CO
Am I the only person who thinks that UTV's presentation is in dire need of an update? Forgive me in advance as I'm in ranting mood.
I was reading the UTV website at my own leisure the other day, and while it's nice to see that they have added new pictures of the UTV Live presenters, reporters and Julian, the pictures of Gillian Porter, Robin Taylor and Aidan Browne haven't been updated, and STILL no profile of Audra Thomas. Maybe I'm reading into things too much but does this mean the significance of the announcers is becoming less and less?
Also, according to Gillian's profile, she has had another child lately (belated congratulations) - and she still appears on late shifts Monday to Wednesday and the occasional weekend shift. I'm not saying my beliefs are draconian, but aren't these hours slightly out of the ordinary for a mother who has recently given birth? Hearing Gillian on duty lately she also sounds a bit bored and less enthusiastic about te programmes she is introducing.
UTV currently employ five announcers - a working mother with two young children, a teacher, a lecturer, a hairdresser and well... Julian. The last announcer to join the team began in 1997, three of the staff have been there since 1993 and the other since 1984. Four out of five members of staff who have other careers or responsibilites, four of them who work on a freelance/part-time basis.
For a channel that has promoted itself as "Your TV" and is reportedly the most watched channel in Northern Ireland, is that really adequate that we hear local voices only after 5pm/7pm on weekdays? And that while one announcer gets ample opportunities to present his links in-vision, the rest are demoted to reading out links over idents and play second fiddle to trailers, pointless Watch to Win competitions, and, at the moment, repeats of 2002 Christmas greetings by plasticine versions of UTV presenters?
As bad as many of the network announcers on ITV1 are, I always feel disappointed that when I come back to Northern Ireland, to a region where they have autonomous continuity, the chances to provide a competent, consistent and consumer-friendly televisions service are completely squandered. A clean feed from Network Centre is underused, the facilities to provide in-vision continuity are underused, the opportunity to reinforce an antidote to the blandness of ITV1 network presentation is underused. The situation has been like this for almost 10 years and nothing has been done to remedy it. UTV make a profit, they can afford to invest in a radio station - so isn't it about time they did something to salvage their on-screen presentation? The spring clean they are doing to their programmes, if extended to the presentation department, may do UTV some good than being stuck in the complacent and often cold, lifeless state of its on-screen presentation.
UTV would benefit greatly from new announcers, to add a fresh voice to the station, to perhaps get around the problem of having no-one at home during the day and to maintain the station's autonomy from the rest of the ITV network (I've already lost count of how many ITV1/ITV Day logos I have seen in the past few days). Also, to hear about new opportunities being created in an ITV region, bucking the trend of job cuts and tightening budgets would certainly make a change to hear. Maybe any new announcers who the station wish to take on could be younger than the mean age of the present announcers to suit the target audience of the programmes ITV1 wish to appeal for.
If they can't do this, they may as well take a dirty feed from ITV1 and close down the presentation department in Belfast, which if inept is better than what the viewers of UTV are currently getting IMO.
Also, does anyone know if the reception area of Havelock House has been recently made over? I'm sure part of a report on Monday's UTV Live was recorded in the reception area and it looks like they have redecorated the lobby with wood panels and a cream colour scheme.
I was reading the UTV website at my own leisure the other day, and while it's nice to see that they have added new pictures of the UTV Live presenters, reporters and Julian, the pictures of Gillian Porter, Robin Taylor and Aidan Browne haven't been updated, and STILL no profile of Audra Thomas. Maybe I'm reading into things too much but does this mean the significance of the announcers is becoming less and less?
Also, according to Gillian's profile, she has had another child lately (belated congratulations) - and she still appears on late shifts Monday to Wednesday and the occasional weekend shift. I'm not saying my beliefs are draconian, but aren't these hours slightly out of the ordinary for a mother who has recently given birth? Hearing Gillian on duty lately she also sounds a bit bored and less enthusiastic about te programmes she is introducing.
UTV currently employ five announcers - a working mother with two young children, a teacher, a lecturer, a hairdresser and well... Julian. The last announcer to join the team began in 1997, three of the staff have been there since 1993 and the other since 1984. Four out of five members of staff who have other careers or responsibilites, four of them who work on a freelance/part-time basis.
For a channel that has promoted itself as "Your TV" and is reportedly the most watched channel in Northern Ireland, is that really adequate that we hear local voices only after 5pm/7pm on weekdays? And that while one announcer gets ample opportunities to present his links in-vision, the rest are demoted to reading out links over idents and play second fiddle to trailers, pointless Watch to Win competitions, and, at the moment, repeats of 2002 Christmas greetings by plasticine versions of UTV presenters?
As bad as many of the network announcers on ITV1 are, I always feel disappointed that when I come back to Northern Ireland, to a region where they have autonomous continuity, the chances to provide a competent, consistent and consumer-friendly televisions service are completely squandered. A clean feed from Network Centre is underused, the facilities to provide in-vision continuity are underused, the opportunity to reinforce an antidote to the blandness of ITV1 network presentation is underused. The situation has been like this for almost 10 years and nothing has been done to remedy it. UTV make a profit, they can afford to invest in a radio station - so isn't it about time they did something to salvage their on-screen presentation? The spring clean they are doing to their programmes, if extended to the presentation department, may do UTV some good than being stuck in the complacent and often cold, lifeless state of its on-screen presentation.
UTV would benefit greatly from new announcers, to add a fresh voice to the station, to perhaps get around the problem of having no-one at home during the day and to maintain the station's autonomy from the rest of the ITV network (I've already lost count of how many ITV1/ITV Day logos I have seen in the past few days). Also, to hear about new opportunities being created in an ITV region, bucking the trend of job cuts and tightening budgets would certainly make a change to hear. Maybe any new announcers who the station wish to take on could be younger than the mean age of the present announcers to suit the target audience of the programmes ITV1 wish to appeal for.
If they can't do this, they may as well take a dirty feed from ITV1 and close down the presentation department in Belfast, which if inept is better than what the viewers of UTV are currently getting IMO.
Also, does anyone know if the reception area of Havelock House has been recently made over? I'm sure part of a report on Monday's UTV Live was recorded in the reception area and it looks like they have redecorated the lobby with wood panels and a cream colour scheme.
Oh and they should definately get rid of Kristen who does the film review on a friday she never likes anything in the cinema 
Surely its about time UTV got the Paul O G show into schedules somewhere as well.
