Gerry Ryan - because he's not worth it

Operation Transformation is a second-rate RTE reality programme that uses a panel of “experts” to life-coach selected candidates into losing weight, exercising, eating more healthily and generally getting their acts together.

Once – and I mean once – I saw an episode of it, and was amazed to see Gerry Ryan, its host, standing there with his considerable belly spilling over his trousers, berating contestants (is that what you would call them?) for their physical condition and appearance.

Liam Fay (author of “Beyond Belief” - read it) saw the same irony in the situation, and wrote about it in his Sunday Times column yesterday. He described Ryan as the “elephant in the room” in that particular show.

If the elephant analogy holds true, it would seem that RTE’s headquarters in Montrose would be a better bet for a day out with the kids than the Phoenix Park, as the place is heaving with “stars” who are paid out of proportion to their abilities, in an incestuous “it’s not what you know, it’s who you know” country with a small population that’s jigs and reeling under the new austerity of the recession.

There is an inflationary bubble out Donnybrook way that is more expansive than many of its “stars” egos. Gerry Ryan excluded. Is he really “worth” €558,000 a year? He thinks so, obviously, and you can just imagine him there, waving his bottle of L’Oreal (extra greasy) as he says so.

Ryan attracts a loyal listenership, and his radio show was seen by many as daring after it was first aired in 1988, and was up 1,000 listeners in the last JNLR survey – though he’d lost 9,000 in the last one. Ryan points to the advertising revenue he brings into RTE as justification for his salary remaining uncut.

But surely that’s the point. Advertising revenue is falling – there is an estimated €68 shortfall predicted for this year according to Fay’s article – so “stars” salaries will have to drop accordingly. And are they really that good anyway? I don't think so. Maybe it’s not the presenter that is the important factor in winning listeners, but the format of the show.

Perhaps it’s time to let Ryan walk, and see how he fares outside the safe environment of RTE? Let him prove his worth, and let RTE bring in some badly needed new blood into its tired programming schedule.

Back to Gombeen Nation main page