Meanwhile, At RTÉ

at

RTE-London-bureau-to-close-offices

RTÉ

Seán McCárthaigh, in The Times (Ireland edition) reports:

RTE has warned that it will remain financially challenged unless there is reform of its public funding model after reporting a loss of €2.8 million last year.

Managers at the national broadcaster, which reported a net surplus of €0.2 million in 2014, have expressed concern at its deteriorating financial position.

RTE blamed last year’s losses on flat income from licence fees combined with the €5 million reduction in state funding in the 2014 budget and exchange rate fluctuations.

It said that cost pressures had caused its finances to slip into the red, despite commercial revenue growth of 4 per cent during 2015, and an emphasis on keeping operating costs under control.

Moya Doherty, the chairwoman, said the resolution of the issues of a national media charge and licence fee evasion would be key to the broadcaster’s funding.

RTE calls for fee reform after €2.8m loss (The Times Ireland edition)

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176 thoughts on “Meanwhile, At RTÉ

  1. Formerly known as @ireland.com

    Put a limit on the max pay for presenters……….the “good” ones can piss off and make space for new talent.

      1. petey

        i heard that word used at a local station here in the states, it may be the term for whoever the presenter in front of the camera is.

      1. some old queen

        BBC Radio 1 prides itself on promoting new music. They are responsible for breaking a sizable number of acts and contribute to a very vibrant British music scene which creates thousands of jobs. They work hard at knowing what is current and then promote it.

        We have 2FM. The most insipid safe and sterile FM radio station and that is quite an achievement as there is a lot of competition. The music playlist repeats the same 20-30 songs over and over again which wouldn’t be so bad if the occasional was new. Absolute dullards.

      1. Dhaughton99

        The new brigade won’t be any better once that mentality is allowed to fester. The new are usually children of old. I’m thinking Lotti and Tubs.

  2. Wayne.F

    Genuine question, how do Fx Rates effect RTE revenue? Also if you cut expenditure on wars for the top 10 contractors they would turn a profit of 2.5 million

    1. Jonsmoke

      Something to do with purchasing/licensing of content from foreign countries, paid in the currency of that country?

      1. Wayne.F

        Ah right so thanks makes sense. But Mostly UK and US content both have only had favourable currency movements!

  3. Daisy Chainsaw

    A bit of pay restructuring of the “stars” would easily save a couple of million. No broadcaster in Ireland is worth a 6 figure wage.

  4. Anne

    said the resolution of the issues of a national media charge and licence fee evasion would be key to the broadcaster’s funding.

    So get everyone to pay, even they don’t have a TV.. because the RTE player is available to them? Wonderful.
    And hound the ones who don’t/can’t afford to pay…

    So they can continue with half a million salaries for 5-10 hours work… fupp off.

    1. some old queen

      So get everyone to pay, even they don’t have a TV.. because the RTE player is available to them?

      The RTE player is not available to anyone, if it went any slower it would be playing backwards.

      1. Anne

        Of course it’s not available to everyone… half the country don’t have bloody broadband.. they just want everyone to pay a ‘media charge’. Gowls

        1. some old queen

          No. Even with high speed broadband, RTE player is the pits. It is near impossible to believe that a company with their internal network speeds cannot improve the quality of it’s online streaming. Even an option to reduce the res would help.

    2. Robert

      and then, the likes of irish times, journal, (broadsheet even, ) are expected to compete in the online space without the benefit of a guaranteed income stream? Anticompetitive surely?

      1. J

        ah the Irish Time= The snobbish gamekeeper of false pretensions ” You are what you read”. * sighs*

  5. Anne

    It said that cost pressures had caused its finances to slip into the red, despite commercial revenue growth of 4 per cent during 2015,

    How oh how could they reduce costs at all I wonder…. ?

  6. Eoin

    Send in the axeman. He can look at the guest list for the Late Late Show for the next year. Any RTE staff member who appears on the guest list should be fired. Stick Tubridys name at the top. That’s millions saved right there. Replace them with fresh (and cheap) talent.

