Radio: Chipper Alison Curtis emerges from Ray D’Arcy’s shadow

It says something about Ray D'Arcy's reputation that, in a week when he is conspicuously absent, those replacing him struggle to make their presence felt. The morning after the announcement that D'Arcy is departing his robustly popular Today FM show, to take over from Derek Mooney on RTÉ Radio 1, a palpably stunned atmosphere prevails as Alison Curtis gamely attempts to pick up the pieces left by the defection.

Taking the helm in D’Arcy’s old slot, temporarily rebranded as Mid-Mornings with Alison Curtis (Today FM, weekdays), the normally perky presenter speaks in the kind of disbelieving tone usually heard from the recently bereaved. “It’s a very strange day for everyone here, and for everyone who listens to the show on a regular basis,” says Curtis. “So we’re going to do our best here to keep it going.” One half-expects her to add that it’s what Ray would have wanted, only for the fact that D’Arcy is in a position to rebut the assertion.

Curtis is too experienced a broadcaster to mope. But, starting with the unusual event of two tracks being played back to back, it’s difficult to escape the impression that she is distracted by the voice that isn’t there. She admits as much the following morning, remarking that “the news is sinking in for everybody today”.

But time is a great healer. By Wednesday, Curtis gets stuck into the newspaper round-up without so much as a mention of that Roy Deasy, or whatever he's called. Instead, the upbeat persona familiar to listeners of Curtis's Saturday-morning show is in evidence, never more so than when her cadences are squared as she chats with the singing astronaut (and Canadian compatriot) Chris Hadfield.

Greeting her guest, she establishes common ground from the off. “I’m a fellow Canadian, so I know Sarnia [Hadfield’s home town] very well,” she says. “Lucky you on both counts,” comes the disarming reply. When Hadfield mentions recently playing a gig in Curtis’s home town with the Canadian indie band the Tragically Hip, the presenter almost bites his arm off in excitement: “You did not!”

It’s more like an old friends’ reunion than an interview but lends an appealing ease to proceedings. Hadfield is an attractive personality, his friendly optimism anchored to the realism of a man who has been shot into space. Of the recent fatal accident involving Richard Branson’s space-tourism venture, he is unsentimental. “I used to be a test pilot, so I recognise that if you want to push back the edge of the envelope then someone has to go take the risk.”

Curtis seems energised by her close encounter with her fellow Canadian. She strikes up a rapport with the English broadcaster Carol Vorderman, taking what could be a rote phone interview into interesting areas such as work opportunities for young women. Whether or not Curtis gets the chance of a longer-term tenancy in the weekday-morning slot, her chipper style helps ensure the spectre of the previous incumbent doesn’t linger too long.

Curtis isn't all chirpiness, however, as she shows creditable balance and common sense during her interview with the Independent TD Paul Murphy in advance of Wednesday's anti-water-charge protests.

An altogether different ambience reigns when Murphy appears on The Pat Kenny Show (Newstalk, weekdays), where the host is in stunningly fractious form.

Kenny asks Murphy about his opposition to charging, and wonders how to otherwise fund improvements to the water system. But there’s no mistaking the edge in Kenny’s voice as he tries to pin down his guest’s proposal that water should be funded by “progressive taxation”. The presenter characterises this as a “catch-all phrase”; the bottom line, Kenny repeatedly says, is “you want someone else to pay for your water”.

This antagonism only increases. Kenny talks of “trying to get a handle” on his guest, but as Murphy outlines his grievances the presenter chastises him. “Is there anything you like? Do you want to live here at all?”

But when Murphy wheels out the radical-left line that the established parties represent the interests of bondholders, bankers and “the likes of Denis O’Brien”, the host fulminates, “What has Denis O’Brien got to do with water?” – only to answer his own question with his next breath. “He provides an awful lot of jobs. One of the companies in which he is involved has been commissioned to install meters.”

The presenter points out that protesters have prevented “ordinary working men” from doing their job of fitting water meters. But such pertinent points get lost in his stream of outrage. O’Brien’s “connection with water or television or newspapers has nothing to do with this argument, unless you want him to pay for your water”, Kenny concludes.

Given the latter's blurry logic, Murphy doesn't feel the need to point out that Newstalk itself is owned by O'Brien's company Communicorp.

In constantly barracking Murphy, Kenny rather lets his guest off the hook. When Murphy says Irish Water will be privatised by a future government, Kenny doesn’t reject this unprovable assertion but instead baits the deputy. “You’re anticipating a right-wing government,” he says scornfully. “That doesn’t show a great act of faith in your socialist future.” It’s hard to recall Kenny ever being so petulant while being so bluntly ineffective. With luck it’s not an omen for his future.

Moment of the Week: Atheists keep faith

Documentary on One: A Humanist Milestone (RTÉ Radio 1, weekdays) is a gentle but thoughtful portrait of the men and women who officiate at the weddings and funerals of Irish atheists. The programme shows how all-pervasive religion remains in Irish life, right down to our language. At a "welcoming ceremony" for a newborn, its humanist celebrant, Brian Whiteside, says he is unafraid to use the term "godparents". "It's not a bad term," he says; the alternative is the worthy-sounding "guideparents". Even atheists know there are times when religion has its uses.

radioreview@irishtimes.com