The green under foreign coloursREBEL BALLADS may not be to everyone’s musical taste, but their ability to rouse martial ardour in Irishmen is undeniableSat Feb 18 2012 - 00:00
How low can you go?RADIO REVIEW: NOBODY EVER WENT broke by underestimating the taste of the public, according to the adage, so it is hardly a shock…Sat Feb 11 2012 - 00:00
Moscow plotter's silence the real coupRADIO REVIEW: JUST AS IT IS SAID that if you can remember the 1960s, you weren’t really there, so it appears that if you were…Sat Feb 04 2012 - 00:00
Too much information, GeorgeRADIO REVIEW: A COMMON confidence-building tip given to nervous public speakers is to imagine the audience in their undergarments…Sat Jan 28 2012 - 00:00
Pride, prejudice and the picaresque life of the PeckerTALK TO those who have met Pecker Dunne, and anecdotes about the veteran singer soon start flowing – whether it is how he met…Thu Jan 26 2012 - 00:00
Dunne strings his listeners alongRADIO REVIEW: AMONG THE MANY jokes musicians tell about themselves, one speaks volumes about the pecking order in the hierarchy…Sat Jan 21 2012 - 00:00
When two nerds collideRADIO REVIEW: A SMART CHAP whose fogeyish fashion sense and self- deprecating manner hides neither his showy cleverness nor …Sat Jan 14 2012 - 00:00
When the presenter becomes the topicFOR A MAN who regularly encourages his audience to get fit and stay healthy, Ray D’Arcy did not offer much in the way of succour…Sat Jan 07 2012 - 00:00
The battle for political supremacy in the newsroomIrish media mythology paints the programme Today Tonight as the key front in an internal and vicious tussle for power at RTÉ …Tue Jan 03 2012 - 00:00
John Boorman's 2020 visionBoorman’s drama was driven by a palpable distaste for injustice absent from would-be Irish satiristsSat Dec 31 2011 - 00:00
Kim Jong-il dead? You're having a laughRADIO REVIEW: THIS MAY BE the time of year when children fervently express their belief in the existence of a benevolent old…Sat Dec 24 2011 - 00:00
Mac Coille forensic on a taxing issueNOTHING IS CERTAIN but death and taxes, yet just as some people seek to triumph over mortality through cryogenic or genetic treatments…Sat Dec 17 2011 - 00:00
What does European culture mean?Is the blandness of the euro note’s design symbolic of the inability of Europe to shape a shared identity? Or will the cultural…Tue Dec 13 2011 - 00:00
Double acts and bad impressionsRADIO REVIEW: THE DECISION to stage this week’s budget over two legs may have left some observers perplexedSat Dec 10 2011 - 00:00
A bad week for elves and trollsRADIO REVIEW: THE RECESSION has decimated industries and professions that thrived during the boom, but, if the airwaves are …Sat Dec 03 2011 - 00:00
Shrugging off the saintly mantleRADIO REVIEW: AN UNWRITTEN RULE of celebrity culture is that if a public figure is hit by serious illness, the tone of their…Sat Nov 26 2011 - 00:00
Big pay cheques and the little peopleRADIO REVIEW: THE PAYROLL and practices of the State sector came under scrutiny last week, as public-service workers robustly…Sat Nov 19 2011 - 00:00
Arts vs politics: We haven't got the balance rightAS BEFITS a man who values his poetic vocation as highly as his political ideals, President Michael D Higgins used his inauguration…Fri Nov 18 2011 - 00:00
Outside the Montrose comfort zoneRADIO REVIEW: HE HAS endured a torrid time of late, but if Ryan Tubridy is feeling sorry for himself, he isn’t showing itSat Nov 12 2011 - 00:00
The sound of huffing and puffinsACCORDING TO an epigram variously attributed to Elvis Costello and Frank Zappa, writing about music is like dancing about architecture…Sat Nov 05 2011 - 00:00
Striking out from the shallow endFOR SOMEONE with a serious pedigree in news and politics, John Murray occasionally seems keen to show off his hidden shallows…Sat Oct 29 2011 - 01:00
The problem with people's problemsRADIO REVIEW: THERE IS an episode of The Simpsons in which Lisa, the smart one, sees her belief in the irretrievable dim-wittedness…Sat Oct 22 2011 - 01:00
So we say, 'Thank you for the music'RADIO REVIEW: IF EVER THERE was a time for music to prove it has charms to soothe a savage breast, it was this week.Sat Oct 15 2011 - 01:00
