CH
There is no doubt that it was very poor service in the 80's and presentation wise there was really no excuse, there were other broadcasters that were as broke doing a much better job with presentation than RTE. I knew a few people that worked in the department in the 80's and early 90's. One of them had to attend EBU meetings and said he was embarrassed by the look of what RTE were putting out. The Journalism was fine, it was the presentation that was the problem.
Also remember RTE News has always been produced from Studio 3 at RTE, which has to be one the world's smallest news studios used by a national broadcaster.
When it opened on December 31st 1961, it was just 728 Sq Ft, this was however increased in the 2009 redevelopment of the studio, doubling the size to close on 1,400 Sq Ft, but still way small.
In 2019, it will be interesting to see what RTE do with the relaunched RTE News and re-structured Studio 3.
One of my memories of Irish television is the news summaries done from the broom cupboard studio. It really is truly appalling. It looks like it was done from a desk in the RTE canteen. Lighting is appalling, no autocue, rarely did we see any film inserts and you could sometimes hear the newsroom in the background. Nell McCafferty, the Derry born Irish journalist used to say it was like watching a news bulletin broadcasting from the old USSR, from their bomb proof basement studios during the cold war.
The news summaries back in the 1980s and 1990s were simply the latest RTE Radio 1 News bulletin, ripped off the printer, handed to the newsreader to read out on RTE One or Network 2. For example, the late news summary on RTE One in say 1992 would usually air at 11.45pm, this meant it would be the 11.00pm RTE Radio 1 news bulletin, handed to Eileen Dunne to read 45 minutes later, with maybe an update to the script in case any breaking news occurred in the 45 minute period.
When it opened on December 31st 1961, it was just 728 Sq Ft, this was however increased in the 2009 redevelopment of the studio, doubling the size to close on 1,400 Sq Ft, but still way small.
In 2019, it will be interesting to see what RTE do with the relaunched RTE News and re-structured Studio 3.
One of my memories of Irish television is the news summaries done from the broom cupboard studio. It really is truly appalling. It looks like it was done from a desk in the RTE canteen. Lighting is appalling, no autocue, rarely did we see any film inserts and you could sometimes hear the newsroom in the background. Nell McCafferty, the Derry born Irish journalist used to say it was like watching a news bulletin broadcasting from the old USSR, from their bomb proof basement studios during the cold war.
The news summaries back in the 1980s and 1990s were simply the latest RTE Radio 1 News bulletin, ripped off the printer, handed to the newsreader to read out on RTE One or Network 2. For example, the late news summary on RTE One in say 1992 would usually air at 11.45pm, this meant it would be the 11.00pm RTE Radio 1 news bulletin, handed to Eileen Dunne to read 45 minutes later, with maybe an update to the script in case any breaking news occurred in the 45 minute period.
There is no doubt that it was very poor service in the 80's and presentation wise there was really no excuse, there were other broadcasters that were as broke doing a much better job with presentation than RTE. I knew a few people that worked in the department in the 80's and early 90's. One of them had to attend EBU meetings and said he was embarrassed by the look of what RTE were putting out. The Journalism was fine, it was the presentation that was the problem.