Ray D’Arcy’s old midafternoon slot has been temporarily rebranded in forebodingly generic fashion as The 3 O’Clock Show, with Brendan Courtney the man tasked with not unduly rocking the boat
Even by the eventful standards of recent times – think the Ryan Tubridy controversy or 2FM’s mass exodus – it’s the most dramatic episode in the Irish radio world for years, a twisty soap opera rife with the botched scheming, corporate feuding and bitter exiting that rivet audiences.
Unfortunately for listeners, it occurs off-air. A severe let-down awaits anyone tuning in to savour the cordite-laden aftermath of Ray D’Arcy’s rancorous departure from RTÉ or Kieran Cuddihy’s rushed defection from Newstalk to ascend the Liveline throne.
On the airwaves, at least, RTÉ Radio 1 and its commercial rival Newstalk try to carry on as if nothing has happened, with a hastily assembled cast of stand-in presenters doing their best to avoid any reference to their former colleagues. Portraits of purged politburos have been airbrushed with more subtlety.
D’Arcy’s old midafternoon slot, for instance, has been temporarily rebranded in forebodingly generic fashion as The 3 O
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