Newstalk rejigs weekend schedule as George Hook returns

Kieran Cuddihy, Jess Kelly and Andrea Gilligan to present new shows

George Hook returns to Newstalk this Saturday with ‘Hook’s Saturday Sit-In’, which will feature “interviews, reviews and regular items on travel, music and US politics” from 8am to 10am. Photograph: Eric Luke
George Hook returns to Newstalk this Saturday with ‘Hook’s Saturday Sit-In’, which will feature “interviews, reviews and regular items on travel, music and US politics” from 8am to 10am. Photograph: Eric Luke

Newstalk has added new shows presented by Kieran Cuddihy, Jess Kelly and Andrea Gilligan to its weekend schedule for 2018.

George Hook will also return to the station this Saturday with a show called Hook's Saturday Sit-In. This will feature "interviews, reviews and regular items on travel, music and US politics" from 8am to 10am.

Cuddihy, a reporter and regular cover presenter on Newstalk, has been confirmed as the presenter of current affairs show On the Record, from 11am to 1pm on Sunday, replacing Chris Donoghue who left the station late last year to become special adviser to Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney.

Newstalk tech correspondent Jess Kelly will present Tech Talk, from 6pm to 7pm on Sunday evenings, while news presenter Andrea Gilligan will host the current affairs- and politics-focused Between the Lines from 8am to 9am on Sunday.

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A programme with that name ran on Saturdays in recent months and was presented by Sarah McInerney, who announced her departure from the weekly show in November.

Hook was suspended by Newstalk, owned by Denis O'Brien's Communicorp, in September 2017 after comments he made on air about rape and responsibility.

After acknowledging that his remarks were "totally wrong and inappropriate and should never have been made", the station later said his weekday show High Noon would not return and that Hook would instead be given a weekend programme.

Laura Slattery

Laura Slattery

Laura Slattery is an Irish Times journalist writing about media, advertising and other business topics