RTÉ News

While browsing through the RTÉ News pages in The TV Room , it struck me that the newsroom seems to be getting much smaller than it was years ago. The 1997-2000 newsroom seems to be larger than the 2000-2003 version and the 2000-2003 one looks bigger than the current one. Did they change studio in the recent past? In some of the shots of the 1997 studio, there seems to be a lot of space behind and to either side of the presenters but they couldn't be more cramped in today's studio. Just a thought.

Its also worth saying that even the 1997 studio looked far more impressive that what we have now. It had an American feel to it which made it look great.

i really liked that studio too, i just got sick of it too quick. too dark, boring!
http://thetvroom.com/images-rte-one/rte-one-news/6-two-pres-98.jpg
it has to be one of rte's better studios, along with the virtual one which i liked

That wasn't a studio - that was just a green wall SNI
Agreed - I have a strange liking for it too. You'd never get away with such a far-fetched scheme today - seems extraordinary we all accepted it at the time!

I really like the 1997 set too - hated the titles and still do, but the set looked very professional. In particular the timber panelled wall to the right always looked very swish, nice and streamlined and elegant.
There was a little row of monitors built into it too near the top.
This set is always forgotton about!

Was always impressed at how (for RTÉ ) they never managed to muck up the rolling VT's being displayed on the monitors behind - don't recall them ever going blank or something 'inappropriate' coming up

It has always been the same studio used Phen, since goodness knows when - wouldn't be in the least surprised if it has its origins in 1961!
Agreed about the impression given though by the various sets, and interestingly goes to show the contrast between the current set and last pink one. The pink set was very 'televisiony' with a vague outline and background with the gauze cyclorama - no real definition of space or hard corners etc so it looked much bigger, a time-old television ploy - whereas the current one is as boxy as you can get so you can see how small the space really is

The 1997 scheme looks really professional when you see the opening of the Nine (don't think there's clips on the TV Room, you have to go to the RTÉ news archive) - the titles dissolve into a wide of the studio zooming into the newsreader and a 'with Anne Doyle' graphic across the bottom. Like this:

http://thetvroom.com/images-rte-one/rte-one-news/6-wide-98.jpg


...then it cuts to Anne who looks much more newsreadery and professional than she does now - she's since mellowed with age

Don't think Vivienne Traynor is any relation to Donna Con, though she does have dark hair...
Was watching Donna last night there - she really is fantastic, what an asset to Newsline.

Annoyed about missing the Weather glitch last night as I switched it off as soon as it started!
RTÉ never aplogoise for Weather glitches - they happen quite often, including cutting the weathercaster off before they've finished - not just 2 sec or something, but even 1/2 way, or 2/3 of the way through is common enough!

Wasn't it the ridiculous case up to about 2 years ago that they only had 2 mins and regardless of whether they were finished or not it was automatically cut by Pres?!!
This was a disaster - bulletins were always being cut off.
Things have improved.

Also an interesting development over the past week or so - whoever is directing or vision mixing the Nine during this summer holiday spell is using a very fast dissolve returning from the ad break - works very well.

There's the usual cut from the graphics VT to the wide shot of the studio, but then a very quick probably half-second dissolve is used to cut to Eileen Dunne instead of a longer one.

It's nice and efficient, and it cuts down on those ridiculous awkward silences and mis-cues one often gets with the usual Nine team returning from the break.

There is stil an inherent flaw in that returning-from-break sequence though, as there is no lead-in music to cover the wide shot of the studio - just silence that vision mixers try to avoid by cutting to the presenter early, or cutting in before the titles have fully finished so there's a bit of music 'left over' to cover the wide.
This ought to be sorted out for the Autumn.

i see Una O'Hagan is on a main programme again. she presented the 9 tonight. only caught the end of it though

i was wondering where she went!

Yes - she's back from her holidays now, while Eileen Dunne takes a break. Think this happened last year too.

She's always very good on the Nine and her questioning for an interview as always was superb last night - very natural and to the point (though I suspect she's still scripted).

Did anyone see last night's RTE News on 2? A presenter I've never seen before, coupled with some extremely dodgey camerawork...

Yes I saw the end of it. Mary something is her name...I think Mary Halpin. She's OK but you'd think she was in a rush to catch a bus. She speeds up the end of sentences like there's no tomorrow. I saw her do the late summary a few weeks ago as well.

Again another reporter with absolutely no television experience whatever.
Mary C alpin is her name

She does a lot of the international news stories, but just acts as little more that a voiceover artist based in RTÉ, at times rehashing BBC material with an Irish accent.
She reads on 2fm I think too.
Both Anthony and Sharon must be away then.

I see Anne Doyle is back already - these summers are indeed getting shorter!

...And Aengus too. Let's hope he has a nice long holiday.

lol

According to one website - he was in Spain this year on holiday (for whatever reason this was deemed to be 'celebrity goss' or somesuch )

I can never get over how so many people cannot see how utterly appalling he is - he's ghastly !
Everyone seems to think all his stuttering and pausing and slurring and awkward silences is just 'newsreaderish' and official or something

You can just imagine the scenes in the newsroom amongst the directors - 'no you take him for the Nine, no no you take him, I had him last Sunday, it's your turn now'

There must be some record breaking eye-rolling going on in the gallery during his bulletins....