Lots happens in the radio industry each week so here’s a summary of the week we just enjoyed.
Here’s What Happened
Virgin Radio host Graham Norton has announced that he’s leaving his weekend show on the station.
It’s unclear what exactly his next move will be or where he’s going, but this weekend will be his last in his current slot. Graham isn’t leaving the station completely apparently, but that’s really all we know for now.
Graham joined from BBC radio 2 three years ago, but continues to host his tv chat show on the BBC. He also commentates on the UK coverage of Eurovision, and hosts the Irish version of the Last One Laughing format on Prime Video.
It’s an interesting move, and time will tell what’s next for Graham. Ryan Tubridy Recently Joined Virgin Radio, so the station still has Irish Voices on the schedule. Another Irish voice in the form of Angela Scanlon will cover the slot for the next few weeks.
A former 2FM presenter, Chris Greene, has withdrawn his allegations against RTÉ at the workplace relations commission.
The presenter claimed he was penalised as a whistleblower and subsequently sacked by RTE after he made allegations regarding sexual harassment in the workplace. The hearing was set to start this week at the WRC, but the parties reached an agreement ahead of this and the claims were withdrawn.
RTE were arguing throughout this case that Chris Greene was not an employee. If you want to read more about this story you can check out the link below.
Finally for now, a story I’m sure you’ve heard already. The chair of the Rte board, Siún Ní Raghallaigh, resigned this week following the minister failing to express confidence in her during a Prime Time interview.
The way in which this matter was handled has resulted in criticism for the minister, who is now set to appear in front of the Media Committee next week.
Siún Ní Raghallaigh reportedly told Cathrin Martin that the board of Rte had no involvement in approving recent exit payments. She then called the department on Thursday to correct the record in relation to this. The minister then went on prime time, saying that she had been misinformed. She also failed to express confidence in the chair.
Siún Ní Raghallaigh resigned just hours later, in a statement issued just before 1AM. In that statement she said that she had informed the department of the board approving the payments back in October.
It’s all a bit of a mess, and the drama continues. Hopefully we can see this whole thing come to an end soon as at the end of the day public service media is just getting weaker and weaker.
Quick Bits
Beat hosted their first podcast recording with an audience
Fm104 are giving away €20,000 in a Quid Games competition
Jen Larke has a new show on Classic Hits Radio at the weekend
A defamation case related to media ownership was before the court this week
And that’s the summary for this week. Come back to radio land next week for more radio news📻 and be sure to check us out on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn for more fun from the world of radio.