    1. rotide

      So replacing the free appearances by the RTE people and replacing them with expensive foreign guests is going to save RTE money. Genius. Why didnt anyone else think of that.

  7. Bob

    “Instead of us making an effort to curb our spending to a manageable level, we want the public to give us more money. That should even everything out.”

  8. Donger

    Wow, imagine RTE was a broadcaster in the real world that wasn’t funded by…everybody. Imagine they relied on ad revenue? They would be a thing of the past

    1. hex

      What you mean people like Pat Kenny? The theory was that he was earning above his commercial value in RTE too – but it seems that he wasn’t – since he turned down RTE’s offer for Newstalk.

      1. Mourinho

        Wait and see what happens when his contract is up for renewal.
        Newstalk took a gamble on Kenny and it’s not working for them.

        1. hex

          Nevertheless – it’s indicative of what the market valued Kenny at the time. What RTE were paying him wasn’t out of whack with his perceived value.

          1. rory

            “It’s indicative of what the market valued Kenny at the time.”
            If you swap ‘the market’ in your statement with ‘a few people at newstalk’, your claim with regard his perceived value doesn’t seem as definitive.

          2. rory

            I’m agreeing with you. Both our descriptions describe the same thing. One description sounds more authoritative.

    2. coco

      Or, would they be forced to be better? Maybe it’s time for tough love to give them a chance to show us what they can really do.

  9. Junkface

    The real problem in there is how many managers or other types of employees are on a Long term (Life) contract? I mean, come of these contracts were given to full time staff maybe 15 or 20 years ago when TV was a different, unchallenged and more profitable medium, now it is not. I know that there has to be a good few employed in there on highish wages and legally unbreakable contracts, because they signed them for life, even though there job description or productivity may be way less in demand nowadays.

    Its not just presenters very high wages thats the problem. Like a lot of semi state employers, there’s an out of date structure piling up the wage bills

    1. Anne

      I don’t see a problem with a long term contract, if the salaries were in the region of the average industrial wage.
      Presumably the salary increases these people have gotten weren’t set in stone when the contracts were signed originally.

      1. Junkface

        I wouldn’t presume anything was not set in stone back in the days these contracts were signed. Its a semi state company, this is Ireland, nepotism is always rife, people were taking the pee in the late 90’s early 2000’s.

          1. coco

            Cut to an average of what, out of interest? Say your average employee with 10 years experience whose salary was cut.

          2. Anne

            Tomato/Tomatay…. regardless of whether or not he’s technically self employed or something, his salary is paid by RTE – i.e. you n’ me… to the tune of 9k a week.. and that’s after the cut you mention.

          3. Anne

            He’s not RTE staff though. Which is my point. All staff salaries were cut.

            Sorry, what’s your point exactly.. all staff salaries were cut? Not enough it seems..
            Ryan’s was cut too right wasn’t he on 650k approx at one time?

            His salary is paid by RTE.. ergo he’s RTE staff.

          4. hex

            He’s not RTE staff. He’s an independent contractor. All staff salaries were cut. All independent contract costs were cut too. They cut the top 10 presenter’s cost overhead by 40% since 2008. They’re clearly not dealing with wages ‘set in stone’.

          5. Anne

            Ok.. thanks.

            So I don’t see a problem with employment security in a contract.. and it’s not the reason for the exorbitant salaries.

          6. rotide

            Why are you picking one single RTE Personality who is clearly an outlier when talking about ALL staff salaries being cut?

          7. hex

            It may well be that the sort of figures mentioned are what’s actually required to hang on to the big hitter broadcasters – I’d be surprised if no-one has calculated the advertising revenue potential of Marian, Joe, Tubs etc, and determined what value they were to the broadcaster. Joe pulls massive listenership – way above anyone else, and Tubs was definitely being courted by the Beeb. I suspect Marian has less claim to what she earns, but dumping the few big earner broadcasters in RTE isn’t going to put them into profitability – they’ll just take a chunk of their fans (and consequent ad revenue) to wherever they move to.

          8. rotide

            You’re absolutely spot on with that Hex.

