Roddytalk 106

[BohDiddley]

I used to think Ger Gilroy and co on were good within the confines of their meagre EL offering on a Thursday night. After last night, I'm not so sure.
Gilroy for some reason has an infatuation with Roddy and Rovers, and has given him more than his fair crack over the Dark Side's Dalymount Disgrace.
He announced that Bohs were playing Pat's tonight and was completely wrong-footed when he was informed that, no, they were playing some Belgian blokes on Saturday.
Is Newstalk 106 that ignorant about Irish football, or, alternatively, is it just a nest of hoops who know nothing outside their own fantasies?
As Ger likes to say, discuss ...

[Jaime]

I think they give the eL a decent amount of coverage. Gilroy was probably handed a list of fixtures, and read Bohs - Pat's, it was wrong and was corrected, no big deal.

Roddy gets on because he loves to talk; most managers don't. He's comfortable shooting his mouth off, most managers have to be coerced, and even then, they only give a few clichés. I don't think it's a big Rovers propaganda nest or anything, it's just that most clubs are crap when it comes to keeping their own fans informed, as well as keeping the media involved. Ger Gilroy doesn't really have time to chase eL clubs, but the more they make the effort, the more coverage they'd all get. :(

[Roo69]

I think they give the eL a decent amount of coverage. Gilroy was probably handed a list of fixtures, and read Bohs - Pat's, it was wrong and was corrected, no big deal.

Roddy gets on because he loves to talk; most managers don't. He's comfortable shooting his mouth off, most managers have to be coerced, and even then, they only give a few clichés. I don't think it's a big Rovers propaganda nest or anything, it's just that most clubs are crap when it comes to keeping their own fans informed, as well as keeping the media involved. Ger Gilroy doesn't really have time to chase eL clubs, but the more they make the effort, the more coverage they'd all get. :(

Your right, Roddy is brought on because they know he'll say something stupid ! Sure 106 have a sponsorship deal with Shels anyway

[pete]

I was listen to the GAA presenter on the weekend & he was actually much better on the eL than i seem to remember in the past.

Ger Gilroy is a bar stooler, i doubt if ever been to an eL match. He supports Leinster rugby (sure sign of bandwagon merchant) & i remember a discussion where he couldn't understand how someone would support club over country.

They like to have Roddy on as can get him talking about rubgy & anything else at the same time.

Easiest way to sport Gilroys lack of knowledge is when he asks few questions. Anytime i hear the horse racing coverage he just lets the interviewee rant on for 10 minutes as has no idea what questions to ask. hes not that bad when comes to eL though.

Newstalks eL coverage seems to be shrinking. I don't like the way eL cornered into 30 minuets followed by the "football hour" as if eL wasn't football.

[Jaime]

They are absolutely PATHETIC on Irish sporting matters in general. They are obsessed with the English premiership. when finished with that, they'll turn towards the Spanish league or some other league. In the Summer, when the Dubs machine gets rolling (or, more often than not, doesn't) they turn their attention to matters GAAH. Their obvious lack of depth of knowledge in Gaelic Games is embarrassingly poor and when the Dubs get knocked out they concentrate on the old english premiership again.
Recently they played a recorded interview with Ken Doherty twice in the space of a week. Come on, if you're desperately stuck for stuff to broadcast I can think of better ways of filling airspace.
For the life of me I can't figure out why they've got such kudos !

Typical culchie with a chip on your shoulder. They don't cover Irish sporting matters very widely because they are a Dublin station. They had a "legends" interview with Eoin Liston, an ex-Kerry footballer the other night, and I thought the questions were quite good.

Their coverage of the Premiership (which is what most of their listeners want [and their aim is to make a profit remember, they are a private company]) is top notch, usually involving the cream of English writers. Similarly, Graham Hunter's Spanish football coverage is great, although obviously not if you're into exclusively Irish football.

As for "the Dubs machine"; surely you are aware of the support the Dublin GAA team has in Dublin?

[tiktok]

As for "the Dubs machine"; surely you are aware of the support the Dublin GAA team has in Dublin?

During the League or the championship? :p :D

[Jaime]

I was listen to the GAA presenter on the weekend & he was actually much better on the eL than i seem to remember in the past.


The GAA presenter was talking about the eL?

I'm a fan of Newstalk, but obviously it ain't perfect. I accept the point about the eL not being "football". It's like they're moving onto real football after they're finished giving Daniel McDonnell his 5 minutes. I don't really accept the point that Gilroy's sporting knowledge is particularly poor though; there are very few people around now, in the media who know about all sports; Jimmy Magee is probably the last of such people. A presenter who lets the experts talk is better than a presenter who thinks he's the expert (because none are) IMO.

