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IT’S A PROJECT he’s been pitching to RTÉ bosses for years – taking Liveline to TV.
Or at least, a version of it.
Joe Duffy’s new show – Call Back – is set for broadcast late this autumn: the pilot’s already in the can, and five more will be put together in the coming months.
In a phone interview with TheJournal.ie, Duffy’s quick to correct any preconceptions we might have about taking such a well-known radio format to the screen.
“It’s a simple idea I’ve been hawking for years – people often say to me: whatever happened that man or that woman afterwards that you gave the money to or built the house for or whatever.
“I just put the idea to them – is it worthwhile? It’s something we wouldn’t do on Liveline on radio because Liveline is such a fast-moving programme – you have to do today’s stuff and the calls you’re getting today.
“[New RTÉ One controller] Adrian Lynch took an interest in it when he took over and he’s pushed it.”
The pilot show will focus on the story of Susie Long, the Kilkenny cancer sufferer whose letter to Liveline sparked a national debate about healthcare for cancer patients.
Duffy will also be taking a look back at the events of what he describes as a “dramatic” day in his studio – when a woman called in with the reg plate of a van belonging to two men who she said had scammed her elderly neighbours out of €10,000.
Soon, listeners were calling in from all over Dublin. The van was spotted on the M50, then on the Navan Road – and eventually ended up at a supermarket car-park in Greystones, where it was intercepted by gardaí.
“It’s basically going back, taking up stories that were big over the years on Liveline.
“It’s almost Reeling in the Years in that sense – you go back and see how they get on, how their families get on.”
The veteran broadcaster also talked us through his daily routine for Liveline, and how the show responds to breaking news stories, during a wide-ranging phone chat.
And he had some interesting things to say about those contentious 50:50 time rules from the BAI, governing referendum broadcasts.
It’s the lifeblood of Liveline: someone calls in with a problem of the life-and-death nature, or less serious but still a big deal to the caller in question.
Recently, for instance, the show generated headlines after comedian Brendan O’Carroll called in to help out an Irish student couple on their J1, who were robbed in Orlando. Other members of the Irish community also pitched in, with offers of jobs and a place to live.
“On the one hand, it’s incredibly uplifting to be part of it – and a privilege,” says Duffy.
“But Irish people right through all the unspeakable events of the last few years, in terms of the economy, have been incredibly generous.
And the other thing, I think: radio is a pretty transparent medium. They hear a voice and people can get a very clear grasp of ‘this is a genuine person in need’.
The listenership figures for radio in general back Duffy’s assertion that “Irish people are probably the most radio-literate people in the world”.
Frequently, the afternoon broadcast will focus on the story of just one person – like this week’s segment about Lorraine Wolfe and her son Carlos, who had taken to sleeping at the Mater A&E because they had nowhere else to go.
Says Duffy: “Irish people in the main, they think they’re talking to their auntie or their uncle or their granny or whatever.”
In the case of this week’s call…
“We had other people phone in on different topics – JobBridge or whatever. We never got to them because that woman was so engaging, and then her son came on – so it took off in a different direction.
People know what they’re getting into, when they come on to tell their story, he says:
“Mostly people who go into that scenario are either looking for someone who’s been in a similar situation, a bit of real practical advice, or they’re looking for help themselves generally, whether it be a house or a job or whatever.”
He adds:
“I’ve yet to meet anyone who says ‘I’m sorry I went on your programme’… I’ve yet to meet anybody who says ‘I’m sorry I said that’.”
Given the ‘let’s see where the callers take us’ nature of the show, listeners could be forgiven for thinking the host simply shows up, and presses the button for ‘line one’.
Not so…
“I’m up at 6… I do the papers at ten past six in the gym. Then I text or email the programme with any ideas.
“I monitor radio broadcasts non-stop… I’m like the member of the French Resistance lost in Normandy during the Second World War waiting on the code word, before I spring into action.
“We talk then, at 9 o’clock, with the series producer about what’s around. And then I just listen to the radio non-stop. I come in at 10 or whatever.”
When Liveline takes to the air at a quarter to two, it has to be engaging, and as Duffy puts it, “different, different, different”.
It’s an odd time to say the least. So I’ve got to be aware that at a quarter to two people will have heard a fair bit that morning – Morning Ireland, Pat Kenny, Sean O’Rourke, the local stations: what can we land with at a quarter to two that will keep people listening?
He’s keen to point out: “It has to be produced. It has to be put together.”
I’m not a social worker; I’m not a politician. My job is to make a programme that people listen to and people come back to.
Rules laid down by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland have made coverage of referendum debates a tricky subject for broadcasters (background on the rules here).
For instance, during the run up to the same-sex marriage vote it emerged Marian Finucane was using stopwatches to ensure her programme’s coverage was balanced precisely.
