{"id":120971,"date":"2025-10-14T08:00:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-14T08:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/120971\/"},"modified":"2025-10-14T08:00:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-14T08:00:08","slug":"after-last-weeks-radio-reshuffle-what-is-the-difference-now-between-rte-and-newstalk-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/120971\/","title":{"rendered":"After last week\u2019s radio reshuffle, what is the difference now between RT\u00c9 and Newstalk? \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

They say change is the only constant. That has not been true at RT\u00c9<\/a> Radio 1, where change, when it comes at all, has tended to be intermittent and painfully slow. A retirement here, an unexpected death there. So last week\u2019s cascade of announcements<\/a> \u2013 of departures, arrivals, reshuffles and reschedules \u2013 felt to some like a miniature revolution, with reports describing it as the biggest schedule change \u201cin a generation\u201d, or \u201cin decades\u201d, or even \u201cin the station\u2019s history\u201d.<\/p>\n

The departure<\/a> of Ray D\u2019Arcy<\/a> after 11 years at Montrose was the spark. Almost immediately, it was confirmed that Kieran Cuddihy<\/a> will succeed Joe Duffy<\/a> on Liveline. In parallel, there will be a switch between the two midmorning shows, a move to D\u2019Arcy\u2019s old midafternoon slot for Louise Duffy, new hosts and a changed start time for Drivetime. And a new evening sports show will run from 6pm each weekday.<\/p>\n

We will be well into 2026 before anyone can begin to judge whether any of this is successful, but it does prompt a few questions.<\/p>\n

1. What is the difference now between RT\u00c9 Radio 1 and Newstalk?<\/b><\/p>\n

There has long been some blurring of lines between Ireland\u2019s main public service radio station and its commercial rival. That now seems to have ratcheted up. Claire Byrne<\/a> goes in one direction, Kieran Cuddihy in the other. When Byrne starts there, Newstalk<\/a>\u2019s two flagship presenters \u2013 with Pat Kenny<\/a> at weekends \u2013 will both be old RT\u00c9 hands. With Newstalk veterans Patricia Monahan<\/a> and Mark Simpson occupying senior management roles at RT\u00c9 Audio, you\u2019d be increasingly hard put to discern the difference.<\/p>\n

Moving the Today programme, with its new host David McCullagh<\/a>, to a 9am start is clearly a defensive response to the ratings threat from Byrne. But it will also contribute to the heightened sense of sameness between the two stations, both of which rely on a similar mix of broad-interest current affairs and lifestyle magazine shows to get them through the day.<\/p>\n

If RT\u00c9 ends up looking and sounding a little bit more like its rival, which in turn ends up looking and sounding a little bit more like RT\u00c9, there\u2019s a clear loser \u2013 and it\u2019s not Newstalk. After all, if the public service broadcaster\u2019s personalities and tone converge even more with its commercial competitor, what then is distinctively \u201cpublic service\u201d about it?<\/p>\n

2. Was Ray D\u2019Arcy\u2019s exit more a HR manoeuvre than editorial renewal?<\/b><\/p>\n

Nobody quite knows what offer, if any, RT\u00c9 made to D\u2019Arcy. He was a contractor, not an employee \u2013 the preferred model for most top presenters. .<\/p>\n

The rationale for such arrangements was that flexibility was needed in order to shuffle talent. Except the shuffling rarely, if ever, happened. D\u2019Arcy\u2019s exit may reflect a new, more ruthless \u2013 some might say professional \u2013 approach. It\u2019s noteworthy that his departure, following those of Byrne and Duffy, leaves only Miriam O\u2019Callaghan (based on the most recent available figures) on a pay grade above the new benchmark of director general Kevin Bakhurst\u2019s \u20ac250,000 a year.<\/p>\n

3. Could RT\u00c9 acquire Second Captains?<\/b><\/p>\n

One move that piques curiosity is the introduction of the new evening sports show. The announcement came with little detail, but speculation has inevitably followed. Independent producers Second Captains<\/a> have built the country\u2019s leading subscriber-funded sports podcast, and already provide a weekend show to Radio 1. Reports over the weekend suggested the new evening slot could be a prelude to a big acquisition.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Second Captains team each takes home almost \u20ac166,000 from podcasts last yearOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Given Second Captains\u2019 healthy revenues, the cost would be substantial, and it would probably cause ructions within the broadcaster\u2019s own sports department. They will be relieved to hear that Second Captains have had \u201cno discussions about the weekday schedule\u201d. But the rumours reflect the intensity of the competition for listeners in contemporary Irish sports audio, with Mediahuis Ireland\u2019s Indo Sport brand investing heavily in talent and marketing, and Newstalk owner Bauer Media\u2019s Off The Ball also in the mix.<\/p>\n

4. Is RT\u00c9 cowering ever more to political pressure?<\/b><\/p>\n

Speaking to Anton Savage on Newstalk (naturally) on Sunday, veteran satirist Mario Rosenstock took aim at the broader failure of nerve on display across RT\u00c9 radio and television. Where, he demanded, is the anarchic spirit in RT\u00c9 today? Where is the space for the unexpected, for sharp satire of the powerful, for unruly anti-establishment voices and full-on debate?<\/p>\n

He was not the only one to deride Patrick Kielty<\/a>\u2019s claim, in the wake of the recent Jimmy Kimmel controversy<\/a>, that The Late Late Show is a place where you can say \u201cwhatever the f**k you want\u201d. The claim sat uneasily beside the stilted, over-scripted version of the show that Kielty now presents.<\/p>\n

Rosenstock\u2019s critique was incomplete (unsurprisingly, perhaps, he made no mention of rival impressionist Oliver Callan, one of the big winners in last week\u2019s Radio 1 reshuffle). But his core point is indisputable. In the wake of its annus horribilis two years ago, RT\u00c9 now finds itself reliant more than ever in its history on direct subvention from the Exchequer and therefore in thrall to the government of the day. The arm\u2019s-length principle is essentially dead.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0RT\u00c9\u2019s new radio schedule a hurried defensive reflex to sour taste left by Ray D\u2019Arcy exitOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

One gets little sense from Bakhurst, Monahan or their fellow executives at RT\u00c9 of any creative energy or vision beyond a cautious managerialism. That shouldn\u2019t come as a surprise; the default history of RT\u00c9 is of an organisation run by conservative technocrats who occasionally got ambushed by brilliant mavericks.<\/p>\n

So the problem with the vision of the future that unfolded \u2013 chaotically and rather entertainingly \u2013 on Thursday and Friday last week is not that it represents some ambitious change. The real problem is that nothing could be further from the truth.<\/p>\n

An earlier version of this article incorrectly named Mark Simpson.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"They say change is the only constant. That has not been true at RT\u00c9 Radio 1, where change,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":120972,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[75],"tags":[23898,18,117,19,17,23900,5287,56911,1181],"class_list":{"0":"post-120971","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-claire-byrne","9":"tag-eire","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland","13":"tag-kieran-cuddihy","14":"tag-newstalk-radio","15":"tag-ray-d-arcy","16":"tag-rte"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120971","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=120971"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120971\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/120972"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=120971"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=120971"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=120971"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}