            Unfortunately people wont listen and the same old ‘weh weh weh RTE Isn’t as good as BBC’ drivel will continue.

  10. Bernie

    Al Porter as new Late Late show host please!

    He’s probably a little too left for them, though!

    1. Maria

      Love Al Porter He would make a great presenter/interviewer. At least he has a personality

  11. Disasta

    Yokers expect me to pay for a licence and I never ever watch their channels. Complete joke. And they’ve ads? At least the BBC doesn’t have ads.

    1. Medium Sized C

      The BBC benefits from licencing a state of 64 million people.
      Ireland benefits from licencing 4.5 million people.

      1. some old queen

        RTE also benefit from handsome advertising revenue. Here is an idea. *Wide eyed Panti pose*

        Produce decent quality dramas which can then be sold? It’s called earning your living.

        1. hex

          Love/Hate is generally regarded as decent quality drama. It sold internationally, but despite this, didn’t make a profit afaik.

          1. hex

            Drama is expensive to produce. It’s pretty much a lottery what makes money. Most of it doesn’t.

          2. rotide

            “Produce decent quality dramas which can then be sold?”

            Sorry, on one hand you want to reduce the money given to RTE and on the other hand you want them to produce international quality drama out of magic beans?

            Cop on.

          3. rory

            Why not reduce the money given to overpaid RTE talent, and put said savings towards the production of quality drama?

            P.S. If you’re gonna argue that said talent would leave, could you please provide examples besides Newtalks miscalculation of Kenny’s popularity. After that blunder I doubt that certain RTE presenters would get paid as much as a reduced rte salary if they went elsewhere.

          4. Hex

            What’s suggesting to you that Newstalk are any way unhappy with their deal with Pat Kenny?

            And feeding out your primary audience grabbers to the competition in order to fund risky ventures like drama production – which, is usually not profitable, doesn’t seem like the smartest plan.

          5. Hex

            The link really tells us nothing about Newstalk’s happiness with their investment in Kenny. He’s grown their audience, and as long as that growth sustains his cost, they’re not really concerned what anyone else’s rating are.

            Quality TV is not financially risky. Quality TV drama is. There’s an interesting article online on Australian TV drama and export revenues it generates. Seemingly Screen Australia, which acts as a state funder of drama production in much the same way as the IFB does for cinema here, has only ever had one TV drama produce profits for them. All other productions couldn’t recoup their production costs. Drama has cultural value, and can attract ad revenue with domestic audiences, but the potential ad revenues in this country are limited compared to bigger markets abroad. Never mind that RTE’s charter wouldn’t be met by trying to turn it into a mini HBO/Showtime/ Canal +.

          6. rory

            1. One could argue, and newstalk has, that Kenny’s nearly tripling of the ratings of his predecessor is significant. And that would seem a fair enough assessment at a glance. However, Pat Kenny improving on his predecessors ratings is not significant when the predecessor was Tom Dunne, who was suffering significantly from the format change after his popular stint in the night time music show on today fm. Those ratings were in the doldrums.
            2. Kenny was offered a significant deal, a 400,000 annual salary for 5 years. And that’s not including the ‘move the dial’ advertising campaign. It isn’t a big jump to think that they expected a lot more from the veteran broadcaster, in a similar format, who had ratings in excess of 300,000 in his previous gig.
            3. Newstalk are hardly going to publicise their unhappiness with the situation are they. If anything they’ll do their best to stifle any bad press, to minimise potential losses. Maybe it’s a good time to leave this here.
            http://www.independent.ie/entertainment/radio/newstalk-denies-report-it-is-planning-to-axe-pat-kenny-34308546.html

            4. Moving money away from the overpaid ‘talent’ and putting it towards a quality drama or two is hardly asking for a mini HBO. I don’t think Irish audiences expect RTE to construct an expensive deadwood set. I’d say they’d be more than happy with a budget along the financial lines of Red Rock.

            Saying that, I’d be more than happy if they put the money towards quality tv. Just not towards the salaries of a certain few. It’s a waste.

