150KTubs - future career in Virgin Radio and other soulful pursuits **Mod: Read OP**

€723,000 But who knows if this is the true amount. Did he also have a car allowance? Use of a car?

Hopefully he lasts a long time and the Brits love him and want him forever. I really don't understand why Irish people would want him to fail over there and return here?

Regards his salary, we may never know what it is, as unlike in RTE, they don't have to publish the salaries. So far its just speculation. I doubt its in the 80k bracket though. After tax he'd be lucky to clear 4.5k a month, which is peanuts for the lifestyle he's accustomed to and he'd probably be making a loss, with the cost of renting and living in London. At a guess, its well over 100k, possibly 150k.

Best bet might be 'London' papers like the Evening Standard and the Metro. Although I doubt they devote much space to 'media reviews'...

Who's doing who the favour?

He's desperate and virgin radio get a disc jockey time filler without having to invest a penny in him with paddy power covering the cost.

A lot of favours were called in to get this gig, and there was a real belief in him they'd have had him seated months ago.

The whole gig reeks of desperation, but I can imagine his agent flogg his pony to the last drop, why wouldn't he, who would want that agent?

Noel and Niamh will soon sort that out.

Plus for virgin they also they took him with a risk that Ryan's partygate style backhanders might get dragged up at any time.

If he were someone who already had a UK profile there could be a redemption angle to play with, but the fact he's in London because no one in Ireland would touch him makes him extremely expendable and I would not be surprised if there was hallo money going to the radio station.

The whole point of getting back on air anywhere is to get him back to Ireland. If he planned a UK career he wouldn't have spent as much of his air time on Ireland.

His agent might spam UK press to raise the profile, but what good will that do when he's not playing to a UK audience.

The investment is this London gig is to get him back to Ireland, this last week confirmed it.

Exactly, he could well have taken the gig to keep himself in the limelight with the eye on the prize - a cushy gig back in Ireland.

The money being paid by VM isn't going to match that, he didn't take the gig for the money but because it was a gig. So his salary could well be the reported low figure of under 100k.

First off, I don't have any particular skin in the "Tubridy game" - I've never really ever listened to him, but if he does well with where he is now then good luck to him.

Now, the problem is that while the Virgin Radio station is perhaps the No. 2 station behind Talk Sport in the Wireless Group's list of flagships, the Wireless Group itself is third place in what is oft described as a two horse race in commercial radio in the UK between Bauer & Global. It's also the case that Virgin is hampered by the DAB ensemble it's on, with only ~70% UK population coverage added by being on a few local ensembles that the national one doesn't cover. As much as they might try to otherwise imply (even with having Chris Evans & Graham Norton) the station doesn't have the same national awareness or profile as the likes of Capital, Kiss, Greatest Hits, Absolute etc. or even Smooth. As I see it, Turbidy is starting from around the lower middle third of the UK radio presenter ladder and given his dealing that saw him leave RTÉ under a cloud, it was probably the best he could get in the UK under the circumstances - TalkSport would have seen him land very well feet first in the UK radio market but Turbidy doesn't strike me as a presenter that can lead (mostly) soccer shows and I think he knows that himself, so is happy with the Virgin gig in the meantime. I suspect that Classic FM, Smooth or Magic would have been more suited to him, but he's now having to climb the ladder in the UK now & maybe if things work out well for him on Virgin, that could increase his chances of getting good employment with the big two in the future.

"The whole point of getting back on air anywhere is to get him back to Ireland. If he planned a UK career he wouldn't have spent as much of his air time on Ireland."

That's my thinking as well. We'll never fully know how the numbers are stacking up here or what Virgin are actually spending vs making but you'd have to think NK knows Tubs has a short window here to appear on a "major" UK radio station beside noted luminaries like Evans and Norton. The idea is surely to make the deal as palatable as possible for Virgin and try to retain SOME of Evan's morning audience. If Tubs can effectively run an Irish radio station focused on an Irish audience for a certain period of time, the name of the game is to then return home triumphant and command some kind of very respectable salary back in Irish radio. Preferably RTE of course.

The major problem I see with that plan is timing. Surely, he would need to put in a stint of at least a year in London before making noises about missing home comforts. Anything less would seem a failure. But if audience figures have any importance to Virgin here, I really can't see him being given anything like a year in this post. That's no comment on Tubs ability or lack thereof, the English audience will simply tire of the Irish blarney in short order. As many others have said, Irishness was one string among many, on the likes of Terry Wogan's bow. Like many successful emigrants to the UK, my own elderly family members among them, Wogan was more english than the english themselves but with an exotic flavour of Ireland which was like catnip to the British listenership. Tubs possesses none of that allure. So I can't see it working out long enough for him to see out his and Noel's cunning plan to fruition!

Whatever challenge there is currently in rehabilitating his image and combatting online vitriol, getting Ryan Tubridy's bonus released to the press would be impossible to supress. It is only that his brand in Ireland is so toxic (rightly or wrongly) and Noel Kelly's interventions on his behalf so unwelcome, that he needs to go to London. Of course, one of Ryan's big issues is that no one in the UK knows the other Noel Kelly stablemates who were rolled out on the LLS every third week.

