ANY regrets in the precincts of this column about a "rush to judgment" a fortnight ago, at the expense of the first expanded Morning Ireland (RTE Radio 1, Monday to Friday), have quickly, quietly disappeared. Two weeks is a long time in radio reviewing, especially if you've listened to most of the 1,000 minutes of this lethargic "new" news programme.
Obviously RTE is trying to grab and keep the pre 8 a.m. audience from the growing competition, and the tinkering with Morning Ireland is an attempt to make it more attractive.
However, by the sound of it, the programme is now aimed at the up all night listeners rather than the early risers David Hanly and Richard Crowley seem to have been encouraged to sound like a pair of "cool" ambient DJs. I'd, rather listen to Riverdance.
Memo to Montrose if it ain't broke, don't fix it. The idea should have been to extend the pace and urgency of Morning Ireland to 7.30 a.m. instead RTE has pushed out the frontiers of sleepy time radio to nine o'clock.
OK, it's not all bad news (The best news came from RTE's Joe Mulholland on Soundhytes (RTE Radio 1, Saturday), when he described the new format as "experimental". In some respects the expansion means more of a good thing. Hanly, Crowley and Aine Lawlor haven't become poor interviewers overnight, and the increased opportunity for regional reports surely qualifies as a useful development.
However, these reports are generally pre packaged features helping to turn Morning Ireland into more of a magazine than a news show. And hard foreign news, in particular, has been pushed out.
Thus, on Wednesday of last week, when Bosnia was bubbling after the war crimes arrests of two Bosnian Serbs, the only foreign package was about the French Catholic bishops apparent move to approve condoms.
That sort of change, those sorts of judgments, would be tolerable though, if they weren't wrapped in the treacly goo of a HappyChat style pioneered in US TV news. This form is annoying enough to begin with to add insult to injury, Morning Ireland has been doing it patchily and very badly indeed.
I can't help but wonder whether the idea for this change was born of frustration over the technical problems that periodically beset the programme when it had to bring in various studios. You know "Dammit, that link to sports got mucked up again I know Why don't we just get everyone to come into the one room?"
From this inspiration, perhaps, flowed the sickening sequence of first names, friendly ribbing, constant chortling and badly interlocking scripts that have plagued the last fortnight. (Not to mention the weather forecast fiasco, which, after the ructions, sees our hosts reading a mammoth technical bulletin each morning rather than ceding, as they should, to the Met Service.)
The need to address the start of every report to your pal who just read the last one leads to particular troubles. Like the time Kevin, Rafter started the business news with "A new report from auctioneers, David, Hooke & MacDonald,
No, Hooke & McDonald haven't got a new partner David Hanly just had to be given proper, recognition.
Aine Lawlor, the relative novice in the presenter trinity, actually handles this silliness with most aplomb. Like after the traffic report "All those road works make me think it's worth getting up early. Today, as everyone knows, Conor especially you is Valentine's Day." Yes, yuck. But her chuckles sound more genuine than tee rest.
(Incidentally, does anyone else think it's problematic that Conor who in his capacity with the AA has emerged as a mouthpiece for the motoring lobby should be further elevated to this level of celebrity and authority)
Avuncular Harly could have been a success at this bonhomie. But the scripts or lack of them let him down. In the first week the sports report seemed always to be introduced with "Good news, Roy for hurling, racing, Everton, etc fans, I see".
Last week it got more (ouch) sophisticated. "Con, I note the Kilkenny or Clare hurling team has been named for the match against Kilkenny.
"Yes, David, both teams have been named actually."
So for the second sports bulletin, 45 minutes later, it was "Con Murphy, news of a National League hurling game's teamsszz." Murphy ran through the Clare selection, then mysteriously stopped. David Hanly casually, like, interrupted "I fancy this Clare team to repeat their performance of last year and win the All Ireland final." Who cares?
My vote for most pig ignorant piece of HappyChat scripting, though, is the intro to an interview concerning a toxic spill at the Bushmill's distillery that killed the fish in a local river. "Spare a thought," Hanly intoned, "for Bushmill's." The intent was to link this story to the silly boycott threat in San Francisco, but the interview with a distraught angler was hardly likely to evoke our sympathy for the poor of whiskey makers.
The breakdown in the IRA ceasefire gave this "bigger, brighter" show the chance to use its time for in depth, probing interviews and features. In fact, it's hard to think of any other news or current affairs programme that did less on the subject. Wake up, Morning Ireland