          7. rotide

            Rory, on the one hand you are saying that Pat Kenny doesn’t deserve his salary because he’s not worth it but on the other hand you’re saying he grew the audience because the previous owner of the slot wasn’t good.

            Thats a bit of a contradiction

          8. rory

            @rotide
            I said, judging from his salary, the ‘move the dial’ campaign and the ratings from his previous gig, newstalk expected far bigger things from Kenny that didn’t materialise.
            I think the fact that Kenny had improved on Tom Dunne’s low ratings is not a significant achievement, all things considered.
            I don’t think saying these things is a contradiction.

    1. Gorev Mahagut

      Carpenters fulfill a useful role in society. And they’ve promised not to start any more religions, after that whole Jesus of Nazareth business in Palestine.

  12. Fergus the magic postman

    In before the I think RTE offer a great service with quality programs, & are worth every penny of whatever they ask for comments.

    Two words. Brian Ormond.

    RTE has for as long as I can remember, tried to come up with programs to suit “presenters” they want to keep on their payroll, rather than programs that people might want to watch.

    People who choose not to watch RTE should not be made to pay for it. The fact that they have a player that barely functions and is of bad quality when it does is no excuse. let them alter their advertising rates if they wish, not to mention the wages they dish out.

  13. some old queen

    Are they saying that part of their problem is that less people are now paying the license fee?

  14. MrGavoB

    2.8 million eh ?
    Wages according to Independent.ie

    George Lee – €179,031
    Bryan Dobson – €195,816
    Miriam O’Callaghan – €280,445
    Sean O’Rourke – €290,096
    Marian Finucane – €295,000
    Joe Duffy – €416,893
    Ryan Tubridy €495,000

    That’s over 2 million right there and not a single name on there that I would say is irreplaceable.
    In fact, not a single name on there that couldn’t be replaced by somebody already on the payroll.

    You’re welcome RTE. No charge

    1. Anne

      €416,893 for Joe Duffy.. christ on a bike.. you could drag any how’r ya off the streets of Dublin and they’d do a better job.. and they’d probably be less annoying.

      416,893/52 = 8017 a week.

      8 fupping grand a week.

    2. Dhaughton99

      Are you saying the Tubs ain’t worth half a mil? Isn’t the Beeb going mad for him?

      1. Neilo

        Hard to say. R-Tubs has covered holiday absences on BBC Radio 2 in the past but I don’t think he has that Graham Norton stand-in gig at the minute: Fearne Cotton and Martin Kemp are covering it this year.

    3. Anne

      George Lee – €179,031 = €3,442 a week.
      Bryan Dobson – €195,816 = €3,765 a week
      Miriam O’Callaghan – €280,445 = €5,386 a week
      Sean O’Rourke – €290,096 = €5,578 a week
      Marian Finucane – €295,000 = €5,673 a week
      Joe Duffy – €416,893 = €8,017 a week
      Ryan Tubridy €495,000 = €9,519 a week

      If anyone knows how many hours they work a week.. we can work out the hourly rate.

      Let’s say it’s 20 hours.. which would be a stretch… Ryan Turbridy is on 475 euro an hour. Joe is on about 450 euros an hour. About 3 license payers yearly fee, each.. an hour.

      1. Neil

        These figures are flabbergasting… there is no need to pay that. There is no competition. Not from TV3. They would never pay those sums. There is no chance of those presenters heading off to UK, nobody knows or cares for them over there.

        1. hex

          Turbridy was very popular in the Terry Wogan and Chris Evans slots in the BBC, so he has a profile in the UK already. I could see some of the others possibly falling into Fergal Keane or Orla Guerin roles in the UK. What anyone outside irelands would make of Joe is another matter – but you can be sure he’d be snapped up by the Irish competition just as quickly as Pat Kenny was. Kenny’s income went up when he went to Newstalk.

          1. Robert

            I really don’t have a problem with him going to newstalk. Newstalk arn’t complaining about being short of money …

          2. rory

            @hex
            Do you think Tubridy would get as much as his RTE salary if he went to the BBC?

            Also, how do we know he was popular in his summer stint in the BBC? Anyone know of an article that would verify that claim.

