{"id":533866,"date":"2026-07-05T07:37:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-05T07:37:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/533866\/"},"modified":"2026-07-05T07:37:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-05T07:37:10","slug":"former-rte-broadcaster-brendan-balfe-i-havent-listened-to-radio-1-for-a-long-time-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/533866\/","title":{"rendered":"Former RT\u00c9 broadcaster Brendan Balfe: \u2018I haven\u2019t listened to Radio 1 for a long time\u2019 \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

It has been a month since former RT\u00c9<\/a> broadcaster Brendan Balfe\u2019s wife Eileen died. Her Mass card is still on the mantelpiece in the lovely double-fronted home in D\u00fan Laoghaire, Co Dublin, they shared for decades, raising their two children. The couple were married for 52 years. Eileen got cancer in 2010, the year Balfe retired from RT\u00c9. She had been suffering with dementia the last few years, and recently had moved into a nursing home. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe knew we were in the last chapter, but we thought she\u2019d have longer. She just slipped away,\u201d he says. When she died, Balfe was in the process of selling the house to downsize, and that process is continuing now. It has been a welcome distraction from the grief, sorting through the house contents, dealing with the admin. He has some fine art and eye-catching mementos from over 50 years in broadcasting scattered around the house. <\/p>\n

Balfe was, for anyone who likes setting table quiz questions, the first face in colour from RT\u00c9 TV studios, the first voice on 2FM and the last voice on RT\u00c9 Radio 1 Medium Wave. He started with RT\u00c9 as a teenager when it was located in the GPO<\/a> \u2013 a side hustle to a full-time job in insurance \u2013 and back in his day, his voice was as familiar as that of the late Gay Byrne<\/a> to Irish audiences. Fans of Bowman: Sunday: 8.30, John Bowman\u2019s weekly radio archive show, will hear him regularly featured. He has been an announcer, presenter, producer, scriptwriter, author and performer. In 1979 he conceived and presented a 20-part radio show called Sounds of the Century which was the radio model for Reeling in the Years. His Pathetic News was for years the only satire on RT\u00c9 radio. He has lectured in broadcasting, won international awards for radio comedy, written a memoir called Radio Man and, in 2016, toured a one-man show about his life in broadcasting, I\u2019m Sorry We\u2019re Off The Air.<\/p>\n

\"BrendanBrendan Balfe (centre) presenting Off the Beat in 1980 with Frank Hall and Hugh Leonard. Photograph: RTE Archive <\/p>\n

He turned 80 last year. His birthday celebrations were somewhat subdued as his wife wasn\u2019t well, but there was a small family dinner in his daughter Ellie\u2019s house with his son John. \u201cTwo beautiful people.\u201d The festivities included a surprise compilation of video messages from friends in broadcasting such as Pat Kenny<\/a>, \u201csaying they were quite fond of me\u201d. Balfe does not look 80. What\u2019s his secret? \u201cIt\u2019s all the cocaine,\u201d the comedy writer deadpans. He had a heart operation five years ago, but other than that he has very few ailments. <\/p>\n

We talk about how he spends his days. The house business is taking up a lot of time. I\u2019m surprised to learn he doesn\u2019t listen to Radio 1 any more. He is mostly a Lyric FM man. Did he hear they changed all the theme tunes on Radio 1? \u201cI did. And it\u2019s the oldest trick in the book. It\u2019s a stupid thing to do. Those theme tunes catch your ear when you\u2019re in the house, you know it means it must be 3 o\u2019clock. It\u2019s a lazy way of showing \u2018I am in charge\u2019. Why not change something about the programme, the content, instead? It\u2019s lazy. And stupid.\u201d<\/p>\n

[\u00a0RT\u00c9 radio at 100: Brendan Balfe on a century of Irish broadcastingOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

He\u2019s not best pleased with RT\u00c9 at the moment. Late last year, he wrote to a member of senior management \u2013 \u201cI don\u2019t want to mention names\u201d \u2013 pitching ideas for programmes to commemorate the 100th anniversary of RT\u00c9 radio. \u201cI offered some suggestions for programmes to mark the anniversary but I didn\u2019t get a reply. Not even a \u2018piss off, we\u2019re busy\u2019, you know? I think it\u2019s bad manners. I was very annoyed by that.\u201d<\/p>\n

