Radio Ulster

[bigpackiechestout]

Talkback can be very good. Nolan however most certainly has a very clear agenda. I'd love to see some sort of statistical analysis of unionist/nationalist guests on his show. To my mind there are only four fully fledged regulars on his show - Jim Allister, Jamie Bryson, Nelson McCausland and Malachi O'Doherty. That tells you it all. Three of the most bigoted unionists you could find and a man who would most likely be a small 'u' unionist but who is a devoted opponent of all things republican.

Nolan simply does not have a nationalist/republican guest on his show to anything CLOSE to the same frequency as the four mentioned above.

Take Jim Allister alone - a tweet yesterday noted that in the space of the ten days until yesterday (9th-19th February), Nolan had him as a guest on his radio/tv shows on the 9th, 11th, 12th, on BOTH his radio and TV shows on 14th, on 15th and the 19th.

It seems unashamedly pointed.

Do you ever stop to think why these guys are on? They are on because they have no mandate and if they can get coverage on teh radio or TV they'll be all over it, the others probably dont respond to te constant request to be on the show, thats why ya have these eejits on..

I listen to David Dunseith for years, as quality interviewer you would have and pulled no punches

I don't think it's good enough to make excuses. These guys are on because they are invited on ffs.

]

Do you think that the other parties are not invited? Do you know how it works or are you just making it up?

The BBC have a responsibility to be neutral and therefore should give equal airing to people from both sides. If they struggle to get someone from the nationalist side they need to try harder. They have no problem getting Jamie Bryson on despite him never having been an elected representative in his life, so if that is their criteria it shouldn't be hard to get someone from the nationalist side.

As an aside, Gerry Carroll from People Before Profit said he was constantly trying to get on Nolan last week to debunk some Irish Language Act myths and had no success. As an elected MLA surely he was worth having on at least one day whenever Jim Allister was appearing every other day.

[MoChara]

Is Daithi McKay not their go to Nationalist now, I heard him on again there at lunch time having a chat with Sammy Wilson.

[square_ball]

Just as an aside, Mark Carruthers is an excellent broadcaster. Not sure if he is on the radio shows anymore.

[bigpackiechestout]

Also, I know Nolan and Talkback are phone-in shows but realistically what is the point of persisting every single day with wee Davy from the Shankhill and big Seamus from the Falls? They drag these people on to spout their uninformed polarising views and since their points are invariably so ridiculous that they aren't even worth considering further, Nolan or William Crawley just go straight back to the panellists to discuss something else.

Surely whenever you have informed political commentators or elected representatives on your show it is better to explore their views rather than waste the listeners time with some bigoted retiree who doesn't know what they're talking about.

[Snapchap]

Talkback can be very good. Nolan however most certainly has a very clear agenda. I'd love to see some sort of statistical analysis of unionist/nationalist guests on his show. To my mind there are only four fully fledged regulars on his show - Jim Allister, Jamie Bryson, Nelson McCausland and Malachi O'Doherty. That tells you it all. Three of the most bigoted unionists you could find and a man who would most likely be a small 'u' unionist but who is a devoted opponent of all things republican.

Nolan simply does not have a nationalist/republican guest on his show to anything CLOSE to the same frequency as the four mentioned above.

Take Jim Allister alone - a tweet yesterday noted that in the space of the ten days until yesterday (9th-19th February), Nolan had him as a guest on his radio/tv shows on the 9th, 11th, 12th, on BOTH his radio and TV shows on 14th, on 15th and the 19th.

It seems unashamedly pointed.

Do you ever stop to think why these guys are on? They are on because they have no mandate and if they can get coverage on teh radio or TV they'll be all over it, the others probably dont respond to te constant request to be on the show, thats why ya have these eejits on..

I listen to David Dunseith for years, as quality interviewer you would have and pulled no punches

I don't think it's good enough to make excuses. These guys are on because they are invited on ffs.

]

Do you think that the other parties are not invited? Do you know how it works or are you just making it up?

I have no doubt other parties are invited, but if no SF/SDLP rep is available, are you honestly trying to say is is beyond the power of the BBC to find ANY nationalist/republican commentator or ex-party member on any given day? Consider it this way - you can bet your house that Jim Allister alone has had most guest slots shows with Nolan in the past ten days than the combined total of nationalist/republican commentators/politicians.

It seems beyond wrong that a man/party who represents a minuscule number of people is afforded such apparently unrestricted airtime with the public broadcaster.

[Snapchap]

Is Daithi McKay not their go to Nationalist now, I heard him on again there at lunch time having a chat with Sammy Wilson.

He was a guest today on Talkback, not Nolan.

[Snapchap]

Just as an aside, Mark Carruthers is an excellent broadcaster. Not sure if he is on the radio shows anymore.

Agreed. Himself and William Crawley are the best of the bunch and the most balanced as far as I can see. Carruthers is still on Radio yes. At least he has been on Evening Extra of late anyway.

[Milltown Row2]

Also, I know Nolan and Talkback are phone-in shows but realistically what is the point of persisting every single day with wee Davy from the Shankhill and big Seamus from the Falls? They drag these people on to spout their uninformed polarising views and since their points are invariably so ridiculous that they aren't even worth considering further, Nolan or William Crawley just go straight back to the panellists to discuss something else.

Surely whenever you have informed political commentators or elected representatives on your show it is better to explore their views rather than waste the listeners time with some bigoted retiree who doesn't know what they're talking about.