            Graham Norton gets paid incredibly well by the BBC, but only after he presents a tv show that gets incredibly high ratings in multiple countries, as well as his radio show. I’m sure Tubridy is a nice chap, but is he anywhere near the calibre of ‘talent’? The decline in ratings for the late late would suggest otherwise, even if you factor in foreign competition.

          3. Hex

            Well the Beeb keep asking Tubridy back, so he’s obviously doing something right. As far as they’re concerned. Would he earn as much there? Depends. Chris Evans gets £600k for his Radio 2 gig – and Tubridy has filled that seat. Chris Moyles gets a bit less for his radio work, but more than Tubridy gets from RTE. Tubridy is no Wogan, but there’s a vacancy in the ‘warm, class neutral, affable eejit’ roster at the BBC, and they might see Tubridy as capable of growing into the role. Stranger things have happened.

      2. Harry Molloy

        ah now, it’s an lot more than 20 hours, it’s not simply by matter of showing up, there’s an lot of prep and meetings and planning. Not to mention how much goes into the LLS in Tubs case.

        I’m not saying they’re not bloody well paid for what they do but I am saying that it’s probably not easy and there’s more going into it than being on air. Everyone’s job seems easy until you try to do it.

  15. Anne

    How much does Sunday mass cost, production.. camera men etc.. get rid of that for one.

    The angelus could go too.. More savings right there.. And those short Kairos Communications religious advertisement programmes at night could go as well… Right as you’re about to drift off, a bunch of nuns come on to give you nightmares.. No thanks.

    1. Anne

      Are the religious little short films at night, the angelus too? I can’t find what they’re called.. They’re from Kairos Communications anyway. But they could definitely go.

      1. Robert

        Well seeing as they’re primarily evangelical in nature surely they should be doing it for free … perhaps somebody should get on to the gideons ..

    2. Cian

      If they replace the Angelus with ads they could make more money. if they replace it with content it will cost money. Perhaps they should extend the Angelus from 9.30 to 11.30 on RTE1, on Friday evenings. They’d save a fortune!

      1. Anne

        When can we expect your treatment and budget for the replacement content Anne?

        Hmmm.. now what could you replace the angelus with.. a primetime 6pm one minute slot that could generate some income, instead of a free advertisement for the catholic church.. How about, wait for it.. a one minute ad, or even two half minute ads, that would generate some income for them.

        Sunday mass.. I don’t know they could put on an old Bond movie.. They do plenty of those. They must be cheap to air.

  16. Maria

    Not a chance in Hell of any of them being let go. They are all Government Mouth Pieces!

  17. Bort

    Serious question, why do we need a national broadcaster? It’s not 1960. There’s a guzzillion other channels. Why not just wrap it up, scrap it or privatize it? It’s just another state body who answers to no one when they fail. Why can they not be expected to act like a private channel. If they’re not making a profit make cut backs. Fair City costs 50K per episode! The amount of nobody “celebrities” that owe a living to for some reason? Just get rid of it, so many sh*te programs and still a bizarre leaning in favor of the Church

    1. hex

      The alternative Irish TV (and radio) options are either pretty poo, or in a language most of us struggle with. There’s good and bad on RTE, but they have a charter to cover a much broader range of material than the commercial competition. They can’t commercially compete with media that don’t have any such requirement (including the religious broadcast requirement – which no-one else has). If Fair City isn’t your bag, just ignore it – I’m sure not every BBC licence payer feels obligated to watch Eastenders.

    2. hex

      The alternative Irish TV (and radio) options are either pretty poo or in a language most of us struggle with. There’s good and bad on RTE, but they have a charter to cover a much broader range of material than the commercial competition. They can’t commercially compete with media that don’t have any such requirement (including the religious broadcast requirement – which no-one else has). If Fair City isn’t your bag, just ignore it – I’m sure not every BBC licence payer feels obligated to watch Eastenders.

    3. Gorev Mahagut

      The principle is that broadcasting is a national resource and should be deployed in the interests of the public. It should not be allowed to become the private property of the likes of Rupert Murdoch or Denis O’Brien.

