Ivan Yates lining up two media roles

IVAN YATES is taking over the airwaves having landed two major jobs in Newstalk and on TV3 in the space of one week.

The Enniscorthy man will present Newstalk’s three hour drivetime slot from Monday, September 4, the radio station has announced, and is set to join Matt Cooper in fronting what was Tonight with Vincent Browne on TV3.

A national newspaper highlighted at the weekend how Yates and Matt Cooper will take over from Vincent Browne on the latter’s iconic TV3 political talk show. The show broadcasts four nights a week on TV3. Cooper and Yates will host two shows a week together, and one each separately. Meanwhile Newstalk said Mr Yates, a former Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry from 1994 to 1997, will ‘ bring his own unique style’ to a opinion-led programme weekdays.

Chris Donoghue and Sarah McInerney, who have presented the slot since a major revamp of the Newstalk schedule last September, were said by the Communicorp-owned station to be ‘in discussions’ about other roles. Newstalk managing editor Patricia Monahan said Yates is one of Ireland’s foremost commentators and noted his long history with the station.

This included two stints in the breakfast slot, where he presented alongside Mr Donoghue.

‘His brand of straight talking, opinion-led commentary will provide an engaging forum for listeners,’ Ms Monahan said.

After a break of nine months, the County Wexford man returned to the station in April to host a two-hour show on a Sunday morning. His new weekday slot will pit the former owner of Celtic Bookmakers against RTÉ’s Mary Wilson and Today FM’s Matt Cooper. The latest figures from the Joint National Listenership Research show that Ms Wilson’s show has 238,000 listeners, while Mr Cooper’s has 131,000 and Newstalk Drive has 130,000.