
The Liveline is now open , said Joe Duffy earlier today, as he previewed this afternoon's Liveline, the hugely popular RT Radio 1 show which he has helmed for over a quarter of a century. And in signing off today's programme, Joe confirmed he is set to close his own Liveline connection when his final programme airs on Friday 27th June.
Joe Duffy said: After 37 wonderful years here in RT , and 27 years presenting Liveline, it has been an incredible honor and privilege to be part of a programme that relied entirely on trust: the trust of our listeners. People felt they could pick up the phone, ring Liveline, and share their lives, problems, stories sad, bad, sometimes mad and funny, their struggles, and their victories. I never took that for granted, not for a single minute. RT has been a great place to work. Public service has always been at its heart. And now, after many happy years, I've decided the time has come to move on. I would like to thank you the listener for tuning in each and every day, it has been an honour to sit in this seat and hear your stories.
Born in January 1956, in Mountjoy Square, Dublin, and raised in Ballyfermot, Joe Duffy originally pursued social work at Trinity College. Joe became one of the first from his area to go to Trinity College and was actively involved in student politics and went on to serve as President of the Union of Students in Ireland. He led protests on campus highlighting access to education and spending two weeks in Mountjoy Prison as a result. After working in the probation service, he joined RT originally as a radio producer, in 1989, and came to prominence as a reporter on the legendary Gay Byrne Show. He presented programmes like Soundbyte before taking over Liveline in 1998. In his 27 years in the Liveline hotseat, both Joe and the programme itself have become national institutions, with the programme frequently attracting some 400,000 listeners.
During Joe's tenure, Liveline has been a vital outlet for citizens. Joe also hosted a wide range of programmes for television, including Liveline Callback and The Meaning of Life, as well as several acclaimed documentaries. Joe has been a recipient of many awards during his acclaimed career, including a Jacob's Award in 1992 for his work on The Gay Byrne Show, various IMRO Awards and he was also inducted into the PPI Hall of Fame in 2013. Joe has written his autobiography Just Joe and two award winning history books, Children of the Rising and Children of the Troubles (with Freya McClements).
Kevin Bakhurst, Director-General, RT , said: Whether breaking stories like the first powerful moments of the 9-11 attacks in the US, or helping the nation navigate the often heart-breaking challenges of a global pandemic, Joe Duffy's Liveline doesn't just have its fingers on the pulse, it is the pulse of the nation. Joe navigated controversies, unearthed scandals, exposed scams, fought misinformation and shone a light on topics long ignored, from historical abuse to the menopause and healthcare reform. Joe was always the guide, never the story. His journalistic insights were perfectly in balance with his human instincts, and Liveline under Joe became both a sanctuary for those seeking justice, and a public square of which Joe was in full control.
Joe Duffy is an icon of broadcasting, and will be hugely missed by his listeners, his colleagues,and all who picked up the phone to nation's hotline. I'd like to wish Joe all our best for his retirement and extend my warmest wishes to June and to Joe's family. He might be hanging up on the Liveline, but our loss is surely his family's most welcome gain.
RT 's Director of Audio, Patricia Monahan said: Joe Duffy is a true legend of Irish broadcasting and the contribution he has made to RT and Liveline cannot be overstated. Joe's ability to connect with listeners, to create a safe place for them to discuss both difficult and light-hearted topics and most importantly to listen to and hear them is unique. Our airwaves will be lesser without him, but we thank him for being part of our daily lives for so long and wish him and his family well for his next chapter.
Joe Duffy will be Patrick's Kielty's special guest on tomorrow night's The Late Late Show, marking his 37 years in broadcasting. Joe will present his last Liveline show on Friday 27th June. RT will run a process over the coming months to appoint Joe's successor with an announcement expected in the autumn.
RT looks forward to Joe Duffy's contribution to its 100th year commemoration in 2026.
ENDS
Date: Thursday May 8th 2025
RT Communications: Maureen Catterson
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
07/10/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
06/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
06/08/2026
Proven offering builds on more than 20,000 live sporting events with greater automation, flexibility, and operational control
LTN , the industry leader in tran...
06/08/2026
Hornets Tech, a specialist in broadcast connectivity and IP video, is bringing a new range of encoders, decoders and an IPTV platform to IBC2026.
Broadcast in...
06/08/2026
Introducing Adobe for ChatGPT: Create, edit and get work done - all in ChatGPT
Deepti Pradeep August 6, 2026
0 Comments
The Adobe plugin in ChatGPT br...
06/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
06/08/2026
At IBC2026, MediaKind will make its first major appearance as a unified global powerhouse in video, showcasing one of the world's most comprehensive video i...
06/08/2026
Big Blue Marble (#5.A63) will demonstrate how its integrated technology and operational expertise help media companies scale premium services with less complexi...
06/08/2026
LA JOLLA, CA-Scripps Research has received more than $500,000 in first-year fund...
