 2010.
His remit was to find out about the people and the country.

I can remember Shearer interviewing a black South African man (who was showing him around.)

Shearer: So tell me, did you like apartheid?

Black South African man: (shocked-incredulous) I can't believe you would ask me that.

Edit: I found evidence of the Shearer thing:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/foot...eo/8747970.stm
The vid does not work though.
But it did happen.

Dr_serious2

I was surprised that RTE would cover the story of the migrant hijacking of the ship in the med as it doesn't suit their agenda but in fairness they did. True to form however they talked to two people, both of whom agreed that under such pressure the hijackers were entitled to follow this course of action.

Shortly afterwards they showed pictures of the people coming off the boat: although we know the overwhelming majority of people on board were young men, they only showed pictures of two children and two women.

Even when they're trying to report in an impartial way they are biased, possibly without even realising it.

DavidLyons_

gormdubhgorm wrote: »

grahambo wrote: »

And then there's the salaries of the bigshots
Ryan Tubridy - €500,000 per year is the biggest Joke of all
That salary puts him on a par with the likes of Claudia Winkleman, Alan Shearer, Fiona Bruce of the BBC.
He is nothing compared to them.
BBC can justify big salaries as it is broadcast around the world, and the content is generally quite good.
No one outside of Ireland know's who Tubb's is.

https://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/rte-director-general-calls-for-changes-in-tv-licence-fee-as-60m-uncollected-annually-840770.html

Alan Shearer was given a roving reporters role by the BBC for the South Africa world cup 2010.
His remit was to find out about the people and the country.

I can remember Shearer interviewing a black South African man (who was showing him around.)

Shearer: So tell me, did you like apartheid?

Black South African man: (shocked-incredulous) I can't believe you would ask me that.

Got a link to that? I have my doubts it happened.

gormdubhgorm

DavidLyons_ wrote: »

Got a link to that? I have my doubts it happened.

I couldn't find one unfortunately. it definitely did.
I was watching it on telly at the time was stunned. Did he just really say that
It was one of those in-between things the beeb did between the games.

You are welcome to search for it.

My point is Tubridy has his faults but to say he is worse than Shearer. Come on? The fella cannot interview. Not only that he cannot do his regular job properly full of cliches no insight. Very safe.
At least Tubs has a go and tries his best even though he only excels at the toy show and historical/political issues.

Edit: I found evidence of the Shearer thing:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/world_cup_2010/video/8747970.stm
The vid does not work though.
But it did happen.

DavidLyons_

gormdubhgorm wrote: »

DavidLyons_ wrote: »

Got a link to that? I have my doubts it happened.

I couldn't find one unfortunately. it definitely did.
I was watching it on telly at the time was stunned. Did he just really say that
It was one of those in-between things the beeb did between the games.

You are welcome to search for it.

My point is Tubridy has his faults but to say he is worse than Shearer. Come on the fella cannot interview. Not only that he cannot do his regualr job properly full of cliches no insight. Very safe.
At least Tubs has a go.

Edit: I found evidence of the Shearer thing:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/world_cup_2010/video/8747970.stm
The vid does not work though.
But it did happen.

So no evidence of your claim whatsoever. I did search for it myself. Not a dickie-bird. I don’t believe it happened.

As for your claim that Tubridy has more worth than Shearer. Also laughable.

gormdubhgorm

DavidLyons_ wrote: »

So no evidence of your claim whatsoever. I did search for it myself. Not a dickie-bird. I don’t believe it happened.

As for your claim that Tubridy has more worth than Shearer. Also laughable.

Read the website. Just because it contradicts your argument there is no need to get huffy about it Mr Lyons.
I am sure the BBC will have it in thier archives if you really want to hear it. Send them an email with that website link attached.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/world_cup_2010/video/8747970.stm

It did happen and I remember it.
I found proof that Shearer did conduct the interview.
I also remember it because it was so odd and so funny.
How many interviews has Alan Shearer ever conducted and how many has he conducted in South Africa?

