Some presenters are bigger than others
BBC Radio Ulster presenter Stephen Nolan hasn’t been feeling well lately. Recently, he revealed on last Tuesday’s Nolan Show, he was coming out of a restaurant when he vomited on the pavement, and didn’t know what to do, asking: “Should I have walked away and left it there, or is it my responsibility to clean it up?”
Coming so soon after breakfast, it might not have been what listeners wanted to hear, but it indicated what makes Nolan different from other presenters, which is his willingness to share more of himself — his struggles with weight, not least.
He is similar to George Hook in that regard, and this unguarded quality perhaps explains why Nolan is one of the few Northern Irish broadcasters whose face and name would be familiar to Southern listeners, and why Hook is more recognisable to the general public than Sean O’Rourke, say, whose RTE Radio One programme pulls in far more listeners.
Of course, this reliance on a big personality can backfire, The Al Porter Show on Today FM beNiing gel ala rLeagwrestot nab H lie ci ex n ad map erlec.i am
If there was a der astdriuomeq re um iv a in leenstt,oi fl mao sedl if aie, this show wouldq bu aetiu tr; as nu ti pf pueg ti sta fr to um rnnAklk’sl own life dominate, and sometimes tip over awkwardly into parody — such as the story about taking his mother to a concert at Dublin’s 3Arena and bumping into Daniel O’Donnell. The show is becoming like an Instagram account with music.
Al may just need more time. I wasn’t convinced that George Hook would work on High Noon, but he has settled in well to the new slot, and the level-headedness of Newstalk Drive, which replaced the old Right Hook later in the day, has helped overcome any lingering regrets.
Chiding people for moaning about having to learn Irish, as if it was some unique form of torture, was a particular highlight this week. Hook is quite right. Calm down, dears, it’s not that bad.
Then again, there’s not much competition around midday, either from Porter or indeed The Ronan Collins Show on RTE, whose mix of middle-of-the-road music and requests remains popular, but seems to belong in a different era.
CountryWide on RTE Radio One followed up on a recent debate about the ethics of eating meat on TV’s Claire Byrne Live by interviewing a sheep farmer from Co Westmeath and a representative of an animal sanctuary in Co Meath.
The former, John Fagan, insisted that “I really care about my animals, there is no inWcaentct hive ITfoNrOaWny farmer to be cruel to animH al rsd.”yTBhucek ls a it ste o rn, tD he cR lT a En PBlaoyweer nusn , tihleld thatDt he cee em nb te ire30sy; srtem.ie/opl fa ayn e rim al husbandry is inShie x rNenatilo y nscrRuueglb, y th is oou n gh 3Ptlhay e er duenbtailte was slighDtleyc es mk beewre1d6;btyv3h. ii es/ pals as ye err ti on early on that farmSiamnpimly aN lisg ea ll rae is“aoln lB se Bx Cu ia P ll lay year b-uc sue rd re”.nt ly
Hneot ex ap val aila in be led towv hi ea wt eh re sim ne Ira en la tn, din. terms of male animals being castrated and females being kept in a permanent state of pregnancy, but the debate never really recovered from that bombshell.
Some issues need more room for nuance and elaboration. Ten minutes on what is an otherwise excellent and reliable rural affairs programme was insufficient to do justice to the important issues raised. Visit the RTE Player at rte.ie/player