The Hard Shoulder with Ivan Yates (interregnum)

pc7 · 23-07-2020 3:09pm

Wow can’t believe Pat Kenny is 72! Jesus he doesn’t look it. I have to say I think Sarah has really improved and is doing well in the So’R slot. Who is the female presenter that does breakfast show at the wends? She’s very good too, caught her a few weekends a go.
I’ll miss Ivan, I loved the breakfast show first time round with himself and Chris, I used to laugh quite a lot on the drive to work. Has faded over the years, he’s bold now just for the wind up and sake of it, but I think he’ll be a big loss. Love him around election time, which at this rate we might have by Christmas.

Amirani · 23-07-2020 3:10pm

A Tyrant Named Miltiades! wrote: »

Not as far as I'm aware. Even the Irish Times politics podcast is hosted by their movie critic, which is an odd deployment.

Hugh Linehan isn't their movie critic, you may be thinking about Donald Clarke?

It's a very sensible deployment. Linehan is a very good moderator, has a decent knowledge of politics and lets the contributors do their thing. Having a highly-opinionated moderator is generally not great for debate. I like when Fintan O'Toole is on the show, but I don't think he'd be a better choice for host.

EmmetSpiceland · 23-07-2020 3:47pm

pc7 wrote: »

Who is the female presenter that does breakfast show at the wends? She’s very good too, caught her a few weekends a go.

Susan Keogh. She is an excellent broadcaster.

23-07-2020 3:51pm

Amirani wrote: »

Hugh Linehan isn't their movie critic, you may be thinking about Donald Clarke?

It's a very sensible deployment. Linehan is a very good moderator, has a decent knowledge of politics and lets the contributors do their thing. Having a highly-opinionated moderator is generally not great for debate. I like when Fintan O'Toole is on the show, but I don't think he'd be a better choice for host.

Oh yes, I often confuse those two guys.

I appreciate your point about not having a a highly-opinionated moderator, but I wonder what experience Linehan has of Leinster House? If you take Ivan Yates, for example, he would have his ear pressed to the ground because he has a political network and would know what rugs to pull, or look beneath.
Similarly, the political correspondents are able to observe politicians at close quarters, down to watching who's having lunch with whom, and are able to generate relationships with politicians, which generates news ledes.

In short they know the right questions to pursue. With Linehan, I don't get that sense that he has any more idea of what's going on than the listener, there's no insight.

It's that insight, into how things really work and an ability to cut through the BS that I will really miss when Yates goes.
It's not unlike the retirement if Vincent Browne. Browne was sometimes an ideologue, but his analysis, and the depth of his knowledge of politics was superb.

EmmetSpiceland · 23-07-2020 4:08pm

Linehan does the tv listings.

Abel Ruiz · 23-07-2020 4:20pm

A Tyrant Named Miltiades! wrote: »

I would love if Dil got the gig. There would be a riot. An hilarious, breathless, deranged riot. Please God.

She seems like a lovely human, but how she ever got a professional radio job in the first place is beyond me.

No she does not seem lovely at all. Dil is a muppet.
And when she had her meltdown over the George Hook comments. It was comedy gold.
She is a big child. Her way only. Everyone else is wrong wrong wrong!

EmmetSpiceland · 23-07-2020 4:32pm

The latest I’m hearing out of ‘Marconi House’ is that the lovely Dil is seeking a public apology from Newstalk before signing on for the daily ‘The Global Hug’, replacing ‘The Hard Shoulder’.

After Cagney’s fill in, of course. All going well, it’ll be September before it “airs”.

quintana76 · 23-07-2020 4:32pm

Abel Ruiz wrote: »

No she does not seem lovely at all. Dil is a muppet.
And when she had her meltdown over the George Hook comments. It was comedy gold.
She is a big child. Her way only. Everyone else is wrong wrong wrong!

A perfect description of Saoirse McHugh.

quintana76 · 23-07-2020 4:35pm

quintana76 wrote: »

A perfect description of Saoirse McHugh.