And why is Tubridy not worth more than Shearer he conducts interviews, research. Not only that he has worked in the media in England.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0131yms

He encourages learning/reading etc etc.
Is not afraid to play the fool when needed, like the toy show etc.
It sounds like you are just jealous of the guy to be honest!
In contrast. What does A.Shearer actually say or do? Except, sit there and give mundane/cliched comments?
Shearer is just a name trading on a past, he never says anything of note, ever.

I challenge you Mr Lyons, find one original and insightful, comment from Alan Shearer. Just one.

And I am not even a Tubridy fan. But to say Shearer is worth more. Yer havin' a larf mate. It just seems you are anti-RTE/pro-BBC for the sake of it.

elperello

https://verdictsays.wordpress.com/2010/06/18/24/

This might help to shed some light on Shearer's interview.

gormdubhgorm

elperello wrote: »

https://verdictsays.wordpress.com/2010/06/18/24/

This might help to shed some light on Shearer's interview.

Thanks, you just got there before me.
So it did happen.
And it was hilarious - unintentionally.
No wonder they did not keep the video link.
Any TY from school would have done a better job than Shearer interviewing.

fritzelly

Most presenters have got a blooper reel - likes of Tubs add to theirs every week

elperello

fritzelly wrote: »

Most presenters have got a blooper reel - likes of Tubs add to theirs every week

While we are on about Ryan Tubridy I recall when the late great Terry Wogan was off sick RT filled in for him on the BBC.
I heard the show while travelling in the UK and I thought he did a pretty good job of it.

As an aside I find a lot of the local BBC radio presenters in UK are not a patch on our RTE presenters.
Some of the magazine type programmes I think are very stilted and formulaic.

sligojoek

Funny how tubbs hasn't been back to the BBC since Terry wogan died

RabbleRouser2k

Dr_serious2 wrote: »

I was surprised that RTE would cover the story of the migrant hijacking of the ship in the med as it doesn't suit their agenda but in fairness they did. True to form however they talked to two people, both of whom agreed that under such pressure the hijackers were entitled to follow this course of action.

Shortly afterwards they showed pictures of the people coming off the boat: although we know the overwhelming majority of people on board were young men, they only showed pictures of two children and two women.

Even when they're trying to report in an impartial way they are biased, possibly without even realising it.

One of the more unnerving elements of RTE was, whenever they reported on 'overcrowing in schools' the'd often show the non-Irish children, be they black, middle eastern, asian, or wearing a hijab, when discussing classroom overcrowding.
It was an obviously coded racism that they happily employed. Nowadays, whenever they talk about over crowding in houses, they always interview the 'single moms' or former addicts (I hypehenated the single mom thing because so often they clarify an unmarried woman with children as single mothers, even if their is a boyfriend still in the picture). As if they somehow brought the misfortune upon themselves.

Never mention the folks who literally were tossed aside when the company they work for went bankrupt, or relocated to a country with less taxes and lower production costs.
Thus when they couldn't afford rent or bills, they lost their homes. Folks who played by the rules, but were shown very little help.

fritzelly

elperello wrote: »

As an aside I find a lot of the local BBC radio presenters in UK are not a patch on our RTE presenters.

Examples of the RTE presenters warranted

fritzelly

RabbleRouser2k wrote: »

they always interview the 'single moms' or former addicts (I hypehenated the single mom thing because so often they clarify an unmarried woman with children as single mothers, even if their is a boyfriend still in the picture).

Case in point today (admittedly I cannot remember if it was RTE or Virgin) but the interview was with the mother (the sperm donor no where in sight)

RabbleRouser2k

fritzelly wrote: »

Case in point today (admittedly I cannot remember if it was RTE or Virgin) but the interview was with the mother (the sperm donor no where in sight)

Virgin Media interviewed a mother of three-I belive that might have been the channel you were thinking of?
No discussion about the dad or if he was in the picture. Last time RTE had a 'single mom' was Margaret Cash-who was a disaster for genuine parents everywhere.
Be it her 'ex-husband' moving back in with her, or the Penny's robbery...or the fact she literally bit the hand of everyone who earnestly did want to help her.