He worked closely with Gay Byrne through the years. What would Gaybo think? \u201cWell, Gay used to say \u2018there\u2019s a small difference between suggesting and begging. I don\u2019t fall into the latter category\u2019. And nor do I.\u201d Another close friend is former RT\u00c9 broadcaster Mike Murphy: \u201cHe thought it was outrageous.\u201d Balfe says he did subsequently get a call from someone in RT\u00c9 television who was making a film about the 100th anniversary. \u201cThey said they\u2019d get back to me and never did. So I\u2019m not ringing back and saying \u2018Do you remember me?\u2019 I can live without it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"GayGay Byrne in the radio studio on March 20th, 1963. Photograph: RT\u00c9 <\/p>\n

It seems a shame that Balfe and his broadcasting expertise isn\u2019t being mined by RT\u00c9. A resource such as Balfe is rare. He has extensive knowledge of the RT\u00c9 archives and an acute sense of Irish audiences. The breadth of his experience is extraordinary. He was head of music policy on RT\u00c9 Radio 1, giving many established Irish musicians their first radio play, and performed comedy gigs supporting Rosaleen Linehan<\/a> and Frank Kelly<\/a>. In 1974 his bestselling comedy album Balfe, Bothered and Bewildered was released, the first of its kind in Ireland. A lot of what he ended up doing was accidental. He fell into things. One of his favourite songs is a country tune called I Hope You Dance. It has the lyric: \u201cAnd when you get the choice to sit it out or dance, I hope you dance\u201d. He says: \u201cIt suits me as I like to take opportunities and I generally say yes to everything.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u2018There used to be a big melting pot in RT\u00c9, an air of creativity, sparks happening. Radio and TV mixed together, there was a buzz about the place \u2026 last time I was in there, there was tumbleweed\u2019<\/p>\n

Balfe has a lot of wisdom to pass on. For example, the trick about trying to get a job, he always tells his two beloved teenage grandchildren Lulu (17) and Anna (14), is: \u201cDon\u2019t write to an organisation, always get a name.\u201d Aged 18, he wrote to former head of light music Kevin Roche at RT\u00c9. He\u2019d been listening to Radio Luxembourg and wondering how the likes of legendary presenter Pete Murray got their jobs. The letter said something like: \u201cI could be God\u2019s gift to Irish radio and if you play your cards right I might come in for an audition.\u201d This time RT\u00c9 replied and Roche got him in for an audition. He was working for an insurance company earning IR\u00a34 a week at the time. Each shift as an RT\u00c9 continuity announcer paid IR\u00a36. \u201cMy dad said, \u2018Do you not think you should move?\u2019 I said \u2018Dad, can I?\u2019 It meant I was giving up a secure, pensionable job.\u201d <\/p>\n

And that\u2019s how he started. He did a voice test with 300 applicants and landed the job of continuity announcer under Terry Wogan<\/a>. Balfe was soon in charge of sponsored programmes which began in the 1950s and ended in 1980. These were shows sponsored by commercial clients. In one of many quirks of his career, he had the experience at 16 of getting Gay Byrne\u2019s autograph while attending the first Late Late Show, and then three years later hiring Byrne for a sponsored programme with Urney Chocolates. <\/p>\n

\"BrendanBrendan Balfe did a voice test with 300 applicants and landed the job of continuity announcer under Terry Wogan. Photograph: Katie Collins\/PA <\/p>\n

Talk of sponsored programmes brings us on to RT\u00c9\u2019s recent troubles<\/a>. I ask what that was like for the veteran broadcaster, looking on. \u201cVeteran? I hate that word.\u201d Assessing RT\u00c9\u2019s problems, the \u201cvery experienced\u201d broadcaster notes that when he retired 16 years ago, against his wishes, he adds, \u201ca whole new raft of people came in to manage. Most of them wouldn\u2019t have a clue about radio or broadcasting if it bit them in the leg. They might have had a degree … and that was about it.\u201d <\/p>\n

He quotes BBC broadcaster Huw Wheldon, who famously said the whole point of broadcasting was \u201cto make the good popular and the popular good\u201d. \u201cThere used to be a big melting pot in RT\u00c9, an air of creativity, sparks happening. Radio and TV mixed together, there was a buzz about the place \u2026 last time I was in there, there was tumbleweed, everybody looking worried, nobody talking to each other …\u201d Having said that, the former RT\u00c9 staff member has \u201cvery few spies\u201d in RT\u00c9 at the moment. Some of his former students from when he ran the radio course in the Institute of Art, Design and Technology work there. \u201cBut I don\u2019t hear anything,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n