....bring on Dill !!!!

dxhound2005 · 23-07-2020 4:49pm

pc7 wrote: »

Wow can’t believe Pat Kenny is 72! Jesus he doesn’t look it. I have to say I think Sarah has really improved and is doing well in the So’R slot. Who is the female presenter that does breakfast show at the wends? She’s very good too, caught her a few weekends a go.
I’ll miss Ivan, I loved the breakfast show first time round with himself and Chris, I used to laugh quite a lot on the drive to work. Has faded over the years, he’s bold now just for the wind up and sake of it, but I think he’ll be a big loss. Love him around election time, which at this rate we might have by Christmas.

I see this so often on the forum that I think it may be something to do with listeners getting old and thinking that things were always better when they were younger. I would not rely on my memory of radio programmes from years ago. And a look back at posts from years ago might show very negative contemporaneous opinions.

Another example recently was a poster who said that they recall Ray Darcy as being an excellent broadcaster years ago, but they hate him now. Are there any broadcasters who are improving year to year, or are they all getting worse?

23-07-2020 5:10pm

dxhound2005 wrote: »

Another example recently was a poster who said that they recall Ray Darcy as being an excellent broadcaster years ago, but they hate him now. Are there any broadcasters who are improving year to year, or are they all getting worse?

Someone earlier mentioned Sarah McInerney, I'd agree.
Pat Kenny, who was always a great broadcaster, improved after he moved to Newstalk.
It took Sean O'Rourke a good year, or so, before he got into his stride on his radio show, then he flourished.
I'm sure there are other examples.

EmmetSpiceland · 23-07-2020 5:26pm

dxhound2005 wrote: »

Another example recently was a poster who said that they recall Ray Darcy as being an excellent broadcaster years ago, but they hate him now. Are there any broadcasters who are improving year to year, or are they all getting worse?

D’Arcy had a great show in the early to mid 00s. But it was really down to the team around him. A lot of time he just seemed bemused and “played along”.

After awhile he just got “grumpy” and maudlin. Every show had to have an interview with someone who’d been through a harrowing bereavement.

This “version” of D’Arcy was then scooped up by RTÉ and now they broadcast that brand of misery every day.

pc7 · 23-07-2020 5:48pm

Ah I don’t think it’s that, it was the interaction with himself and Chris I really enjoyed. There was many morning I’d be in stitches laughing at them. But after his first hiatus it wasn’t the same. Now I find now he plays the pantomime villain to the extreme. But I’ll still miss him, he’ll be a big loss imo.

Aglomerado · 23-07-2020 5:50pm

pc7 wrote: »

Wow can’t believe Pat Kenny is 72! Jesus he doesn’t look it. I have to say I think Sarah has really improved and is doing well in the So’R slot. Who is the female presenter that does breakfast show at the wends? She’s very good too, caught her a few weekends a go.
I’ll miss Ivan, I loved the breakfast show first time round with himself and Chris, I used to laugh quite a lot on the drive to work. Has faded ov1er the years, he’s bold now just for the wind up and sake of it, but I think he’ll be a big loss. Love him around election time, which at this rate we might have by Christmas.

I only looked up Pat's age on Wikipedia this morning! I'm comparitively new to his show, I've been listening since March and find his interviews with Prof. Luke O'Neill very entertaining and informative.
I'll miss Ivan terribly, been listening to him a couple of years now and find him to be pretty funny, a loveable curmudgeon is how I'd describe him.Love when he gets a rise out of people..:D I'm listening right now with a can in the garden, looking forward to Bertie coming on later and how many people the pair of them will wind up (no fan of Bertie but I expect there will be a few gold moments....)

dxhound2005 · 23-07-2020 5:50pm

EmmetSpiceland wrote: »

D’Arcy had a great show in the early to mid 00s. But it was really down to the team around him. A lot of time he just seemed bemused and “played along”.

After awhile he just got “grumpy” and maudlin. Every show had to have an interview with someone who’d been through a harrowing bereavement.

This “version” of D’Arcy was then scooped up by RTÉ and now they broadcast that brand of misery every day.

Is that based on you listening to him every day? As I said on another thread, RTE will keep him on and pay him well as long as he returns the big audience numbers.

