The Ryan Tubridy Show **Mod: Read OP**

ah yeah - very good of him. He should have a podcast with Jim Gavin hosted by jim Gavins tenant

ah come on - the guther outta him in the dail committee. Sponging up time and the nonsense like ppl lettering him with "Ryan Tudridy , Dublin" in support - give us a break

He doesn't want to return to RTE. He was contemplating leaving RTE before it all blew up. He's had a lot of success in the UK and interviews Hollywood stars on his radio show. He seems to love life in London. He has been extremely successful in the UK. Personally charming

Too much unresolved issues like lack of answers from Dee Forbes for RT to be accommodated.

Politicians don't want to be involved until there's no choice other than direct funding intervention, so in one regard bringing RT back might be the prick the lances the boil and crashes the remaining license fee return.

As is central funding already covers the license fee of pensioners so we're already on the road to direct funding.

I'd say at this stage Tubs will do a few things for RTÉ. He'll be more focused on BBC/ITV type work over the next few years. He'll dip in and out of Irish Broadcasting, nothing full time, perhaps a podcast or a documentary. Huge potential for him to do a one-on-one interview type show. Overall I think Tubs has lots of options open to him.

You've hit the nail on the head Hawley. He's made it clear he's not interesting in coming back to Ireland, at least not full-time.

Not buying that….nor his "success" in the UK. He's hardly a household name, and a fair chunk of the UK wouldnt have a rashers who he is. I'd say he'd be back in a shot if it was offerred.

RTE should have more sense than to go there but it is RTE so who knows.

Correct. Any listener data from the UK or indeed here that I have seen indicates that his career post RTE has been a failure so far.

Noel Kelly was desperate to keep him working on air somewhere to at least show that Noel wasn't a failure.

He has paid the money back. It's clear he (and Noel) want back in.

Tubridy could not cut it in a 60 grand a year job in mainstream music radio.

His worth and status as a top level broadcaster has been damaged badly.

I think he should consider a new agent or perhaps no agent anymore.

Yes. He's hardly going to come out and explicitly state that he doesn't want to return to RTE. He's settled in the UK now, by the looks of it. I'm only going by what he says on his radio show. He really seems to be enjoying life over there and has been very successful. If you go back to when he started on NewsUK, a lot of people predicted that he would only last a few months. Think he paid back the money because he decided that he was finished with RTE. That amount would be small when you consider how much he's earning over there.

The repayment of the €150k tells you everything you need to know. If Tubs was cock-a-hoop about a big media career in the UK, he wouldn't even contemplate returning that cash. He believes it was contractually earned salary. He did nothing wrong.

But his shelf like in England is far from guaranteed. He's no Graham Norton. Repaying that money was the minimum he had to do to get his foot back in the door at RTE and it allows the DG to say he's done his time in the wilderness and repaid the sum of money, so there is no real reason to keep him out in the cold.

As for listenership figures, damage to the brand etc etc, people forget RTE is a state backed entity. They can take a certain amount of pain that purely commercial outfits can't afford simply because of the licence fee and the promise of a bail out anytime it's needed. Tubs is as RTE as some of the old furniture there. The top brass would welcome him back and the lowly staffers and listeners will just have to suck it up. Anyway, if enough time passes it will all be old hat. Few will care.

Any idea of how Jim is these days?