{"id":319783,"date":"2026-02-27T08:39:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T08:39:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/319783\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T08:39:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T08:39:08","slug":"doom-radio-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/319783\/","title":{"rendered":"doom radio \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

As any listener well knows, lightweight filler material is a regular hazard on radio<\/a> chat shows, particularly when there\u2019s a lot of airtime to get through. So kudos is due to Oliver Callan<\/a> (RT\u00c9<\/a> Radio 1, weekdays), who is packing his show\u2019s longer running time in counterintuitive fashion, by padding it out with heavyweight topics of profound social import. Anyone seeking frothy content on Tuesday\u2019s programme won\u2019t exactly be disappointed \u2013 there\u2019s still plenty of that \u2013 but may also be surprised to hear Callan sombrely discuss how our lives are soon to be upended by AI<\/a>, and not in a good way.<\/p>\n

Callan is joined by Dex Hunter-Torricke, a former public relations executive for Meta<\/a>, SpaceX and Google who is now deeply concerned about the impact of AI. He\u2019s not worried, like some AI sceptics, about a post-apocalyptic dystopia of robot drones hunting down humans. Instead Hunter-Torricke envisions a more prosaic yet still bleak future where conglomerates and oligarchs wield enormous economic and political power, while the rest of the population faces unemployment and disenfranchisement. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe are not at all prepared for that future as economies, as societies,\u201d Hunter-Torricke states. \u201cIf we don\u2019t start having a mainstream serious conversation about what to do pretty quickly, the pace of technology and disruption will overwhelm our ability to choose.\u201d <\/p>\n

Hearing this, a promised rumination on the politics of playdates suddenly seems enticing. But if Callan\u2019s doomy discussion is at odds with the customarily chirpy air of his show, it\u2019s also thought-provoking, with Hunter-Torricke astutely dissecting big tech\u2019s reckless pursuit of AI: \u201cThere is a cultural and intellectual disconnection between Silicon Valley and the reality of ordinary people\u2019s lives.\u201d <\/p>\n

Callan, meanwhile, sounds absorbed throughout, even if his suggestion that the AI revolution might fizzle out is dismissed by his guest as \u201cwishful thinking\u201d. The host displays his sly side too, wondering if income from Ireland\u2019s light-touch corporate tax regime might insulate it from the worst effects of AI. \u201cI don\u2019t think being a tech vassal state is a good option,\u201d Hunter-Torricke replies. One wouldn\u2019t necessarily bet against such an outcome, however.<\/p>\n

Such sobering encounters are, it\u2019s worth emphasising, the exception. Tuesday\u2019s programme also has the host in infectiously positive conversation with author Cathy Kelly, whose company he clearly enjoys. Not all his items work as well. Wednesday\u2019s brief chat with the barber of Alex Murphy, a young Irish footballer with Newcastle United, is as awkward as the premise is flimsy: now that Callan requires two hours\u2019 worth of material every day, filler of the more conventionally featherweight variety is probably as unavoidable as an AI-dominated future.<\/p>\n

Still, as a satirical impressionist as well as a radio host, Callan is alert to wider currents. When actress Amy de Bhr\u00fan appears on the show to discuss her short film about a neurodivergent boy, she reveals that the story is based on personal experience, recalling her own reaction when her young son was diagnosed with autism. \u201cThere\u2019s a strange grieving process,\u201d she says, \u201cYou don\u2019t expect your child to be living in a world that\u2019s not set up for them.\u201d <\/p>\n

Callan is by turns larky and empathetic with his guest, but when de Bhr\u00fan talks about her luck in finding a childcare facility suitable for her son, the host quickly refers back to the Government\u2019s U-turn on moves to reduce the number of special needs assistants (SNAs) from 200 schools. \u201cIt\u2019s a huge relief, and it just shouldn\u2019t have been that way in the first place,\u201d de Bhr\u00fan says, \u201cIt\u2019s a sign of how little these people know what\u2019s actually going on.\u201d It\u2019s a telling aside: we could do with more emotional intelligence.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Here\u2019s what the rapid U-turn on special needs assistants tells us about this GovernmentOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