I guess he can prove himself worthy of many multiples of the reported 80K through his performance at Virgin. Going to take a lot of Irish contributions, organic or manufactured.

Who are you representing?

Told his listeners of his good relationship with Mr Power from the Irish racing circuit and how he was looking for an excuse for the two of them to hang out in London.

He said: "We’ve known each other a little bit down through the years, we’ve met at the odd horse fair, shall we say, like in Cheltenham or it could have been anywhere in Ireland, and I just feel sometimes when I’m presenting this programme, it’d be nice to have somebody close by every now and again – but I’d like more support: do you want to come and hang out with us more? I am trying to lovebomb you into joining us and sponsoring the show."

In response, bookie Mr Power said: "You had me at hello, the answer is yes. It’d be a privilege." Paddy Power declined to say how much the sponsorship deal is worth, but a source told the Irish Daily Mail the partnership will last for a year initially.

The deal has been criticised by addiction counsellors who believe the sponsorship deal is "yet another example of the proliferation and the attempts of normalising gambling, whether it be in the UK or Ireland".

I'm glad to see that addiction counsellors are coming out against his sponsorship deal. So he's relying on Paddy Power to stay close to him on the programme? Is he going to be a regular guest for him. I honestly didn't think that he could sink any lower after last summer. Where does he think PP gets all his money for sponsorship? A lot of it comes from the poorest and most vulnerable members of society. And he's there, laughing and joking with that leech like it's all just a big game to him. It's absolutely disgusting. He has let down so many people by doing this.

I mentioned this previously on the old thread last summer but there is a very illuminating sub plot to the Paddy Power / Tubs love in which everyone should be aware of....

The Indo's Declan Lynch wrote a book about a postmaster from Gorey called Tony O'Reilly aka "Tony10" who got in such hock with gambling addiction on the PaddyPower app that he resorted to stealing cash from his place of work and placing bets on horses while on honeymoon to pay for his hotel charges.

Lynch and O'Reilly fully expected to appear on Tubridy's Late Late Show to discuss the book, as of course would always have been the expectation during Gay Byrne's and Pat Kenny's tenure. Lynch received an email to say they were booked to appear on a certain Friday night and then a day or two later received another email to say due to scheduling issues their item had been pulled. Lynch chased it a bit in the following weeks seeking a re-booking but nothing came of it.

Given the love of tragic cases and sad personal stories that the Tubridy era Late Late Show fattened on, it's very peculiar that this interview didn't go ahead. Until you remember that PaddyPower was a sponsor of Tubber's radio show and was giving him an all expenses paid trip to Cheltenham, possibly annually, and Ryan and Noel weren't going to risk losing that little free knees up amongst the great and the good of British and Irish racing circles.

A deplorable and sickening perversion of journalistic integrity. But to be fully expected.

I wasn't aware of that. I remember Tubs getting in trouble a few years back for virtually handing over an entire radio programme to promote Paddy Power's grubby business. My main gripe about it is the fact that he called himself the Toyman and was always lamenting how badly treated children are in Ireland. Then he goes off in cahoots with PP, a man whose company is responsible for causing so much misery for families and young children across the country. As he showed last summer, he only has morals when it suits himself. Comes across as an absolute snake in the grass.

Watch the figures from RAJAR ( www. rajar . co . uk ) for Virgin and the JNLR for Q102 etc. The figures tend to be quarterly.

Regards...jmcc

Universally negative comments on Tubridy, on the Virgin Radio Facebook page.

I can’t help but think NK would have a fair legal case against RTE if it’s DG were to single them out as a company he would refuse to do business with. Silly macho posturing from Bakhurst.

What grounds would he gave to exclude him? Legally? You don’t think it’s slightly worrying that the DG can publically proclaim his dislike of an individual and summarily ban him from doing business with the largest broadcaster in the country?

I think it's great

The whole Paddypower connection was a contrived set up acted out by a ham - Guess who turns up on NK's CMS website - Exploring how to get a few more quid from the Irish public

Even the British listeners are saying that the show is aimed at the Irish market. First week has been a disaster for him.

It’s not just RT & NK in bed with Paddy Power. Over the Christmas I caught a bit of the racing on RTE. They did a segment with interviewing members of the Power family out for the day at the races. Nothing wrong with going out in your private life. PP and his family are entitled to do what they like as private individuals but RTE should have known better. It left a really bad taste in my mouth as there were no doubt houses in the country who couldn’t do a normal Christmas this year due to this guys business. I’m pretty sure at this stage that gambling companies will pretty much back anything if it gets them exposure. Shame on Tubbs

The thing is the industry is a small business, and if there's other local potents genuinely interested in that slot then Ryan very much made done half their spade work with his first week.

I won't be surprised if he's gone by the end of next week and the station will still bag a year of paddy power sponsorship.

He has zero leverage with the UK public and he talks too much about Ireland to endear himself to his host nation.