Fortnight Publications Ltd.

A Credible AlternativeAuthor(s): Anthony O'KeeffeSource: Fortnight, No. 361 (May, 1997), p. 28Published by: Fortnight Publications Ltd.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25559325 .

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A credible alternative

Anthony O'Keeffe

A. few new arrivals this month. Mrs. O. produced the mandatory first born there the other day (we

can't decide between Mary Francis and Samantha

(Sam) Fred?well we don't want to impose any roles

on him/her quite just yet). More importantly, Radio

Ireland, having methinks taken Brendan Behan's

dictum, that the first item on any Irish committee's

agenda is the mandatory split, a little too much to

heart, materialised, on schedule, on our national

Saint's day. Alternative. And quality. These are the only two

words that matter in any way when considering another?as opposed to the first?broadcasting

serv

ice. So. What's the verdict?

Well, firstly, it does provide an alternative, but

only?for the moment?up to a point. The alterna

tive radio service is available between five pm and

one o'clock in the morning, and, to a degree, be

tween twelve and two in the afternoon. An alterna

tive radio service is not on offer between seven

o'clock in the morning and five in the afternoon?

the above two hours excepted.

Dineen lives up to his title as Ireland's

greatest DJ, fusing Rachmaninov?cour

tesy of Yo Yo Ma?the Aphex Twin, Richard E. James, Dead Can Dance and Philip

Glass to name but a paltry few

That which is on offer, say, between nine thirty and

twelve o'clock in the morning is not an alternative to

that which is on offer on the rival national stations.

It's in competitionwith them. What's on offer however

between five and one though is a

genuine alterna

tive. Between five and seven, the bold Eammo and

the bizarrely underused?hitherto?Ann Marie

Hourihane provide a service that, despite

concern

ing itself with topical, newsworthy items, is not in

competition with Myles Dungan and The Daily Record.

The difference being, that the RTE programme from the same time slot is impartial, whereas The Last

Word is opinionated (in the same way that say, Marian

Finucane's Liveline, and Today With Pat Kenny

respectively are. You rarely know what Marian's true

opinions are on any topic, but you always know what

Pat's are, much to the credit of both of them.)

Even more obviously, John Kelly?between seven

and nine-thirty, and the various "Sessions"?some

times country, sometimes blues etc.?for the pre

ceding hour, followed by Donal Dineen from ten

thirty until one, offer as holistic an alternative to that

which is on offer as could possibly have been hoped for (you're unlikely for instance, to hear Dineen

criticised for going head to head with Vincent

Browne).

Which brings us to the second point; quality.

Despite the pretentiously entitled The Eclectic ball

room ("eclectic", like "pretentious", is one of those

redundant words: only the pretentious use the word

"pretentious", and anyone who was genuinely "eclec

tic" would never stoop to describing themselves

thus), impressively, Kelly survives his albatross. And

how. Everything from Jacky Wilson to Screaming Jay

Hawkins, and, improbably Neil Hannon somehow

succeeding in improving on his already sublime

Alfie, by performing it in French, with an oh so

gentle nudge in the direction of Serge Gainsbourg. Even more

improbably, Dineen lives up to his title

as Ireland's greatest DJ, fusing Rachmaninov?cour

tesy of Yo Yo Ma?the Aphex Twin, Richard E.James, Dead Can Dance and Philip Glass to name but a

paltry few?Eleventh Dream Day have yet to surface;

their time will surely come.

I have dwelt deliberately on that which works on

the station. Of the rest, I suspect that the Daybreak slot will improve with age, to become a genuine

competitor to Morning Ireland, against which it has

clearly pitted itself. Many of its problems thus far can

be put down to understandable nervousness?and

they are all audibly nervous; who could possibly have

predicted "deference" being hurled at Dunphy of all

people as a genuine criticism!

As for the rest; qualitatively, how can one put it,

challenged they may be, but being pitted against the

likes of Gerry Ryan and Pat Kenny, as is poor Cliona

Ni Bhuachalla's lot, doesn't exactly smack of imagi

native, never mind intelligent programming. Whilst

being allotted the for-God's-sake-don't-offend any

one afternoon slot (Philip Cawley) isn't much bet

ter. I'd like to think?and I mightn't be a hundred

miles out?that they're being deliberately overlooked

as time slots, to be rethought at a later stage. For the

moment though, let's just be thankful for small

mercies. Radio Ireland; a genuine alternative, even if

it's only available for eight or nine hours a day.

Oh yes, and then there's that new TV channel.

While the rest of the world busily prepares itself for

the arrival of digital television, only in moribund,

Tory England would the launch of a fifth terrestrial

channel (Five channels!!! How will we ever find time

to watch all that television...) be seen as something to celebrate. Still, at least they've had the good grace to ensure that nobody can actually tune into it. What

can I say? Roll on May 1st. ^

28 Fortnight MAY1997

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