Sarah or Claire: Who will win the battle for top slot in RTÉ radio?
They’re said to be the frontrunners in the battle for the ears of the nation on RTE Radio 1’s flagship morning show, so how do Claire Byrne and Sarah McInerney measure up?
PAT Kenny’s tenure is all but a distant memory and with Sean O’Rourke’s departure, there are certainly very big shoes to fill on RTÉ Radio One’s Today slot.
The 10am til 12pm programme offers incisive insight into what’s going on in our country on a daily basis. Women have long been underrepresented on our airwaves and it finally looks like a coveted prime time radio position in the mornings will be given to a female presenter.
Miriam O’Callaghan’s name had been in the mix as a frontrunner as she has previously stood in for O’Rourke, but with David McCullagh leaving Prime Time to join the Six One news as a co-anchor, this now seems unlikely as she will be needed there to steer the ship.
So there seems to be a two-horse race between current temporary presenter Sarah McInerney and RTÉ stalwart Claire Byrne. Initially McInerney was ahead of the pack but Byrne’s odds have been slashed at the bookies. A final decision is being made in August, with RTÉ bosses keen to handle the situation delicately, given the top talent involved.
But who will walk away with this coveted position?
BEGINNINGS
CLAIRE: The 44-year-old was brought up on the family farm in Mountrath, Co. Laois and went to school at the local Brigidine Convent.
She left home to go to UCD where she studied politics, sociology and social science but realised the course wasn’t for her and dropped out. She then studied journalism at Rathmines College of Further Education.
SARAH: The 39-year-old is a Galwegian, brought up in Barna, Connemara. She attended Salerno Girls Secondary School in Salthill before landing a place in Dublin City University’s journalism degree course. She previously admitted she had signed up to the course due to her love of writing fiction and felt initially she had made a mistake before eventually finding her feet.
PERSONAL LIFE
CLAIRE: Byrne married her first husband, TV producer Richard Johnson, in 2003 but their long-distance relationship failed as she lived in Dublin while he still worked in the UK and they sadly divorced in 2003. She met tech consultant Gerry Scollan in 2011 and they have three children Patrick, 6, Jane, 5, and two-year-old Emma. ‘Claire is a really nice person with time for everyone. Anyone who has ever worked with her is very fond of her,’ says a former colleague.
SARAH: Married to Tom, they have two small children, Ben and Caelen. Outside work friends describe her as bubbly, caring and kind. ‘She’s a lovely person who is a great mum and a great friend,’ one pal said.
STYLE
CLAIRE: A big fan of blazers while on TV, Claire usually teams them with matching trousers and heels for a professional, business-like look. Away from the camera, however, she favours a relaxed style, though sticks with skirts and heels, and has rarely been photographed in jeans. A brunette when she first started out, she has maintained her blonde colour for several years now, though the length has varied. Her current platinum blonde crop is probably the blondest and shortest she’s gone. Her dress for her wedding back in 2016 was a stunning champagne-coloured satin number with cap sleeves and a diamante belt detail — very in tune with her elegant, understated style.
SARAH: Also a lover of blazers, Sarah is far more likely to team hers with skinny jeans or mis-matched trousers, and stiletto heels. She’s very rarely seen in black tie or cocktail attire, but when she is, black is often the colour of choice. However, she loves a pop of colour in her daily wardrobe to brighten things up. Her naturally curly hair is usually left to its own devices but she has been known to have it styled into large, sleek curls for special occasions.
CAREER
CLAIRE: After college, Byrne started her broadcasting career with East Coast Radio before moving to the Channel Islands where she worked with the BBC in the late 1990s. A brief stint as a reporter on TV3, she went to London where she worked on Channel 5 and ITV News before being headhunted again by TV3 to present Ireland AM with Mark Cagney. From there she replaced Grainne Seoige as the anchor of the station’s main evening news before being poached by Newstalk in 2006 — a move which landed her in a court battle with her former employers who tried to stop her from taking over the radio station’s breakfast show.
