{"id":31061,"date":"2025-08-29T16:07:07","date_gmt":"2025-08-29T16:07:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/31061\/"},"modified":"2025-08-29T16:07:07","modified_gmt":"2025-08-29T16:07:07","slug":"claire-byrne-leaves-rte-for-newstalk-ahead-of-expected-pay-cut-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/31061\/","title":{"rendered":"Claire Byrne leaves RT\u00c9 for Newstalk ahead of expected pay cut \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Claire Byrne<\/a> has said she is \u201cthrilled\u201d to be starting a \u201cnew chapter\u201d of her broadcasting career as she gets ready to re-join Newstalk<\/a> as the host of the morning slot being vacated by Pat Kenny<\/a> in the months ahead.<\/p>\n

The move comes after Kenny told listeners he was leaving his weekday 9am-noon show, and moving to weekends where he is likely to go toe-to-toe with the Brendan O\u2019Connor<\/a> Show on Radio 1 in the new year.<\/p>\n

RT\u00c9<\/a> sources were tight lipped about Byrne\u2019s departure and whether or not money was a factor, with a salary cap now in place.<\/p>\n

Her salary in 2023 was put \u20ac280,000 making her the second highest earner at the station behind Joe Duffy who was said to be on \u20ac351,000. <\/p>\n

With his departure at the end of June, she seemed set to become the station\u2019s best paid presenter. However, she would have been expected to take a significant pay cut.<\/p>\n

Under rules introduced by the director general Kevin Bakhurst in the wake of the Ryan Tubridy controversy two years ago, no one at the station is permitted to earn more than his annual salary of \u20ac250,000.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0RT\u00c9 losing one Today show presenter to Newstalk was misfortune, losing two looks like carelessnessOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

No details have been revealed of the financial inducements made to Byrne to lure her away from the national broadcaster but the package is likely to have been significant for Byrne whose show had 354,000 listeners, according to JNLR figures published earlier this month.<\/p>\n

In one of the biggest upheavals in Irish radio since Kenny departed RT\u00c9 for Newstalk in 2013, she is being replaced by David McCullagh<\/a> who will take over the weekday 10am-midday slot in October.<\/p>\n

In a statement Pat Kenny said he will be moving to a weekend slot in spring of next year \u201cwhere I hope to make a big impact\u201d.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0RT\u00c9\u2019s Claire Byrne asks a question that dispels any trace of carefree holiday vibesOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Confirming the move, which caught many RT\u00c9 staff by surprise, Byrne said the \u201cnew chapter marks a really significant milestone for me in my career and I\u2019m thrilled to be doing it with the vibrant team and listeners at Newstalk as they continue to thrive and cement their position in the Irish media landscape.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a particular honour for me to take up the reins from Pat Kenny, a broadcaster whose career, skill and passion for the job is an inspiration to all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Newstalk\u2019s managing editor Eric Moylan said Byrne was a \u201cseriously talented and skilful broadcaster\u201d and would be \u201ca central part of our ambitious plans for continued audience growth at Newstalk across FM and digital listening\u201d.<\/p>\n

Byrne has presented the Today programme on RT\u00c9 Radio 1 since August 2020. <\/p>\n

At that time she was also hosting Claire Byrne Live on RT\u00c9 One television, which she quit in May 2022, citing her heavy work schedule and her young family.<\/p>\n

Latest JNLR figures showed Byrne hosted the joint fourth most listened to programme on Irish radio.<\/p>\n

Pat Kenny Show had 216,000 listeners in the same slot, according to the official figures. <\/p>\n

In appointing David McCullagh, one of RT\u00c9\u2019s most experienced current-affairs broadcasters, RT\u00c9 is following a playbook first deployed when Sean O\u2019Rourke was moved from news programming to replace Kenny in 2013.<\/p>\n

McCullagh currently anchors Six One News and presents the Behind the Story podcast.<\/p>\n

He is also the author of several books on Irish history, including his two-volume series on the life of \u00c9amon de Valera, Rise and Rule. A two-part documentary series on the life of de Valera, to coincide with the 50th anniversary of his death, begins on Wednesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Claire Byrne has said she is \u201cthrilled\u201d to be starting a \u201cnew chapter\u201d of her broadcasting career as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":31062,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[75],"tags":[24553,24554,18,117,19,17,24556,24555],"class_list":{"0":"post-31061","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-claire-byrne-leaving-rte","9":"tag-david-mccullagh","10":"tag-eire","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-ie","13":"tag-ireland","14":"tag-rte-radio-1","15":"tag-today-show"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31061","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=31061"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31061\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31062"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31061"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31061"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31061"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}