Gavan Reilly host of The Last Word

heybaby

Not sure if this was mentioned elsewhere but I have been very impressed with Gavan Reilly's recent stint as presenter of the Last Word. I know he's sat in before but each time he does so seamlessly. It's one thing being a political correspondent but its an entirely different proposal hosting a 2.5 hour programme with the breadth of scope normally typifying The Last Word. His ability to flit confidently between serious political subject matter and the more frivolous 'whats on tv tonight' segments reminds me of Anton Savage. He also seems to have Anton's lightening quick brain and broad general knowledge, surely Reilly would have to be a very serious contender to succeed Cooper should he ever be poached by Montrose?

ofcork

Does stints with vb as well and comes across well.

AwaitYourReply

I did not catch Gavan deputising for Matt Cooper on "The Last Word" but I will say that any time I've heard him on TV/Radio, he seems to know his brief and comes across very well in his contributions on programmes like the Tonight with Vincent Browne show on TV3.

I was reading The Journal.ie one day and the below story filed by Gavan Reilly grabbed my attention at the time.

http://www.thejournal.ie/cork-bar-meant-no-offence-whatsoever-in-asking-gay-couple-to-leave-208634-Aug2011/
http://www.thejournal.ie/cork-bar-accused-of-kicking-gay-couple-out-for-kissing-207647-Aug2011/

I used prefer Eamonn Dunphy's stewardship of "The Last Word" on Today fm as I thought that there was a better balance between both serious and not so serious prior to Matt's time in the hot seat. "Navan Man", "The Drunken Politician" and "Dr. Bill" were all characters on the show at various stages and this was when Stuart Carolan was involved in the show if I'm not mistaken. The sketches were often laugh out loud stuff and suddenly Robert Fisk could be on next talking to Dunphy about the plight of the Palestinians! It made great radio.

Now I find myself mainly listening to George Hook on Newstalk during Drivetime as I enjoy many of the topics across the week and the banter he has with his regular contributors like Philip Molloy on Movies, Manchan Magan on Travel, Dr. Ciara Kelly on Health Check-Up, Bill Hughes with his Essential Songs of the 20th Century, Michael Graham's take on things from the USA. Hook will be a big loss to Newstalk 106-108 if he retires as expected this September/October - perhaps Cooper will be welcomed across Newstalk (Today fm's sister station) and The Last Word may be replaced altogether by music programme on Today fm instead? With Ivan Yates about to leave Newstalk Breakfast in next few weeks, there could be major changes coming for the Autumn schedules at both Communicorp owned radio stations at Marconi House.

Csalem

Lots of people seem to suggest that Matt Cooper should replace Hook and a music show replace "The Last Word" but is it not part of Today FM's licence that they must have a certain amount of talk each day? Removing "The Last Word" could put a big dent in that requirement which would have to be found somewhere else in the schedule.

AwaitYourReply

Csalem wrote: »

Lots of people seem to suggest that Matt Cooper should replace Hook and a music show replace "The Last Word" but is it not part of Today FM's licence that they must have a certain amount of talk each day? Removing "The Last Word" could put a big dent in that requirement which would have to be found somewhere else in the schedule.

I think Matt Cooper is highly professional but I just found The Last Word as a show was dragging on and needed much more balance between heavy & light topics especially after Dunphy had moved on. I hope Matt does not take over from George Hook's programme on NewsTalk 106-108 in September/October.

As for maintaining a certain minimum % quota of News & Current Affairs as set down by the BAI, I've noticed some radio stations had made appeals for relaxation in this regard in the past. The way they do it usually is during a relaunch/rebranding of the station.

Radio Ireland was a pre-cursor to Today fm and one of the original shows on Radio Ireland was a show called: Daybreak in the 7am-9am timeslot which was trying to compete with Morning Ireland on RTÉ Radio 1. Daybreak did not survive when Today fm was the relaunch station name as far as I recall whereas The Last Word with Eamon Dunphy had survived the station name change. In fact, The Last Word was originally intended to have not one but two co-presenters (i.e.) Eamonn Dunphy and Ann-Marie Hourihane but she never really made much of an impact in the role and was never replaced on the show as far as I recall.

4FM had lots of chat/news and some music but the relaunch to Classic Hits 4fm got rid of many presenters and shows like McGurk on 4 (hosted by Tom McGurk) which was a weekday drivetime programme with news/current affairs with the odd music track. Now in the same time slot you have Gareth O'Callaghan playing music.

NewsTalk 106-108 had a late night phone-in programme called "Late Night Live with Declan Carthy" - when the downturn came around October 2008 the show was suddenly axed. Then they had their Former Business Editor, Marc Coleman doing a show 2-3 nights a week and later Tom Dunne took the slot after Pat Kenny arrived on mornings. Coleman then moved to Sunday night only for about 12months - Neither the Late Night Live with Declan Carthy or Marc Coleman shows were replaced by similar style programme that were largely news+current affairs based.

ford fiesta

I think Newstalk and Today FM should be merged in some way at this stage, as falling audiences for Newstalk over the past few years. I know they only renewed their licence last year, but they can no longer compete with RTE Radio 1. Remember it was only a Dublin station....has going national had the expected impact?

Mick Murdock

Bloody Senator talking about what her tattoos mean. Absolute token tosh. What next??

chicorytip

He needs to slow down a little. His delivery is breathless and too rapid. On a wider point - what training, if any, do these presenters receive in proper broadcasting technique? Cooper and Browne, for example, are both good journalists but appallingly poor presenters. Proper diction, articulacy and fluency ought to be prime attributes of those "anchoring" flagship programmes.