:o seriously? no more mystery train.....no more rattlebag.... that is a disgrace, i wish there was a way of cancelling your tv license as a protest and getting a refund when you're disgusted with the national broadcaster's programming

I'm deeply shocked at this but then again I'm not really surprised. RTE has a long history of crass incompetence and utterly baffling programming decisions. They must be the thickest bunch of individuals ever to work in media/broadcasting. Axing Mystery Train and Rattlebag is just typical of their short-sighted policy. f**kwits, indeed.

the replacement for rattlebag is a one hour arts show between 11.00 p.m and midnight (f**kin great!)... fanning takes up a one hour slot between 6 and 7 with more or less the same mandate for his show that he has now (i.e. dubious to say the least)... that's it folks... aside from that, as bad as fanning was on the evening slot, it was still infinitely more entertaining than the usual generic stuff and there is now an hour and a half more of that on rte 2

http://www.rte.ie/radio1/pressreleases/1093516.html Rattlebag is being replaced by a Derek Mooney show, of which Music will be a part. How much, I wouldnt say alot to be honest. It seems that Mystery Train was John Kellys decision to cancel.

And Joe Duffy gets an extra 15 minutes. Thank God I have a day job.

dont forget that fanning is getting shunted to RADIO ONE - its the end of an era. i know theyre giving him the consolation prize of a sunday evening show on 2FM but its very tokenistic. plus theyre doing nothing about that old fart gerry ryan - he's the one who has lost 60,000+ listeners over the last few months! whatever about john kelly wanting to pull up the mystery train, surely they could have found some way to accomodate him with a radio show? very strange that as for rattlebag... i always found myles dungan to be an obnoxious, overbearing presenter but it was great exposure. 11pm for the arts? must be joking. i'd say today fm are laughing. pet sounds vs rick o'shea (who will be on 6-9pm on 2FM)? no competition. heard pet sounds last night - it was the monthly album review show - and it was cracking radio. if 2fm had any brains, they'd do something similar.

Derek Mooney... guaranteed to make you switch channel.. the guy annoys the crap out of me... and RTE even have him doing the commentary for imported nature programs now as well..

Now that Newstalk have a national licence, they should fill that 10 o'clock gap with a decent arts show. Maybe even lure John Kelly over to do it.

i can't see why rte in their infinite wisdom couldn't at least have preserved one of these shows in it's original timeslot, replacing presenter (if necessary) with someone equally as passionate about their subject....derek mooney is not one such person, he brings me out in hives

so i take it jenny heuston is going back to phantom cause she is not even on that schedule

Fanning on Radio 1. Sweet suffering Jesus on the cross. Who, exactly, do they think is going to be listening to him ?

Mooney is a broadcasting legend, philistines. Shocking decisions all round really. They haven't got a clue.

Yeah, maybe so, but their ratings are on a continual downward spiral so they must do something to halt the decline. Rattlebag was ok but I often found that he just took a broad swipe at all kind of different subjects. One minute he could talking to Geldof about the Rats the next minute some one would be reading from some obscure poet who happened to be their 100th anniversary. To eclectic in other words. Alot of peole like Derek Mooney and thats a fact so he could be a success. Fanning is just getting old anyway and he might just appeal to the general age profile who listen to Radio 1. I must admit, I enjoy listening to Marian Finucine myself on Sat and Sun mornings!!

RTE = 07.00 - 09.00 - Marty In The Morning = Why bother?

seeing as radio really has got Cluas riled today (which is good and probably contrary to what 2FM and the like might think), what do people think Phantom will bring to the airwaves? do u think it will be a big boost for local acts or are we putting too much on their shoulders?

Well, whatever about the rest of their remit, that's where Phantom really will shine. Hopefully they won't get too hung up on any one of the mini-scenes that are around, but they were fairly inclusive before and I very much doubt that'll change.

Phantom won't be anything like it was in the pirate days. Advertising revenue will dictate the output of this station. I can't see there being sufficient companies in Ireland that will want to the advertise their products during the break of live broadcast a Postal Service gig. Can you?

John Kelly was definitely my 'Dave Fanning'. Back in college I used to listen to his show religiously. This was shortly after he'd moved from the BBC in Northern Ireland, and the Mystery Train was in its infancy. It was only one hour, 8pm monday to friday. I got turned onto so much music from that show at an age when it really started to matter. Bob Dylan, Charles Mingus, Curtis Mayfield, Elliott Smith, Elvis Presley, Gillian Welch, Johnny Cash, Marvin Gaye, The Band, Hank Williams, Bascom Lamarr Lunsford. Usually, all in one show. It was an education, and some of those artists are still some of my favourites today. Also back then, the show was still growing, and you could always send him an email if you missed an album or band name, and you'd probably get a reply within a few days. To be honest, I'm not really sad to see the show go. I rarely listen to it since it was extended to an hour and a half. The music is still great, but John seems to want to fill the extra time with himself, which is a bad idea. His between song banter amounts to banal private jokes with whoevers in the room with him, and generally dull comments which he didnt have time for when it was just a one hour show. He's a bit like Jools Holland on BBC2, he's become a celebrity darling and wants to flaunt it with his musician buddies. The sessions he did were a good idea and gave great exposure to some up and coming bands, but that isn't the reason I ever tuned in in the first place. So, its probably about time they canned the show anyway. Give someone else a chance to create a good music show, a rarity on Irish radio.