2FM needs to tune in to its feedback loop on 19th January

The late Randy Pausch tells the story of a football coach he had when he was a kid. A great big hulk of man, he seemed to pick on Randy who was “wimpy, and the smallest kid on the team”.

After one particular practice, an assistant coach came up to Randy and said :

“Coach Graham rode you pretty hard didn’t he?”

Randy could barely muster a “Yeah”.

“That’s a good thing,” the assistant told me. “When you’re screwing up and nobody says anything to you anymore, that means they’ve given up on you.”

During his last lecture, Randy said that it was important to get a feedback loop and listen to it. The hard part IS listening to it, but it needs to be done.

2FM need to listen to their feedback loop. The decision to silence Rick O’Shea and Nikki Hayes in their afternoon slots is quite bizarre. It seems 2FM management really go out of their way to piss listeners off. I can’t count how many times Rick in particular has been moved.

He was on breakfast with Ruth Scott in ‘05 and then replaced by Marty Whelan after only 5 months on air. That pissed me off and I wrote to RTE at the time to voice my opinion, but got no reply.  After a stint on night time, Rick got a new drive time show at 6pm in the evening. This started some time around July 2006. This was great for me, and made the commute home in the evening so enjoyable.

Then in March 2007, 2FM decided the rejig the schedules again by moving Rick’s show from it’s evening slot to make way for Will Leahy. I was uber pissed off at this as I don’t get to listen to radio during the work day. I didn’t bother voicing my opinion to 2FM but now I HAVE A BLOG and I can get my voice heard.

2FM need to get a clue. The management probably sit analysing and poring over the JNLR’s and look at Today FM and wonder why they are so successful. Here’s a clue – THEY DON’T KEEP FIDDLING WITH THE SCHEDULES… They give their presenters space to breathe and inject their personality into the station. Remember when Matt Cooper took over the Last Word? His ratings weren’t great. Some in the media wrote him off. But Today FM management stuck by him and they have gone on from strength to strength. If Matt was with 2FM he’d never have been allowed to build an audience.

Although I don’t get to listen to Rick in the afternoon since he made the move from the evening slot, I think it’s a waste of talent to have the man lining up discs and introducing them.

Join the Facebook campaign and/or email complaints@rte.ie on Monday January 19^th and become part of the feedback loop for 2FM. Let’s hope they listen.

Image owned by eschipul and used under the terms of a CC License.