06/08/2026
LA JOLLA, CA-Viruses are masters at invading our cells thanks to specialized proteins that coat their surfaces. When scientists design vaccines, they often crea...
06/08/2026
LA JOLLA, CA-The brain has its own immune system, which detects threats and mounts a defense. A growing body of evidence has shown that in Alzheimer's disea...
06/08/2026
LA JOLLA, CA-Scripps Research chemist Jin-Quan Yu has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), one of the highest honors a scientist can achieve....
06/08/2026
LA JOLLA, CA-Scripps Research ranked third in the inaugural 2026 Cure Innovation Index recognizing the top-performing institutes and centers across the United S...
06/08/2026
Benjamin Cravatt, the Gilula Chair of Chemical Biology and a professor of chemis...
06/08/2026
LA JOLLA, CA-Dennis Burton, professor and the James & Jessie Minor Chair in Immu...
06/08/2026
LA JOLLA, CA-Inside every human cell, proteins are constantly being tagged with small chemical modifications after they're produced. Known as post-translati...
06/08/2026
LA JOLLA-Scripps Research has established the Ian Wilson Endowed Chair, a new fa...
06/08/2026
Scripps Research's Skaggs Graduate School of Chemical and Biological Science...
06/08/2026
LA JOLLA, CA-Professor Jin-Quan Yu of Scripps Research has been elected to the Fellowship of the Royal Society, the U.K.'s national academy of sciences and ...
06/08/2026
LA JOLLA, CA-For years, researchers have been hoping for vaccines that protect people against not just one strain of HIV, but every strain of the quickly mutati...
06/08/2026
LA JOLLA, CA-The Calibr-Skaggs Institute for Innovative Medicines, the nonprofit...
06/08/2026
LA JOLLA, CA-Building the complex 3D molecules needed for new medicines has alwa...
06/08/2026
LA JOLLA, CA-Fentanyl and related variants of the synthetic opioid kill more Americans each year than car accidents and gun violence combined. In too-high doses...
06/08/2026
LA JOLLA, CA-What do decoding communication between organs and reimagining the future of genome editing have in common? They're among the scientific questio...
06/08/2026
LA JOLLA, CA-Of the 1.2 million people living with HIV in the United States, app...
06/08/2026
LA JOLLA, CA-For some people, cancer immunotherapies are life-changing. These treatments can turn the body's own immune system against a tumor, either elimi...
06/08/2026
LA JOLLA, CA-Many conditions that cause vision loss share a common feature: the ...
06/08/2026
LA JOLLA, CA-RNA interference is a natural mechanism for living cells to control whether specific genes are being used or not.
Crowned with the 2006 Nobel Priz...
06/08/2026
LA JOLLA, CA-The drugs that keep rheumatoid arthritis in check may one day help people stop drinking. A new Scripps Research study shows that an anti-inflammato...
06/08/2026
LA JOLLA, CA-Antibiotic resistance is one of the most urgent threats to global health, linked to an estimated 4.7 million deaths worldwide in 2019 alone. As mor...
06/08/2026
LA JOLLA, CA-Some of the world's best-selling diabetes drugs depend on a che...
06/08/2026
LA JOLLA, CA-Detecting infectious disease threats early and responding quickly can dramatically alter the course of an infectious outbreak. Technologies such as...
06/08/2026
LA JOLLA, CA-Molecular biophysicist Joan Pulupa will join Scripps Research in Ja...
06/08/2026
LA JOLLA, CA-HIV is globally so diverse, consisting of hundreds of thousands of ...
06/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
06/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
06/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
06/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
06/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
06/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
06/08/2026
At this year's SET EXPO, PlayBox Neo will present recent innovations across its PlayBox Neo Suite and integrated range of broadcast media solutions. By show...
06/08/2026
Live demo at IBC2026 VisualOn Booth, Hall 5, Stand A55
Amsterdam, Netherlands Modern Streaming Solutions Private Limited, a rising force in India's dig...
06/08/2026
Screen Australia and YouTube Australia fund five new teams through eleventh Skip...
06/08/2026
How Karukera Studio Built a Media Production Hub with SNS EVO
Melanie Ciotti August 5, 2026
0 Comments
Hero images displays Karukera Studio in Sainte-...
06/08/2026
NHK drama series Rosanjin no Kamado shot on PYXIS 6K
Brie Clayton August 5, 2026
0 Comments
Blackmagic PYXIS 6K and DaVinci Resolve Studio capture the...
06/08/2026
Camera Match: AutoSetup 3d Plugin / script for Photomontages- Cinema 4D
Jamie Cardoso August 5, 2026
0 Comments
If you do any kind of Architectural Vi...
06/08/2026
In Time airs Monday 10 August at 9.35pm on RT One and RT Player
In Time is the first film account of the life of D nal Lunny, one of the most influential Iri...
06/08/2026
Editor's note: This post is part of Into the Omniverse, a series focused on how developers, 3D practitioners and enterprises can transform their workflows u...