Myself and the auld lad had a night out in Dublin four or five years ago. We ended up in the Palace on Fleet Street. The father would know their people well (mountainy people from around Kilcommon originally I think).
We saw Marian and family there, all in good spirits and well turned out. I think there’s a small function room upstairs but I’ve never been up there before. When we were reading our papers at breakfast the next morning, we realised they were in there celebrating Marian’s wedding
Marian was a huge commercial revenue puller not just for her show but the other ones that were before and after it in usually dead time slots at the weekend.
If she wasn’t essentially turning a profit, RTÉ wouldn’t have renewed her contract (you could argue that they also feared her going elsewhere, and taking a huge audience share, but I couldn’t see Dinny O’Brien as her paymaster). She mustn’t have been a direct employee, as she would have been retired if so (a la Mary Kennedy).
Yes mate, that’s how it works, that slot and style of show is a big revenue earner for years to come, the show will change very little, like the Liveline,
The bloke filling in for Sean O’Rourke this morning (does a bit of farming news and sport, Damien O’Reilly possibly?) was saying All Ireland Final day won’t be the same anymore. The real buzz of the day began in earnest when Marian previewed it with guests on her show.