{"id":126587,"date":"2025-11-07T09:35:07","date_gmt":"2025-11-07T09:35:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/126587\/"},"modified":"2025-11-07T09:35:07","modified_gmt":"2025-11-07T09:35:07","slug":"brendan-oconnor-wears-his-rte-radio-1-crown-lightly-as-the-new-pretenders-arrive-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/126587\/","title":{"rendered":"Brendan O\u2019Connor wears his RT\u00c9 Radio 1 crown lightly as the new pretenders arrive \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

It may be a fleeting reign, but right now Brendan O\u2019Connor (RT\u00c9<\/a> Radio 1, Saturday and Sunday) is king of the Radio 1 castle. <\/p>\n

From his weekend perch, O\u2019Connor<\/a> has spent the past couple of years looking on as the station\u2019s other big names have departed amid varying degrees of amicability, clearing his path to the throne. <\/p>\n

But the presenter\u2019s ascension hasn\u2019t occurred purely by default. His show\u2019s mix of political debate, celebrity chat and \u2013 unlikely as it sounds \u2013 reflective rumination has proved an audience winner.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a formula neatly exemplified by O\u2019Connor\u2019s most recent programmes, his interview with Jeremy Irons<\/a> providing the A-list stardust on Saturday. The English actor is promoting his new film, Palestine 36<\/a>, set during the Arab Revolt against British rule of the territory. <\/p>\n

Irons touches on the present-day ramifications of Britain\u2019s colonial mandate \u2013 \u201cThe English legacy in Palestine<\/a> is something we should be ashamed of\u201d \u2013 but is more animated when discussing an altogether different, if not unrelated, oppressive regime: the boarding school he attended from the age of seven.<\/p>\n

The actor evokes a harsh environment, less educational establishment than Lord of the Flies-style boot camp: he recalls being squashed into a bin by fellow pupils.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0RT\u00c9 Radio 1 most popular station as 2FM loses 24,000 listeners since last surveyOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

The whole system, he says, was geared towards producing men with a suitably stiff upper lip, capable of running an empire. \u201cYou create a personality that copes with being in the jungle,\u201d he says. \u201cWhich is where you are with boys that age.\u201d<\/p>\n

It says something of Irons\u2019s own phlegmatic presence that his reminiscences are bracing rather than bleak, but thankfully things get jollier. <\/p>\n

He recounts rebelling against the emotional repression of his upbringing by becoming an actor \u2013 \u201cI was attracted to being a rogue and a vagabond\u201d \u2013 and speaks fondly of his life in west Co Cork, where he shares a castle with his wife, Sin\u00e9ad Cusack.<\/p>\n

The exuberance of such items helps explain O\u2019Connor\u2019s impressive ratings surge<\/p>\n

Cue much ribbing from O\u2019Connor about the need for stairlifts in such a dwelling. But otherwise the host hears out Irons in engaged fashion, throwing only the occasional curveball: \u201cYou always radiated a certain sexual energy,\u201d he says of his guest\u2019s screen performances. <\/p>\n

By the time the encounter is brought to a close by a ringing sound \u2013 \u201cOh, that\u2019s my phone,\u201d Irons says apologetically \u2013 the pair have struck up an absorbing chemistry.<\/p>\n

An even easier familiarity pervades O\u2019Connor\u2019s interview with the writer Colm T\u00f3ib\u00edn, who is on the show to share a selection of love stories. \u201cThere\u2019s no schmaltz here,\u201d the host comments on his guest\u2019s idiosyncratic choices, from Nina Simone covers of Thomas Moore melodies to the French new-wave film Jules et Jim, the latter ending with \u201csuicide and murder\u201d, in T\u00f3ib\u00edn\u2019s cheerful telling. <\/p>\n

\u201cThese are not going to be happy-ever-after stories, I can see,\u201d O\u2019Connor remarks drily.<\/p>\n

If conventional romance is in short supply, there\u2019s much in the way of diverting anecdotes and aesthetic musings. Whether describing the disorienting experience of taking driverless cabs in San Francisco or the difficulty of writing while renting a house on one\u2019s own, T\u00f3ib\u00edn exudes intellectual vibrancy and gossipy energy, to which O\u2019Connor responds eagerly.<\/p>\n

The exuberance of such items helps explain O\u2019Connor\u2019s impressive ratings surge: more than 400,000 listeners tune in every weekend, figures surpassed only by the hardy perennial Morning Ireland. Not that he has mellowed. Originally famous as a snarkily contentious columnist, O\u2019Connor still possesses the instinct to provoke: when discussing immigration<\/a> with his guests on Sunday\u2019s newspaper panel, the host wonders if \u201cwe were too generous\u201d when Ukrainian refugees first arrived in 2022. <\/p>\n

