Any current RTÉ "stars" who are comparable to Gay Byrne, Pat Kenny or Gerry Ryan?

The_Dark_Lord

Do you think there are any current RTÉ "stars" that are comparable in terms of talent and star quality to Gay Byrne, Pat Kenny or Gerry Ryan? The three I've mentioned are/were, I think, the greatest talents that came out of RTÉ. All had that natural "star" quality. Gay Byrne and Pat Kenny were/are masters of their craft. Whether you were a fan of him or not, you cannot deny that Gerry Ryan was a natural radio talent and was leagues ahead of any of the current "talent" on 2FM. Do you think there is anyone currently working in RTÉ that is comparable to any of them in terms of talent?

phonypony

The bar is set pretty low there, not sure if there are any limbo dancers on the RTE payroll

Short sweet answer : no

Nowadays, to present on RTE TV / Radio you must interview a guest in the over riding context of how #woke they talk and they have the right views. If the guest answers in a different light, then the onus is on the rte present to steer the conversation back to their own liking, or close it down.

Plumbthedepths

Have you heard Pat Kenny lately?prone to hysteria. Gerry Ryan was a hypocrite.
Gay Byrne is the only one of the three I would suggest had enduring talent.

Zebra3

Safe to say there's plenty of them comparable to Sniffer Ryan.

ThewhiteJesus

Eoghan McDermott

AdrianBalboa

Ryan Tubridy is a gem.

tayto lover

AdrianBalboa wrote: »

Ryan Tubridy is a gem.

Didn’t know you were on Boards Ryan 🤪

piplip87

I have to say in enjoy listening to Pat Kenny interview politicians. He cuts through the bull**** the other let them get away with.

I like Tommy Teirnans show but dont know how we would do on say the Late Late as it's basically just advertising for people who have a book, film or album coming out

Plumbthedepths

AdrianBalboa wrote: »

Ryan Tubridy is a gem.

Gem? That's not how you spell gobsh!te

Hangdogroad

ThewhiteJesus wrote: »

Eoghan McDermott

I dont think Gaybo, Kenny or Gerry ever........

Never mind.

tayto lover

piplip87 wrote: »

I have to say in enjoy listening to Pat Kenny interview politicians. He cuts through the bull**** the other let them get away with.

I like Tommy Teirnans show but dont know how we would do on say the Late Late as it's basically just advertising for people who have a book, film or album coming out

Kenny is a know-all who just wants to impress listeners with how much he knows which is the sum of feck-all. Always butting in when someone is getting to their important point. I find him obnoxious.

I find John Creedon down to earth and agreeable, the very opposite of Turgidy.

Mad_maxx

neither PK or Gerry ryan can be mentioned in the same breath as Gay Byrne

EmmetSpiceland

RTÉ have some great presenters, John Creedon, Katie Hannon, Fiachna Ó Braonáin, Philip King and the ‘Morning Ireland’ crew.

Unfortunately, they haven’t realised that it doesn’t matter who they have in the ‘Live Line’ chair, late morning or the afternoon slots. The people who listen to RTÉ don’t change the dial. The radio is turned on in the morning and off again before bed, if it’s turned off at all.

Paying their “big hitters” ridiculously high salaries is a complete waste of money. Getting in Ray D’Arcy was a shocking move.

AdrianBalboa

tayto lover wrote: »

Kenny is a know-all who just wants to impress listeners with how much he knows which is the sum of feck-all. Always butting in when someone is getting to their important point. I find him obnoxious.

Point to any three contributors on this site at random and Pat Kenny will be more knowledgable and informed on current affairs than those three posters combined.

Maybe he wouldn’t be an expert on the slowest routes to the airport or cleaning vomit from the back seat of a car like the taxi-driving school-of-hard-knocks graduates of Boards.ie but he is a very intelligent and well-read man when it comes to politics.

Actually I have a theory about this. When RTE started they couldn’t afford to be nepotistic. So in ambles Gaybo, Mike Murphy and Eamon Andrews, and Kenny (and probably a few more) who had talent. When they were under pressure from the pirates in the 70s they take in G Ryan (who was talented on the radio), Dave Fanning and mark cagney and others. Other older presenters are good too. Credon. Mary Kennedy is missed.

Since then, a lot of nepotism. Gerry was there on merit, Lottie not so much.

As for Ryan, he’s good the the radio. The LLS needs to go.

Plumbthedepths

AdrianBalboa wrote: »

Point to any three contributors on this site at random and Pat Kenny will be more knowledgable and informed on current affairs than those three posters combined.

Maybe he wouldn’t be an expert on the slowest routes to the airport or cleaning vomit from the back seat of a car like the taxi-driving school-of-hard-knocks graduates of Boards.ie but he is a very intelligent and well-read man when it comes to politics.

So you really really like Pat Kenny, huh?

Larbre34

Gay Byrne and Gerry Ryan were both excellent at what they did. Two ends of the spectrum, though both were flawed, as is every man.

Theres a few reasons why we won't ever see their likes again on RTÉ. Media is consumed in such a different way, there just aren't the platforms or the programme vehicles to create superstars like that anymore. And by superstars, I mean broadcasters who had 3 or 4 major gigs, who featured in special programming, who really were household names.

