Driving home today I was struck by the fact that at more or less the same time both George Hook and Matt Cooper read out texts from listeners urging them to “stop the gloom and doom”. Thinking back, not a week has gone by where one or the other hasn’t alluded to getting these comments. Meanwhile Brian Cowen was accusing the opposition of talking down the economy. Is denial still alive and well?
If my life was going down the tubes I wouldn’t want to hear about it all the time. What frequency is Lyric again?
Somewhere around 98.7 in Dublin. I find iPods great for avoiding reality though.
If I didn’t want to hear about it all the time, I’d change the channel. Which would be less effort than texting in to complain.
GH isn’t really my cup of tea, but fair play to him if he’s drawing attention to the issues. Ditto Matt C.
And to be fair, it’s a necessary Newstalk antidote to that Kiberd person.
Actually the doom and gloom is all pervasive right now. It’s wall to wall apocalypse. It’s actually become tedious.
To cheer yourself up I recommend:
Hookie is an excellent interviewer, at least he realises that he isn’t supposed to be the center of attention & doesn’t constantly interrupt the way the bleedin RTE heads do !
I really enjoyed his comment about the text telling him to stop talking us into a recession. He described that theory as “Horse Manure” 
**jcsmith wrote:
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You bet, especially with the banks.
They had an ideal opportunity today to lay the full facts on the table but all they did instead is circle the wagons and give the impression that there is nothing to see here.
Instead what they should be doing is encouraging the regulators/gubberment to set up a proper compensatory fund for depositors before they have a real flight of funds on their hands.
Meanwhile their shares continue to tank. 
This is a PR campaign run by a hired PR company on behalf of Country Tom.
***If George Hook and Matt Cooper hold on to the texts and THEN compare the NUMBERS they will be able to prove that this tiny band of texters listen to BOTH George Hook and Matt Cooper at the EXACT same time.
How amazing is that , thanks to Country Tom 
The PR bunnies with the texting system also listen out for George Lee appearing on Marion Finucane/ News at One/ Morning Ireland and Drivetime and guess what they say about George all the time , stop the happiness and jollity they say ???
They do not monitor 98fm or 104fm or 2fm , irrelevant you see.
Other monitored programs are the Morning and Brenda shows on Newstalk and the Sunday Supplement with Sam Smyth . It costs Country Tom a few grand a week to keep it up and for the PR bunnies to keep the press cuttings up to date while listening 
Well, if I recall correctly they were getting exactly the same sort of texts from people criticising them or their guests for “talking down the economy”, “talking us into a recession” or calling for less “gloom and doom” two and three years ago whenever someone would point out the fragility of the celtic tiger boom or the likely presence of a housing market bubble.
I’m not one for conspiracy theories and yes there are a significant number people out there who wound rather not hear the truth, but it wouldn’t surprise me either if there were a number of ardent supporters of a certain large political party with the text numbers of both stations on speed dial.
Blue Horseshoe
The Phony Fucking War. I was about to make a similar point but not exactly draw a line straight to the perpetrator. Ah gone are the days when OW could get 4 or 5 texts read out in a row on Newstalk and I didn’t even have broadband! IT was all predictive text 
Don’t rule out higher powers influencing the editorial direction of both Today FM and Newstalk.
Well said.
The higher power may be looking for a cheap gaff on Shrewesbury Road
They’re now in the same building so wouldn’t take long to spread the message either
They’re not in the same building as far as I know
Spot on… I thought the same. A great retort to anyone that thinks where we are now is the result of talking things down.
At risk of commenting on unfortunate personal circumstances, I would have to disagree.
I think there is still some denial in there, as regardess the potential “real” value of the property. I fear there is a long way to go yet.
Was listening to the Breakfast Show on News Talk this morning near 9am. The 2 presenters briefly discussed the on-going recession / property crash. The male presenter took a very blase ‘its only a blip’ attitude while the female took a more negative tone. It all sounded very staged the way they were taking different positions . But at least it wasn’t completely positive
House is not however finished, so the value of what it would be if it were finished is irrelevant and unknown.
Sad for them.