The news that Claire Byrne is to leave RTÉ Radio 1’s Today show to join Newstalk may have come as a surprise, but it’s not the first time a presenter of the national broadcaster’s flagship midmorning magazine programme has jumped ship to the rival station. In 2013, the Irish radio world was stunned when Pat Kenny, who had hosted the Today show in various guises since the 1970s, announced he was departing Radio 1 to join Newstalk for a new midmorning weekday show. To paraphrase Oscar Wilde: to lose one Today show presenter to Newstalk may be regarded as misfortune, to lose two looks like carelessness.
Indeed, the events are connected. On Friday, almost 12 years to the day since he began broadcasting his show for his new station, Kenny informed listeners that he would be moving to a weekend slot next year; an hour later the news broke that Byrne would be leaving to take up Kenny’s vacant spot in early 2026. (The news came too late for this writer’s radio column in Ticket, which this week reviews Byrne’s programme.) Meanwhile, RTÉ announced that David McCullagh, currently anchor of Six One News on RTÉ One television, would replace Byrne as Today host. That’s a lot of musical chairs for talk radio.
Either way, the departure of Byrne comes as another blow for a beleaguered RTÉ. One of the country’s best-known broadcasters, who had made her name as a news anchor at TV3, Byrne had actually been working as a host of Newstalk’s morning show when she moved to RTÉ in 2010, primarily as a television presenter. But following the retirement of Sean O’Rourke, in 2020, she took over stewardship of Today, where she has been a solid performer since, both on the air and in the ratings: the most recent JNLR figures indicated her show had 354,000 listeners.
[ Claire Byrne to leave RTÉ for Newstalk radio slotOpens in new window ]
Though RTÉ was quick to name the respected McCullagh as her successor, so bringing certainty to the prime morning slot, there’s no question that Newstalk has come away with the bigger prize, at least in terms of public profile. And Byrne’s exit shouldn’t come as a complete shock. Late last year, she said she would have “a conversation” with RTÉ’s director general, Kevin Bakhurst, when her contract came up for renewal.
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Having previously been on a salary of €360,000 when combining television and radio duties, Byrne had been earning €280,000 for her work on Today, but new RTÉ salary rules, introduced as the network navigates its dire financial situation, meant any future pay would be capped at €250,000. Newstalk, owned by the German conglomerate Bauer Media, is unfettered by such constraints and, in a reversal of the gigantic RTÉ pay packets of the Celtic Tiger, can offer bigger salaries for marquee names than Montrose can.
Byrne may also have been tempted by Kenny’s experience at Newstalk. Before his move, Kenny was the ultimate RTÉ company man, having worked in everything from current-affairs television to music radio. The Today show was the linchpin of the Radio 1 schedule, adding to the seismic nature of his decision to depart Montrose. But it was a canny move by Kenny, rejuvenating his career and extending it far longer than he could have expected at RTÉ. Still, at 76 years old, his age belied by his energetic, forensic on-air presence, it’s unsurprising that Kenny should seek a less demanding routine than his daily three-hour shift.
Kenny also helped boost Newstalk’s national profile, his name winning over mainstream audiences that had previously eluded hosts such as George Hook: his most recent ratings had him with an audience of 216,000. The station will hope that Byrne can maintain Kenny’s strong performance, and indeed peel away listeners from Radio 1. That may be a big ask. Byrne shares Kenny’s meticulousness, but while her unruffled style yields detailed interviews, it rarely results in the kind of audio fireworks that Newstalk audiences have come to expect. Kenny, while rigorous, is more prone to annoyance at guests, not to mention the occasional verbal faux pas, which lends his show a fizz that Byrne may struggle to re-create. On the plus side, her arrival at Newstalk brings a respectable gender balance to its otherwise predominantly male line-up, presenters such as Ciara Kelly and Andrea Gilligan aside.
As for RTÉ Radio 1, the departure of Byrne provides another unwanted headache. The station is still grappling with the question of who should succeed Joe Duffy on Liveline, with seemingly half the Radio 1 roster getting a go at presenting the phone-in show. Moreover, Montrose’s radio centre is reeling from the shockingly premature death of the Arena presenter Seán Rocks last month, which robbed Radio 1 of one its most accomplished – and beloved – broadcasters.
As it happens, such turmoil could provide RTÉ’s director of audio, Patricia Monahan, with an opportunity to overhaul or reinvent Radio 1’s schedule; whether Liveline should continue without Duffy is a question that hasn’t been answered by the uneven shows since his retirement. But the rapid anointment of McCullagh as Today host suggests there’ll be at least some stability amid the chaos.
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Odd as it might seem, McCullagh may face an easier task than Byrne, notwithstanding the need to retain her audience. The Today show’s time-tested magazine format should suit someone of his formidable current-affairs pedigree, and while he’s best known as a TV performer, he has been a wry presence on RTÉ’s Behind the Story* podcast. Plus, strange as it may sound, McCullagh is something of a new voice, for Radio 1 listeners at least.
It’s slim comfort for RTÉ, however, which finds itself on the back foot as the weakened and demoralised network’s upstart commercial competitor again raids its talent. Radio 1 remains a behemoth, but Byrne’s exit may signal as big a shift in the broadcasting world as Kenny’s did 12 years ago.
*This article was updated on August 30th, 2025 to correct the name of this podcast
