RADIO REVIEW:SUNDAYS USED TO have a gentle sprinkling of chit-chat, but they've recently become something of a showdown between newcomer The Eamon Dunphy Show(Newstalk 106-108, Sundays), the revamped Sam Smyth On Sunday(Today FM, Sundays) and Marian Finucane(RTÉ Radio One, weekends).
The battle is not only for listeners, but panellists. Who would you get out of bed for: Dunphy, Smyth, Finucane, or all three? Producers must choose fresh voices and heavy-hitters that complement each other, while trying not to be too status-conscious. It’s a tall order.
Sam Smyth On Sundayis the show formerly known as The Sunday Supplement,and has been extended from one and a half hours to two. Last week, Smyth snaffled journalist Brendan Keenan, PR executive Caroline Kennedy and Labour TD Seán Sherlock.
"Anything this week that made you particularly excited?" Smyth asked Keenan. "Not excited," Keenan replied, "but kept me awake. I was just about to kiss my teddy bear goodnight and turn off the radio when Rachael English [on The Late Debate] said word is coming in that Peter Robinson might be in trouble." Robinson, First Minister of Northern Ireland, subsequently lost his seat in the UK general election, but Seán Sherlock had other newspaper stories on his mind. "You might think I might go for a political story, but no, I'm going for a sporting story." Oh, brother . . . "I'm a Spurs fan. Spurs will be playing European football next year, which is fantastic." That's what happens when you let the talking heads choose their own stories.
Dunphy had developer Denis Finn, economist David McWilliams, journalist Jill Kirby and trade union leader Jack O’Connor. Finn spoke of the banks that called in his loans: “They moved quickly and took everything . . . within a number of weeks they pulled the plug.” Kirby was sympathetic: “Anyone would feel sorry for anyone who has lost their business as the result of this great property scam/bubble.” McWilliams said of the current crisis, “We have a very strange situation where the banks are running economic policy in Ireland.”
Dunphy asked O’Connor if trade unions took responsibility for their role in the crisis. He replied, “One of the things that astonishes me as someone who has been demonised and vilified for the last year-and-a-half in our media is the way in which people who brought about this mess are so anxious to include me and the people in the trade union movement in the calculation of the blame.” That’s a “no” then.
McWilliams added, “Greece can’t pay the debt any more than Denis can pay the debt that he incurred, and that’s the fact of life.” I longed for someone to change the subject to Greece, but in the context of holidays.
It almost happened on Marian Finucane. The presenter was rifling through the papers with Hot Presseditor Niall Stokes, travel journalist Eoghan Corry, Oliver Gilvarry from Dolmen Stockbrokers, Fr Michael Collins, curate at Blackrock, and former Green Party senator Deirdre de Burca. Once again it was all very establishment, but the most mixed bag thus far.
On the subject of the volcanic ash cloud from Iceland, Corry said, “It’s humungous. It’s about four times the size of Ireland. It’s about 1,000 miles deep and 800 miles wide.” I found imagining its sheer size very relaxing, and it helped put some our own problems in perspective.
Fergal Keane, presenting The Late Debate(RTÉ Radio One, Tuesday to Thursday) on Tuesday, announced his hot topics: Britain's new prime minister David Cameron and the EU's €750 billion rescue for the euro zone, a story that was already 48 hours old. Alas, they breezed over what Sky News called the "storming" of the Dáil earlier that night by protesters. Keane's guests were Fianna Fáil TD Frank Fahey, Fine Gael TD Denis Naughten, Labour TD Ciarán Lynch and, last but not least, UCD economics professor Karl Whelan. As a group, not the most exciting.
British journalist and former Conservative MP Matthew Parris came on the blower. You may remember him from such shows as Morning Ireland, Today With Pat Kenny, The Sunday Supplement, The Tubridy Show, Drivetimeand News At One. The Late Debatemust have wanted him badly, as he was on a train.
Speaking about Cameron, Parris said, “He’s much more a 21st-century man than Margaret, Margaret . . .” Rutherford? The line went dead. He must have gone through a tunnel – or maybe he could not bring himself to invoke the name of his former boss.