While Callan doesn\u2019t always find the optimum ratio of heft and levity on his mid-morning slot, Brendan O\u2019Connor (RT\u00c9 Radio 1, weekdays) appears to be getting the balance just right. His mix of chunky interviews and lifestyle items has proved a striking ratings success, attracting audience numbers second only to perennial chart-topper Morning Ireland. Saturday\u2019s show provides a good example of his formula: in between drily observed spots on fashion and food, the host hears singer-songwriter David Gray recall his life and career. <\/p>\n

But the highlight is O\u2019Connor\u2019s candid encounter with Mike Ryan, the Irish epidemiologist and former World Health Organisation (WHO) executive who played a leading role during the Covid pandemic. Having left the organisation last year, Ryan opens up about the toll taken by his pressurised role during the crisis. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Mike Ryan: What next for the \u2018Indiana Jones of epidemiology\u2019 as he leaves WHO?Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cI lost quite a bit of my health,\u201d he says, recalling the \u201cviciousness\u201d aimed at him and colleagues. These are not the exaggerated fears of a desk-bound bureaucrat: Ryan recounts hair-raising episodes in hotspots such as Iraq and Afghanistan. (He also stresses that his ordeal was \u201cin the ha\u2019penny place\u201d compared to others\u2019: \u201cThe heroes of Covid were the frontline nurses.\u201d)<\/p>\n

As is his wont, O\u2019Connor is attentive towards his guest, but ready to casually lob tricky questions. When Ryan notes that WHO didn\u2019t recommend total shutdowns during the pandemic, O\u2019Connor immediately asks: \u201cSo were the lockdowns madness?\u201d Ryan diplomatically describes lockdowns as an \u201cescape measure\u201d that was often embraced prematurely: \u201cThey\u2019re a very blunt measure and have very big consequences.\u201d <\/p>\n

He suggests Ireland fared better than many places, but is well aware that some measures had a detrimental impact, from the curtailment of funerals to the shutdown of education: \u201cThe impact of school closures was severe, and has a long-term psychological and societal impact we haven\u2019t even finished paying the price for.\u201d<\/p>\n

For all that, Ryan is wary about judging Covid restrictions with 20\/20 hindsight. Similarly, O\u2019Connor isn\u2019t only interested in revisiting recent history, however momentous, but – ever alive to audience concerns \u2013 he also solicits his guest\u2019s views on current matters: \u201cHow do you reflect on child wellbeing in this country?\u201d His guest sighs that more work is needed, lamenting that a wealthy country such as Ireland falls down in providing SNAs or tackling child poverty. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe measure of society is how we treat our weakest and most vulnerable,\u201d Ryan says. \u201cAnd right now our must vulnerable are often older persons and children, and we\u2019re not doing a great job on either end of the spectrum.\u201d No wonder we\u2019re struggling to focus on the future: there\u2019s enough to worry about in the present. <\/p>\n

Moment of the Week<\/p>\n

Following the Government\u2019s hasty about-turn on reducing SNA numbers in schools (see above), presenter Justin McCarthy speaks to Dublin principal Jean Leonard on Morning Ireland (RT\u00c9 Radio 1). Leonard outlines how the proposal \u2013 now reversed for a year, at the comparatively piffling cost of \u20ac19 million \u2013 would have robbed her school of nearly half its SNAs, with dire consequences for pupils with autism and sensory issues: \u201cThey\u2019re honestly not able to access any kind of meaningful education without that support.\u201d <\/p>\n

She praises the parents who fought against the measure, but isn\u2019t especially hopeful that the matter is resolved. Asked by McCarthy why the bombshell move was proposed by the relevant authorities in the first place, Leonard doesn\u2019t mince her words: \u201cI just think they thought they could get away with it.\u201d A lethal verdict, but probably on the money.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As any listener well knows, lightweight filler material is a regular hazard on radio chat shows, particularly when…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":319784,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[220,218,219,24559,148894,61,60,96691,1226,148895,41142,6085,80],"class_list":{"0":"post-319783","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-artificial-intelligence","8":"tag-ai","9":"tag-artificial-intelligence","10":"tag-artificialintelligence","11":"tag-brendan-oconnor","12":"tag-cathy-kelly","13":"tag-ie","14":"tag-ireland","15":"tag-justin-mccarthy","16":"tag-meta","17":"tag-mike-ryan","18":"tag-oliver-callan","19":"tag-rte","20":"tag-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319783","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=319783"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319783\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/319784"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=319783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=319783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=319783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}