  18. Maria

    We need a national broadcaster to tell us what to think, to make sure that anything FF and FG do is for our own good, that we understand that the elite are in charge and that we accept our fate. They wont get rid of that propaganda machine in a hurry!

  19. rotide

    The usual amount of idiocy on this thread I see.

    RTE clearly only employs 10 people who all make half a million quid for a job that actually anyone could do.

    *eyeroll*

    1. Anne

      Go do your sums… they could make significant savings on those salaries alone.

      How many Luas workers are employed by Transdev btw?

      Did the backlash they received have to do with the numbers of employers or what people were being told were outragous salary demands (35-40k P.A. ) You’d imagine people would be up in arms about salaries at RTE then, wouldn’t you?

      1. rotide

        OK, so you let go of those 10 people named in the thread.

        Who takes their place?

        Can you provide a projected viewing figure change with these new staff? We’ll also need to see the figures adjusted for the increased competition from the 10 people you’ve just fired new projects.

        Also, We’re going to need to see the effect all of this has on advertising which at the end of the day is what is keeping RTE afloat, not the license fee.

        When you’ve done all that, I’d personally like to see a detailed analysis of the difference between your arse and your elbow although I won’t be holding my breath on that one

        1. Anne

          Who said to get rid of them? Cut their salaries to under 100k.. it’d be a meager salary to exist on but they could tough it out I’d say.

          And they wouldn’t be going anywhere.. No one else would have them.

          1. rotide

            They would leave if you cut their salaries. Not all, but a lot.

            Noone else would have them? BBC have had Tubs and Newstalk took Kenny.

            Try harder.

          2. Kieran NYC

            Apparently Luas drivers should scam their employers for every cent they can get, but TV presenters can only earn what Anne lets them.

          3. rory

            Rotide, as ahjayzis has already explained in this comment section (probably better than I am about to), the rte ‘talent’, not to say they’re talentless, but their ratings, and in extension their perceived market value, would be vastly reduced without there attachment to irish cultural behemoth that is the RTE brand. Kenny’s vast reduction in ratings when he left RTE bears this out. The market learns. Kenny would not have been offered the same pay packet by newstalk if they were aware of the ratings he currently brings in.

            Also, you may be right about tubs, but there is a reasonable possibility that you are incorrect as well. The BBC tried Tubs for a summer stint once; that does not mean they love him and it doesn’t mean he’d get anything near a reduced RTE salary if he went there. As hex pointed out already, he’s no Wogan.

          4. rory

            AMENDMENT TO MY PREVIOUS COMMENT.
            According to Wikipedia, Ryan Tubridy has NOT done a summer stint once, as I stated in my previous comment. He appears to have filled in for approx five BBC radio presenters between 2011 and 2015. His last BBC gig was covering for Terry Wogan for a few weeks in 2015. He is not standing in for anybody this year.

            I haven’t come across the listenership figures yet, but newspaper reports have described his BBC ratings as being ‘solid’, and a noticeable contrast to his low listenership figures on RTE radio and slumping ratings on the Late Late. Tubridy has stated in an interview that he has reached as high as 6 million listeners while standing in at the BBC and is, in turn, puzzled by his low figures at RTE. (The articles don’t state the specifics of this 6 million figure and I have been unable to verify Tubridy’s claim just yet, but the indo and examiner refer to this figure early on in said articles, which makes me think they have confidence in Tubridy’s claim.)

  20. ahjayzis

    Sack Marian Finucane and then A. Let’s see if anyone notices her missing during the short periods between holidays in which she ‘works’ and B. we can talk about your hardpressed finances.

      1. ahjayzis

        Any and all really. BBC R4, 5Live, Newstalk, TodayFM, RTE, I podcast a hell of a lot too from the states and places. I actually hate doing a task without voices nattering away in my head :op

        The thing about RTE is you have the staff journos like Mary Wilson and Rachel English and Audrey Carville who are really very good – and cost nowhere near what a ‘Star’ like the often absent, frequently underinformed, always condescending Finucane earns “it has to be said”
        Proof if proof were needed you don’t need to fork out these massive amounts.

