Will Ray D'Arcy ever work again ?

Would his show have continued as it was, though? Could he have been moved to some other time slot? Who knows? I do have a feeling that Bauer would have dropped the show, maybe much to Ray's annoyance. He might have ended up leaving even if RTE hadn't come calling.

Not a fan of Ray, but I wouldn't believe a word of him being offered 50k a year. Didn't happen.

Nah, that show was incredibly popular, what with fix it Friday and the odd one out quiz and loads of listener interaction. But he sold his soul to the devil and ended up staler than last week's bread on RTE.

No sympathy for how he ended up, money isn't everything.

A friend in the know mentioned to me some time ago that one of the prime factors in his being brought back by RTÉ was that senior management were fully aware that his loss to Today FM would create a massive problem for the then Communicor group. Yes they were happy to bring him back but they they could have gone with cheaper and newer for a show at a time when economies were required. Truth be known they were very much on the ball here as Today have struggled to fill Ray's void and it will have cost them a lot of ad revenue into the bargain.

As regards his future? I actually wouldn't be awfully surprised if he returns to Today FM in the next 12 months but I'd be far less surprised if he doesn't return. D'Arcy will have more name power than either Foley or Cantillon when it comes to nuzzling the ad agencies teats but the wider Bauer group in Ireland are trusting the talent that was bred in house, not to mention that he will not come as cheap as whomever he replaces. Q would be an outside bet given some of their recent recruitments having a little more name power but if they want to play out is another story.

Then again, Ray is of an age where he might just call quits. Or worse yet, dust out his Maplin speakers and go out doing mobiles again.

Could easily see him doing holiday cover for Sean Moncrieff or Tom Dunne if he wanted to. I’m sure he could cover for Oliver Callan if he hadn’t stropped off. He can always finally get around to emigrating like he said he said he would a dozen years ago

He's well used to working with Turkeys.

the stupidly titled HEAD OF AUDIO (it's bloody radio at the end of the day !!!) said something was offered to him at the time of Radio 1 departure that was not on Lyric or not on Radio 1, so people guessed it was RTE Gold.

The current shift rate is 200 quid per show for freelancers so a five day a week shift with holiday leave could leave you at about 50k a year.

One of Ray's producers neil doherty (saturday sounds) is now producing the louise duffy show. I heard before that she did not have a producer, that must have changed along the way…… or else they needed to give neil a new job.

I wonder what happened the others who worked on ray's show ?

Any ####end can be a podcaster. Vogue Williams described herself as a podcaster as her profession for I'm a Celebrity...GMOOH.

Should never have lasted 11 weeks, let alone 11 years.

No way could he cover for Oliver Callan. Or if he did everyone would turn off. He doesn't have the wit of Oliver Callan or the current affairs knowledge. Instead of reviewing the headlines he'd be telling people about porridge and his latest sour dough bread.