Radio Review: A couple of weeks ago a pompous- sounding investment analyst on Today FM described the fall in the share price of some stock or other as being a "real brown-trouser day", which was way too much information to take in on a Sunday morning and really an image too far.
But having listened to the three specialist business radio programmes this week, including RTÉ's new one, it appears that business types use more macho language than your average war reporter. You could "get savaged in the stock market", in the business world "there was blood everywhere" and as for pensions, "that's not to say that you whip the workers until they die and throw them on the scrap-heap." Which is nice to hear, I suppose.
The Business (RTÉ Radio 1, Saturday) is the station's new business programme and it's been a long time coming. Both Newstalk and Today FM have had business programmes since they started, and being commercial stations they wouldn't be doing them unless there is a market for them.
Superbly presented by John Murray and Robert Shortt, the style of The Business is formulaic magazine: a bit of new business (a woman who set up a gift basket business); "real" people (the share advice came from an amateur share-dealing club in Galway); and heavy hitters, starting in this first programme at the top with the Minister for Finance, Charlie McCreevy. In a short - though long enough - interview, McCreevy skated over several subjects: he was "disappointed that [the AIB debacle] went undetected for so long" (not presumably as "disappointed" as the customers who were cheated out of €25 million), and as for the rumoured offering of a second SSAI, "I'm not ruling anything in or anything out". The only jarring note in this lively programme was the "audio essay" by international trade lawyer Philip Lee. His thesis - about the need to create a level playing field in agricultural trade, which indicates that this programme does intend to look at business in its broadest sense - was well-argued, but the rigid essay format was an uneasy fit with Shortt and Murray's informal style.
The programme was varied enough to appeal to the general listener and, with experienced business broadcasters asking the questions, it also had credibility. On a Saturday, maybe 30 minutes of business is just about right.
Among the weekend competition is The Sunday Business Show (Today FM, Sunday). The hour-long programme showed its seriousness by starting with a lengthy share analysis, operating on the assumption that listeners are familiar with all the terminology. Presenter Ted Harding, editor of the Sunday Business Post, kept the pace up and always sounded on top of the subject, although he rarely changed his earnest tone. There was a lively review of the business content of the Sunday papers, dominated by the AIB story - or "allied Irish bandits", as they were referred to - and later on there was more coverage of the bank story with consumer advocate Eddie Hobbs, as well as an item on insurance.
On Down to Business (Newstalk, Saturday), AIB and insurance were also the main items, and the coverage was pretty similar too (Eddie Hobbs was on both programmes), but, in fairness, in such a small market there's bound to be a crossover.
Irish Independent journalist David Murphy presents the Newstalk programme and this week it sounded like a struggle to fill the hour. Items were dull and went on too long and Murphy's interview with Sean Fitzpatrick, head of Anglo Irish Bank, was woefully soft.
Fitzpatrick was given virtually an open mic to talk on and on about how fabulous his employees are, and while that will certainly make him popular in the office on Monday morning, it was tedious to listen to.
Anglo Irish was in the news because its annual results were announced, showing that apart from the bank's big fat profits, Fitzpatrick was paid €2.4 million a year - but Murphy didn't ask him about his rock star salary. When covering the same subject on RTÉ's show, John Murray had referred to it and Fitzpatrick as being the "Ronaldo of the banking world" and cut short his coverage of the story by saying: "I'm going to stop now before this starts sounding like an ad for the bank" - a piece of advice the Newstalk man would have been wise to take.
While AIB was the business story of the week, no one managed to lure one of the bank's head honchos in to studio.
"We were hoping to talk to Michael Buckley," said Murray on The Business. "But we were told he is travelling in the UK - let's hope he got a good rate on sterling."