        Keelin Shanley for instance is LEAGUES ahead of O’Rourke on his show when she fills in.

        1. hex

          Mary Wilson has her detractors too tbf. There does seem to be a bit of sexism at play in the radio centre. Sean O’Rourke is a disaster in the Pat Kenny slot imo, but he’s sustained listenership growth for the programme, so he can point to that when faced with criticism. RTE have clearly not known how to use Keelin Shanley to best advantage.

          1. ahjayzis

            Wilson’s not my cup of tea really but my point is I can still recognize she holds her own against “Stars” hosting other magazine type news shows. There’s no real difference except she’s salaried and the others invoice for a dumptruck of money.

          2. hex

            No doubt there’s an unfair tier between contractors and staff. Wilson pulls in a very solid audience, but she’s more of an anchor for a variety of correspondents than some of the other ‘talent’ would be, and they have either bigger audience figures (Duffy, O’Rourke, Finucane, Tubridy) or RTE get more media versatility out of them (O’Callaghan, Tubridy).

        2. rotide

          Well I don’t listen to the radio that often. Newstalk or todayfm in the morning and Off the ball in the evening, nova whenever im driving.

          I used to never miss an Off The Ball. When the guys left and started second captains, I pretty much fell off a cliff listening to OTB. I still do, if im doing nothing else but i generally get most of what i need from the SC podcasts. So in this audience of 1, Newstalk fked up and lost their audience by losing SC.

          Now obviously a lot of people are like you and listen to a lot of different things, so anyone that can HOLD an audience is also worth money, all those guys like Duffy and Finnucane generally hold pretty large audience figures and keep people listening and at the end of the day, thats what its all about.

          1. ahjayzis

            See I’m not sure that’s how it works with RTE.

            Pat Kenny was thought to hold an audience, but the vast, vast majority didn’t follow him. RTE Radio 1 holds the audience, becuase it’s RTE Radio 1, the nation’s default setting!

          2. ahjayzis

            Think I’ll be abandoning Newstalk also though, their new presenter line up is like a nightmare cast for me. Cannot abide the vast majority and can only imagine the ugly tone the station is going to take.

          3. rotide

            Yeah, that’s also true but there is no doubt that Kenny DID take some of his audience with him. As you just proved, there’s a huge market out there and you have to hold onto as much of it as you can.

          4. ahjayzis

            But again, that small audience bump might be from axing Tom Dunne’s awful, awful show, and the fact that Breakfast was extended til 10 so people switch over from RTE while that gobsh*te John Murray was waffling on for an hour between MI and Today. They have a lead-in from the only current affairs show on air at that time in the morning.

    1. Anne

      You’d be p*ssin’ against the wind demanding he best television from RTE, Kieran NYC.

  21. Junkface

    I wouldn’t say sack all of the presenters, I would just cut their wages by 50%. Its still over generous for the most part, but really, the high wages of the presenters is not the major financial problem. Its the internal structure and the high wages going to lots of older staff, who are not pulling their weight.

    The fact that the whole place would implode without the advertising money shows that what they are working with is an unsustainable model in modern times for TV.

    1. hex

      RTE was always reliant on advertising revenue. It can never produce it’s range of broadcasting on the level of licence subvention available in the country.

  22. Iwerzon

    Here’s a thought. As opposed to imposing a license fee on the population, make RTÉ/RTE Player go pay-per-view. It would mean lights out for our ‘national broadcaster’ I know – so shut the fupp up RTÉ.
    Iwerzon,
    Broadsheet Comments,
    OoorTÉ

  23. Mulder

    Or put another way meanwhile back at the Cantina,price of tea and coffee will have to rise and no more fancy pizzas and only 3 types of jelly and ice cream from now on.
    The cantina will have to have half day on Sunday.
    Ohh and bring yer own seating.

  24. Mulder

    Yeah and get rid of the planks on the Rte radios, as only take up space and embarrasing, not just themselves but the nation.
    Wonder if they have tried a spot of crowd funding and if have, then bingo could start with the cantina in RTE.
    Infamous for its ehh food.

