{"id":311720,"date":"2026-01-30T15:11:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T15:11:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/311720\/"},"modified":"2026-01-30T15:11:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T15:11:07","slug":"pat-kenny-signs-off-after-more-than-four-decades-of-daily-radio-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/311720\/","title":{"rendered":"Pat Kenny signs off after more than four decades of daily radio \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Towards the end of the final weekday radio broadcast of Pat Kenny<\/a>\u2019s long career, something extraordinary happens when the stoic host\u2019s stiff upper lip wobbles ever so slightly. <\/p>\n

\u201cTo be honest I\u2019m a bit overwhelmed,\u201d the veteran presenter and newsman says as he is flooded with messages from wellwishers. \u201cMy father used to quote the proverb that self-praise was no praise \u2013 but then he used to say that if you want to be somebody you\u2019ve got to bang, bang, bang on the drum. It was a bit confusing for a young lad.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kenny doesn\u2019t quite bang the drum as he takes his leave from the 9am-noon slot on Newstalk<\/a> he has occupied since he sensationally left<\/a> RT\u00c9 after 41 years \u2013 he had joined the national broadcaster as a part-time radio announcer in 1972. That defection was in 2013, when Kenny was a mere lad of 65. <\/p>\n

As he points out early in the three-hour broadcast, he isn\u2019t actually retiring and from March will host a weekend show on the station. Still, if not the end of Kenny on the radio, it was nonetheless a sign-off from a morning berth he has occupied for decades, whether on Newstalk or RT\u00c9<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He tries not to make a fuss \u2013 but a fuss is made all the same. Just before the midday news he plays excerpts from some of his higher-profile interviews across the past 12 years. <\/p>\n

There is a clip of Bono<\/a> dialling in from Africa, of Bill Clinton<\/a> talking about right-wing politics in the United States and the chatshow great Michael Parkinson<\/a> singing the praises of his old Granada TV friend Gay Byrne<\/a> (\u201cnever bought a drink in 40 years\u201d).<\/p>\n

Kenny\u2019s restraint has not always served him well in Irish broadcasting. It was one of the reasons why he could seem such a poor fit for the Late Late Toy Show, where he grilled eight-year-old tractor enthusiasts from Kiltimagh as if they were career politicians with something to hide. <\/p>\n

But he has been in his element on Newstalk, where his take-no-prisoners interviewing technique and command of the facts have made the show essential listening and offered a contrast to the sometimes wishy-washy alternatives on RT\u00c9.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0\u2018I\u2019m not going anywhere,\u2019 says gloriously cranky Pat Kenny as he prepares to move onOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

In keeping with his just-facts-please style, Kenny, who turned 78 on Thursday, doesn\u2019t go overboard on his final weekday stint. If anything, it is the guests who seem to be coming down with a worrying case of emotion. <\/p>\n

Stuart Clark, deputy editor of Hot Press magazine, talks about what an honour it has been talking pop titbits with Kenny \u2013 leading Kenny to quote Abba when he tells Clark, \u201cThank you for the music\u201d.<\/p>\n

The BBC<\/a>\u2019s world-affairs editor, John Simpson<\/a>, likewise sounds ever so slightly overwrought when he gets on the line to chat American politics.<\/p>\n

\u201cGood morning, Pat. It\u2019s a great honour to be interviewed by you,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n

\u201cI look forward to talking to you over many weekends in the future,\u201d Kenny replies. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s his way of saying that, despite the outpouring from his listeners, for now, and two years shy of 80, he has no intention of going anywhere.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Towards the end of the final weekday radio broadcast of Pat Kenny\u2019s long career, something extraordinary happens when…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":311721,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[75],"tags":[3412,4749,3377,18,117,93158,19,17,152230,152229,5287,24320,1181],"class_list":{"0":"post-311720","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-bbc","9":"tag-bill-clinton","10":"tag-bono","11":"tag-eire","12":"tag-entertainment","13":"tag-gay-byrne","14":"tag-ie","15":"tag-ireland","16":"tag-john-simpson","17":"tag-michael-parkinson","18":"tag-newstalk-radio","19":"tag-pat-kenny","20":"tag-rte"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115984694164431588","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311720","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=311720"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311720\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/311721"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=311720"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=311720"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=311720"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}