Darragh McManus: Forget the radio rinse and repeat - why RTÉ should be casting wider net for fresh blood | Irish Independent
Flor Lynch
Broadcaster has thought outside the envelope before and it hasn’t turned out badly
Mary Wilson is the latest big-name presenter to leave RTÉ
Dubliner Nuala McGovern presents 'Woman’s Hour' on BBC Radio 4. Photo: Steve Bright
It's a surprise Alison Curtis hasn't been snapped up from Today FM yet
Dubliner Orla Guerin is an important broadcaster for the BBC. Photo: Getty
Mary Wilson is the latest big-name presenter to leave RTÉ
Dubliner Nuala McGovern presents 'Woman’s Hour' on BBC Radio 4. Photo: Steve Bright
Like Clockwork by The Boomtown Rats was the first song ever played on 2FM, then Radio 2, way back in 1979.
How things have changed since then. The legendary figure who introduced the song, the peerless Larry Gogan, has gone to his well-earned rest in that great DJ booth in the sky. The Boomtown Rats lead singer has transformed from punk provocateur Bob ‘The Gob’ Geldof to a potential presidential candidate.
But not everything has changed: 2FM’s sister station, RTÉ 1, was then, and remains today, the biggest show in town, both in terms of audience figures and hot currency as a story.
The news of yet another radio stalwart leaving, this time Mary Wilson of Morning Ireland, made plenty of headlines, just as the recent departures of Joe Duffy and Claire Byrne did (I can’t help hearing, not Like Clockwork, but Queen’s Another One Bites the Dust as the soundtrack).
Wilson’s departure is already sparking the inevitable “who’ll get the job” speculation about her replacement.
And it will, almost certainly, prove one eternal truth about RTÉ 1: as shown by the quarterly JNLR numbers, listeners are loyal in vast numbers, year after year and decade after decade – whoever happens to be presenting. Unlike other stations, which can and do take a wallop after a famous name jumps ship, it seems to be so impervious to its actual line-up that it hardly matters whose face goes with which show.
Mary Wilson is the latest big-name presenter to leave RTÉ
With that in mind – and given that this is public service broadcasting, in which ratings should be a secondary consideration – maybe it’s time for RTÉ to really go for broke now, and bring in a load of fresh blood.
This is not what management will do, in all probability. What they’ll do is appoint someone well known, who’s already in the building, to replace Wilson. Radio 1 veteran Sarah McInerney of Drivetime has been mentioned, just as she was among the favourites to replace Duffy on Liveline and Byrne on Today with...
Then if/when she leaves Drivetime, another well-known veteran, who’s already in the building, will replace her. And a third well-known veteran, who’s already in the building, replaces them.
Philip, you go here. Rachael, you’re there. Gavin, you’re taking over from Katie, who’s in for David, who’s replacing Audrey because she’s going to… And round and round it will go, like a dull and vaguely pointless carousel.
Wouldn’t it be better – more exciting, more innovative, more in keeping with the principles of public service broadcasting – to be some bit radical? Not just repeat this process of matching names and time slots.
It's a surprise Alison Curtis hasn't been snapped up from Today FM yet
So, source broadcasting talent from other places besides Radio 1 itself. There’s Newstalk, Today FM (I still can’t believe Alison Curtis hasn’t been snapped up) and many other independent and local stations around the country to explore, for starters.
Many British stations also feature Irish talent: Dubliner Nuala McGovern, for example, presents Woman’s Hour on BBC Radio 4, one of the most famous and iconic shows in radio (she recently had an amusing conversation with cut-glass Helena Bonham Carter about Irish accents), and has a wealth of news/current affairs experience. Fellow Dubliner Orla Guerin, who began her career with RTÉ, has been one of the BBC’s most important broadcasters for three decades.
Dubliner Orla Guerin is an important broadcaster for the BBC. Photo: Getty
In fairness, RTÉ has thought outside the envelope, on occasion, in the past, and it hasn’t turned out too badly at all. 2FM has been quite fond of taking a punt on someone without huge radio experience in recent years: Jennifer Zamparelli was a TV star, Bernard O’Shea a comedian, Donncha O’Callaghan a rugby player, Ruby Walsh a jockey, The 2 Johnnies a kind of a mix of everything. They’ve all done alright, with reviewers and audiences.
Even staid old Radio 1 isn’t always averse to risk. Oliver Callan and Brendan O’Connor, for instance, came from comedy and print media. Both are generally regarded as doing a fine job and both have improved their time slots’ already massive JNLR figures.
Also, the history of Newstalk should be an inspiration. Byrne’s recent defection, of course, is to replace Pat Kenny, a big-name host poached from RTÉ in 2013. But Newstalk the independent has also often rolled the dice on people you wouldn’t have assumed could make a good broadcaster, much less in the ostensibly more-demanding environs of current affairs and hard news.
And yet here we are, after the reasonable successes of such names as George Hook (ex-rugger pundit), Ivan Yates (ex-politician and bookmaker), Bobby Kerr (businessman), Ciara Kelly (doctor) and Seán Moncrieff (previously best known as host of the wacky late-night TV show The End).
And there’s no risk to RTÉ really, anyway – as we’ve said, this is public service broadcasting. It’s partly funded by advertising, which is audience dependent, but mainly funded by the State. Practically speaking, RTÉ 1 doesn’t need to bring in huge audience numbers. It can, to an extent, do what it likes.
So go for it. Take a chance. Be radical or be redundant. What have you got to lose, besides listeners? And as we see in the JNLRs, you won’t lose them anyway.