Given the flurry of transfer activity in the radio-presenter market, fans of The Last Word (Today FM, weekdays) may be alarmed to hear Matt Cooper, its stalwart host, unexpectedly turn up on RTÉ Radio 1’s flagship news show. As it turns out, Cooper’s appearance on Morning Ireland (RTÉ Radio 1, weekdays) is not the latest chapter in the tit-for-tat talent raids between the national broadcaster and its Bauer Media-owned rivals Newstalk and Today FM. Rather, he joins the programme to pay generous tribute to the late journalist Ed Moloney, who covered the Troubles in fearlessly forensic fashion when Cooper was editor of the Sunday Tribune.
But while the uneasy truce between the competing networks may remain intact, the jarring sound of Cooper on another channel underlines how integral he is to the fabric of Today FM. The Last Word may originally have been a vehicle for Eamon Dunphy, but the brand definitively belongs to Cooper, who has occupied the early-evening slot for more than 20 years.
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