AA Roadwatch an RTE obsession

16 — village july 2009

 Banking

   hand it to him, he’s the best in the

business, and modest too. But modesty is what

makes it work. Conor Faughnan, and AA Road-

watch have been on the air since the s de-

livering a steady diet of reports from the traf-

ﬁc hell that once was Celtic Tiger Ireland. The

segment, broadcast on RTÉ and many national

and local stations, consists mostly of rattling

oﬀ street names followed by adjectives like

static, crawling, or (my favourite) jammers.

RTÉ market research indicates that listeners

believe it is useful to other listeners, but the

survey did not ask if the information had ever

been useful to them.

Breathless presenter proﬁles on the AA

Roadwatch website mention backgrounds in

light entertainment, media studies and even

modelling. Faughnan’s qualiﬁcation is in PR.

None of the staﬀ seem to have any qualiﬁca-

tions related to transport.

The AA was founded in Britain in  to

ﬁght the introduction of speed limits. In Ireland,

Faughnan campaigns for more road-building

and ‘sensible’ (higher) speed limits, and against

almost every public transport project, although

he claims to support public transport as a con-

cept. In theory AA Roadwatch gives uncontest-

ed information about traﬃc conditions, but the

constant repetition of how dreadful life is for

motorists makes the issue seem more urgent

than public transport.

The Dáil record has many examples of TDs

citing mentions on AA Roadwatch as proof of

a need for funding their pet bypasses. Drip

drip works, but Faughnan and his team can

still pull out the big guns. When the Stillorgan

Quality Bus Corridor opened, there were near-

frantic reports of scenes more associated with

the siege of Mafeking than yummy mummies

delayed on the way to the crèche.

Throughout the mid-s, almost every

report had a dire warning of loose horses, usu-

ally on roads which led through socio-econom-

ically-deprived areas to south County Dublin.

In  the Control of Horses Act was passed,

allowing the seizure and slaughter of horses

owned by children of the working classes, and

the problem disappeared from the airwaves,

even before the Act was implemented.

AA Roadwatch is funded entirely by the

AA, and broadcast from their own studios in

Dublin city centre. RTÉ also gets free use of

the studio for interviewing guests who can-

not make it to Montrose and Faughnan is his

own best customer, on programme after pro-

gramme, calmly explaining to an understand-

ing interviewer that of course we need better

public transport, but not quite yet.

RTÉ’s rulebook speciﬁcally prohibits spon-

sorship of a programme by any party that has

an interest in its content. Advertising towards

a political end is also prohibited, as is broad-

casters being associated with any party or

campaign.

I took a case to the Broadcasting Com-

plaints Commission in  that AA Road-

watch was a clear breach of RTÉ’s duty to pres-

ent issues fairly. (Where is Dublin Bus watch?)

RTÉ simply declined to specify whether AA

Roadwatch was sponsored programming, ad-

vertising or paid broadcasting, and the com-

plaint (and subsequent attempt at a court chal-

lenge) was swatted aside.

AA Roadwatch continues with Faughnan in

parallel citing as proof of his arguments the

report just broadcast, by the latest bimbette

bound for TV, from the studio next door.

Drivetime presenters continue to agree sage-

ly, knowing that too robust a challenge might

leave them short one useful studio, and a lot

of explaining. And Irish commuters continue

to sit in gridlock, with little hope of a decent

“In 1996 the Control of Horses Act was passed,

allowing the seizure and slaughter of horses

owned by children of the working classes…”

Complaints that Roadwatch

is unfairly biased towards car-

driving have been swatted aside

w i l l i a m c a m p b e l l

 

an  obsession

RTE, facing cutbacks, another li-

cence-fee hike and the possibility

of closure is to be sold to the AA.

Conor Faughnan, the incoming DG,

said Radio Programmes would now

comprise Roadwatch, weather, ad-

vertising and sport with one-min-

ute news items every half hour.

For years it has been

possible to wake up to

Morning Ireland, Ire-

land’s most important

news programme,

and not actually hear any news until

you get into your car so Mr Faugh-

nan was able to assure listeners that

the takeover would involve “minimal”

changes to the existing schedule.

Morning Ireland will be present-

ed by winsome Nicola Hudson,

28, who has a passion for food,

wine, chats and fast paced envi-

ronments and by hunky Ronan Gil-

ligan, 30 who likes to travel.

Gravelly Mr Faughnan gave up

presenting Roadwatch many years

ago but knows everything there is

to know about driving and recruiting

ﬂat-vowelled beautiful people from

the Greater Dublin Area to give the

automobile view on everything .

He is said to be on a long-term re-

tainer by TV3’s celebrity gossip pro-

gramme, Xposé, and sources close

to the AA have conﬁrmed that Morn-

ing Ireland presenters will also be ex-

pected to present the glamorous tv

programme. An interim RTÉ spokes-

person denied the changes repre-

AA takes

over RTÉ

 Radio