Christy Dignam speaks with raw but droll honesty – even when Ryan Tubridy drops a clangerDespite some missteps by the RTÉ Radio 1 host, the Aslan singer gives a compellingly frank interview about the prospect of deathMon Apr 17 2023 - 12:37
Pat Kenny puts AI in its place. The chatbot was never going to match the sniffy superiority and nitpicking insecurityThe Newstalk host’s chat about ChatGPT highlights the quirks that lie beneath his undoubted store of knowledgeFri Apr 14 2023 - 05:00
Brendan O’Connor gets familiar with Sarah Ferguson but lets her off the hook about Prince AndrewO’Connor’s cheeky encounter with the Duchess of York has its limitsFri Apr 07 2023 - 05:00
Claire Byrne seems stuck in neutral. Her show needs a kick-start Radio: The Today host’s calm and professional approach is very admirable but an airless atmosphere often pervades the programmeFri Mar 31 2023 - 05:00
A farewell to John Hume: ‘People in Derry felt robbed of a proper leavetaking’Twenty-five years after the Belfast Agreement, a show based on the life of the Nobel laureate is opening in DerryMon Mar 27 2023 - 06:00
Joe Duffy is going round in circles. He seems to do little else these daysRadio: Liveline host revisits old maths lessons in giddy fashion, while Andrea Gilligan shows her practical side in conversations about racism and cancerFri Mar 24 2023 - 05:00
Losing the Edge: Ryan Tubridy fluffs his questions for U2 guitarist Radio: The exiting Late Late Show host’s chummy chat underlines why he needs to focus on his radio gameFri Mar 17 2023 - 05:00
‘I’m breaking’: Morning Ireland’s emotional interview gets to the heart of housing crisisRadio: Flagship show has been struggling lately but its old formula proves perfect for addressing the consequences of lifting of the evictions banFri Mar 10 2023 - 05:00
Newstalk’s Kieran Cuddihy a psychopath? He’s far too easygoing and disarmingly informalHard Shoulder host brings an easygoing manner to Holly Cairns interview and Northern Ireland coverageFri Mar 03 2023 - 05:00
Seán Moncrieff the war correspondent? Bet you didn’t see that one coming Radio: The Newstalk host’s offbeat dispatches from Kyiv show the surreality of war as well as bearing witness to Putin’s savageryFri Feb 24 2023 - 05:00
For all Dave Fanning’s on-air energy, his glory days as influential tastemaker had long recededChampioning an early U2 gave the DJ a reputation as a kingmaker. That he left without fanfare seems symptomatic of how much his beloved station has changedThu Feb 23 2023 - 15:03
Jennifer Zamparelli is one of the few people in RTÉ with reasons to be cheerfulRadio: Punchy approach of Jennifer Zamparelli and feelgood mood of the 2FM Breakfast team bucks the trend for falling ratingsFri Feb 17 2023 - 05:00
‘He was encouraging people to take a vow of celibacy, and he was abusing them at night-time’Radio: Tales of the late theologian Jean Vanier’s sexual abuse of young women prompt deja vu all over again for Joe DuffyFri Feb 10 2023 - 05:00
‘I actually was a bit spooked’: Andrea Gilligan, usually unflappable, sounds shaken by her online harassmentRadio: The Newstalk presenter reveals her own experiences during a discussion of abusive online behaviourFri Feb 03 2023 - 05:00
It’s hard to hoodwink Pat Kenny. But this week he sounded strangely naive about politicsRadio: Newstalk’s seasoned broadcaster was probably kicking himself for an uncharacteristic misfiring over Paschal Donohoe’s election expensesFri Jan 27 2023 - 05:00
A Brad Pitt lesson in making the most of a brief encounter with a Hollywood starRadio: Ireland is beautiful, Bono’s extraordinary – Dermot and Dave masterfully spin a five-minute chat into a three-hour show on Today FMFri Jan 20 2023 - 05:00
