She has only been on her new show for a few days, but Claire Byrne has settled into the role so effortlessly that she’s already slacking on the job.
On Wednesday’s Claire Byrne Show (Newstalk, weekdays), the host is in conspicuously high spirits as she introduces her guest Aisha Tyler, the American actor. “We’re having a lovely chat here,” Byrne says, just after an ad break, before adding, “We almost missed the in-cue because we were so in the moment.”
For most broadcasters such a carefree admission would hardly be worth mentioning. But coming from Byrne, whose professionalism and poise have long been her hallmarks, it’s akin to rocking up to work late while lugging a bag of cans.
As the host hits it off with her guest, however, her jaunty mood seems genuine, to the point of enthusiastically interjecting when Tyler mentions spending time on the Irish set of the TV drama series Vikings. “Yes! Wicklow!”
For listeners wondering whether the former RTÉ presenter’s move to Newstalk would herald a more easy-going approach, such moments seem to provide a pretty definitive answer. At the very least, the host sounds energised as she spearheads the station’s new schedule, whether chatting to like-minded guests or tangling with unobliging politicians.
She certainly seems on the same wavelength as Tyler, a former actor on Friends as well as a television host and director. Byrne hears her guest describe career obstacles she has encountered as a woman of colour, but she really latches on to Tyler’s determination not to be deterred by setbacks, and preference of substance over style.
“We have the tools with which to make the world a better place and we’re wasting it on handbags,” Tyler remarks, prompting an approving response from the host: “I love it. Can we use that as the quote of the week for this show?”
It’s unsurprising that Byrne should endorse such an idealistically aspirational expression. After all, like many broadcasters, she is a driven individual: she recalled, in a recent interview, feeling that her work at RTÉ Radio 1 wasn’t valued after Montrose management capped her salary (at €250,000) in the wake of the Ryan Tubridy payments scandal.
She again sounds engaged when talking to the barrister Caoilfhionn Gallagher, as part of a new slot devoted to “interesting and inspiring people” – a worryingly worthy-sounding description that does insufficient justice to Byrne’s guest, whose achievements in the legal and human-rights fields the host obviously admires.
More pertinently, however, such interviews would seem to signal Byrne’s desire to stamp her identity, quickly and firmly, on the slot previously occupied by Pat Kenny. Not the most naturally freewheeling presenter, she connects with guests such as Tyler and Gallagher to authentic effect: her Newstalk show already has a looser feel than her Radio 1 iteration. (It’s also hard to imagine Kenny having the same rapport with Tyler.)
That said, Byrne sticks to her customary phlegmatic yet insistent approach when covering news-oriented stories. And while her interviews seek clarity rather than conflict, she’s never afraid to joust with guests who won’t play ball.
After members of the Irish Farmers Association occupy the offices of Bord Bia to demand the removal of its chairman, Larry Murrin, Byrne grows ever more impatient as the Fianna Fáil TD Peter “Chap” Cleere delivers a spectacularly evasive performance.
[ Cliff Taylor: Larry Murrin row is classic Irish ‘gotcha’ politicsOpens in new window ]
Asked if he supports the protest, which Bord Bia says has intimidated employees, Cleere waffles about farmers’ frustration that Murrin’s company imported Brazilian beef. “It’s all about dialogue,” he says, vaguely. “It’s all about not getting an answer,” Byrne sharply replies.
The sparring continues in this vein, with Cleere dodging the question ever more convolutedly. “In the absence of an answer we have to conclude that you support this protest,” the host says with a sigh, though even then the TD contrives to obfuscate further: a Cleere answer, indeed, though one that tells its own story.
It will be interesting to see if Byrne takes her new show in a different direction, but she can still get the job done.
Byrne’s return to Newstalk after 15 years at RTÉ isn’t the only change at the Bauer Media-owned station. The revamped weekday line-up also has Anton Savage depart his weekend berth to take over at Newstalk Breakfast, as the slot’s previous incumbents Shane Coleman and Ciara Kelly transfer to early evenings on The Hard Shoulder.
While less hyped than Byrne’s arrival, this neat switcheroo seems to work well, even at this very early stage. Savage, for one, brings a wry perspective and unruffled assurance to the morning shift.
A versatile performer, he moves easily between stories such as social-media companies appearing before the Oireachtas media committee – the Meta whistleblower Arturo Béjar describes his former employer’s lax attitude to online safety as “see no evil, hear no evil” – and the cabinet’s ban on scrambler bikes. The latter item features Minister of State for Transport Seán Canney struggling to answer the host’s detailed questions increasingly haplessly.
If he can maintain his nifty start, Savage’s solo turn could prove a bright alternative to Morning Ireland, though not quite a serious rival.
Coleman and Kelly should provide more serious competition for RTÉ Radio 1’s Drivetime, particularly with their Montrose counterparts, Colm Ó Mongáin and Katie Hannon, having yet to hit their stride. In contrast, the Newstalk duo arrive with an on-air relationship honed by their five years on the breakfast show.
And while their patter could sound over-egged in the morning, the two presenters already sound refreshed by their new environment, and not just because they now can get up at a civilised hour.
The longer, three-hour running time allows more considered segments – a debate on the Re-turn deposit scheme moves beyond predictable faultlines to tease out interesting points – while the duo’s finely tuned banter has the space to unfurl in a less hurried way.
There’s a long way to go, of course, but so far this reshuffled deck of presenters are playing their cards right.
Moment of the week
Not everything has changed at Newstalk, with the station’s weekday stalwart (and Irish Times columnist) Seán Moncrieff remaining a dependably droll fixture. His sardonic mien is only further sharpened by the current interminable deluge: “Will it ever stop raining?” he plaintively asks.
Further tapping into the meteorological theme, he covers the effects of inclement weather elsewhere, from iguanas dying during Florida’s cold snap to natural flood-defence measures in the Netherlands, involving paving stones being replaced by plants.
Moncrieff hears the climate researcher (and Irish Times contributor) Sadhbh O’Neill suggest how such natural solutions might work in Ireland, in particular the way land could be used “to absorb water like a sponge”.
The host is curious but also relieved when he has to wrap up the item as the show is over. “I’m glad this is at the end or I’d have to read out a load of texts from angry farmers,” he comments. His wit is dry, if nothing else.