For Liveline, that threw up some obvious problems.
But despite reservations in RTÉ that the whole area was just too tricky for a live show to tackle, Duffy went ahead and devoted a programme to the topic, just days before the vote.
“I was very keen… We hadn’t been doing it because of this referendum lunacy. The 50:50 stuff that was just killing Liveline.
You were being told ‘two minutes here, two minutes there’. And I was arguing that surely we could balance it out over the week.
“A row” erupted as he pressed his point – but the show went ahead as he’d intended.
“My point was that the vote was on Friday, and the [broadcasting] moratorium was on Thursday at 2 o’clock.
“So I made the argument in here, we have to do it from Monday – so that by Wednesday, by half two on Wednesday, if we need to reframe it or recalibrate the timings we can do it by three o’clock.
“I thought we had some fascinating programmes. The only thing I would say – we weren’t allowed do a tele-poll which annoyed me…
Why not?
I don’t know. I don’t know why. I’d love to know why.
The BAI rules must to be changed to allow for more free-flowing debates on the airwaves, Duffy contends.
“I think it should be a looser system – especially for radio, and the BAI thing primarily applies to radio, It doesn’t apply to the newspapers.
“Radio is a very transparent medium. If I’m trying to manipulate people, people spot it like a light. If I’m biased, people are on to it like a light.
“I think they have to look at it, they definitely have to look at it.”
Note: Call Back debuts this autumn on RTÉ One.
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JAIL, JAIL, JAIL, JAIL, JAIL!!!!!!! For everyone one of them, with Aherne at the front leading them in as a ‘chain gang’. and never to be let out again to be part of society again.
I hear ya, Sheila. It won’t happen, tho’. I suspect they are all in “the know” & each afraid to do anything for fear one rat will bring them all down. I almost choked on my cuppa T when I read the figures involved. Alot of “my learned friends” made a nice few quid out of it. Shameful.
The traditional approach to them was one behind the ear and a note pinned to the back. That is what men like Sean Lemass and Mick Collins would have recommended after the last 13 years. While it may be harsh in these more peaceful times, I would certainly not have enough material to convince them to act otherwise. Try as I might.
1/4 of all district and circuit court judges have had a relative who at one stage was an elected member of FF. Justice – there is plenty of it here but it certainly is not for the Irish, that’s reserved for the FF ascendancy.
Ahhh greetings from the caymen islands
Can ya fly through the Bermuda triangle on the way back ??!!
Bertie says ……. ”Who saysI will come back ? ”
An absolutely sickening waste of public money. The legal costs involved dwarf the amounts being investigated and serve as evidence that this was nothing more than a legal gravy train designed I milk the public purse as much as possible.
Now we hear there is going to be a committee set up to investigate the costs of the tribunal, in effect a committee to review a committee, allowing more politicians and legal eagle to tap into state coffers.
“A great little country”, as CJH once said. Yes – for some. This is disgusting.
Who’ll review the committee that reviews the committee though?!
Its has always amazed me how the rich can legal aid in tribunals in Dublin castle and yet Social Welfare Recipients cannot get legal aid in tribunals in D’Olier Street.
Statutory Instrument 272 / 273 of 1996 spell out that the application of legal aid in civil circumstances can only be applied if the applicant passes 2 tests.
The first test is a means test and clearly the rich could not pass the test where the poor could, but this does not happen. Obviously not all are equal in the eyes of the law with Judges, Barrister and Solicitors running the Legal Aid Board.
The second test is a merit test which allows those employed in law to act as judge and jury while using opinions, which will pervert the course of justice and ensure Irish People are kept away from domestic and international courts. Denying people protection by law is crimes against humanity.
Statutory Instruments 272 / 273 of 1996 have been very lucrative for those associated with tribunals in Ireland.
Whats all this going to achieve? We’ll get a report with recommendations/conclusions and nobody will be held accountable for anything.
JAIL JAIL JAIL JAIL JAIL
JAIL JAIL JAIL JAIL JAIL
JAIL JAIL JAIL JAIL JAIL
(jail’s a funny word when you see it like that..) anyway, back to my point…
JAIL!!!
Why does Ireland insist in holding tribunals? In any other civilised democracy, the likes of Bertie Ahern would have been behind bars a long time ago. The circumstantial evidence alone would be enough to gain a conviction. Why bother with long drawn out enquiries, when a legal system’s already in place to deal with lawbreakers? It sickens me to the stomach how the rich and privelaged can do whatever they please, with no accountability to anyone! Bob Geldof was spot on with his banana republic comments all those years ago! I’ll be damned if I can figure out why all this garbage is still tolerated!
