Kilkenny presenter to take over as Liveline host

Kilkenny's Kieran Cuddihy will take over as host of Liveline on RTÉ Radio 1, replacing Joe Duffy in one of Irish radio's most prestigious roles.

Cuddihy will leave Newstalk, ending a 14 year spell with the station in which he has hosted The Hard Shoulder programme since 2020.

He has also presented The Tonight Show on Virgin Media TV since February and moderated the first presidential debate at the end of September.

The move is part of a huge shake-up across the country’s main radio stations with Claire Byrne heading the opposite direction, returning to Newstalk after 15 years while Ray D’Arcy was suddenly removed from the Radio 1 show that he has hosted since 2011 as the station unveils an entirely new weekday schedule.

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Cuddihy will have big shoes to fill as the role has become synonymous with Duffy across his nearly three decades of talking to the country on weekday afternoons, but confidence in the former will be high as he has worked closely with RTÉ Director of Audio Patricia Monahan who was previously managing editor at Newstalk.

Speaking about Radio 1’s new schedule Monahan said: “This new schedule marks the beginning of an exciting new chapter for RTÉ Radio 1.”

“In line with our strategy, it has been designed to meet changing listening habits of audiences, giving them the public service content they need across the day from breaking news to analysis and comment, music, chat and entertainment coming full circle in the late afternoon and evening with compelling discussion of the issues of the day from the world of news, sport and entertainment.”

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