RTÉ's 9pm news bulletin ran obituaries for two former chat show hosts on Thursday night: one for Michael Parkinson, who had died aged 88, and what sounded like one for Ryan Tubridy.
In a lookback over his association with RTÉ, the presenter’s CV was recapped from his teenage book-reviewing days on children’s programme Scratch Saturday to his sentimental Late Late Show sign-off after 14 years. But while Tubridy’s relationship with RTÉ is dead for now, his broader media career will likely resume after an extended pause.
Other than a Montrose live broadcasting comeback at some date in the future, there are several possible outcomes. The first is that a broadcaster based in the Irish market will make Tubridy an offer and he becomes a fixture for a direct RTÉ rival.
Virgin Media Television, owned by cable giant Liberty Global, runs a tight ship budget-wise and it is unclear whether Tubridy would be a good fit for its audience.
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Newstalk seems a more natural home. Almost 10 years ago the station – then owned by Denis O’Brien’s Communicorp – poached Tubridy’s Late Late predecessor Pat Kenny from RTÉ. He became Newstalk’s biggest draw. But while the former Today presenter had, and still has, a clearly defined current affairs brand, Tubridy’s appeal is more amorphous.
Bauer Media Audio, the German-owned multimedia empire that bought Communicorp in 2021, has been adding to its station portfolio, lately acquiring Cork’s Red FM and youth music station iRadio. But that doesn’t necessarily mean it is minded to whip out its chequebook for a big-name presenter whose main RTÉ demographic – notwithstanding his self-styled “toy man” credentials – was the older Radio 1 base.
At some point before resigning from the Late Late, Tubridy will have read the industry tea leaves. Despite attempts to throw cold water on terms like “talent” and “stars”, this is an age where individuals can reach an audience – and a revenue stream – without the backing of traditional media institutions.
Having been burned by one employer, he might prefer to swerve signing up to another and instead agree a more flexible content partnership with a podcast platform. Before this scandal erupted he was thought to be keen to launch a books podcast. Time is of the essence here, as the podcast scene is already overcrowded and some platforms have pulled back on spending as subscriptions stall and the advertising market endures an underwhelming year.
A book deal seems a highly viable alternative for the author of JFK in Ireland and The Irish Are Coming. Both earlier titles were published by Harper Collins, part of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp.
And London could still be calling. Although Tubridy once said he found it hard to adjust to speaking to a British audience, his previous stand-in gigs on the BBC were often refreshingly free of the folksy schtick he delivered to Irish listeners.
Those fill-in jobs, in 2011-2015, were on BBC Radio 2, where he covered for Graham Norton, Ken Bruce, Simon Mayo and the late Terry Wogan. BBC Radio 5 Live is another possible outlet, while satirical website Waterford Whispers News has offered its suggestion: Alan Partridge’s (fictional) stomping ground North Norfolk Digital.
