Ruth Buchanan to retire [Article]

Lenny Lovett

Another fine talent hangs up her cans:
From today's Indo

THE low-profile host of one of the most popular shows on Irish radio over the past decade is to step down.
The Irish Independent understands that Ruth Buchanan, the presenter of 'Playback' on RTE Radio 1, has informed her colleagues that she is retiring.
According to the latest JNLR figures, the show recently increased its audience to 320,000 listeners -- just 6,000 behind 'Today with Pat Kenny'.
"Ruth will be a difficult act to follow as she has made the show her own in many ways, with her singing and humorous links," an RTE insider said yesterday.
'Playback' is a compilation of the "best bits" of the previous week's Radio One schedule, and airs each Saturday at 9.10am.
"It has been a mainstay in the top 10 most-listened-to shows for many years and Ruth was very much a one-woman team, doing the editing and the presenting herself," the insider added. "She has managed to keep a very strong audience despite being shifted to an earlier slot, first to accommodate Eamon Dunphy and later to accommodate 'The Business'."
Most of RTE's biggest shows -- including 'Morning Ireland' and 'Liveline' -- lost listeners in the latest ratings, which were released last week.
'Playback', however, bucked the trend and its jump to 320,000 listeners cemented its place as the eighth most-popular radio show over the previous 12 months, streets ahead of any programme on 2fm, Today FM or Newstalk.
It also gained 14,000 listeners from February's figures, and is consistently amongst the most-popular Irish podcasts.
Buchanan is the wife of journalist and senator Shane Ross, and a mother of two.
The 64-year-old started working at RTE as a continuity announcer in 1968, and later went on to work on children's programmes and religious radio slots.
She was the presenter of 'Poparama' when a 12-year-old Ryan Tubridy got his first break on 2fm reviewing children's books. Buchanan is currently on holiday and could not be reached yesterday.
Replacement
Her absences on 'Playback' in recent years have been filled by Fiona Kelly and Bernadette Comerford but it is understood that her full-time replacement will be Marian Richardson, producer-in-chief on 'Drivetime'.
Richardson, who produced 'Today with Pat Kenny' and Marian Finucane, used be a presenter on the children's TV show 'Bosco' in the 1970s and 1980s.
It is expected that she will take up presenting 'Playback' later this year.
- Jason O'Brien
Irish Independent

JonathanAnon

She was the presenter of 'Poparama' when a 12-year-old Ryan Tubridy got his first break on 2fm reviewing children's books. Buchanan is currently on holiday and could not be reached yesterday.

For that alone she should be fired.... Seriously though, I always thought she was good on Playback. Dont know her outside of that.

PKen

Hope her husband (Senator Shane Ross) doesn't retire! One of the few decent Senators left, who continually bats for the ordinary person.
If the Senate is abolished (I hope so), he'd have no problem getting elected to the Dail. Best wishes to Ruth on her retirement - excellent presenter.

mike65

This maybe a bit wide of the mark but I'm sure I've read that the presence of Mrs Ross in RTE has worked against hubby a few times in some respect, I think it was during election campaigns.

giftgrub

Dont see what the big deal is...i've listened to Playback, all it is her linking into the best bits of other people's work.

mike65

Have'nt you ever made mixtapes!? There is an art to it esp as so much of RTEs output is pure low grade waffle

Rubik.

A promo she did for Playback a couple of weeks back went - "The week without the boring bits". Which mustn't have gone down too well because it was quickly changed to something else.

JonathanAnon

ah I know it's hardly rocket science.. more like painting by numbers.. I mean you could get a whole show out of the the f**k ups Mary Wilson makes on DriveTime.

giftgrub

Wonder how it works anyway? Do the producers of each show send her bits they think are worth including?

She hardly sits in the office in all day listening to the radio...although RTE is a semi-state...

Lapin

giftgrub wrote: »

Wonder how it works anyway? Do the producers of each show send her bits they think are worth including?

She hardly sits in the office in all day listening to the radio........

If all the producers sent her the bits they thought were worth including, she would end up sitting in in the office all day listening to the radio .

mike65

I wonder did she ask Marian for advise about sitting down and listening to the radio all day? Probably not, as Ms Finucanes time is so expensive.

Plowman

This post has been deleted.

rovert

Pleasant enough presenter.

How much was she earning for that gig?

paddyland

JonathanAnon wrote: »

Seriously though, I always thought she was good on Playback. Dont know her outside of that.

You guys...!

Seriously, don't you know Ruthie was the only REAL chick that ever graced the national broadcaster? Did you never see her in her early days? She was probably the first girl I ever fell in love with, as a small, impressionable child! She's 64 years old now? Sigh...

Come on, somebody post an early pic of her, and put these guys right!

mike65

Didn't she do that Saturday morning show on RTE1 with Aonghus McAnally?

paddyland

mike65 wrote: »

Didn't she do that Saturday morning show on RTE1 with Aonghus McAnally?

Er no, are you thinking of Mary Fitzgerald?

8mv

Always enjoyed this programme, especially when Ruth presented, even though you knew you would get a regular contribution from (un)funny friday! There's something reassuring about weekend radio on RTE - Playback, Sunday Miscellany, Marion and such, even if it is only on in the background and you can't recall a single detail about the programme afterwards.

Tabnabs

I've enjoyed her presenting that programme and it won't be the same without her.

Lenny Lovett

paddyland wrote: »

You guys...!

Seriously, don't you know Ruthie was the only REAL chick that ever graced the national broadcaster? Did you never see her in her early days? She was probably the first girl I ever fell in love with, as a small, impressionable child! She's 64 years old now? Sigh...

