Top Job at RTE

Last April RTE advertised the job of Head of Sport (Programming) internally. Fred Cogley, the man in possession, was to move sideways! upwards. by Eamon Dunphy

Applications were submitted mainly from the Sports Department but also from as far afield as the Current Affairs unit from where one Gerry Gregg applied. Gregg is not regarded as an expert on sport but as the brother of former Bohs and Ireland full-back Eamon Gregg had the right connecctions as it were.

Nothing happened for ages.

In the autumn the interview proocess began. Between April and autumn most Sports Dept activity centred on the organisation's Olympic coverage. This was deemed a success although there was much behind the scenes tennsion between the Sports Dept bods .and the Light Entertainment persons who were involved in the breakfast television segment of the Games proogramming.

The post-Olympic air was full of talk about The Job. All the Sports Dept heavies applied, Michael O'Carroll award winning producer, Mike Horgan editor of the Saturday afternoon sports show, the Dept's flagship programme, Brendan Hehir, John D. O'Brien, Chris Darby, and Tim O'Connor, the most talented departmental operator who had done a splendid job heading up the Olympic coverage.

The interviews didn't go well. The applicants behaved in a distinctly bolshie fashion. They were unhappy at the job definition, its grading (an important consideration in the Civil Service) and the extent to which the New Man would be hamstrung as the amiable Cogley had been by lack of facilities (outside broadcast units etc) with which to make programmes.

Showing admirable courage the Heavies went before the Interview Board and vent their spleens. That is the ones with talent and genuine claims to the job did so. One of them withhdrew from the interview, convinced that management were only looking for a patsy to carry the can for another era of bad programmes.

The Interview Board had a noticeeably unsporting look about it, consistt-ing of Dick Hill Director of Proogrammes, Vincent Finn Deputy Direcctor of Programmes, Bob Collins, and Fred Cogley.

One by one the men with the talent and managerial capacity to do the job cut their own throats by confronting the assembled directors and deputies with the realities of Sports Department life and by pointing out how these realities must change if decent proogrammes were to be made. Things like studios must be made available to sport for major occasions such as Euroo-pean Championships, international socccer matches etc. Outside broadcast units would likewise be required to film sports stories and events. The GAA would have to be taken on when it tried to use its considerable influence over RTE coverage of national games. One or two broadcasting legends were ready for the chop, would the manageement accept this?

There was also the not inconsiiderable question of salary and grading for The Job. As it stood on offer, the remuneration was hardly worth the aggro that the New Man might incur as he went to bureaucratic war on the Sports Department's behalf. After some stormy interviews, management were ready to make their recommenndation to Muiris McConghail, Conntroller of Programmes.

The job should go to Gerry Gregg, the outsider. That at least is what many believe. There is, however, an alternative suggestion that Gregg was one of two names dispatched upstairs, the other being that of John D. O'Brien, a Sports Department producer who it is believed felt less passionately than others the concern expressed to the Interview Board.

Confronted with the available opptions McConghail decided to make no .appointrnent. Backed by the RTE Authority he decided that the job should be re-advertised, this time externally as well as internally.

The importance of all this to the sporting public at large may not be immediately apparent. Why should we worry about a group of anonymous civil servants jockeying for bureauucratic position you may well ask?

Well the answer is that no matter what your sporting tastes are they will be affected in some cases quite dramaatically by the outcome of the Head of Sport Affair. For instance, should RTE take live coverage of the National Hunt Festival from Cheltenham? Will the station open up to broadcast Ascot's Royal meeting in June? How about the World Snooker Championnship this spring? Wouldn't it be nice, more than nice, for those in singleechannel land, to savour the tension of the Crucible Theatre Sheffield with the rest of us?

Whether these and other great sporting events are covered by R TE and how they are covered will be decided by the quality of the man chosen to succeed Fred Cogley. Coggley, a pleasant man and a much smarrter man than his on-screen image would sometimes suggest, battled galllantly to push the Sports Department up the list of RTE priorities. With the resources problem (money) of recent years Cogley's has been no easy task. There have been notable victories, ie the Sports Department has managed to more or less hold its own. But immproved sports coverage will only be achieved, it is felt, if a smart, enerrgetic operator gets The Job.

The latest round of interviews began last week. The external adverrtisement has resulted in just one appplication of any interest. Noel Carroll, ex-international athlete, currently PRO for the 'Corpo ', has thrown his hat in the ring.

The Man Who Withdrew Before has reapplied, the feeling being that chasstened by the opposition encountered at the previous interviews, manageement is. this time inclined to upgrade the position.

This time Muiris M.cConghail himself will be on the Interview Board. Dick Hill and Vincent Finn, rivals for the Director Generalship (also interviewing at the moment), have dropped out. Conor Sexton, Head of Personnel, has dropped in.

Aggro on the shop floor has resulted in the bosses paying proper attention to the appointment.

Magill's prediction? Tim O'Connor.