FRESH MOVES AT RT RADIO 1

FRESH MOVES AT RT RADIO 1

RT Radio 1 today announced a series of changes across its weekday and weekend schedule from February

RT Radio 1

FRESH MOVES AT RT RADIO 1

*** Plus all-female line-up for Late Debate ***

Claire Byrne joins News at One alongside ine Lawlor

Three new presenters for Late Debate

Cormac hEadhra to present Saturday with Cormac hEadhra

RT Radio 1 today announced a series of changes across its weekday and weekend schedule from February: Claire Byrne will join ine Lawlor in presenting News at One; Late Debate (10 11pm, Tuesday - Thursday) will have three new presenters, with Sarah McInerney on Tuesdays, Katie Hannon on Wednesdays and Fionnuala Sweeney on Thursdays; Cormac hEadhra will present Saturday with Cormac hEadhra from 1 2pm.

Commenting on the changes, Head of RT Radio 1, Tom McGuire said: "The new presenting team of ine and Claire on RT Radio 1 s News at One is exceptionally strong by any measure. And the move of Cormac hEadhra into weekend peak on RT Radio 1 is testament to his proven skills both on RT Raidi na Gaeltachta and standing in on such shows as Today with Sean O Rourke."

Tom McGuire continued: "Sarah, Fionnuala and Katie - our three new presenters on Late Debate bring with them some truly excellent experience from the world of print, television and international journalism, and I m delighted to welcome them all to Radio 1, and indeed to welcome Fionnuala Sweeney back to RT from CNN in Atlanta."

Aine Lawlor and Claire Byrne will present News at One on alternate days with Claire continuing to presenting Claire Byrne Live on Monday nights on RT One. Cormac O'hEadhra will take over Saturday with Claire Byrne programme and now present Saturday with Cormac O'hEadhra from 1-2pm weekly on RT Radio 1.

Sarah McInerney was previously the Political Correspondent with the Sunday Times and presenter of Newstalk Drive. She currently presents the Sunday Show on TV3 which she will continue to present. Katie Hannon is Political Correspondent with Prime Time on RT One and was previously Political Correspondent with the Evening Herald and the Irish Examiner as well as Political Editor of the Irish Mail on Sunday. Fionnuala Sweeney returns to RT having been an anchor and correspondent with CNN International in London and Atlanta. Irish audiences will also remember Fionnuala as the solo host of the Eurovision Song Contest in 1993.

RT Radio 1 listeners will also be familiar with Cormac hEadhra as presenter of Late Debate, which brings live debate and analysis of all the news and political stories of the day, including coverage of the day s events in the Oireachtas. Cormac has also regularly presented Today with Sean O'Rourke. He will continue to present Raidio na Gaeltachta s, Cormac ag a C ig, from 5-7pm on weekdays, which offers lively debate and discussion of news and current affairs in the Irish language.

All changes will take place in February 2018.

Ends

Wednesday 24th January 2018

For information:

Maureen Catterson, Communications Manager, RT Radio I 01 2082255 / 087 7800737 I E: maureen.catterson@rte.ie

Notes to Editors

RT Radio 1

- Latest JNLR: RT Radio 1 weekly reach steady at 37%, 1,393,000

- Latest JNLR: RT Radio 1 Weekday Reach steady at 24% with 891,000 (listeners).

- Latest JNLR: RT Radio 1 remains the only station in Ireland with a weekly reach of over 1M

LATEST RT RADIO 1 JNLR FIGURES

Morning Ireland remains the most listened to radio programme in Ireland with 434,000 listeners

The Ryan Tubridy Show has 330,000 listeners, up 14,000 (y-o-y).

Today with Sean O'Rourke continues to be one of the most listened to news and current affairs programmes with 324,000 listeners daily.

Ronan Collins remains the number one music programme across the country with 212,000 listeners.

News at One has 325,000 listeners each day and is Ireland's number one flagship news programme on radio each day.

370,000 listeners want to talk to Joe' each day as Liveline holds its place as the 2nd most listened to radio programme in Ireland.

The Ray D'Arcy Show has 210,000 listeners each day and is the number one in his timeslot on national radio.

With 236,000 listeners, Drivetime with Mary Wilson is the programme of choice for listeners every weekday afternoon, (no change y-o-y).

Late Debate currently has 22,000 (+4,000 YOY) 6% of the national available audience that that time.

Saturday with Claire Byrne currently has 216,000 every Saturday and is the number one programme within its time slot nationwide.

ine Lawlor

Aine Lawlor joined RT in September 1984 as a trainee journalist, working on a number of radio and television programmes. She then became a reporter/presenter in January 1988, eventually leading to her becoming a presenter on Morning Ireland which she joined in 1995 and presented for over 17 years. She has worked on The Pat Kenny Show, Today at 5, RT 2fm News and a variety of television programmes, including The Nature of Things, Tuesday File and as narrator for the highly-acclaimed series on clerical sexual abuse in Irish institutions, States of Fear. She was awarded Best News Broadcaster of the Year at the prestigious PPI Radio Awards in October 2012 and went on to be inducted into the PPI Hall of Fame in 2014. In August 2013, she joined RT 's flagship lunchtime radio news programme News at One as alternating presenter and was also appointed as presenter of The Week in Politics on RT One television. In November 2013, she presented a two-part documentary Facing Cancer which followed her as she re-traced the steps of her journey to overcome breast cancer.

Claire Byrne

Claire is a radio and television Broadcaster with RT where she specialises in current affairs programmes. She presents Claire Byrne Live on Monday nights on RT One and RT News Now. The curr

LINK:	http://www.rte.ie/about/en/press-office/press-releases/2018/0124/93564...
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