  25. some old queen

    Is there not some rule that a certain percentage of RTE Radio must be spoken word or is that a general law? It would explain why so many FM stations have such idiots spouting verbal diarrhea instead of playing music.

  26. Kieran NYC

    If you don’t have a public service broadcaster. you end up with every station being TV3. And owned by a Murdoch or DO’B.

  27. Fully Keen

    Maybe trim a few radio channels. Somebody told me RTE has a digital radio channel?!?

    Presenters should have a pay cap.

    Get rid of RTE 1 or 2. Ireland isn’t the UK. No matter how much we want to be.

    Downsize property.

    Shrink the sports department. Only focus on Irish sports. And large tournaments like olympics and World Cup.

    And don’t employ relatives of staff………………………………………….

  28. Paddy

    We have the news. Newscaster tells us about a particular story. Then there is another RTE guy/gal beside the newsreader to tell us the details behind the story. Why not just give the newsreader the details and let him read them out?
    We have correspondents and crews based in far off places. As have many other news outfits. Is there a need for us to have them? We can easily come to an agreement with, say, ITN / SKY / BBC / CNN and use their reports. The information will be the same, but cheaper. Yesterday we had a reporter at the Trump yoke. Reporting rubbish all day from an empty venue first, then a few people, then half full, then full. What a waste of money for a 30 second report a few times a day, which was basically waffle.

    1. rory

      @Paddy
      I’m in favour of cutting the salaries of overpaid ‘talent’ and putting the money to greater use elsewhere in RTE, but what you’re arguing for Paddy sounds like a total hollowing out of our national broadcaster. Don’t think that would be a good thing myself.

      1. Paddy

        It needs a bit of hollowing out though. What is the point of having various RTE ‘correspondents’ sitting in on the news, just to tell us something that the newsreader can? Back to the days of Charles Mitchell I say. Give us the news without the padding.

    2. Hex

      RTE closed their London office in 2012. Their sole British correspondent (as of two years back?) uses ITN office space. And they have a single correspondent in the US too. That’s it for global news reporting resources.

        1. Hex

          True. Make that three correspondents globally (there were two in Brussels but they shifted one role back to London).

      1. Paddy

        What would be the difference in lifting the news from other news stations, and presenting it as a news item, than having the expense of having a team located on the spot to give us the same information? A fair lot of money I’d think.

        Then we have Charlie Bird, Hector and others doing world tours and the like, I think, at the moment, that hotel saviour fellow is traipsing around some foreign country testing food or something. How much is that costing our national broadcaster? I don’t mind someone traipsing around Ireland giving us national information – but these foreign trips are a costly waste of time. It’s not that they’re going to be able to to the BBC or whatever.

        1. hex

          RTE do get feeds from other providers and present them as news items. That’s what makes up the bulk of foreign reports on the news. The three locations that they have single correspondents – not teams – are pretty much the bare bones of a capacity to report on issues of interest to an Irish audience, from the perspective of an Irish correspondent.

          The other programmes are not news programmes – and in the case of the Francis Brennan India programme – it’s an entertainment programme. It’s not particularly expensive stuff – a ten day shoot with a crew of a director, two cameramen and a sound guy. The ten travellers had to pay €700 a head to participate, and the programme undoubtedly has commercial sponsorship deals. It’s also a pretty popular show afaik, so I wouldn’t say it’s anywhere near the top of ‘extravagant expenditure’ lists.

  29. Trust in the News

    RTE is an over sized badly run selfserving broadcasting quango based in Montrose it’s made up of a legion of over paid people who imagine they have talent, and spurt out endless propganda on behalf of what ever Government is in power in order that they will give them a licence fee increase, even a national broadcasting household charge, we have a fair few of the State Dinosours, that need to be culled, and if they were, no one would miss them.

  30. Tish Mahorey

    RTE had plans to sell their Donnybrook lands and move the entire operation out of the city.

    This was bitterly opposed by snobs who work there because they wanted to stay close to where they live, along the DART, 46A, N11 and Rock Road.

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