There is a problem with the programme link facility on RTE Radio One but RTE staff do not seem too bothered about it.
I accessed in the usual way by clicking ‘Radio’ at the bottom of the page. This leads to a page featuring all RTE stations with a ‘find a programme’ feature that includes a helpful alphabetic code.
I clicked ‘M’ and gained access to a whole range of programmes beginning with the letter ‘M’ on the various stations including Marian Finucane, the website I was looking for.
At this point the system breaks down. When I click on Marian Finucane nothing happens.
I did discover a roundabout way to the Marian Finucane website by using the search engine but it’s awkward and, naively, thinking RTE might be interested in checking out the problem I rang the station.
I really should have known better because RTE is not good at this sort of thing and invariably I come away highly stressed from such experiences.
The first lady I spoke with (both of us navigated the website as we spoke) insisted that the only means of accessing a particular programme was by typing in the URL address.
When I asked why there was a programme link facility she passed me on to another lady.
The second lady, in addition to being uncooperative, was also angry at being interrupted completing what she described as ‘her brief’.
She too advised me to type in the URL for access to the Marian Finucane website slowly reading out the address as if she was addressing a child.
I insisted on focusing on the link problem and eventually she ‘discovered’ that by clicking on the word ‘genre’ left of the alphabetical code the Marian Finucane website became assessable.
She informed me that she wasn’t responsible for maintaining the RTE website and made it abundantly clear that the conversation was over, that she was getting back to her ‘brief’.
The programme link facility is still faulty so unless listeners are prepared to spend time playing around with it or run the gauntlet of impatient and angry RTE staff the facility is, as they say, off air.
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Wasting your time with them. Many of their links havent worked in years. They dont give a toss. Why would they. Its not like their performance is important. Soon theyll have those of us without a TV paying their wages anyway. According to Patronising Pat Rabbit, the online offering is great.
One good thing on RTE was Tubridy whingeing about Dunphys articulate and accurate description of Ireland being a corrupt banana republic, a dump and a kip. See if RTEs website links work for that one!