Nose picking, pimple squeezing and expectorating: Newstalk’s stomach-turning breakfast radioCiara Kelly and Shane Coleman test their listeners’ appetites, but their theatrical chalk-and-cheese act is strangely comfortingFri Jan 13 2023 - 05:00
Jolly Marty’s new year cheer is quickly displaced by Liveline tales of hospital horrorsRadio: Marty Morrissey’s on-air geniality fades from memory as Katie Hannon hears callers’ stories of woeFri Jan 06 2023 - 05:00
Ronan Collins’s voice catches, then he weeps for a moment before signing off after 37 yearsRTÉ DJ is not the only one shedding a tear, judging by the correspondence he has received since announcing he’d be stepping down from his Radio 1 showFri Dec 23 2022 - 14:31
RTÉ’s historic changing of the guard is going off without a hitch. Well, almostAs Ronan Collins prepares for his final regular weekday show on Radio 1, Montrose management has been solving the succession questionThu Dec 22 2022 - 05:00
Cormac Ó hEadhra’s mad scientist comes out to play on DrivetimeRadio: The Drivetime host is enjoyably giddy presenting solo this week, but a special zing returns when he’s side by side with his cohost Sarah McInerneyFri Dec 16 2022 - 05:00
Normality bites: falling audiences and stagnant schedules challenge post-pandemic radioRadio review of 2022: RTÉ stations lost listenership as lockdown eased and interests fractured, while Today FM and Newstalk were stable without being stagnantSat Dec 10 2022 - 05:00
Ryan Tubridy bores into Wonderful Life stories Radio 1 host successfully uses his cultural obsessions to draw out a guest, and there’s a rare outbreak of optimism on LivelineFri Dec 09 2022 - 05:00
Unapologetic, unrepentant and scornful, Seán Moncrieff hits his strideRadio: The host’s off-beam but engaging broadcasting style has seen him become Newstalk’s most durable fixtureFri Dec 02 2022 - 05:00
‘Compare the cowardice of Harry Kane and his chums to the Iranian team they played against’Radio: The England soccer team’s abortive armband protest in Qatar exercises the Newstalk host Kieran CuddihyFri Nov 25 2022 - 05:00
Matt Cooper rarely makes a slip on The Last Word. But this week he FX up Radio: That a minor error is even notable testifies to the steady, assured way the journalist has hosted Today FM’s drivetime show for nearly 20 yearsFri Nov 18 2022 - 05:00
Raw tales from Blackrock College are as disturbing as anything from the Magdalene laundriesRadio: Liveline and Documentary on One’s cataloguing of sexual abuse is public-service broadcasting in the truest senseFri Nov 11 2022 - 06:03
Gut-wrenching, essential radio: Blackrock College sexual abuse accounts are tough to listen to Radio review: Documentary on One recounts the horrific experiences of Dublin brothers Mark and David Ryan at the hands of a trusted priestTue Nov 08 2022 - 13:05
Ian Dempsey is in his usual irrepressibly good cheer. Then he drops the H-bomb Radio: It’s a shock to hear the habitually buoyant Today FM presenter express hatred on Wednesday morning’s breakfast showFri Nov 04 2022 - 05:00
‘This is the grimmest item we’ve ever done, but we’re laughing. It’s Irish people’s idea of entertainment’Radio: Brendan O’Connor ranges across social, political and deeply personal matters with John Banville, Tara Flynn and Rory O’NeillFri Oct 28 2022 - 05:45
Flippant filler and hot-button issues: Joe Duffy brings us the upmarket tabloid of Irish radioRadio: On Liveline, the midweek downpours bring out Duffy’s inner stand-up, as he showers listeners with permachuckling bonhomieFri Oct 21 2022 - 05:00
‘In the 1980s, almost everyone in the National Front came from an Irish family’Author and activist Matthew Collins was once a self-described ‘bootboy’ who grew disenchanted with his erstwhile comradesMon Oct 17 2022 - 05:20
Ooh ah... Ireland’s World Cup party seems well and truly poopedRadio review: The celebrations of the Republic of Ireland women’s soccer team reverberated across Newstalk’s programmes this weekFri Oct 14 2022 - 05:00
