BREAKFAST RADIO’S ODD couple, Chris Donoghue and Ivan Yates have said farewell to the Newstalk show they’ve co-hosted for six years.
The unlikely duo – whose comic banter was either loved or hated by early morning listeners – now go their separate ways, with a new breakfast team lined up for the autumn.
Yates is leaving the Denis O’Brien-owned station to go travelling with his wife, while Donoghue will now take over George Hook’s afternoon slot with Sunday Times political correspondent, Sarah McInerney.
Yates’ departure from the station prompted an outpouring of farewells on social media, with the hashtag #Yexit trending on Twitter this morning.
Signing off this morning, Donoghue said, “Thank you Mr Yates, I’ve had an absolute blast.
You are nowhere near as difficult as you pretend to be.
“I’m very unemotional,” Yates said earlier on the show, as he read out texts from listeners who said they couldn’t wait for him to leave the country.
The pair later thanked everyone who worked on the show before playing a montage of the show’s best bits that “show the two of us should never have been allowed on the radio”, Donoghue said.
Yates’ unique style of presenting – in which he bluntly expressed his opinion, often knew nothing about popular trends and constantly mixed up people’s names – tended to divide public opinion.
The pair will be replaced by political editor Shane Coleman, who will take over hosting duties on weekday mornings.
He’ll be joined in the breakfast lineup by crime journalist Paul Williams, TV3 news anchor Collette Fitzpatrick and former Irish rugby star Alan Quinlan. The new show will air from 7am till 9am.
Read: Chris Donoghue is moving to George Hook’s slot on Newstalk
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