At Neil. It was FF who insisted on the tribunal. It is a delay tactic, they are happy to have their names blackened but they do not mind, they couldn’t care less what the Irish think of them. Long as they can walk away with their dirty money at the end of the day. Remember that there was no one in that party that called for a proper judicial mechanism. Remember that the terms of the tribunal were made so broad that it made it exceptionally difficult to go in to depth. They have spent a fortune trying to hide their criminality among normal cases and deals. Hopefully they will not succeed or be allowed succeed.
Follow the money trail & u will get to the bottom of it. Where did all the money go to ?
neil this is not a civilised democracy 45000 thrown to waste half a million people forced out of their holmes family broken up ,the legal system in complete tatters corruption at epidemic levels and if people do not want to believe me ,try how are investigation into the banking fiasco is going .
Why can’t the Taxing master charge them the minimum wage. This would bring the cost down millions.
U see, they are not the “little” people, Martin.
Neil, you have answered your own question. Without a tribunal criminal charges could be progressed.
Do you know that any evidence produced at the tribunal cannot be used in court!
On an unrelated note, Dennis O’Brien is now a billionaire!
250 million is an insignificant amount.We will be handing over 3 thousand million in 2 weeks thanks to our German overlords.
CIAROthanks to brian cowen and co ,how corupt is this country and people will vote fg and lab in the next election who condone this type of thing
@ Declan
Do you know what’s sad and very sick, jackie Healy-Rae actually wanted the roundabout at Lissivigeen (Killarney) to be named after him!!!!! This was supposed to be part of the EUR71 Million that was given to Healy-Rae and Lowry in order to get their ‘votes’ (independents) for Aherne’s re-election in 2007.
Disgusting. As if the people of Ireland needed to be reminded who the hell Healy-Rae is for years to come, every time they go around the roundabout! Just as well I don’t have a gun licence. A lot of these arse holes would be picking pellets out of their arses for a long time by the time I’d be finished with them!
I can’t stand that word “guesstimate”…. Makes my skin crawl when people use it. There is a perfectly good word already for it. Estimate.
This country was run into the ground by the mafia fianna fail and now the new boys are just the same jobs for the boys all over again why was NAMA given so much protection who were the vested interested protected I read today they want to sell the discounted assets back to the developers now they really are making fools of us I can’t afford my family home anymore think they give a shit in the dail don’t even show for the debate
Hopefully charges and convictions will follow the publication of the report. Isn’t it also the case that findings of this tribunal are being used to pursue certain people for unpaid taxes etc, which will result in the State recouping some of the costs. And anyone found in the wrong will not have automatic right to claim legal costs.
Regardless of the cost, what price democracy?
The evidence unearthed in a tribunal cannot be used in a criminal conviction.
FF set up this tribunal and the others, the terms laid down were onerous and made the tribunal difficult but the above was the ultimate fail safe.
Their ultimate strategy is always protect the party, and when that cannot be done, screw the party and protect the man. The people investigated are blacklisted by the party, Micky Mouse Martin will then announce that the offenders are being expelled,it is all the last guys fault, its a new FF and off we go again on the corruption merry go round once more.
That’s true. But – does that preclude the Gardai investigating individuals on foot of the findings of the tribunal and unearthing evidence that could lead to convictions? They can’t use tribunal transcripts as evidence. Can the Gards and the DPP produce their own evidence regarding the same incidents, events and activities? Thing is, will they want to? Public pressure and continued media scrutiny will be crucial. Occupy Mahon…
I think they should use Judges logic generally used in courts up and down the country is award the criminal 6 years but suspend the last 3.
So when they award the legal teams 12 million they can suspend the last 8 million. They would accept that.
@ Declan,
Sadly, he’d probably find his way back!
Did u see the clown on the news earlier ? He may as well have stuck up his middle finger into the camera. As for Paul Lowery ? Don’t get me started. Our poor ancestors must be asking themselves “why did we bother ?”. Sickening.
Are ancestors are asking us “why don’t we bother”.
The shure dere all the same attitude here and sure we can change nothing so no point, poor us attitude has destroyed the country for decades. Not that that is what you are saying a chara.
@Declan,
At this stage, I don’t think this lot is any less arrogant than the last crowd. Bully boys. Next thing they’ll have debt collectors at our doors for the EUR100! They’ll tender it out, so they don’t have to face us themselves! Watch this space.
Got ya eggers. If they could come back, they’d be severly disappointed. We do have to soldier on & have hope.
About time this tribunal has come to an end lawyers have bled the system for all they could get out of it 14 years is a long time coining , if it went on any longer they’d be looking for pensions and no doubt they tried, is there any morality in the legal profession.
The important thing is this ….. Man
Utd will win the league.
I was told that attendance by legal representatives wasn’t recorded. If this is true it leaves the whole claims procedure open to total abuse. What a farce of system that constantly sees taxpayers on the hook for appalling official and political cack handedness.
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