WITH RTE CONFIRMING that Ryan Tubridy will not be returning to the airwaves “at this time”, one of the immediate questions is who will replace him on the radio.
Before he was taken off air in June, the presenter had been at the helm of The Ryan Tubridy Show since 2015.
RTÉ director general Kevin Bakhurst said this morning that discussions on the issue of his replacement have already started. Speaking on Morning Ireland today, Bakhurst said that Oliver Callan and Brendan Courtney, who have filled in for Tubridy in his absence, “have been doing a really good job in that slot”.
Tubridy was due to return to hosting his RTÉ radio programme on 4 September, before he appeared to question the organisation’s statements on his previous earnings, according to Bakhurst.
Negotiation talks were thrown into crisis after Tubridy released a statement which appeared to question RTE’s decision to restate his earnings for 2020-2021 following a highly anticipated report into the matter.
Tubridy’s broadcasting skills and the light-entertainment nature of the show – it’s sandwiched between current affairs programmes Morning Ireland and Today With Claire Byrne – made it popular among listeners. When asked whether the format of the show would be revised, along with a new host, Bakhurst said: “It gives you an opportunity to look at these things again.”
RTÉ said in June that Tubridy was taken off the air for editorial reasons.
Callan, a comedian who occasionally filled in for Tubridy before this scandal broke, also presents the sketch show Callan’s Kicks on Radio One.
Brendan Courtney, who is presenting the show this week, previously helmed The Brendan Courtney Show on TV3. Both Callan and Courtney have assumed the easy-going tone that the show had under Tubridy, combining light stories and interviews with an informal overview of the day’s news.
Opening the show this morning, Courtney said it was “a little bit strange to be here”, and said that “we all feel a but discombobulated this morning”.
Bakhurst said he does not believe that Tubridy has “owned his mistakes” in relation to RTÉ’s under-declaration of the star presenter’s salary.
He said that RTÉ staff “were strongly divided” about whether Tubridy should return, but added that he is a “hugely talented broadcaster” and he felt it was the right thing to try to bring him back.
Other names being bounced around include Marty Morrissey, Rachel English, Anton Savage and Patrick Kielty, who was announced as Tubridy’s replacement as host of The Late Late Show earlier this year.
Morrissey is a popular RTÉ presenter, with experience in both current affairs and light entertainment – he played the Magic Mirror by way of voice recordings in a pantomime production of Snow White last year.
He previously hosted The Marty Squad, a GAA analysis show, on RTÉ Radio One.
He was, however, also wrapped up in the RTÉ payments scandal after it emerged that he had received a loaned car from Renault for five years.
Rachael English is one of the presenters of Morning Ireland. She has also written six novels.
Anton Savage is another seasoned broadcaster and journalist, with a Saturday morning show on Newstalk and a column in the Business Post (where, it’s worth pointing out, he recently discussed the issue of RTÉ presenters’ pay).
Patrick Kielty, who was announced as Tubridy’s successor on The Late Late Show earlier this year, is an RTÉ outsider but his appointment to the flagship chat show was widely welcomed. He has worked as a presenter for UTV, BBC, ABC and ITV.
His first outing as host of the Late Late will be on 15 September.
Whoever does succeed Tubridy, and RTÉ’s other high-paid presenters, could be subject to pay cuts as the broadcaster addresses a long-levelled criticism that its top stars are paid too much.
Bakhurst said that Tubridy was due to return to his radio show, and do a podcast, for a revised salary of €170,000.
When asked about possible pay cuts, he said: “People have contracts and those contracts come up for renewal. I mean, I think that is the expectation and that’s my intention that we need to look at that.
Writing in the Irish Times, Hugh Linehan observed that: “The rules of this game have changed for good and nobody is indispensable.”
Additional reporting by PA
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