Come on, somebody post an early pic of her, and put these guys right!

I'd have to agree with that. She'd have 'raised' a certain interest in me as a teenage radio listener to radio 2 in the eighties. She's maintained her good looks too. I saw her recently leaving RTE and she looked good;)

Wow! Cop a load of Ian Dempsey when he was about 12!!

mike65

Are you suggesting Maxi is not the radio babe of a certain age?

uvox

She was a good presenter. Best wishes to her.

However, I wish RTE would step outside the fold with her replacement. My nominations would be Quentin Fottrell, radio corr with the Irish Times, or Eithne Tynan of the Sunday Tribune.

Dan Dare

I thought Ruth Buchanan was rather good presenting Playback, nice voice and a sense of humour. She seems to have made an impression on men of a certain age too.

mrsdewinter

Love the way she always declares an interest if a contribution from Shane Ross is in the offing.
What makes me sad is realising that it seems only about 5 minutes since Ruth took over the job from Treasa Davison... who, I've just realised, died in 2001. I really am getting old.

Lenny Lovett

Dan Dare wrote: »

I thought Ruth Buchanan was rather good presenting Playback, nice voice and a sense of humour. She seems to have made an impression on men of a certain age too.

Oooh Yeah!:D

mrsdewinter wrote: »

Love the way she always declares an interest if a contribution from Shane Ross is in the offing.
What makes me sad is realising that it seems only about 5 minutes since Ruth took over the job from Treasa Davison... who, I've just realised, died in 2001. I really am getting old.

She is so professional. I expect she's retiring as was quoted in the paper, but Newstalk could do a lot worse than wave a cheque under her nose and put her up against Marion on a Saturday and Sunday or even for a weekday gig. I'd say she's not amused at RTE when she sees Maid Marion heading out with her half a mil fee while she(Ruth) would be getting a fraction of that.

PKen

Lenny Lovett wrote: »

Oooh Yeah!:D


She is so professional. I expect she's retiring as was quoted in the paper, but Newstalk could do a lot worse than wave a cheque under her nose and put her up against Marion on a Saturday and Sunday or even for a weekday gig. I'd say she's not amused at RTE when she sees Maid Marion heading out with her half a mil fee while she(Ruth) would be getting a fraction of that.

She is indeed popular with men of a certain vintage (myself included).
If she did get the gig with Newstalk on Sat/Sun, I'd gladly switch over. Getting really p***ed off with the "Maid". If she disagrees with you, your texts won't be read out. She's presented some of the most one-sided shows I'll ever hear. And that "Twenty A Day" cough.
Here's my (RTE) favourites list: John Murray, Pat Kenny, Myles Dungan, Rachel English, Philip Boucher Hayes, John Creedon and Alf McCarthy.
Here's my (RTE) pet hates: Ryan Tubridy (radio only), Ronan Collins, Mary Wilson (always sounds scripted) and of course Marian Finnucan :rolleyes:

uvox

Lenny Lovett wrote: »

Oooh Yeah!:D


... when she sees Maid ...

'Made' Marion, shurely...:D

PKen

Don't forget, this Saturday morning is Ruth's last broadcast. Tune in to hear the lovely lady for the last time. Maybe, they'll replace her with Katriona McFadden (Mooney Show).

irishh_bob

only found out in the past week that shes married to shane ross , she sounds a lot older than him

coylemj

Her father was Alan Buchanan, he was the C of I Archbishop of Dublin from 1969 to 1977. She makes no secret of the fact that she's married to Shane Ross and observes the 'full disclosure' rule when playing a clip of something he said in the previous week.

Her predecessor in the Playback slot was Treasa Davison who was unceremoniously dumped and forced to take early retirement when a new (female) controller of radio in RTE decided that she (Treasa) had a voice that was 'too old for radio'.

FlutterinBantam

coylemj wrote: »

Her father was Alan Buchanan, he was the C of I Archbishop of Dublin from 1969 to 1977. She makes no secret of the fact that she's married to Shane Ross and observes the 'full disclosure' rule when playing a clip of something he said in the previous week.

Her predecessor in the Playback slot was Treasa Davison who was unceremoniously dumped and forced to take early retirement when a new (female) controller of radio in RTE decided that she (Treasa) had a voice that was 'too old for radio'.

In other words ,she could speak correctly.

Deise Tom

PKen wrote: »

Hope her husband (Senator Shane Ross) doesn't retire! One of the few decent Senators left, who continually bats for the ordinary person.
If the Senate is abolished (I hope so), he'd have no problem getting elected to the Dail. Best wishes to Ruth on her retirement - excellent presenter.

He just said he will run for the Dail.

alphasun

paddyland wrote: »

You guys...!

Seriously, don't you know Ruthie was the only REAL chick that ever graced the national broadcaster? Did you never see her in her early days? She was probably the first girl I ever fell in love with, as a small, impressionable child! She's 64 years old now? Sigh...

Come on, somebody post an early pic of her, and put these guys right!

You're right Paddyland, and my experience was similar. She is also witty and a very good broadcaster with a great voice.

PODboy

She was a star - so professional, so charming, - in everyway - she knew how to quit at the top of her career and make way for a younger person to have a gig at Radio one..

On another matter is there anyone in RTE monitoring the appalling mistakes being made at Radio one Sport???

Lapin

PODboy wrote: »

She was a star - so professional, so charming, - in everyway - she knew how to quit at the top of her career and make way for a younger person to have a gig at Radio one..

Yeah - But RTE gave the gig to Marian Richardson.

Someone who used to present Bosco.

So hardly new to broadcasting (or very young either).