Tell me how · 23-07-2020 5:50pm

dxhound2005 wrote: »

I see this so often on the forum that I think it may be something to do with listeners getting old and thinking that things were always better when they were younger. I would not rely on my memory of radio programmes from years ago. And a look back at posts from years ago might show very negative contemporaneous opinions.

Another example recently was a poster who said that they recall Ray Darcy as being an excellent broadcaster years ago, but they hate him now. Are there any broadcasters who are improving year to year, or are they all getting worse?

I may be the poster you are referring to on Ray Darcy. I think some of it might have been to do with the team around him in his early Today FM show, but also think it was more his style. Still, harder and harder to keep doing the quirky stuff as you and your audience get older.

As for broadcasters who have improved? That's a good question, I think there may be a sense of familiarity breeding contempt as people get tired of someones shtick.

I think Joe Molloy on OTB has grown in to an excellent interviewer and given he started his career as a researcher on George Hook's show, maybe he will move back towards current affairs in time. He filled in for Ivan recently for a period and I think was well received.

It's a high pressure world though, ratings publications must feel like LEaving Cert day every few months for presenters as the figures will influence their career and income.

dxhound2005 · 23-07-2020 5:55pm

Tell me how wrote: »

I may be the poster you are referring to on Ray Darcy. I think some of it might have been to do with the team around him in his early Today FM show, but also think it was more his style. Still, harder and harder to keep doing the quirky stuff as you and your audience get older.

As for broadcasters who have improved? That's a good question, I think there may be a sense of familiarity breeding contempt as people get tired of someones shtick.

I think Joe Molloy on OTB has grown in to an excellent interviewer and given he started his career as a researcher on George Hook's show, maybe he will move back towards current affairs in time. He filled in for Ivan recently for a period and I think was well received.

It's a high pressure world though, ratings publications must feel like LEaving Cert day every few months for presenters as the figures will influence their career and income.

It wasn't you. It just occurred to me as well that broadcasters improve after they die.

EmmetSpiceland · 23-07-2020 6:08pm

dxhound2005 wrote: »

Is that based on you listening to him every day? As I said on another thread, RTE will keep him on and pay him well as long as he returns the big audience numbers.

I was a, fairly, regular listener “back in the day”, until work would get in the way. He got, markedly, more maudlin in the last 10 years.

I thought RTÉ were crazy to “poach” to him from Today FM. And, honestly, I think a fair chunk of RTÉ’s “listenership” comes from people who’s radio is left on all day and never changed.

My own parents, and my in-laws, would be prime “examples” of this. RTÉ will be suffering a massive decline in listeners in the 20 years when those radios are turned off and binned.

EmmetSpiceland · 23-07-2020 6:10pm

Tell me how wrote: »

Still, harder and harder to keep doing the quirky stuff as you and your audience get older.

Moncrieff has done a good enough job of that.

PhilOssophy · 23-07-2020 6:12pm

EmmetSpiceland wrote: »

I was a, fairly, regular listener “back in the day”, until work would get in the way. He got, markedly, more maudlin in the last 10 years.

I thought RTÉ were crazy to “poach” to him from Today FM. And, honestly, I think a fair chunk of RTɒs “listenership” comes from people who’s radio is left on all day and never changed.

My own parents, and my in-laws, would be prime “examples” of this. RTÉ will be suffering a massive decline in listeners in the 20 years when those radios are turned off and binned.

Every radio station will suffer from that though. They are all getting better at posting podcasts, etc to try to keep up with modern ways of listening though.

dxhound2005 · 23-07-2020 6:16pm

EmmetSpiceland wrote: »

I was a, fairly, regular listener “back in the day”, until work would get in the way. He got, markedly, more maudlin in the last 10 years.

I thought RTÉ were crazy to “poach” to him from Today FM. And, honestly, I think a fair chunk of RTɒs “listenership” comes from people who’s radio is left on all day and never changed.

My own parents, and my in-laws, would be prime “examples” of this. RTÉ will be suffering a massive decline in listeners in the 20 years when those radios are turned off and binned.

