Sidelining of Gaybo leaves advertisers unconvinced

THE mood among key behind the scenes personnel at RTE Radio 1 has soured following the disclosure this week that management at the station are planning to switch the Gay Byrne and Pat Kenny shows from the autumn, with The Gay Byrne Show being presented by a 2FM DJ on Mondays and Tuesdays.

It is hoped that the changes will halt the drop in listenership levels at the station and attract a younger audience. But, among RTE staff and advertisers, there is little optimism that this will be achieved.

At a Radio 1 meeting on Thursday, the proposal to replace Joe Duffy with a 2FM presenter as the front man on The Gay Byrne Show on Monday and Tuesday was described as being comparable to "appointing Bertie Ahern as Taoiseach and a member of Ogra Fianna Fail as Minister for Finance".

Advertising agency sources were equally critical of the proposed changes. Mr Ciaran Shanley, media director with Wilson Hartnell, described them as "moving deck chairs on the Titanic".

Preliminary figures from the Market Research Bureau of Ireland (MRBI) for the period October 1995 to March 1996, published last month, show a drop in Radio 1's listenership levels on weekdays of 2 per cent to 36 per cent. This compares to 53 per cent for the independent radio stations - a rise of 3 points and 29 per cent for 2FM - an increase of 1 point.

The figures confirm a downward trend in listenership levels for Radio 1, which has been a feature of the station since the arrival of independent radio in 1989. These falling listenership levels are reflected in audiences for both The Gay Byrne Show and The Pat Kenny Show. MRBI research for 1995, the most recent complete figures available, show that The Gay Byrne Show's listenership dropped to 18 per cent, from 21 per cent in 1994, while The Pat Kenny Show dropped to 12 per cent, from 15 per cent.

Equally worrying for Radio 1's management is the age profile of its listeners. They are getting older. Over 44 per cent are over 35, while just 14 per cent of the 25 to 34 age group listen to the station, and only 9 per cent of those between 20 and 24. That 20 to 34 age group is the one generally most attractive to advertisers and is the reason why the station's management is undertaking a "fundamental review" of the schedule, as the director of programming at Radio 1, Mr Kevin Healy, told The Irish Times.

However, the proposed changes have given rise to strong criticism from staff at the station. "Ludicrous and debacle were among some of the words used privately to describe the proposed changes and the manner in which they were being handled. Internally, [at the station], people despair was one comment. "After being complacent for so long, there is now panic at management level" was another.

THERE is little faith among such staff members in the proposed new schedule. "No one [at RTE] is convinced it will work or that it will convince the commercial people", one person said. "No thought has been given to the new format." The changes were just shifting labels on doors" and the fact that presenters were being put in place first was cited as an indication of how personality oriented rather than format led the proposed RTE schedule was.

You can't just swap Gay and Pat. You can't have Pat following Morning Ireland. It's the same programme", one staff member said, A recommendation from an RTE internal review group last year to the effect that Morning Ireland be replaced by an information based programme fronted by Pat Kenny was said to have not been implemented because of "resistance" from the newsroom. "Now this happens, the newsroom doesn't get touched."

This "untouchability" is very much resented also in the station's programming division. Here, there is said to be a "widespread feeling" that if anyone should take over Gay Byrne's slot it ought to be Marian Finucane. The response to her programmes in audience surveys was described as "outstanding". The advertisers, too, are said to favour Marian Finucane. However, she was said to have been "hardly spoken to at all, certainly not about the main event [taking over Gay Byrne's slot]".

Meanwhile, there has also been talk of replacing Today at Five with a drive time music programme and continuing with a shortened Morning Ireland in the autumn. "Very hasty, very haphazard" was a description of events at the station, with no sign of a coherent thought out strategy".

At a deeper level, management's move towards a "music policy" is seen as "driving a coach and four through public service broadcasting at a time when [official] backing for public service radio is at a peak". This puzzles people at the station, given the strong public service nature of the present RTE the perceived public service commitment of the present Minister for Arts, Culture, and the Gaeltacht, Mr Higgins, and deed trends at the station itself.

"From a period of Thatcherite rationalisation, they [the station's management] then effortlessly adopted the language of public service broadcasting, but the new Radio 1 schedule is at odds with that", another staff member commented.

Staff spoke of a move away from "a strong current affairs based schedule to a music based one, and in the crassest manner". An example given of this "crassness was the proposal to have Gay Byrne present his revised show three days a week, with a 2FM presenter fronting the programme on Mondays and Tuesdays in place of Joe Duffy. This placing of "the biggest broadcaster in history" alongside a perceived neophyte - whoever it might be - has inflamed passions at the station. It is also seen as an example of the successful infiltration of Radio 1 by Mr Bill O'Donovan, head of 2FM. The late afternoon Ronan Collins Show on Radio 1 already comes within Mr O'Donovan's remit. It is now proposed that the revised Gay Byrne Show should do likewise.

FROM an advertising point of view, Mr Shanley doesn't believe that the proposed changes will solve the problem. He felt it was time for "a high risk strategy at the station". If Radio 1 was to attract a younger audience, it probably needed "fast and furious programming, more light entertainment, more music, maybe more outrageous chat show items". RTE should "go and ask the market what it wants". Advertising agencies were always doing that, he said.

At present, Mr Shanley buys only about half the air time he once purchased on The Gay Byrne Show. The rest he now spends on 2FM and "the locals". His primary concern, though, is whether RTE intends to continue charging the same advertising rates. Since it would be next February before figures were available to indicate how the proposed changes were working, he didn't think it fair that the advertising rates should remain as they are in the interim - £877 for 30 seconds on Tie Gay Byrne Show, £492 for the same op The Pat Kenny Show.

Ms Fiona Scott, media manager with McConnell's, contended that RTE had to do something very drastic about the format, saying that more music was not the answer. The 20 to 40 age group don't want just wall to wall music", she said. This is the age group targeted most often by advertising agencies since, unlike older listeners, they are still fluid in terms of product choice and are seen as being more likely to change brands and shop around.

However, Ms Scott also emphasised Gay Byrne's "substantial appeal" across all age groups. "He is still a very popular man", she said a very substantial listenership.

RTE declined to comment on any of the criticisms levelled against its management. A spokeswoman said that there would be no official response until decisions were "finalised" That will be before the next RTE Authority meeting on June 28th and all proposed changes will have to be approved by the authority before they can be implemented.