RTÉ admits paying Tubridy €345,000 more than declared

Probably some of the weekday presenters are on more money given that they present more shows. Ironically, Marty Whelan seems to be the ideal replacement for Tubridy as he's much better at "banter" and appears more natural.

Regards...jmcc

That's one of the issues with RTE. Employees may have to retire but contractors are not employees. That means that they can be brought back on contract. In the business world, where accumulated expertise is a good reason for retaining some people on contract, it makes sense. If an audience has demonstrated that it has become used to a presenter then there might be a similar argument for the entertainment business. That doesn't mean that it is right and with an organisation as dysfunctional as RTE, such deals should attract extra scrutiny.

Whelan's progression from DJ in the 1970s to banter merchant in the 2020s has followed the aging of his (and 2FM's initial) audience. He's also a lot more professionally polished than Tubridy and more suited to the Radio 1 audience. The dumbing down of LyricFM created a kind of competition between Tubridy's show and Whelan's LyricFM show. Both shows go out roughly in the same time slot and have a similar format.

Regards...jmcc

Hmmm. Marty in the morning. Yeah, could work.

It’s almost a case of Anyone but Ichabod at this stage.

The only poll that counts is TV licence renewals and if Tubridy returns and there's no serious reform RTE are on course to lose 36 million Euro in the next year.

Does Bakhurst even bother looking at the licence fee drop. Doesn't seem like it. He can't be dumb enough to ignore the collapse in income.

That can be difficult when you're on holiday and trying to get away from it all after a draining three or four weeks at the helm 🤣

No that was "How Low Can You Go". This was the era when RTÉ were commissioning alternative programming for N2 (AKA RTÉ2).

You won't see an upcoming Baz or Brendan Courtney on RTÉ, you'd need to have influencers and a celebrity on such programming all produced for RTÉ ONE or it will be an even lower rent versions of "How Low Can You Go" and "Wanderlust" on the RTÉ Player sponsored by the DAA!

But they did that for 5 years with John Murray ,and Tubs moved over to 2FM and his audience didn't stay with on 2FM and he could not retain 2FM's audience. So is he really worth the money. Realistically?

He is taking other people's jobs.

Let younger talent have a chance.

Similar to the Bowman guy, in his 70s, still coining it from RTE funds.

Unless some of these people have made REALLY bad investments (a la Anglo Shares/Russell Murphy), to keep going for as long as they do, is only putting money in their grandkids' pockets.

Super wealthy top tier personalities (such as Paul McCartney and Neil Young) are no different. They or their representatives are merching aggressively into their eighties (as opposed to continuing to perform-which I understand), and at that level they're probably ensuring their great grandchildren will never need to work a day in their lives..

It makes no sense to me. You only get one go on the merry go round.

(By those standards, Tubridy is positively a spring chicken.)