But it wasn’t too long before RTÉ made Byrne an offer she couldn’t refuse and she has since gone from strength to strength, covering a vast area of ground, beginning back in daytime magazine land with the Daily Show alongside Daithi Ó Sé, then on to Prime Time in 2014 as the result of a current affairs shake-up. She then landed her own TV show Claire Byrne Live which is still on air and is a big ratings winner. At the same time, she also presents the News at One on RTÉ Radio One.
SARAH: After graduating, McInerney was offered a job in the Sunday Tribune which followed on from a work placement there where she was offered the job as a social diarist, with her own column Sarah In The City, as well as a jobbing news reporter. But soon the news side of things took over with politics being one of McInerney’s talents, as well as documentary making and television presenting. She covered politics for the Sunday Times where she still writes a column.
She left her staff job there when she was asked by Newstalk to join their team in a shake-up. She was co-presenting Newstalk Drive with Chris Donoghue before the show was unceremoniously dumped and she was shifted to weekends. Donoghue handed his notice in and it wasn’t long before McInerney followed.
Since then she has become a broadcasting gun for hire, presenting a number of shows on TV3 as part of their current affairs team then on Virgin Media, including filling in for Vincent Browne and Ivan Yates before being asked to fill RTÉ’s Today gap.
STRENGTHS
CLAIRE: When Pat Kenny left RTÉ for Newstalk, it was a huge shock to the station. But very soon it looked like Pat was yesterday’s man as Sean O’Rourke skillfully settled into the Today show. Pat, meanwhile, was given a show on UTV Ireland but Claire Byrne Live managed to trounce In The Round in the ratings, meaning Byrne had the upper hand on her former colleague.
Certainly her television broadcasts show she is a force to be reckoned with, bringing many issues to the fore on a weekly basis. Some of her triumphs have included a moving interview with the mother and sister of Clodagh Hawe, who was murdered along with her children by her husband Alan. But equally she is a force to be reckoned with and has left
many a politician squirming in their seat with her line of questioning.
‘Claire’s journalistic training has stood her in good stead,’ says a former colleague. ‘Put her in front of a camera and she can do anything. She has done light shows like Ireland AM in the past but her true calling is incurrent affairs. She might not roar but she doesn’t suffer fools and is known for not letting anyone out of a tight corner without getting the answers the public require.’
SARAH: Over the past three months and under the most difficult circumstances, McInerney has more than proved her mettle. Her softspoken manner doesn’t in any way mean that she is a soft interviewer — quite the contrary. For example, she skewered Tanaiste Leo Varadkar just yesterday over his lack of apology to cervical cancer scandal victim Ruth Morrissey while she was alive. Sarah appears to be a big hit with listeners. She has very much been holding her own over the summer. Even if she is not given the Today show, insiders say there is definitely a spot for her in RTÉ.
WHO WILL WIN?
Sarah has been standing in since Sean O’Rouke retired in May but RTÉ insiders have said Claire is a ‘shoo-in’ for the job. Claire has expressed an interest, saying last weekend that she would like to present the Today show and getting the job would change her life.
‘It’s always nice to have your name linked to a job which Sean O’Rourke did and Pat Kenny did, but look, I don’t know. I’m not a decision-maker in RTÉ,’ she said, speaking on the Human Nature podcast.
‘I would like to do it, but if I don’t get to do it, I’m grand, you know, and I’m happy,’ she said, describing it as a ‘real privilege and honour’ to be linked to the job.
However, if she does get the position, it is unclear what will happen to her successful television show Claire Byrne Live. Although McInerney was initially tipped for the job when filling in, the general consensus in RTÉ is that Byrne deserves the post, having worked there the longest and having the most experience.
‘Both are formidable and it would be fair to say that neither are favourites of politicians when it comes to giving interviews,’ a media insider says. ‘But the feeling in RTÉ is that it should be Claire’s post if she wants it as she has proved herself to be a real asset to the RTÉ schedule and she has also served her time.’
As for Sarah she has remained tight-lipped about the speculation surrounding the post but is still getting on with the day job. A decision is set to be made by RTÉ chiefs and announced next month.