[Jaime]

During the League or the championship? :p :D

Championship obviously. You might call them clueless, that they're only "johnny come lately fly by nighter" types, but that's the reality, that's the audience. Not all of us are very sophisticated types in Dublin.

[Poor Student]

Didin't they used to cover entire matches every Friday for Dublin teams in the eL?

[Jaime]

Didin't they used to cover entire matches every Friday for Dublin teams in the eL?

Yeah but I think RTE muscled in then, and stopped them. Which doesn't help matters.

[Roo69]

Didin't they used to cover entire matches every Friday for Dublin teams in the eL?

Yeah they would have live commentry of the big match in Dublin that night, but would go in and out to other sporting events happening.

[Macy]

Yeah but I think RTE muscled in then, and stopped them. Which doesn't help matters.
I was going to bring this up. It's all very well us blaming Newstalk for the shrinking eL coverage, when they were rightly screwed by the FAI and RTE when they were giving decent Friday night coverage. Why should they build the audience during the week only for RTE to get the listeners come Friday?

Do they still do the eL on a Saturday or Sunday?

I like Newstalk, but the coverage doesn't survive as far as my house, so haven't heard Ger Gilroy show for a long time now, so can't really comment too much. Think it's a bit pathetic for a dublin station to rebroadcast five live commentary of epl matches though when you can get it anyway...

[jorge]

The so called Football Show reads out news for forty five minutes that 95% of prem followers already know but in the last fifteen minutes with Graham Hunter,Tim Vickery thats good,but apart from that they havent got a clue about any other sport and little knowledge of the EL

[mandrake]

drogheda fan living in dublin. (does that make me a cultchie) :confused:
i think newstalk is good. obviously they are a dublin station they are going to concentrate on dub el teams, thats ok......its coverage isnt it....roddy wants to talk, he will be invited to any media thing cos he's 'contraversial'
they were warned by rte they cant cover el games on friday, rte radio have the rights.
they are going to contrate on eng pren cos thats what gets listeners in. and gaa dublin.... why would they talk about any other county...they are catering for dublin listeners....i dont listen gaa stuff anyway...
ger gilroy, i dont think he pretend to know everything, he is a compar and brings in 'experts' i think him and that other bloke (soccer expert) are funny to listen too :) .

[WeAreRovers]

Jesus lads, 3 hours a night, 5 nights a week is some undertaking and by and large they do a very good job. As someone else pointed out they consistently get the best hacks on from around Europe and the States.

Gerry O'Sullivan is the culchie guy who does the weekend shows, far better than Gilroy IMO. And, yes, Ken Early is a moron. His "newsround" consists of him reading the Guardian's football site plus a few others and then repeating it on air. I mean I spend all day doing the same thing myself and I don't need to hear it when I go home. ;)

Mostly though Off the Ball makes for entertaining listening.

KOH

[BohDiddley]

I think they give the eL a decent amount of coverage. Gilroy was probably handed a list of fixtures, and read Bohs - Pat's, it was wrong and was corrected, no big deal.

Roddy gets on because he loves to talk; most managers don't. He's comfortable shooting his mouth off, most managers have to be coerced, and even then, they only give a few clichés. I don't think it's a big Rovers propaganda nest or anything, it's just that most clubs are crap when it comes to keeping their own fans informed, as well as keeping the media involved. Ger Gilroy doesn't really have time to chase eL clubs, but the more they make the effort, the more coverage they'd all get. :(
Usually, I might agree with that, but get this.
On Tuesday, I texted the programme to say that we were playing Gent. His response: yeah, yeah, we're gonna deal with that in the EL hour on Thursday.
I texted again, saying we weren't playing Gent in the EL.
At this stage they were giving one of those pseudo-academic treatises on the state of European football (or something). His response (and get this): Bohs are playing Gent by virtue of their playing in the EL, so we're gonna cover it there, ok (the term 'simpleton' not actually added, but implied by the patronising exagerration of vowels).
After that, he comes on the EL ghetto hour and tells us that 'Bohs are playing Pat's tomorow night'.
Inexcusable. Leinster supporter sounds about right.

[BohDiddley]

They are absolutely PATHETIC on Irish sporting matters in general. They are obsessed with the English premiership. when finished with that, they'll turn towards the Spanish league or some other league. In the Summer, when the Dubs machine gets rolling (or, more often than not, doesn't) they turn their attention to matters GAAH. Their obvious lack of depth of knowledge in Gaelic Games is embarrassingly poor and when the Dubs get knocked out they concentrate on the old english premiership again.
Recently they played a recorded interview with Ken Doherty twice in the space of a week. Come on, if you're desperately stuck for stuff to broadcast I can think of better ways of filling airspace.
For the life of me I can't figure out why they've got such kudos !
I don't care about their command of GAA -- that's more than well catered for. But otherwise I agree with every word.

