{"id":70207,"date":"2025-10-09T20:03:06","date_gmt":"2025-10-09T20:03:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/70207\/"},"modified":"2025-10-09T20:03:06","modified_gmt":"2025-10-09T20:03:06","slug":"ray-darcy-hugely-disappointed-with-how-rte-handled-his-departure-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/70207\/","title":{"rendered":"Ray D\u2019Arcy \u2018hugely disappointed\u2019 with how RT\u00c9 handled his departure \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Broadcaster Ray D\u2019Arcy<\/a> has left RT\u00c9 after 11 years, saying he was \u201chugely disappointed\u201d with how his departure was handled by management at the station. <\/p>\n

He presented his final afternoon show on Wednesday. <\/p>\n

His departure came as a surprise to people in RT\u00c9, even those who worked closely with him. Many staff only found out he would not be returning as his show went on air, without him, on Thursday afternoon.<\/p>\n

The Irish Times understands Mr D\u2019Arcy had a meeting with senior radio management earlier this week to discuss a renewal of his contract, which was set to expire at the end of this year. However, the discussions quickly broke down and Mr D\u2019Arcy subsequently told the station he was severing ties without further talks.<\/p>\n

In a statement issued on Thursday, Mr D\u2019Arcy (61) said he was \u201chugely disappointed with RT\u00c9 management and how my departure from Radio 1 has been handled\u201d. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Ray D\u2019Arcy\u2019s parting outburst atypical of broadcaster who shunned the limelightOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been with Radio 1 for the past 11 years. In that time, I have worked with some brilliant people. I want to thank them. I also want to thank all the regulars on the show, the guests and the wonderful, loyal listeners,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cI am particularly proud of how the show championed the stories and causes of people like Catherine Corless<\/a>, Erica Fleming, Katriona O\u2019Sullivan and the late Vicky Phelan<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cI am also very proud of how we highlighted mental health and addiction issues over the years \u2013 these are areas I will continue to be active in. <\/p>\n

\u201cI love radio and daily radio is part of who I am. I look forward to the opportunities ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr D\u2019Arcy had presented his midweek programme, The Ray D\u2019Arcy Show, on RT\u00c9 Radio 1 since February 2015.<\/p>\n

In a statement issued on Thursday, RT\u00c9 confirmed that the popular broadcaster has \u201cpresented his show for the final time\u201d. <\/p>\n

Patricia Monahan, RT\u00c9\u2019s director of audio, said: \u201cI would like to sincerely thank Ray for his contribution to RT\u00c9 Radio 1 over the last 11 years. While The Ray D\u2019Arcy Show is not part of our future plans, we wish him well in his future endeavours.\u201d <\/p>\n

The statement noted that Mr D\u2019Arcy and his team, which included his wife and long-time producer Jenny Kelly, \u201cproduced thousands of hours of live radio, capturing real-life stories and a huge range of personal experiences\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe Ray D\u2019Arcy Show championed Irish artists and music over the years as well as hosting many memorable, funny and entertaining moments.\u201d<\/p>\n

The statement added that the programme \u201cencouraged tens of thousands of people all around the country to get active with the hugely popular Run with Ray series which brought runners and non-runners together to run 5km with Ray at events in their local communities\u201d.<\/p>\n

About 182,000 listeners tuned into his show daily, according to the latest JNLR listenership figures published in August, marking a decrease of 10,000 from the previous quarter.<\/p>\n

Details of future plans for RT\u00c9 Radio 1 will be announced soon. Shay Byrne will present the 3pm to 4.30pm slot for the remainder of the week. <\/p>\n

On his return to Montrose, Mr D\u2019Arcy presented a Saturday night television chatshow on RT\u00c9 One, also called The Ray D\u2019Arcy Show, from 2015 to 2019.<\/p>\n

Before moving back to RT\u00c9, he presented a midweek show on Today FM<\/a> for 14 years.<\/p>\n

He was the second-highest paid individual at RT\u00c9 in 2019 \u2013 behind Ryan Tubridy \u2013 but saw his salary drop from \u20ac450,000 that year to \u20ac305,000 in 2020 and 2021<\/a>, after his Saturday night chatshow came to an end.<\/p>\n

In 2022 and 2023, he was paid \u20ac250,000<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In 2023, RT\u00c9\u2019s Director General Kevin Bakhurst<\/a> brought in pay caps<\/a> and announced that no one at the broadcaster would earn more than him.<\/p>\n

In December 2014, Mr D\u2019Arcy announced he was leaving Today FM<\/a> to move back to RT\u00c9 where he had worked earlier in his career including as a presenter on children\u2019s TV show The Den.<\/p>\n

Speaking at the time, he said he was \u201creally looking forward\u201d to rejoining the team at RT\u00c9. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m excited about the upcoming challenges in both radio and television. To be honest, it feels a little bit like coming home.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Broadcaster Ray D\u2019Arcy has left RT\u00c9 after 11 years, saying he was \u201chugely disappointed\u201d with how his departure…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":69724,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[93,61,60,32975,6085,47179],"class_list":{"0":"post-70207","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland","11":"tag-ray-d-arcy","12":"tag-rte","13":"tag-today-fm"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70207","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=70207"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70207\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/69724"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}