IF Gay Byrne is a shrewd broadcaster - if, ha! Is the Pope Polish? - he'll keep pursuing the topics that had so exercised late last week.
Partly, it seemed, because of his close to home upset about the prospect of massive new development in Howth, the Gay Byrne (RTE Radio 1, Monday to Friday) got stuck into the controversy the Phoenix Park casino, hotel, stadium, arena, car park etc. Byrne commented at one stage that threats to Howth and the park might be the only things that would bring Dubliners on to the streets.
Perhaps. And aggressive coverage with a campaigning edge from the Gay Byrne Show might just haul back listeners from the locals.
Gusty Spence, radio star? What a brave new world the ceasefires wrought. There he was, just a few weeks after featuring prominently in Fintan O'Toole's Easter Rising documentary, this time the sole subject of a full documentary profile, A Tap on the Shoulder (RTE Radio 1, repeated on Wednesday).
And why not? Spence is intelligent, articulate, interesting. He has been for a long time, actually, but it took the ceasefires - and his role in brokering the loyalist one - for some media people to take notice, and others to put their long held knowledge to work.
Now, the man convicted of a 1966 killing that foreshadowed the Troubles, gets a very good press indeed. Just put your mind back about two years and imagine hearing this on the radio: "At the time I was commanding officer for all the loyalists in Crumlin Road prison - that wasn't a boast, believe you me, it was a penance." And Gusty and his interviewer share a laugh. Presenters Roy Garland and Maura Lee (the latter also produced the programme) obviously don't judge a man by his tattoos, and did a fine job of pulling together a wealth of material - from Spence's memories of the "dark, satanic mills" where he worked as a boy to his analysis of the divisions and politics of the North. He was supplemented by other voices, but his own words, were the programme's heart.
And they were, too.
He recounted his early role in transforming the prisons into some of Ireland's finest universities. His hard efforts to get access to history books resulted in the first of many culture shocks: reading Dan Breen's My Fight for Irish Freedom.
It didn't turn Spence into a nationalist. No, through thick or thin, Gusty is sticking to the Union. But it marked a first step in the development of a genuinely impressive grasp of the other fella's point of view - a grasp that helped him turn away from violence without rejecting his erstwhile comrades in arms. It will be intriguing to see how he and other sharp witted PUP figures respond to the likely end of the UVF ceasefire.
While Manchester United were proving they're the best of a bad lot on the pitch, BBC Radio 5 Live was doing the same from the stands Murdoch must be cursing the fact that Sky only has exclusive rights to the pictures of English Premiership soccer.
All season, 5 Live has brought us excitement without hype, atmosphere without the Sky crowd - noise amplifiers, analysis (from our Mark Lawrenson, among others) without flattery - plus good editorial judgment. Like on Sunday, when the station switched from United's easy triumph to Manchester City's nerve destroying, futile struggle for survival.
Coming soon, Sky Radio?
Bill Brattan, former New York commissioner turned globetrotting speechifier, was on the phone to Tuesday's Liveline (RTE 1, Monday to Friday) boast about his stats. Impressive though no mention - from him or Marian Finucane - that the city's crime numbers were already falling when he came into office. Nor of the nightmarish over crowding of city prisons since his lock em up regime came in. Hey, why mess up a good story?
The emphasis for the Irish audience was on the importance of attacking "quality of life" crime. What's that when it's at home? Brattan kept giving three examples: aggressive panhandling, public urination and "squeegee pests"
the guys who insist on cleaning your windscreen when you're stopped at a light (they arrived in Dublin's poorer quarters with the arrival of fine weather this year).
In other words, the priority "crimes" are the ones that see the better off classes made uncomfortably aware that the city is full of poor and homeless people (whose "quality of life" doesn't enter into it). It could be a big hit here.
What other nasty rubbish can we import from New York? Well, a source in the Big Apple (thanks, bro) tells me that a team from Ireland's soon to be broadcasting independent radio consortium visited the studios of shock radio specialist Howard Stern. Our lads were welcomed on the air by the host's usual mix of ethnic stereotyping and pre adolescent humour - he called one of them by the joke Irish name (mild by his standards) of Phil McCrevice. Geddit?
Could Gaybo handle that sort of competition?
