Ray was grossly offended last October when RTE offered him a move to RTE Gold with a 77% paycut, so he walked out but next Monday he's getting some of the old gang back together with an new podcast.
Moving from commercial radio to RTE radio seems to be a career death wish, Colm Hayes & Jim Jim, Chris and Ciara and Ray Darcy all moved from comfortable positions on independent radio for bigger pay at RTE, only to get axed from RTE after awhile. Since Ian Dempsey and especially Matt Cooper are still on Today FM, it seems certain that Darcy would still be there today if he had stayed put. A few years ago I'd have been amazed if a time traveler had told me that Matt Cooper would still be doing TLW on Today FM in 2026, the way they were going younger at the time droping music from before 2000 and hiring younger hosts like Fergal D'Arcy, Pamela Joyce Al porter etc, i would literally have bet my house on copper been replaced with a younger male female due like Gavin Reilly and Zara King by now.
It is all about the money. Ray moved back to RTE on huge money. He could still be there on RTE Gold on 50 odd thousand, which is not bad money for a days work a week.
In saying that, he has a fascination with death. He asks often asks interviewees, 'Do you think about your death?' In the Roisin Ingle interview yesterday Ray declared that he thinks about his own death everyday!
Having the chance to get back on TV was also a factor in Ray moving.
he'd hosted You're A Star for 3 seasons in the early 2000s, in fairness one of the few full-time independent Radio presenters to present a regular TV show on RTÉ.
My main memory of him as a host was that he was good at it.
Going back to RTE it was the chat show on TV which I'd say interested him.
I loved Blackboard Jungle, and I thought Ray had a good rapport with the students
According to online sources the money he got initially at RTE was very similar to what he was on at TodayFM.
I think it was about the listenership (potential ) and status of working for Irish Medias "royal family". He probably wouldn't have accepted a lower salary having said that.
I often tried to pinpoint it myself definitely think growth in social media made him more gloomy too. From 2007 onwards it seemed. Ireland got very doom and gloom from 2008 and never really recovered. You see this so blatant in reelin in the years 1998-2007 is happy flappy Alice in wonderland stuff compared to 1982-1996 which is grim stuff . Feels like New York vibes in 1950s and 60s then moves into 70s and 80s and it’s a different world so grim and violent
I had a listen there this week I think Monday or Tuesday, Ray starts going on about rte new radio jingles. Jenny bites the head off him, it was definitely a wow moment to hear it. Definitely was a bit of window into their marriage let’s say
Have you got a time stamp for that?
From 2008 on it was apparent that financially as a country we were goosed, the question was just how badly and for how long. You're right in that I'm not sure socially how we've recovered as the economic recovery brought it's own problems i.e. housing.
getting convinced our glory days as a country are over 1992-2008 , and were entered our New York grime phase now 2009- now , hopefully we will move on soon but at minute Ireland is an extremely tough place to live .
Come on lads! It's the Ray D'Arcy Daily Podcast thread! This is no place for all the doom and gloom.
Haven't listened to it and don't plan to based on the reviews here. What Rays story tells us(similar to RTs) is that theres no other organisations willing to hire these guys and the old trope about having to pay them top dollar because they could get bigger offered elsewhere is just BS.
As others have said the podcast is doomed to failure at its inception not because of the content but of the presenter.
Today,
Ray's fascination with AI, robots and death continues. He got a large envelope of Christmas Cards from 'That Place' today. Fans did not get their requests played :-( He is not Father D'Arcy's son! Other issues revolve around online accounts for which he used former work email.
An Post Love Stamps sponsorship. They must have a lot of Valentine stamps remaining on stock.
Road Death talk with journalist Sinéad O'Sullivan. It would have been more suited to Ray's Wednesday interview podcast.
Ray complains about the government's incompetence, lack of responsibility, not making and meeting targets and their use of NGOs to hide behind.
Was listening to one of The Atlantic’s podcasts this morning and in the intro pod ads D’Arcy pops up. I normally skip the ads but was a little surprised to hear his voice and not to mention shocked to see he’d dipped into his own pocket to spring for an ad promoting his pod.
Alas it turned out to be an ad for a post promoting “love stamps”. Ray is discovering the lucrative world of shilling for corporates now in his post-RTÉ phase. Maybe Noel Kelly will bring Ray on board now and sign up a lucrative deal with Flahavans Progress Oatlets? We can only dream….
Was Mary McAleese mentioned in the ad by any chance?
It's hard to know how well a podcast is doing because of the dispersed nature of them. This one doesn't seem to have caught on at all. This list, rightly or wrongly, has it at number 71 as I type. https://rephonic.com/charts/apple/ireland/top-podcasts
I love podcasts, but there are times when I roll my eyes at the news that X or Y is starting a new one. Anyone can be a podcaster, but it doesn't mean they should. Or indeed, that they'll be successful. I sometimes wonder if we have reached peak podcast and if the market is over-saturated. There are only so many hours in the day and so many hours anybody can physically listen to them before they've had enough.
If the fun Today FM version of Ray had started a podcast a few years ago, I think it would've done far better. He's too late to the podcast game, and those years in RTE did him no favours. I'll be interested to see if it finds an audience as time goes on. It's early days yet.
If he's such a no-mark, what's the obsession with Ray D'Arcy here? I don't get it.
we like to point out failures? or that RTE gave Darcy a hugely inflated wage, and clearly he wasn’t the star RTE thought he was
No. But there was a little plug of sorts by way of the intro, something like “Ray D’Arcy here from Ray’s Daily Podcast” …or whatever it’s called.
Ray chats to professor Brendan Kelly. Brendan does his best to convince Ray that all his doom and gloom about AI and modern society is in his head. Every generation has its problems, that are not really that bad and Ray is overthinking thinking things.
Ray chats to a lad (Bernard?) about list of things being over 50. Big dogs do big ****. Did not return an extension cord to RTE Sound, feels guilty. Piles. Shots. Flipflops. Getting the hair done (hair transplant). GLP1 drugs.
Jenny does not like hen and stag nights. Male stripper. Bits and arse discussions. Mouth like a sailor. The cost of and world most expensive mattresses.
Did he not return the Flipflops?!
Was he supposed to? He said something about the extension lead being there with the Flipflops.
Were they all not to return the flipflops?!
Rant about RTE's new sonic identity. ChatGPT, other AIs hacking and AI robots. St Stephens Green redevelopment. Dandelion market. Maried Ronan on with a book review. Divorce. What about the children? Jenny learns how to replace her Foxrock talk with Kildare speak. Fascination on mattress prices continues.
How about some spoiler alerts?
maddening to think that chancer was getting 250k+ a year to talk about that on RTE