Balfe was one of the first producer\/presenters in the organisation. Observers said he held his talent lightly, the work speaking for itself. \u201cI didn\u2019t have a rule book, just instincts and principles.\u201d One of his bosses was head of the announcing section, Denis Meehan. \u201cHe always said the audience is not stupid. So my motto has always been \u2018assume they are bright\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018My daughter says I\u2019ve to do things like go to Lisbon for the weekend or go to Brazil. I just want to live and not have to worry too much\u2019<\/p>\n

He learned on the job from people at the top of their game. \u201cYou had the best training by doing,\u201d he says. He would seek out people to interview that he admired. American musician Tom Lehrer was a memorable one<\/a>, and he also went to Hollywood to interview singer Peggy Lee. \u201cIt was one of my first jobs as a presenter\/producer. Peggy Lee was on a walker, she\u2019d hurt her hip. She wanted to do the interview in the bedroom. She was lying on the bed and sipping tea. Her bedroom was lined with books and she told me she was reading a book about Michelangelo. She said \u2018imagine seeing David in that block of marble\u2019. Isn\u2019t that fabulous?\u2019 And that\u2019s actually how you produce people. I\u2019ve used that trick ever since. You find David or Davina in the block of marble. Chip away until you find the real person and let them be that person.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"BroadcastersBroadcasters that Balfe admires include John Kelly and Aideen Gormley of Lyric FM. But he thinks broadcasting is a bit of a lost art. Photograph Nick Bradshaw\/The Irish Times <\/p>\n

He continued to work after retirement, including a series for RT\u00c9 called The Irish Voice, charting 50 years of history through radio. It was produced as a three-CD anthology and, he recalls proudly, became the bestselling CD of 2011. The last programme he did was called Me & Gaybo, on Lyric FM. What does he think about people being forced to retire at 65? \u201cI think it\u2019s mad. It should be optional.\u201d <\/p>\n

His RT\u00c9 pension is \u20ac100 a week, and he also gets the State pension. He\u2019s selling the house so that he can have a bit of money. \u201cMy daughter says I\u2019ve to do things like go to Lisbon for the weekend or go to Brazil. I just want to live and not have to worry too much.\u201d<\/p>\n

Is he lonely? \u201cBy definition I am because Eileen is gone, but she\u2019s been gone for the last two years really.\u201d He is close to his children. John works in the hotel industry, and Ellie, a former editor of Tatler, has a health podcast. \u201cEllie just got engaged, so even in the grieving period there are lovely surprises.\u201d <\/p>\n

Broadcasters he admires include John Kelly and Aideen Gormley of Lyric FM. But he thinks broadcasting is a bit of a lost art. \u201cI haven\u2019t listened to Radio 1 for a long time. I\u2019m not rushing to turn it on.\u201d He hasn\u2019t heard the new Liveline. \u201cI just can\u2019t be bothered moving the dial from Lyric.\u201d<\/p>\n

He goes to bed at 1am, watching CNN late into the night. He enjoys a lie-in. For the past 15 years he\u2019s been caring for his wife, so he\u2019s getting used to a new rhythm. It\u2019s been satisfying sorting through his memorabilia for the house sale and thinking back over his varied career. <\/p>\n

As we finish up, he tells me about his friend, entertainer Maxi, ringing him recently to ask for stories about the Leaving Certificate for a piece she was writing in Ireland\u2019s Own. He did his Leaving in 1963, the first year of the Irish oral exam, when his teacher Mr O\u2019Driscoll told the class one question they would definitely be asked was: \u2018What do you want to be when you grow up?\u2019<\/p>\n

Sixteen-year-old Balfe said \u201cradio announcer\u201d. Mr O\u2019Driscoll told him the Irish for that was \u201cbolscaire craolc\u00e1n\u201d which of course is what he ended up doing, and so much more. \u201cOh Brendan! Brendan Balfe. You did things WHOLE and not by HALFE,\u201d as singer Cathy Davey<\/a> put it in a beautiful book of tributes for his 65th birthday. When he had the choice, he danced. \u201cIt\u2019s been a wonderfully happy life,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It has been a month since former RT\u00c9 broadcaster Brendan Balfe\u2019s wife Eileen died. Her Mass card is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":533867,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[205284,93,159609,114382,61,60,6131,227002,6085,125027,48805,976],"class_list":["post-533866","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-cathy-davey","tag-entertainment","tag-frank-kelly","tag-gay-byrne","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-pat-kenny","tag-rosaleen-linehan","tag-rte","tag-rte-pay-controversy","tag-terry-wogan","tag-weekendreview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/533866","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=533866"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/533866\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/533867"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=533866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=533866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=533866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}