His current reign may end up as an interregnum: with Radio 1\u2019s new schedule launching on Monday, there\u2019ll soon be a whole new raft of pretenders to contend with. But, for now, O\u2019Connor wears the crown lightly.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Trackers: The People v The Banks. Riveting insight into misery inflicted by Irish lendersOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Anyone wishing to hear more of T\u00f3ib\u00edn\u2019s enthusiastic opinions is directed to the new season of Culture File Presents: The Comfort Zone (Lyric FM, Wednesday), where he plays the highbrow foil to the more cultishly inclined presenter Luke Clancy. <\/p>\n

The series has already featured T\u00f3ib\u00edn passing judgment on the 1970s krautrock band Neu! and on John Boorman\u2019s movie Hope and Glory in informed and amused manner. This recommendation comes with a caveat, however, as a glitch hits transmission of the latest edition: the programme goes Awol on the night, hastily replaced by an automated soundtrack of light classical music. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s an unfortunate foul-up, robbing listeners of T\u00f3ib\u00edn and Clancy\u2019s enjoyably esoteric exchanges. Luckily, however, the programme is also available as a podcast<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There are multiple opportunities to hear J\u00f3 Johnny Joe (RT\u00c9 Raidi\u00f3 na Gaeltachta and Radio 1, Sunday), a slow-burning family drama as Gaeilge, written and directed by Darach Mac Con Iomaire. Not only is the nine-part series available on two stations and as a podcast<\/a>, but it can also be accessed with subtitles on YouTube, a neat way of bringing the story to those of us whose Irish is shamefully subpar.<\/p>\n

In fact, most listeners with school-level Gaeilge should be able to follow the action, which unfolds through bursts of terse dialogue, interspersed by Irish-language cover versions of classic songs. (The title is a riff on Chuck Berry\u2019s Johnny B Goode.)<\/p>\n

The plot is also simple, at least on the face of things. As the marriage of feckless would-be musician Johnny (Darach \u00d3 Dubh\u00e1in) and his long-suffering wife, Maggie (Sorcha N\u00ed Ch\u00e9ide), falls apart, their daughter, Jo-B (Ella Nic Domhnaill), sides with her increasingly destitute and delusional father, even as she faces her own problems at school.<\/p>\n

The narrative takes its time to develop, but the listener is pulled in by the production and the performances. Gradually, even the rustiest Irish student becomes attuned to the characters\u2019 sparky conversation, while the ASMR<\/a>-laden soundscape adds to the atmosphere of complicity and uncertainty: what happened outside Johnny\u2019s school years ago, why is he the only one talking to his father, Joe M\u00f3r (Macdara \u00d3 F\u00e1tharta), and what secret is Maggie keeping from Jo-B? <\/p>\n

As much soap opera as psychological drama, Mac Con Iomaire\u2019s imaginatively realised series grows more compelling the longer it goes on. Go, Johnny, go.<\/p>\n

Moment of the week<\/p>\n

On Sunday The Anton Savage Show (Newstalk) gets the inside scoop on the week\u2019s big audio story, the removal of Ivan Yates from the hit podcast Path to Power following revelations that the broadcaster and former minister had coached Jim Gavin, Fianna F\u00e1il\u2019s presidential candidate. <\/p>\n

By happy coincidence, one of the guests on Savage\u2019s newspaper panel is the Today FM presenter Matt Cooper, co-host and originator of the podcast. Cooper explains why he asked Yates to leave \u2013 \u201cThe important thing is the transparency for our listeners\u201d \u2013 while describing the ensuing \u201cdifficult\u201d conversation with his erstwhile colleague: \u201cIt left me feeling quite sad.\u201d <\/p>\n

His fellow journalist guest Lise Hand is less upset by Yates\u2019s departure. \u201cThere\u2019s no shortage of clever, opinionated, confident men sitting in studios,\u201d she laconically observes. \u201cLong may it continue,\u201d Savage replies, jauntily. Maybe he spots an opening in the market.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It may be a fleeting reign, but right now Brendan O\u2019Connor (RT\u00c9 Radio 1, Saturday and Sunday) is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":126588,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[50861,24559,6221,93,61,1629,60,8942,22815,74565,69745,24562,4268,6085,74566],"class_list":{"0":"post-126587","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-anton-savage","9":"tag-brendan-oconnor","10":"tag-colm-toibin","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-ie","13":"tag-immigration","14":"tag-ireland","15":"tag-ivan-yates","16":"tag-jeremy-irons","17":"tag-luke-clancy","18":"tag-matt-cooper","19":"tag-newstalk-radio","20":"tag-palestine","21":"tag-rte","22":"tag-rte-raidio-na-gaeltachta"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126587","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=126587"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126587\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/126588"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=126587"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=126587"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=126587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}