RTE Gold discussion thread

I meant retired from full time RTE for 30 years. What John did straight after RTE (with Nova) was a few hours per week and no doubt was part of John's retirement plan !! He was retired.

It is probably far too soon after his passing to mention who will take over his show.

Al Dunne seems to have blown up the automation and put them into the emergency tape for over an hour this morning

presumably he didn’t know how to switch from live to pre recorded with his links inserted

It looks like Rick is presenting his RTE Gold afternoon show and also Arena on Radio 1 this week.

"Alone again Naturally" by Gilbert O'Sullivan was somewhere around the early 40s.

there’s some distinctly non-nautical stuff there - no way are Matthew Wilder or Thin Lizzy yacht rock!

No Chris de Burgh who might qualify more than Thin Lizzy

I listened/skipped through the countdown between yesterday and today (latter while working!). The list was largely as you would expect in terms of either acts or specific songs that fit the bill. I was surprised to hear Alone Again Naturally by Gilbert O'Sullivan alright! His song was in the 30s by the way! Regarding Thin Lizzy, it was the song Dancing in the Moonlight which fit the bill rather than the act itself. Cool Night by Paul Davis, Magic by Olivia Newton John, Van Morrison's Moondance and Fleetwood Mac's Everywhere are other examples of the song fitting the style rather than the artiste. Matthew Wilder's song is a grey area. I am not sure about Paul Young's Every Time You Go Away. Infoanon is bang on re Michael Jackson's Human Nature. The melody and the original lyrics were written by Toto's Steve Porcaro, and four members of Toto played on the song. It has that lush sound associated with this hard to define genre. The Number 1 was no surprise: What a Fool Believes by The Doobie Brothers. Indeed Michael McDonald turned up on quite a few songs in this countdown: a couple of solo efforts, the particular Doobie Brothers songs in this countdown, harmony/backing vocals on James Ingram's Yah Mo B There and Toto's I'll Be Over You. Toto themselves appeared more than once as well as assisting Michael Jackson. Hall and Oates, Jackson Browne and America, were other acts that fit in quite well into this countdown with a few entries each. Songs specifically referencing sailing inevitably appeared in the countdown: Sail on, Sailor by the Beach Boys, Sail On by The Commodores and Sailing by Christopher Cross. There were plenty of songs about gentle breezes and the like such as Summer Breeze by Seals and Croft, and of course Ride like the Wind by Christopher Cross.

I enjoyed much of the countdown I have to say. That was possibly because the definition was stretched giving a bit of a nice mix and variety to the selection! Although that said, I did skip quite a few songs, either because I did not like them or just wanted to get through it before the day was out! Incidentally, Carol Nolan made a mistake when she was talking about Eye in the Sky by the Alan Parson's Project. She said it features Colm Blunstone on lead vocals. He has supplied vocals for them but not on that song. In fact the singer was the "other guy" that made up the duo behind the Alan Parsons Project, namely Eric Woolfson.

I would not have classed a lot of the MOR / Rock acts from Ireland or UK (Think Lizzy, Gilbert, Level 42, Van) as being part of the yacht rock genre.

I usually associate yacht rock with U.S. soul rock artists. There was a very good documentary on it a few years ago on BBC4 TV:

I Can Go For That - the Smooth Sound of Yacht Rock - BBC Four HD 1 Aug 2020

Here is my list from the RTE Gold countdown I was surprised to hear in it. I would not have classed any of these as being yacht rock, however it is open to interpretation and some might be borderline pop / singer songwriters such as Michael Jackson (collaborations with Toto):

Hues Corporation - Rock The Boat
Baby Be Mine - Michael Jackson
Moondance - Van Morrison
He's So Shy - The Pointer Sisters
Human Nature - Michael Jackson
Alone Again (Naturally) - Gilbert O'Sullivan
Caribbean Queen (no More Love On The Run) - Billy Ocean
Right Down The Line - Gerry Rafferty
All Night Long - Lionel Richie
I'm Not In Love - 10cc
Leaving Me Now - Level 42
Guitar Man - Bread
Break My Stride - Matthew Wilder
Dancing In The Moonlight - Thin Lizzy
Everything I Own - Bread
Sail On - The Commodores
Better Love Next Time - Dr Hook
Every Time You Go Away - Paul Young
The Things We Do For Love - 10cc
Come And Get Your Love - Redbone

anything on the emergency tape is the most played song on Rte Gold

I was surprised to hear Aidan Leonard doing the last part of the Yacht Rock Top 100 countdown on Monday the 4th Aug (presented voicetracked), as his "final" / farewell show was Ireland's Biggest Jukebox on Sunday the 27th July (presented live).

So for the anoraks out there, he had 2 final songs on RTE "Homeward Bound" and "What a fool believes"

People forget their second single ‘Someday we’ll know’, I remember buying it. I think their break up was announced the same week it was released. Greg Alexander went on to write songs for a variety of artists.

I see after 20 years, Will Leahy is no longer the voice of the Rose of Tralee on RTE 1 and Carl Mullen from 2FM will be taking over. another example of 2FM continuing to use their radio stars for big TV shows.

Will used to present his RTE Gold breakfast shows from Tralee each year which gave the station more publicity which was no harm. A steady safe voice - he will be missed.

Did they dump will? They are trying to be trensy with the social media content creator crowd if they did