LATE LATE SHOW host Ryan Tubridy has admitted that others may be tempted to leave RTÉ in the wake of Pat Kenny’s shock move to Newstalk.
Kenny, a 41-year veteran of RTÉ, departed the station last week in a shock move which Tubridy said today was likely to tempt other presenters although he said he is firmly committed to his roles with the Late Late and on 2fm.
Speaking to the media at the launch of RTÉ’s autumn scheduled of TV programmes, Tubridy said: “I’d say it [Kenny's departure] would be tempting for some people. I’m not one of them.
“I’m happy here but I think others might reconsider and what it does is it might change things a little bit in terms of negotiation [for new contracts].”
He said that Kenny’s departure was a “game-changer” in Irish media and said the broadcaster needs to up its game saying that RTÉ “moves quite slowly, they need to pick up the speed a bit”.
“They need to come out fighting. They need to be packed full of action, and vim and vigour and excitement and enthusiasm, and leadership and innovation. They need to take this on,” he said. “They need to take on Newstalk and they need to win.”
Tubridy said it was “too much of a hypothetical” to speculate about whether he might replace Kenny in the 10am to 12pm slot on RTÉ Radio One, pointing out that he returns to his current slot on 2fm next week.
“The decision as to who fills in and takes over, who moves into whatever slot becomes available is currently being talked about by the bosses and I don’t know where that’s going or in what direction it’s going,” he said.
“So for now I just have to focus on where I’m going, which is back to work on Monday morning.”
He said that the broadcaster has plenty of options from within to replace Kenny and added that the vacancy on Prime Time could be filled by “new faces”.
“I think they need new people in some respects and I think that that’s what this departure is, it’s an opportunity to get some younger blood in, to get some new faces, to bring RTÉ into the future,” he added.
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