Ryan Tubridy - From Virgin to Youtube **Mod: Read OP**

If Tubs wants to get back to Irish radio he needs to start with an easy going Weekend chat show with a group of guest and some music. Onic should make sure the Sun programme is live, and he should look to take on a live Saturday morning.

As for TV he has 2 choice, go to VMTV and ask to host the 6 O'Clock Show (though they need to move it to 7).

If he can increase audiences across both shows / hours of broadcast he's worth working with as those are difficult things to do.

The idea of doing an interview with random people where there is a possibility of bring up all of the stuff from 2 years ago is not going to be cathartic.

I think Today FM or Newstalk would be a good option for him, should he want to continue in full-time Irish radio.

https://www.irishtimes.com/life-style/people/2026/01/17/ryan-tubridy-id-hate-to-be-hit-by-a-bus-tomorrow-thinking-that-was-the-end-of-my-relationship-with-rte/?utm_source=Facebook&utm_campaign=Facebook_Image&fbclid=IwdGRzaAPcZDVjbGNrA9xkLmV4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkDDM1MDY4NTUzMTcyOAABHiDr2C6h6qjStX1n8u2Yp0nxkmpXeSkOPmvUmDl8q5nvSUpaqMZSrf8OmCD8_aem_6aY6MA8vVtb1yWoheFzCkg

Latest move by NK,calling in favours at the IT.

It's paywalled and I didn't read it.

It was posted on the Irish Times FB page.Unlike his YouTube output the comments were not disabled.

It wasn't pretty.

Today FM is slowly becoming a 2020's version of the "young fogey/nostalgia" trend from the 1990s - incidentally from a time that Tubs best radio show (the full irish) dates. He could replace Dempsey if Iano wanted to go.

As it is he sounds to have nailed his colours to the Talk UK mast with this sports doc and the yet to be unveiled show in the works. The obituary thing doesnt really work - when the subject dies it will be all over the news and media anyway, his show will perhaps be very well researched and put together but it will be lost. Say it's elton john or paul mccartney - the BBC, Apple Records site etc will be the go to place, not some lad on you tube. He'd want to be careful, print journalism delights sometimes in publishing obituaries penned by people outlived by their subjects….

So NK is his best friend. Says a lot.

Reward 150k

Listened to his Virgin show a few times. I know he's into books and traipsing around London trying to find them and if that floats his boat, more power to him, but he went on about it on his show way too much.

His target audience for that topic is not Virgin Radio. Maybe BBC Radio 4. Probably bored all the listeners to tears.

Chris Evans was much better at making his show interesting and funny. Tubbs needed to be more whacky and funny.

First holding Ireland's hand and it's only a matter of time before he shafts it again.

interest would wane quickly if he didn’t keep getting interviewed by the papers and puff pieces mysteriously turning up in Extra.ie etc

In fairness most of us are just still here for the comedy value now

great post 👏

If we were to cast the Ryan Tubridy/RTÉ payment scandal as a Greek tragedy, the narrative fits remarkably well into the classical structure of hubris, hamartia, and peripeteia.

While it’s tempting to look at him as a simple protagonist, the nuances of the "saga" suggest he fits best as one of these three figures:

1. Bellerophon: The High Flyer

In mythology, Bellerophon was a hero who tamed the winged horse Pegasus. He achieved great things but eventually fell victim to his own pride, believing he was worthy of flying to Mount Olympus to join the gods. Zeus, annoyed by this arrogance, sent a gadfly to sting Pegasus, causing Bellerophon to fall back to Earth and live out his days in exile and disgrace.

• The Parallel: Tubridy was the undisputed "Prince of Montrose," occupying the highest seat in Irish media (The Late Late Show). The "flight to Olympus" was the expectation of maintaining a superstar salary while the rest of the organization faced austerity. The "fall" was sudden, public, and resulted in a total casting out from the heights he once occupied.

2. Oedipus: The Unwitting Architect

Oedipus is the classic tragic hero who brings about his own downfall while trying to navigate a complex system. He thinks he is solving a riddle and saving the city, but he is actually uncovering his own ruin.

• The Parallel: There is a sense of Hamartia (the fatal flaw) here—not necessarily malice, but a blindness to how the "optics" of secret side-deals would eventually look to the public. Like Oedipus, the more Tubridy and RTÉ tried to explain the "riddle" of the accounting, the more they ensnared themselves in a narrative that led to an inevitable exit.

3. Icarus: The Son of a Faulty System

While Daedalus (RTÉ management) built the wings out of wax and feathers (the complex payment structures), it was Icarus who flew too close to the sun.

• The Parallel: Icarus isn't a villain; he’s someone who enjoyed the exhilaration of the height and ignored the structural integrity of the wings he was given. When the heat of public and parliamentary scrutiny (the sun) hit those secret commercial arrangements (the wax), the wings melted, and the fall into the sea was absolute.

The Verdict: Bellerophon

The Bellerophon comparison is the strongest because it captures the isolation of the aftermath. In Greek tragedy, the hero doesn't usually die at the end; they are forced to wander the "Aleian Plain" (the plain of wandering), avoided by men. The move to UK radio represents that classical "exile"—finding a new path far from the Olympus of Donnybrook.

Joys of AI