A fear of being consigned to historyRADIO REVIEW: FOR WATCHERS OF Montrose’s most famous avian specimen, these have been worrying timesSat Oct 08 2011 - 01:00
Seven reasons to change the subjectRADIO REVIEW: DAVID NORRIS sounded faintly desperate as he asked the questionSat Oct 01 2011 - 01:00
Ploughing his own whimsical furrowAS SHE delivered her regular Word of the Day slot on Breakfast With Hector (2FM, weekdays), Evelyn McClafferty took no chances…Sat Sept 24 2011 - 01:00
Newstalk's splenetic chorus rants onRADIO REVIEW: THERE IS A SCENE in Monty Python’s Life of Brian in which the eponymous hero wakes up to find his home surrounded…Sat Sept 17 2011 - 01:00
Hero of Moscow: Alan Kelly's markerRADIO REVIEW: SPORT ISN’T a matter of life and death; it’s much funnier than thatSat Sept 10 2011 - 01:00
No relief from empty mortgage talkTIPPING POINT, critical mass, cumulative effect: call it what you will, there are times when a story inexorably gains such momentum…Sat Sept 03 2011 - 01:00
From Virgin Prunes to elder lemonsRADIO REVIEWS: CONSIDERING they have been close friends for nearly 40 years, Gavin Friday and Guggi got off on the wrong foot…Sat Aug 27 2011 - 01:00
When experience doesn't quite add upRADIO REVIEW: THE HIGH failure rates for Leaving Cert maths occasioned much hand-wringing last week, as politicians and business…Sat Aug 20 2011 - 01:00
Graveyard shift Dineen should rise againBroadcaster Donal Dineen gained a cult following at Today FM, and the axing of his show reminds us of his impact on Irish radio…Fri Aug 19 2011 - 01:00
When it all gets too cosy for comfortRADIO REVIEW: FANS OF Derek Mooney, it is probably safe to assume, do not tune into his radio show expecting to hear forensic…Sat Aug 13 2011 - 01:00
RTÉ launches new scheduleRTÉ launched its new season of television programming at its Montrose headquarters in Dublin today, unveiling a package of more…Wed Aug 10 2011 - 01:00
The names and numbers don't add upRADIO REVIEW: IT SHOULD come as no surprise that Colm Hayes (2FM, weekdays) was obsessing over numbers last Tuesday.Sat Aug 06 2011 - 01:00
When nature calls, timing is everythingRADIO REVIEW: AS A CURSORY scan of the dial testifies, a lot of people talk crap on the radioSat Jul 30 2011 - 01:00
Tubridy eases into Norton seat with cool mix of confidence and chutzpahRADIO REVIEW: THE WEEK before he started work for the BBC, Ryan Tubridy received some cautionary advice from the presenter he…Mon Jul 25 2011 - 01:00
Two ways to apply the populist touchRADIO REVIEW: SAY WHAT you like about Joe Duffy, his interest in other people’s misfortune is genuineSat Jul 23 2011 - 01:00
Want to talk? Then stay quietRADIO REVIEW: CONSIDERING ITS name holds out the promise of sonic clarity, High Fidelity (Lyric, Mondays) labours under a misnomer…Sat Jul 16 2011 - 01:00
Is Ryan Tubridy cueing up for a big UK break?RTÉ’s star broadcaster is heading off to the Beeb, to stand in for Graham Norton on Radio 2Sat Jul 16 2011 - 01:00
No Minister: the arts cannot save IrelandSO ONCE again, kitted out in ramshackle armour and sat upon a flea-bitten nag, Ireland’s artistic heritage is called upon to …Fri Jul 15 2011 - 01:00
What's happened to the presenters?RADIO REVIEW: D’Arcy attempted to fit himself into a suitcase. It was a spur- of-the-moment item that crackled with funSat Jul 09 2011 - 01:00
Anchors relish Healy-Rae roastingRADIO REVIEW: AS HE SQUIRMED in front of a succession of microphones last week, Michael Healy-Rae came across as an unlikely…Sat Jul 02 2011 - 01:00
McIlroy hype cut short by blame gameRADIO REVIEW: IT IS ALWAYS nice to start the week on a high, so as Monday morning news bulletins north and south hummed with…Sat Jun 25 2011 - 01:00
For all his bluster, Hook packs a punch Radio moment of the weekRADIO REVIEW: IN A POPULAR culture obsessed with youth and newness, the concept of growing old disgracefully can seem the ultimate…Sat Jun 18 2011 - 01:00
Who bothers with fiction any more?IT WILL BE a red-letter day for bookshops, already dubbed Super ThursdaySat Jun 18 2011 - 01:00
Back to our default blame settingRADIO REVIEW: WITH THE FILLIP of May’s state visits rapidly receding, the national conversation settled back into its default…Sat Jun 11 2011 - 01:00