The most prolific names in RTE now are Tubridy, Duffy and Claire Byrne. They have a little niche for themselves, but none of them are required viewing/listening. I mustn't have listened to watched a Tubridy broadcast in 2 or 3 years and most the Country would probably be able to say the same.

r93kaey5p2izun

I can't believe anyone rates Pat Kenny. Such a pseudo intellectual, supercilious, faux person. He shouts people down rather than engage in reasoned debate. Acts like he knows it all yet exposes a poor understanding of many topics. Totally biased and unable to play a neutral role in hosting a debate. At least he's doing it on someone else's money these days instead of the national broadcaster. I switch him off instantly on all platforms.

I would agree Gay Byrne and Gerry Ryan each had significant talent. I think Tommy Tiernan is exceptional at what he does on his current show. Nobody else at RTE stands out, though most aren't half as bad as they're made out to be. I do love John Creedon though.

Teyla Emmagan

EmmetSpiceland wrote: »

RTÉ have some great presenters, John Creedon, Katie Hannon, Fiachna Ó Braonáin, Philip King and the ‘Morning Ireland’ crew.

Unfortunately, they haven’t realised that it doesn’t matter who they have in the ‘Live Line’ chair, late morning or the afternoon slots. The people who listen to RTÉ don’t change the dial. The radio is turned on in the morning and off again before bed, if it’s turned off at all.

Paying their “big hitters” ridiculously high salaries is a complete waste of money. Getting in Ray D’Arcy was a shocking move.

OMG, this is me. I didn't realise I was a clichéd stereotype But I only really enjoy the presenters you have listed, the rest of the day it is on as background noise to keep the cat company and if I walk into the room between 9. 9.05am and whenever D'Arcy goes off the air I generally flinch.

Man Vs ManUre

Brendan O’Connor and John Creedon are the best there. Dathi O’Shea is fairly likeable too.

Hyperbollix

The Late Late Show itself is a microcosm of the ills that afflict RTE.

A person who doesn't like or have any real interest in people is fronting the flagship chatshow, where he stumbles and fumbles through terrible interviews of Z listers on a weekly basis. The most memorable thing about the whole enterprise is probably the amount of times he repeats the details of the text-in competition, where RTE hoover up shedloads of cash and give away a tiny fraction of it.
Never mind the guests hawking books or tv shows, the LLS is now largely a vehicle for ad breaks and raffle income. Everything else is filler.

jimmytwotimes 2013

Who thinks he's God, who's an insufferable pr1ck and who's on the charlie?

dxhound2005

EmmetSpiceland wrote: »

Unfortunately, they haven’t realised that it doesn’t matter who they have in the ‘Live Line’ chair, late morning or the afternoon slots. The people who listen to RTÉ don’t change the dial. The radio is turned on in the morning and off again before bed, if it’s turned off at all.

That is nonsense, and assumes that everyone except you is stupid. Even Morning Ireland gets only about 11% of the available audience. And there are vast difference between the listenership figures for all the RTE programmes. And Radio 1 does not have anywhere near the majority of those who are listening at any time of day.

Across the various regional areas throughout the country, National Radio holds the majority share position in Dublin (54.1%) and the greater Dublin Commuter belt (54.2%) while Local/Regional radio is in the majority in the other regions throughout the country, in particular, achieving its highest share position in Cork (63.0%), in the North West (62.3%), the South West (56.9%) and South East Regions (56.5%).

Teyla Emmagan

Teyla Emmagan wrote: »

OMG, this is me. I didn't realise I was a clichéd stereotype But I only really enjoy the presenters you have listed, the rest of the day it is on as background noise to keep the cat company and if I walk into the room between 9. 9.05am and whenever D'Arcy goes off the air I generally flinch.

I think you know this but the cat isn’t that interested. :-p

up for anything

Hangdogroad wrote: »

I dont think Gaybo, Kenny or Gerry ever........

Never mind.

One of them did.

Walking_Wolf

I'd argue that Gerry Ryan was better on radio than Gay Byrne.

podgeandrodge

RTE is a clique. Not sure how you become part of it, things like family, or anyone with even borderline success previously elsewhere (regardless of talent), virtue signalling public figures, etc.

What they don't look for is new talent that could be developed. Really new. In the past the new talent originally wasn't tested (e.g. Gay Byrne, GR etc). They had polished broadcasters like Olivia O'Leary, who got there on merit and would wipe the floor with Claire Byrne.
They had quality news readers/personalities like Anne Doyle (instead of putting 2 women on the 6 News a couple of years ago and painting it as some sort of win for feminism).

They waste our money paying higher salaries than they need to to keep the people of limited talent with them.

They pay Nicky Byrne guts of 200k. Enough said.

Won't even go into why I don't want to pay for next year's TV licence after hearing they spent 10k for showing that Royal interview by Oprah a half hour after ITV and BBC when anyone half arsed about it can see it anywhere. 60 people paid a TV licence this year to fund that.

retalivity

podgeandrodge wrote: »

They pay Nicky Byrne guts of 200k. Enough said.

Sure his income took a nosedive when Westlife finished and his father in law is a former Minister for Finance without a bank account. He needs the dig out.

Walking_Wolf

Larbre34 wrote: »

Theres a few reasons why we won't ever see their likes again on RTÉ. Media is consumed in such a different way, there just aren't the platforms or the programme vehicles to create superstars like that anymore. And by superstars, I mean broadcasters who had 3 or 4 major gigs, who featured in special programming, who really were household names.

The most prolific names in RTE now are Tubridy, Duffy and Claire Byrne. They have a little niche for themselves, but none of them are required viewing/listening.

Yes, and I think social media has also contributed to this. Ray D'arcy and Ryan Tubridy aren't really household names or "superstars", the way Gay Byrne and Gerry Ryan were.