20 August 2006 By Catherine O’Mahony
The new boss of RTE Radio 1 has said that her staff should be prepared for further changes, because innovation is now the station’s ruling principle.
The new boss of RTE Radio 1 has said that her staff should be prepared for further changes, because innovation is now the station’s ruling principle.
With a thorough overhaul of the station’s weekday line-up complete, further changes are likely for its weekend schedule. The first change, according to informed sources, will be the introduction of an hour-long Desert Island Discs-style programme fronted by Eamon Dunphy at 9am on Saturdays.
This show has not yet been officially confirmed but Dunphy is on board and RTE sources said the timing had been decided. Ruth Buchanan’s Playback programme will then run at 10am.
‘‘Staying the same is not an option,” said Radio 1’s director Ana Leddy in an interview with The Sunday Business Post. ‘‘We’re in an ongoing phase – at this point – of innovation. Once you change one thing, it’s almost like a domino effect. Things start to become organic.”
Leddy, who joined Radio 1 last February, said she planned to focus this autumn on bedding in the many changes she has implemented to the weekday schedule, in a bid to maintain Radio 1’s dominant position in an increasingly competitive marketplace.
The changes include the loss of daily afternoon arts programme, Rattlebag, and the addition of a new two-hour music and magazine show presented by Derek Mooney.
Responding to the charge that she had let down arts lovers by abandoning the arts show, Leddy said that this was not the case.
‘‘One thing is sure, you can’t please all the people all the time. There is more arts coverage in the schedule than we’ve ever had before. We’re just doing it differently,” she said referring to a new daily arts show at 11pm, plus coverage in other shows.
‘‘Our brief is to engage the widest possible audience. There’s a wealth of material emanating from the arts that we cover throughout the broadcast day that guarantees exposure to a wide audience.”
(Source: Sunday Business Post Online-The Post Ie.)