Broadcaster Sean O’Rourke
This morning.
Via Irish Times Letters:
For many years now there has been ongoing discussion regarding the salaries paid to RTÉ presenters. If I recall correctly, one of the arguments presented by RTÉ management was the need to keep their high earners on board, to protect the advertising revenues generated by their shows.
This argument suggests that there is a queue of suitors in the form of independent radio stations ready to snap up RTÉ talent at the first opportunity.
We now see a situation where, arguably, one of RTÉ’s finest current affairs presenters of the last decade is out of contract and open to offers. It will be interesting see how RTÉ manages this situation and even more interesting to see how the independent stations react.
If RTÉ does not seize the day and re-engage, it will bring into question the validity of their stated argument. If one or indeed all of the independent stations decide not to pursue the services of this established and available broadcaster, it will bring into question the business acumen and understanding of RTÉ.
Seán Malone,
Dublin 16.
FIGHT!
Previously: Putt Me Back On
Boom
Good letter. RTE forced Valerie Cox out when she reached retirement age although she was a lively reporter with a timeless voice. It will be interesting to see what they’ll do here.
I guess you could argue that Sean’s in the twilight of his career and so isn’t an asset in the sense being discussed here.
Innocent or no, ‘Golfgate’ will certainly have tarnished O’Rourke’s name when it comes to advertising value.
You could argue that Pat Kenny is in the twilight of his career but Newstalk is holding him tight.
And they’re a commercial entity so presumably he brings in more than he costs ?
I take your point though.
It’s a false premise, nobody believes the RTE powers that be have any business acumen, do they? There’s scant evidence of it over the years.
I remember people saying the same thing about Pat Kenny. “It’ll be his last pay day if Pat Kenny leaves RTE,” was what one person said to me. I actually agreed with that sentiment. However Pat Kenny has done okay since he left RTE.
While I agree with most of the kicking that RTE is getting, they actually produce some compelling radio shows. The Curious Ear and The Documentary on One are often as interesting as anything on Spotify. Maybe RTE tries too hard to defend its weaknesses rather than to support its strengths.
Pat Kenny is great at radio. That’s not the question. The question is should he have been be paid market rate at RTÉ and not the inflated ‘tax payers money’ salary he received.
Exactly. He’s on €400k a year at Newstalk. He earned €950k in 2009 at money-to-burn RTE.
Plus he hasn’t a huge team of gophers doing his research like RTE provided. Not that they were up to much mind you, as Kenny got a good filleting by Prof. Richard Sommerville when he was with RTE. http://www.rte.ie/podcasts/2011/pc/pod-v-27091125m58stodaywithpatkenny-pid0-1558632.mp3
The Newstalk rate is still probably over paying him.
Nobody in RTE should be on over €200k a year. Its a relatively cushy, interesting, very high social status gig. People would still be queuing up to do it at that (very good) wage.
If a handful of the older presenters left (to where? The BBC? Newstalk? There aren’t many potential options) then it’d give a good opportunity for young talent to move up too.
RTE, jammed to the rafters with “presenters” who would struggle to get a job doing voice overs for a cheap Chinese Bluetooth speaker.
All RTE care about is high salaries, maybe Broadsheet could do a piece on the €16 million of taxpayers money they got, on top of the licence fee, over the last 2 years.
And why their staffing levels have increased despite the “fact” that they are bankrupt.
And why they continue to break Revenue rules by employing contractors such as Joe Duffy whereas they are in fact employees.
And why their total amount of cash assets has increased, in a time when they are “losing money”
and, most importantly, why they are so shit at what they do
He’ll just say he had offers, and not disclose them.
The shoes let him down
And the fact that he, and all of his ex. colleagues are Government lickspittles will override the shoe fail.
Sean was retired before Golfgate but said that he was interested in other work in RTE after some well earned rest.
RTE newsflash Tuesday 21 APR 2020 12:03
Sean O’Rourke has announced that he is to retire from his role as presenter of RTÉ Radio 1’s Today programme in May. Sean has presented the top 10 rating show since taking over as the new presenter in 2013. His departure will mark the end of over 25 years as a presenter of daily news and current affairs on RTÉ Radio 1. The former News at One and The Week in Politics presenter is a multiple winner of the PPI News Journalist of the Year Award, and grew listeners to the flagship morning show to a high of 354,000 listeners each day.
Followed by the usual plaudits from fellow RTE journalists and management.
Saying that he was going to be 65 in May so he’s reached the normal retirement age by now.
But we all know that normal rules don’t apply in RTE.
It would be nice to see some new people in RTE. Especially people under 40.
I went for interview with TV3 when it was with its previous owners and when asked what salary I was looking for, the response to my response was… “we don’t pay RTE salaries here”.
This lead to a casual chat about salaries in the business, not just advertising but production, presentation and “talent”. The answer was the same right across the board.
If RTE are saying they are afraid “talent” will be poached. Leave ’em off, the latent that is…. see how they get on.
And when they come back, and they will…RTE can pay ’em a lot less.
Has Ryan Tubs found a sponsor for his radio show?
Last I heard he was 18 months without one…. that was some time ago.
My point…. he should’ve had his salary deducted due to inability to secure a sponsor.