RTÉ Gold and the then DAB radio stations emerged I think (and may not be entirely sure) as part of an EU directive on broadcasting. Radio is somewhat limited in terms of available transmission frequencies etc., so the thought was that digital stations would pick up the slack of covering more of the niche interests that weren’t covered by their FM stations. I think the RTÉ Gold is an interesting example though as it’s been used more as a retirement home/ cast of for people on contracts that they don’t want on their main stations. To me, the resources should be aimed more towards the other digital stations.
To be honest, the entire budget of RTÉ’s digital radio stations for a year wouldn’t cover the production budget of a year of a one hour television programme I’d imagine. Television is significantly more expensive to make than radio.
That was a genius piece of scheduling. I watched at least six episodes of it. It was straight out of the saccharine yet smart US teen-young adult comedy dramas genre epitomised by the minor 2000/01 hit “Popular” (shown on RTE) and to a lesser extent The OC.
The archives is an interesting one. Someone had a tweet above about it, and it is becoming increasingly difficult to access.
I had to pay to use it for a day before for a piece I made for RTÉ! They thankfully waived the licensing fee to use the footage. I was working off a relatively meagre budget. That’s not unique to RTÉ. I had footage from a CBC show before that I wanted to use for something. I actually had the footage, was willing to pay for it, and so on. The woman at CBC says “sorry we can’t do that. You’d have to use footage in the format we provide it. It’s stored six hours ago away in the backarse of Newfoundland and we won’t be visiting it again for six months”.
I know of student groups who have contacted RTÉ while making documentaries and it’s an absolute fortune to get permission to use their footage. I’ve an issue with that - the next generation of film and television producers need to be supported more by the public service broadcaster.
He’d have Primetime telling us the moon landings never happened because the moon is made out of marshmallow and the Eagle couldn’t have landed on marshmallow.
And Gemma O’Doherty talking for five hours into a laptop camera on a Sunday night.
I’ve heard similar, it sounds like a horrible place to work. I know people who have done consultancy work there and they said the culture in there is rotten, a real them vs us between staff and senior management. The coverage this is getting is ridiculous but there’s a few people getting what’s coming to them for a few years now so it’s pretty funny in a way.
The Peter McVerry Trust is a prime example of this. They’ve grown their balance sheet by €100m in the last decade mostly via government funding yet they send out McVerry to criticise the same government.
It’s a bit of a game going on and recently McVerry overstepped the line and had to be reeled back in by the professionals in the PMVT.
I think these charities do a lot of good work but at some point the government of the day is going to figure out that if you are part planning (via the Department of Housing) and mostly funding projects but getting zero credit (and in fact abused by the same patriarch for doing “nothing”) that isn’t a smart strategy. Most of these charities need to be brought in and become civil servants and stop the duplication of resources. Once the staff in places like the Rehab started to get Union rates then the point of these charities from a financial perspective became redundant.
Yes a lot of them do a lot of good work on the ground but i say if you dig in at the top you may find some skeletons, like goal. Now not all are like this its safe to assume. But a continuous budget for a problem that has no ending will surely attract some grifters
There are undoubtedly serious problems and the whole organisation was badly in need of a collective kick up the hole but it does seem a lot of people want RTE to make better quality programmes, while ditching the commercial side of the business and all that goes with it and ALSO getting rid of the license fee. Not sure is that possible tbh.
Some just want to get rid of it altogether. Are there any other countries without a public service tv station of some description? Surely that’s a total non runner
Rte will stay but 2 of those 3 will need to be a part of the solution. Rte has the potential to be a brilliant service and is necessary to irish culture. Personally i would hate to see it shut but drastic change is needed
Quality programing and licence fee, well broadcasting fee, i predict the goverment will change the charge up it to 200 euro and throw some money at independent broadcasters etc.
There is a very different attitude to RTÉ here vs. the BBC which is mostly liked in the U.K. as an ideal (like the NHS). Some culture war stuff with it but generally like. Here it seems to unite most people to hate RTÉ the institution. That poll that showed who people blame had Tubridy and Forbes low but RTÉ high.
Not sure why exactly that is. We know it’s inferior but in terms of culture.
people seem to hate when anyone else has sports. They love their Dunphys, Giles, O’Herlihy, Hook, Brolly, Spillane et al for their “real” punditry vs. the U.K.
they love Liveline (as proven by its rating souring during COVID)
they love to hate the Late Late Show
they love the Toy Show
they love Glenroe
they love Fair City
they love Reeling in the Years and slag Virgin Media for creating a knock off
they love RTÉ documentaries
they love Winning Streak, Ireland’s Fittest Family et al
…
There isn’t one thing that a commercial rival has produced in 20 something years that the Irish public loves. All of commercial radio’s stars (Dempsey, Kenny, Hook) made their names in RTÉ and the tv programmes they love most from Virgin Media were made by ITV.
I have my criticisms of RTÉ but I expect we’ll be subject to loads of “member when RTÉ was great” once it is watered down to like the ABC is in Australia.
It’s great but it’s watered down. Very little sport and appeals to ABC1s only.
There is a place for a wide appeal network that has a fine balance between high brow and junk. The BBC obviously does this well, RTÉ does an okay job considering their resources.