[Jaime]

Usually, I might agree with that, but get this.
On Tuesday, I texted the programme to say that we were playing Gent. His response: yeah, yeah, we're gonna deal with that in the EL hour on Thursday.
I texted again, saying we weren't playing Gent in the EL.
At this stage they were giving one of those pseudo-academic treatises on the state of European football (or something). His response (and get this): Bohs are playing Gent by virtue of their playing in the EL, so we're gonna cover it there, ok (the term 'simpleton' not actually added, but implied by the patronising exagerration of vowels).
After that, he comes on the EL ghetto hour and tells us that 'Bohs are playing Pat's tomorow night'.
Inexcusable. Leinster supporter sounds about right.

I'm surprised they even responded to those texts. It's a bit pedantic, in fairness. :o

[BohDiddley]

I'm surprised they even responded to those texts. It's a bit pedantic, in fairness. :o
Sorry. You've lost me. What's pedantic?

[Jaime]

Sorry. You've lost me. What's pedantic?

Nit-picking / mildly irritating. :o

[BohDiddley]

I know what the word means. :rolleyes: Are you saying I'm nit-picking because a radio show can't get the fixture list right for the top level of football in the country?

[Jaime]

No, just the fact that you wanted the Intertoto to be covered outside of the eL programme, by virtue of the fact that it's not another eL team that we are playing.

Sometimes I wish Bohs got more coverage, but to be honest if it were Rovers in the Intertoto, I wouldn't be so bothered. And more to the point, if the PR at Bohs is as bad as we are led to believe, we can't really complain about media coverage. :(

[BohDiddley]

No, just the fact that you wanted the Intertoto to be covered outside of the eL programme, by virtue of the fact that it's not another eL team that we are playing. (
I think you've missed the point.
I just want them to cover it. It's only the intertwobob, but how often does an Irish football team play European opposition?
That, plus the level of ignorance of EL generally, plus the incessant Roddy-fest every week, plus the mind-numbingly obvious nonsense about UK and European footie, dressed up as some sort of astonishing insight, adds up to a not very satisfactory job. It's not about how they label the slot.

[hamish]

Jesus lads, 3 hours a night, 5 nights a week is some undertaking and by and large they do a very good job. As someone else pointed out they consistently get the best hacks on from around Europe and the States.

Gerry O'Sullivan is the culchie guy who does the weekend shows, far better than Gilroy IMO. And, yes, Ken Early is a moron. His "newsround" consists of him reading the Guardian's football site plus a few others and then repeating it on air. I mean I spend all day doing the same thing myself and I don't need to hear it when I go home. ;)

Mostly though Off the Ball makes for entertaining listening.

KOH

Funny you should mention that. I get the Guardian's Fiver emailed to me daily and they always feature Ger Kilroy and Newstalk, what time his programme is on etc and the odd quotation from Irish football. Is there some financial connection???

[goattail]

Roddy has a slot because he is entertaining and at times contraversial which is always good for ratings, it is also a perfect time to have him. With all their troubles they are creating more news then most of the other clubs combined, they cant even beat Shelbourn without missing a penalty and having two men sent off. They do concentrate on the premiership too much but then so do all Irish media outlets and most of those barely acknowledge the existance of the league. They make good use of local journalists when doing pieces on the European leagues. If there is any sport they give too much attention to its golf.

[Jaime]

Funny you should mention that. I get the Guardian's Fiver emailed to me daily and they always feature Ger Kilroy and Newstalk, what time his programme is on etc and the odd quotation from Irish football. Is there some financial connection???

One of the Fiver's writers is from Laois and lived in Phibsborough for a while, it's a safe bet he went to a few Bohs games. English people can listen to Off The Ball (Newstalk streams live) on the web, so of all Irish sport coverage on radio or TV, it's probably the only one worth including in an e-mail media guide that's aimed primarily at an English readership. Gilroy has done some writing for the Fiver a couple of times as well.

[wws]

Gilroy did a piece on McCarthy (the anti Mick side of the argument) in the Guardian and after that they seem to name check his programme - its the only football thing on the radio worth listnenin to in my view - but than again the competition aint great - Billy Bagster honourable exception!

[hamish]

Thanks to Jaime and WWS for the above info. :)