Can you imagine someone who suffered the pain of a relationship breakdown (with kids involved) seeing how this woman was beatified knowing what an absolute horrible waste of oxygen she is?
She got so much help (and paid appearances) from the national broadcaster without any form of background research.
They've gotten worse than Buzzfeed-and that site is on it's dying breath.

kneemos

fritzelly wrote: »

Most presenters have got a blooper reel - likes of Tubs add to theirs every week

Every single time without fail I've come across Turbridy on either the wireless or telly he's been interviewing someone about some tragedy that's befallen them.
No idea why this is,but personally can't abide the guy.

Tangatagamadda Chaddabinga Bonga Bungo

gormdubhgorm wrote: »

Read the website. Just because it contradicts your argument there is no need to get huffy about it Mr Lyons.
I am sure the BBC will have it in thier archives if you really want to hear it. Send them an email with that website link attached.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/world_cup_2010/video/8747970.stm

It did happen and I remember it.
I found proof that Shearer did conduct the interview.
I also remember it because it was so odd and so funny.
How many interviews has Alan Shearer ever conducted and how many has he conducted in South Africa?

And why is Tubridy not worth more than Shearer he conducts interviews, research. Not only that he has worked in the media in England.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0131yms

He encourages learning/reading etc etc.
Is not afraid to play the fool when needed, like the toy show etc.
It sounds like you are just jealous of the guy to be honest!
In contrast. What does A.Shearer actually say or do? Except, sit there and give mundane/cliched comments?
Shearer is just a name trading on a past, he never says anything of note, ever.

I challenge you Mr Lyons, find one original and insightful, comment from Alan Shearer. Just one.

And I am not even a Tubridy fan. But to say Shearer is worth more. Yer havin' a larf mate. It just seems you are anti-RTE/pro-BBC for the sake of it.

In fairness to Shearer, he is a main analyst on Match of the Day that has ratings of over 10 million weekly viewers. So Alan maybe crap at his job, but his job involves much much bigger numbers.

AndyBoBandy

kneemos wrote: »

Every single time without fail I've come across Turbridy on either the wireless or telly he's been interviewing someone about some tragedy that's befallen them.
No idea why this is,but personally can't abide the guy.

And RTÉ sell it to us as ‘Light Entertainment’

(Well, they don’t actually sell it to us as we’ve already bought it.)

Cina

gormdubhgorm wrote: »

Read the website. Just because it contradicts your argument there is no need to get huffy about it Mr Lyons.
I am sure the BBC will have it in thier archives if you really want to hear it. Send them an email with that website link attached.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/world_cup_2010/video/8747970.stm

It did happen and I remember it.
I found proof that Shearer did conduct the interview.
I also remember it because it was so odd and so funny.
How many interviews has Alan Shearer ever conducted and how many has he conducted in South Africa?

And why is Tubridy not worth more than Shearer he conducts interviews, research. Not only that he has worked in the media in England.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0131yms

He encourages learning/reading etc etc.
Is not afraid to play the fool when needed, like the toy show etc.
It sounds like you are just jealous of the guy to be honest!
In contrast. What does A.Shearer actually say or do? Except, sit there and give mundane/cliched comments?
Shearer is just a name trading on a past, he never says anything of note, ever.

I challenge you Mr Lyons, find one original and insightful, comment from Alan Shearer. Just one.

And I am not even a Tubridy fan. But to say Shearer is worth more. Yer havin' a larf mate. It just seems you are anti-RTE/pro-BBC for the sake of it.

You seem to be missing one key thing, and that's the budget of the two services. The BBC's budget is around 8 to 10 times the size of the RTÉ budget. They can afford these sort of wages. We on the other hand are giving massive wages to the likes of Tubridy despite our much, much, MUCH smaller budget whilst RTÉ then bang on about how they don't have enough money to give us services because the common joe won't pay his license fee.

Whether Shearer is "worth" more than Tubridy is irrelevant because the company he works for operate on a far larger scale in every way.