“Who is this man?” asked former RTÉ presenter Ryan Tubridy of himself on behalf of his UK-based listeners as he began his new role on Virgin Radio UK on Tuesday.
“Well, in a few words I have been broadcasting in Ireland for the last 20 years or thereabouts. Actually, it started off when I was 12 years old and reviewing books on the radio as a child, but that is going back too far. Next stop, the maternity ward,” he answered.
The former Late Late Show presenter has returned to the airwaves more than six months after he fronted his last show on RTÉ Radio.
Tubridy (50) said he “cannot wait to say goodbye to 2023″ and “get stuck into this year”.
He has been “working away quietly in Irish television”, but he is loving living and working in London, he said.
He told his audience, which includes listeners of Dublin’s Q102 station, that his old Friday night TV gig was “the most lovely job in the world”, while his Irish radio role was “magnificent”.
“I woke up this morning with a smile on my face saying I cannot wait to go to work; I cannot wait to get stuck into this year,” he added.
Tubridy thanked listeners who contacted the show for being nice to the “new boy in the new school”. He described himself as a political anorak and a nerd who likes hardcopy books, Star Trek and newspapers.
The Ryan Tubridy Show, which runs from 10am to 1pm, Monday to Friday, is recorded live from London and broadcast simultaneously on Dublin station Q102.
Opening his first programme, Tubridy said: “We are live from the top of the tower looking out at drizzly, grey, beautiful London city and beyond.
“We have so much to do, so much to say, so much beautiful music to get through,” he added, before playing U2′s Pride (In the Name of Love) as the first song of his inaugural show. His first guest was Australian actor Russell Crowe, who predicted the presenter will “do great things” in London.
“I think you are just perfect for that town. I think the audience is going to find you very very interesting,” the Gladiator star added.
The three-hour broadcast was more music-heavy than his previous one-hour RTÉ slot of the same name. Tubridy signed off by saying: “This adventure has just begun”.
The London Virgin Radio station, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News UK & Ireland, also features slots hosted by fellow Irishman Graham Norton and Chris Evans.
Tubridy will also host a “dedicated Irish weekend show” that will be shared across four Irish stations. The Ryan Tubridy Show on Sunday will air for the first time this weekend on Q102, Cork’s 96Fm, Live 95 in Limerick and LMFM in Louth and Meath, which belong to News UK’s Wireless Ireland subsidiary.
Tubridy stopped presenting his weekday RTÉ Radio 1 show in late June when the broadcaster announced that, between 2017 and 2022, he had received €345,000 more in payments than was previously disclosed.
He was already the biggest earner at the broadcaster, with these extra payments bringing his income to in excess of €500,000 annually for those years.
The pause to his presenting at RTÉ was initially regarded as temporary, but last August RTÉ director general Kevin Bakhurst said negotiations with the host “concluded without success”.
Mr Bakhurst said “the door is not shut forever” but that there were no current plans for Tubridy’s return.
Tubridy said at the time he was “shocked and disappointed” by the director general’s decision to end talks.
The presenter had previously announced, in March 2023, that he was stepping down as presenter of The Late Late Show after 14 years. He presented his final show of the long-standing series in May.
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