All about the ratings, only have to look at the Irish news now and their latest headlines... Don't like it dont listen or in the case of the Irish news dont buy! No one gives a crap about Seamus and Davy, both generally full of shit and if they are grabing them during the day they should be at work

I'm bored of the continual them and us, will put Nolan on the very odd time (Usually i'm sleeping before 11) never really listen to the news and what news I get would be mainly channel 4, plus there is plenty news on here to keep you going and google will do the rest

And as for Jim coming on with his continued shit talk, then brilliant he'll continue to generate more votes for SF or the SDLP than any poster, Tv broadcast or anyone from those parties sitting on one of those shows.. For an extremely intellegent man he can't see the damage he's done!

They are still doing the Ulster games during the Championship, are they doing any of the league fixtures?

[Frank_The_Tank]

I quite enjoy Crawley.  Nolan would have Jude Collins on a bit who would articulate a Republican point of view quite well.  Ruth Dudley Edwards one of the worst thats on it - cant stand her - or Ben Lowry for that matter

[johnneycool]

His questioning of Conor Murphy from SF and the SDLP for that matter, compared to the right Honorable p***k Jeff Donaldson was a clear indication of who they are promoting.

I don't agree that they are always that bad, but I do agree with your comments this morning (and I am no SF lover) - I heard Jeffrey and Conor Murphy on - two different interviewers.  Joel Taggart ffs was interviewing Jeffrey - I thought he was a sports guy who stood in the odd time but he has really dragged the quality down.  Chris Butler on Conor Murphy was also terrible.

I caught the tail end of the Conor Murphy interview and would have had no issue with the hard line in questioning he got but as long as it was reciprocated in the other interview which it mustn't have been going on comments. Joel Taggart interviewing politicians?? They'll have Sidebottom on next though after his interview with Harte he'll maybe prefer the commentary box.

I caught the Conor Murphy interview as well and like you I've no problem with politicians being asked hard questions, but when Butler kept referring to the previous Donaldson interview (which I hadn't heard either) like it was some statement of fact and sure Conor Murphy and Sínn Fein would only have knew too well that Arlene was never going to allow a free standing ILA (when it looks like she was) and it was time to get direct rule up and running like the DUP are demanding.
When Conor offered an alternative with Southern involvement then it was the shinners faults that the schools, roads and NHS were in a mess as Butler was being questioned day and daily about it that you smell the rat that is the BBC bias.

As for Nolan, time for a boycott of that ignoramus.

When he was acting the maggot with O Donnghaile and thinking repeating the "curry my yogurt" line would make laugh, O' Donnghaile really did well to hold his composure.

[Snapchap]

I quite enjoy Crawley. Nolan would have Jude Collins on a bit who would articulate a Republican point of view quite well. Ruth Dudley Edwards one of the worst that's on it - cant stand her - or Ben Lowry for that matter

A 'bit' being the word. Going by a quick twitter search, there appears to have been no record of Jude on Nolan's shows since November last year. If we look at an unelected loyalist contributor, for the sake of drawing a parallel (sorry Jude!!!) - wee Jamie has been on at least twice in the last six days. And as I say, Jim Allister has just been on 7 times in 10 days.

[Owen Brannigan]

Nolan is a wannabe shock jock so he needs idiot fodder to make controversial noises to create a call list so the same clowns appear every week. He fancies himself as some sort of defender of the people.

Crawley can be good because he gets a better range of guests and can frame a useful question or two but too often misses the killer blow.

McKee is long past his sell by date, thinks he is a Paxman who outlived his usefulness and thought he was the most important voice.

Taggart is a sports reporter who has been pulled into early morning radio as a general reporter/presenter, what next Sidebottom as a sports reporter/commentator.

Butler is a mainstream BBC wannabe who is a big mate of Nolan who believe each other to be greatest investigative reporters in NI media.

Carruthers is the only good interviewer who will take on both sides and land the killer punch.

[north_antrim_hound]

Agree on Curruthers. Seems very neutral and will apply the same pressure on any quest he feels are evading. His guests selection are balanced for both sides and neutral guests as well.
Don't watch or listen to Nolan anymore, he's the Howard Stern of politics in the north.

[red hander]

Nolan is a wannabe shock jock so he needs idiot fodder to make controversial noises to create a call list so the same clowns appear every week. He fancies himself as some sort of defender of the people.

Crawley can be good because he gets a better range of guests and can frame a useful question or two but too often misses the killer blow.

McKee is long past his sell by date, thinks he is a Paxman who outlived his usefulness and thought he was the most important voice.

Taggart is a sports reporter who has been pulled into early morning radio as a general reporter/presenter, what next Sidebottom as a sports reporter/commentator.

Butler is a mainstream BBC wannabe who is a big mate of Nolan who believe each other to be greatest investigative reporters in NI media.

Carruthers is the only good interviewer who will take on both sides and land the killer punch.

It's actually Buckler... and to say he's a big mate of Nolan is, er, putting it mildly, shall we say.

As for Carruthers, he lost a lot of respect when he, as a member of the board of the Lyric Theatre, refused point blank to answer questions about the alleged misuse of public money by that organisation. By not answering questions which are in the public interest, he loses some moral authority when he attempts to get others to answer questions which are in the public interest, does he not?

[BennyCake]

Nolan is a poor host, especially for the type of show he's doing. Can't control the debate.

I have to say though, shows like Nolan's is just keeping all the crap going in this place. Polarised views every morning from bigoted arseholes. Why doesn't he have real debates about stuff that actually matters, and maybe the bigots will go away?