Then & Now: What is on the telly tonight?

TELEFIS EIREANN opened on December 31,1961 and over the past 62 years has captured the interest of all people and led to the decline of night walking, rambling houses, and the art of conversation. It has educated us, amused us, excited us, alarmed us, and disappointed us, but above all else it has opened up new horizons, and introduced instant news of events as it unfolds. We were introduced to the names of the different set’s styles and sizes, such as Murphy Bush, Pye, and Phillips. They could be bought outright (A 19-inch Murphy Set cost 75 Guineas) or rented weekly or monthly.

Many of the older generation had a fear of electricity when it was first installed, and some were afraid to even turn on the switch in case they got electrocuted and would use the handle of the sweeping brush to do so. People were amazed at what they could see on the screen when the TV was switched on for the first time, and it was the talk of the neighbourhood for a long time. The difference between fact and fiction caught many people out who were inclined to treat all they saw as real.
Many funny stories are told of incidents that happened at the time, which people would find hard to believe at present. One old lady who was watching a football match on a television sitting on top of a chest of drawers said ‘’are they not great boys to be able to play at all and they on top of a rickety old press’’.

Over the years, I must admit the magic of TV has waned a lot for me, and I watch only a small amount of it per week. We have advanced from the small screen to the wide screen, from black and white to colour, and from one channel Ireland to multi channel worldwide. We have too many stations now and too little variety as the majority of programmes have the sameness look about them. We got a run of foreign property gardening and home improvement programmes, for a good while, and then we were treated to too many antique, cookery and weight loss programmes and I have no time for the reality shows.
RTE have taken their eye off the ball and have become complacent and top heavy with too many people on inflated wages. TV should be about all of Ireland and not aimed at the Dublin audiences.

I am turned off by seeing the same old guests, being recycled on other shows on a regular basis. I prefer to watch TG4, TV3, Virgin Media when I choose to watch the box in the corner. TG4 cater more for the rural people, with their sports, documentaries, and their many traditional and country music programmes.

Back in 2019 the powers in RTE wanted to close the Lyric station in Limerick. It was set up 23 years ago, and it is the only station dedicated to arts and culture.

In 2018 it cost €6.6m to run, and it is by far the least funded of RTEs four main stations. Lyric had 273,000 weekly listeners, then and cost a little under two per cent of the broadcaster’s annual income of its €391million budget(2018) to run. It made little sense at the time to close Lyric FM which is so popular and costs so little to run then but now we are getting to hear the real reasons.

RTE in its wisdom were thinking of closing it as part of their review to save costs so that they could continue as they have done since the national broadcaster came on air on December 31, 1961. Regular listeners regard Lyric FM as a national treasure, giving an uplift from the doom and gloom of the daily news programmes.

Where life sounds better is the station's slogan. An organisation like RTE should be able to balance its books, without depending on increased licences, staff cuts, and regional station closures. It is close on 62 years old and for many years had a complete monopoly of our airwaves, with commercial revenues and majority public funding.

Dee Forbes the director-general then came out in an email to the 1,820 staff (what are they all doing ?) and said, "It is no longer possible to continue as we are". Warnings have been issued in recent years about the financial position of our state broadcaster, which is getting worse year on year.

The recent scandal about the under declared payment to its top earner is the talk of the country.

The findings by the public accounts/Oireachtas committee are very revealing showing how the money was used.

We await more revelations and what will come out in the wash in the future.

Successive Governments are not blameless either as they should have done more to put in place a better financial plan to safeguard the future of the national broadcaster. The salaries of its highest paid broadcasters, and staff should have been addressed and reduced many years ago, and the TV Licence collected from every household that owned a set.

Both were ignored and now that revenue from advertising is not as plentiful as before the RTE board face an uncertain future. A hefty pay cut regime, and better housekeeping should be put in place, to reduce costs and improve morale amongst staff.

The TV Inspectors were in my area a few weeks ago looking for householders without a licence. This outdated method of finding out who owns a set, is crazy in this age of technology and 15% of people do not possess a licence, resulting in the broadcaster losing €25 million a year. The fee of € 160 per year is too high for the quality of programmes presented and the many repeat showings .

If you were a few days late in paying the fee you received a stiff reminder to do so. Those of us who paid it yearly were sold a pup when now we know how the money received was squandered.

RTE should be developing the Lyric station in Limerick that provides some peaceful and relaxing music in this stressful environment we reside in.

Classical music has a calming effect on people's wellbeing which is challenged as never before in modern living with soaring costs, hospital overcrowding and homelessness. Licence payers deserve a top class all country service, and not a Dublin based monopoly on programming and personnel.

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I would welcome the setting up of local TV Stations, similar to the local Radio Stations. I think it would showcase all that is best in rural Ireland and provide a platform for the many talented people, doing amazing things in their communities, for zero gain.

For me the early days of TV was very exciting and educational, and I retain many happy memories, of sun filled and carefree days and evenings watching my favourite shows.

I must sign off now as Reeling in the Years is coming on.