What Karen did next
She’s been a staple on our TV screens for almost 20 years and isn’t afraid to adapt. Karen Koster talks to Janice Butler about settling into her new job as co-host of The Six O’clock Show, why family is always her top priority and what she does to keep body and mind in shape
Atrue professional and constant on our screens, Karen Koster has been in the TV industry for close on 20 years now. She cut her teeth straight out of college as a researcher in the early days of Ireland AM, before becoming anchor on the long-running (and much missed) entertainment show, Xposé. In 2019, things went full circle for her when she returned to the early morning starts (5am) on Ireland AM, which she did until last summer when Virgin Media decided on a shake-up of their shows, with many well-known names (Anna Daly, Aidan Power, Glenda Gilson and Laura Woods) leaving the station and others changing roles. Karen moved from morning to evening, now hosting e Six O’clock Show with Martin King and her predecessor Muireann O’connell has gone to Ireland AM.
Karen has shown she’s adaptable and it’s probably one of the reasons for her longevity in a competitive business. At the start of the pandemic, she powered through live reports from home, with her three children, Finn, JJ and Eve, hilariously piling into her live reports, with Mammy always keeping her cool.
When we catch up, she’s home with her youngest, Eve (3½). “I decided to keep the three-year-old at home today and now I’m regretting it. I had a bit of working guilt,” she laughs.
Over the Christmas break, Karen, husband John Maguire and the kids were, like many other households around the country, in isolation
I try not to take myself too seriously
as the Omicron variant took hold. “My six-year-old had a positive test on Christmas Eve and we started dropping like ies a er that,” she reveals. “e holidays were a wipe-out and we were isolating for two weeks, but we were lucky in the sense we all got it around the same time. We just felt very sorry for ourselves and drank and ate our way through it.”
ankfully, they all came out the other side ne. e kids headed back to school in the New Year and Karen returned to her new gig on e Six O’clock Show, a job she admits took longer to adjust to than she anticipated.
“It was a big change and I probably underestimated how much of an overhaul it actually would be to the routine,” she admits.
“When they asked me, my immediate thought was that I’d be o the earlies; it was nearly like a lifeline,” she says. “As much as I loved the show from 7-10am, the parts around the show were the hardest; setting the alarm at 5am, trying to get a nap during the day before the kids come home and then trying to have an early night. ose were the bits I found really full-on. When I was on air, I was in my element and able to focus on a job I loved,” she adds.
She remarks that it wasn’t just her who had to adjust to the new schedule; her husband John, who had become used to his morning routine with the children, found it di cult having her home.
“It was a big adjustment for all of us, especially for John. He had gone from owning the mornings and having his routine down, to feeling like I was under his feet all the time because I was home, so he found that a bit strange.
“So the job bit is easy; it’s all the other factors around it”, she adds. “I thought not being tired all the time would cancel out other challenges but it didn’t. But everything has started to click into place. If the family life isn’t working, nothing is.”
She says teaming up with Martin King was seamless as the pair know
each other from the early days of Virgin Media (then TV3), but had never got the opportunity to work together. “I’ve known Martin since the rst day I walked into what was then TV3; we used to sit opposite each other but never really got to work together properly. He’s very easy to work with, we slotted in very easily together. He told me on the
rst day – I’ll mind you, you mind me and we’ll give this the best shot.”
Martin’s wife, Jenny Mccarthy, was the photographer for Karen and John’s Sicilian wedding in 2019. Jenny and Martin recently announced that Jenny will have surgery next month a er doctors discovered a growth in her brain. Jenny was treated for a brain tumour in 2011 and a recent scan revealed “new activity”. Karen, of course, has nothing but support for the couple at this di cult time.
“She’s the sweetest person and I know she will weather this storm like the trooper that she is,” she says. “I think when you’ve gone through something like brain surgery before, you feel like you’ve done your time. I was saying to Martin it must be harder for her this time as she knows what’s ahead. And she’s a workaholic and I know she hates disappointing the brides she photographs. But she will be back at it, she’s incredible.”
Karen admits that she was as surprised by the shake-up at Virgin Media last year, that saw a number of well-known broadcasters moving on.
“I was as surprised as viewers were. I started having conversations with them around mid-summer and to be honest, my one concern and rst question was; what happens to Muireann? I wanted to be certain that she was happy with it, that I wasn’t swooping in to take a job from someone,” she says.
If family life isn’t working, nothing is
They didn’t tell me in the early days that it was going to be a direct swop, they just said ‘Don’t worry, Muireann is going to be very happy’
“They didn’t tell me in the early days that it was going to be a direct swop. I was completely oblivious, to be honest, of the other changes and just focusing on when it was going to pan out and when I could tell Tommy [Bowe] and Alan [Hughes],” she adds.
As she turned 40 last year, there’s a confidence in Karen that she knows she can do the job, but her family come first; she doesn’t stress about it all being gone in the morning.
“It’s unsettling in any job, when big changes are happening, but what can you do? It’s out of your control. I just try and give it my best but while I take the work seriously I try not to take myself seriously. There’s a bigger picture, there’s people who need me at home. If my time is up and I have to walk away, then so be it. I know I’d be kept busy if I got a call saying I’m not needed on Monday,” she admits.
She says that she’s at a stage in her life where she’s striking a good work/life balance. She does a four-day week and for the last two summers, she’s taken parental leave to be with the family at their new mobile home in Wexford.
“We got it in 2020 and the kids love it. They have so much freedom that they don’t have in Dublin. They have pals down there that they meet each year and we can sit out and let them off,” she says.
“But the four-day week is a deal breaker for me now. I know my tipping points and if that’s not available to me, I’m not going to be able to do a good job because I’ll start to resent it. If I’m not enjoying it 100%, it’s not worth being away from the kids,” she adds.
She credits her husband John, who has his own business, Quote Devil, for being her biggest supporter and encouraging her at every turn in her career.
“He’s never said to me that life would be easier if you were home at this time or that time of the day. He rolls with the punches and says we’ll make it work. He’s self-employed, which makes life much easier because he’s very flexible. He’s good at the bigger picture stuff and he’s brilliant at cutting through any hype or fluff. He’s the best partner in crime really,” she confesses.
Karen admits that since turning
40, she’s more determined to get in shape and dedicate more time to her own health and well-being, even if mindfulness is something she’s yet to master. “I don’t do any mindfulness but I probably should. I think I would benefit from it, but I did start working out last year during the pandemic with a trainer outside in the park. I took up boxing and I found it brilliant. Then over Christmas, it fell by the wayside but I’ve joined a new gym and did my first back to basics class. I can barely walk after it,” she laughs.
“I realised that I need to be relatively fit; I have three kids I have to run after and I need to keep up with them.”
We start to wrap things up as her little girl Eve asks in the background, “Are you still talking Mummy?” “I better go show her some attention,” laughs Karen, going back to her most important job. Is it less challenging as they’re getting older, I ask?
“The challenges just change. There’s push back from them now and lots and lots of questions.”
If I’m not enjoying it 100%, it’s not worth being away from the kids