Not true if you look at the numbers for Live Line and D'Arcy. In an ideal world I'm sure RTE would like to run Live Line for four hours. But D'Arcy did recover the lost listeners who deserted the station when Derek Mooney had the slot, which was the point of him being poached.

Brendan Bendar · 23-07-2020 6:19pm

EmmetSpiceland wrote: »

Moncrieff has done a good enough job of that.

Emmett... sorry to disagree.

That douch Moncreiffe is ,for me , the most boring tool on today’s radio, says Bren.

Only my opinion..

Tell me how · 23-07-2020 6:25pm

Brendan Bendar wrote: »

Emmett... sorry to disagree.

That douch Moncreiffe is ,for me , the most boring tool on today’s radio, says Bren.

Only my opinion..

I would disagree with you on this and support Emmets view.

There aren't many radio hosts who can can go from one piece discussing, for example, recent election performances to the next one discussing how a man in South Dakota has learned how to speak to crows and have both pieces informative and interesting.

EmmetSpiceland · 23-07-2020 8:37pm

Brendan Bendar wrote: »

Emmett... sorry to disagree.

That douch Moncreiffe is ,for me , the most boring tool on today’s radio, says Bren.

Only my opinion..

No need to apologise, B. Different strokes, and all “that”.

I enjoy listening to Moncrieff, I like how he takes the interviews with “nutjobs” seriously and asks questions with a straight face.

Always disappointing when you turn on the radio and hear Tom Dunne “standing in”. Nothing wrong with Tom, himself, but the show just isn’t the same without the bold Seán.

Now, I’d remember him from his televisual days presenting ‘The End’, ‘Don’t Feed the Gondolas’ and, even, ‘Good Grief Moncrieff’ so he’d have a fair bit of “credit” built up with me.

Still, you are entitled to your own opinion, however misguided.

Is mise le meas.

L1011 · 23-07-2020 8:38pm

I rather liked Tom Dunne's old show but he can't fill in for Sean.

Tired Gardener · 23-07-2020 8:57pm

Not a fan of Ivan Yates, his interview style is too focused on his opinion and not letting the person being interviewed speak. He has always come across as a man who loves his own voice.

Won't be missing him at all!

mcsean2163 · 23-07-2020 9:05pm

Tired Gardener wrote: »

Not a fan of Ivan Yates, his interview style is too focused on his opinion and not letting the person being interviewed speak. He has always come across as a man who loves his own voice.

Won't be missing him at all!

I think Ivan's style is wind up and devils advocate.

I appreciated that he at least called people out in covid19. I think that those decisions should be questioned and not just accepted without justification.

Don't understand the hate, he was a pretty good broadcaster.

Tired Gardener · 23-07-2020 10:10pm

mcsean2163 wrote: »

I think Ivan's style is wind up and devils advocate.

I appreciated that he at least called people out in covid19. I think that those decisions should be questioned and not just accepted without justification.

Don't understand the hate, he was a pretty good broadcaster.

Not against playing Devils advocate, that is I think a good stance for any interviewer, as it enables them to challenge the person being interviewed. It was his constant need to talk over people, just comes across as an arse in love with the sound of his own voice. I don't hate the guy, as that is quite a strong emotion, just find him bad at doing interviews, and won't be sad to see him gone.

PhilOssophy · 24-07-2020 9:42am

mcsean2163 wrote: »

I appreciated that he at least called people out in covid19. I think that those decisions should be questioned and not just accepted without justification.

Easiest thing in the world to stand back and swing punches at people in very difficult positions trying to do their best to keep people safe.
While some of what the authorities came up with was questionable, people like Ivan would have had the pubs and betting shops open after a week.

Beechwoodspark · 24-07-2020 9:57am

Tired Gardener wrote: »

Not a fan of Ivan Yates, his interview style is too focused on his opinion and not letting the person being interviewed speak. He has always come across as a man who loves his own voice.

Won't be missing him at all!

Won’t miss his cartoonish persona at all - yes it was an act, but it grates after a while

I’ll miss his political analysis, he was usually on the ball there.

The Hard Shoulder with Ivan Yates (interregnum)

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