George Hook, bumptious and off-colour, returns to NewstalkRadio: The retired presenter divides opinion, as always, but he brings a palpable lift to Newstalk BreakfastFri Oct 07 2022 - 05:00
Jennifer Zamparelli doesn’t normally censor herself. Then she reaches a line she won’t crossThe RTÉ 2FM host’s personal taboo might seem curiously genteel for a broadcaster with such an irreverently lippy personaFri Sept 30 2022 - 05:30
‘It’s like a different planet,’ says an awestruck Ray D’Arcy. ‘You have to experience it for yourself’Radio: The National Ploughing Championships is a fixture on the airwaves for the first time since 2019Fri Sept 23 2022 - 05:00
We Are an Archipelago review: Island lives collide in an entrancing performance piece Dublin Fringe Festival 2022: Blending poetry with music, Erin Fornoff weaves a beguiling tale of an unlikely friendshipWed Sept 21 2022 - 10:06
Drivetime encounters are often bruising. This week they turn particularly fractiousRadio review: A tetchy tone runs through Cormac Ó hEadhra’s discussion with Neale Richmond and Richard Boyd Barrett of rising energy costsFri Sept 16 2022 - 05:00
Hotel Happiness: Big ideas get lost in an anticlimactic productionDublin Fringe Festival 2022: Despite its intriguing premise, Chaos Factory’s two-handed drama is disappointingly prosaicTue Sept 13 2022 - 09:25
Oops, This Is Toxic review: Candid revelations and cultural observations make for a riotous comic show Dublin Fringe Festival 2022: Comedian Julie Jay uses a conventional stand-up format to deliver uncomfortable truths and irresistible laughsMon Sept 12 2022 - 13:03
Pig Brain review: Dystopian farce takes aim at online paranoia and digital moresDublin Fringe Festival 2022: Ambitious drama promises more than it delivers but is powered by Emma Finegan’s kinetic performanceMon Sept 12 2022 - 11:13
In the face of horror, Claire Byrne is calm, Ryan Tubridy uncharacteristically emotionalRadio review: Byrne manages to find some light relief in a week of unimaginable darknessFri Sept 09 2022 - 05:00
Sean Spicer on Newstalk: An intriguing interview with Trump’s disarmingly gormless press guyRadio review: Kieran Cuddihy's interview with the ex-White House press secretary lacked his usual peppery zealFri Sept 02 2022 - 05:00
There’s a frisson of one-upmanship between Ryan Tubridy and Joe DuffyRadio review: Tubridy favours portentousness, Duffy a more personal angle. One works better than the other for their Michael Collins commemorationsFri Aug 26 2022 - 05:00
With his jaundiced eye and sarky humour, it’s business as usual for Brendan O’Connor. Then his poise deserts himRadio review: The Radio 1 presenter keeps his head when all about him are losing theirs. But awkwardness can creep inFri Jul 29 2022 - 05:00
‘Witch with a capital B’: Edwina Currie takes aim at Liz Truss on NewstalkRadio review: The former Conservative MP was one of Pat Kenny’s guests this weekFri Jul 22 2022 - 01:10
Ryan Tubridy, always ready to laugh at himself, confesses he’s a big fan of the Trumps Radio review: RTÉ presenter laughs at nerdy pastimes but wears his values on his sleeve, while Matt Cooper gets mad as hellFri Jul 15 2022 - 05:00
‘I’m going to call it a day’: Boris Johnson’s father Stanley gets a grilling on Newstalk Radio review: Jonathan Healy interrogates Johnson about his son, in a striking piece of radioFri Jul 08 2022 - 06:24
Claire Byrne, now free of TV, delivers deft radio Radio review: When a prime time RTÉ slot becomes vacant, Katie Hannon is ready for itFri Jul 01 2022 - 06:00
Ray D’Arcy dives into a particularly piddling subject, even by his standardsRadio review: The RTÉ host needn’t sweat the wee stuff given visits by the A-listers Jessie Buckley and Marian KeyesFri Jun 24 2022 - 06:00
