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UTV IRELAND HAS announced that Newstalk journalist and presenter Chris Donoghue will be the new anchor of its news and current affairs programmes.
He will anchor alongside Alison Comyn when the channel’s programmes, ‘Ireland Live’ and ‘Ireland Live at 10′, launch on Monday 5 January next year. He will also continue to co-present Newstalk’s Breakfast show.
Speaking today, Donoghue said this is a great opportunity for him to continue what he loves and progress his career.
UTV Ireland has displayed huge ambition to be a leading force in Irish television. The team that they have recruited to deliver that ambition is innovative and talented. I am very proud to be part of that team and I am counting down the days until the channel launches, in the New Year.
Chris Donoghue / TwitterI'm excited to be joining @UTVIreland as a presenter in January, I'm also excited to continue to grow old with Ivan on @NewstalkFM.
— Chris Donoghue (@chrisrdonoghue) October 21, 2014
Mary Curtis, Head of Channel at UTV Ireland described the journalist as “one of the most exciting and talented broadcasters in Ireland today”. “He has had an exceptional career in quite a short time frame and is now one of the most respected broadcasters in the country,” she said.
Newstalk’s CEO Gerard Whelan also congratulated Donoghue, saying he was delighted that he has the opportunity to make the break into television.
“I’ve no doubt Chris will bring to UTV the same energy and enthusiasm which he delivers to the Breakfast show and its audience every day,” he said. “Chris has everyone’s support at Newstalk, and we know he’ll be a great success on television also.”
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As long as his still with Ivan on newstalk breakfast, love the banter between the two.
sweet Jesus, he’s effin’ useless!
Explain yourself……
Doc, you’re a clown
Delighted for him!
Glad he’s staying on at Newstalk, Ivan and himself have made morning radio worth listening to again.
Will the new ‘UTV’ feature on the Sky planner, will I Finally be able to record ITV shows.
Will they pull their shows from TV3 . Will this spell the end of TV3
To answer you’re 4 questions. No. No. Yes. No.
It’s bound to end up on Sky at some point, otherwise it may as well not exist.
Well I emailed utv and sky and they both said that UTV the will appear on the planner.
Jeez he’s a brutal anchor for Breakfast NT.
Like a few more in Newstalk, he’s old before his time and no humour to make him appealing.
Agree! It’s very mundane and business like. Depressing stuff!
Complaining about mundane and business-like content on a radio station that is called NewsTalk is a bit like sucking p*ss out of an old gym sock and then complaining that you didn’t enjoy the experience.
Bad start for UTV then!
Ivan shores him up.
Donoghue is really too young and inexperienced to hold such a position.
He’s tenacious enough but he wouldn’t get such a job on a British equivalent (BBC Radio 4 or Five Live).
He’s also too easily impressed with politicians, such as praising Pat Rabbitte for using the phrase “pirouetting on the plinth” in his attack on Colm Keaveney.
He’ll be better placed in 10-15 years’ time, as Ivan is.
UTV will essentially be a copycat of TV3 with a few news programs thrown in. That’s the last thing we need, however more competition is welcome. Anyone know whether it will be available on Saorview?
Why on gods earth would anyone want to copy Tv 3 in any shape or form.
Ffs it’s just muck with the same few heads every time you switch it on.
Alan Hughes
King chap does the weather.
That auld git every night
@P O’Neill
TV3 will still have The X-Factor and Downton Abbey because they’re not produced by ITV plc. UTV Ireland is in negotiations with Saorview, Sky and other providers.
This will really give TV3 a test. Now they’ll have to be creative for once instead of just relying on ITV for content.
no it will not be copying tv3 haha. it will be more of a copy of what utv do in the north but to changed for a Irish audience
It appears that UTV Ireland are not going to offer the Irish people anything new. No new departure in terms of how “journalism” is conducted in Ireland. I predict more of the same groupthink and lazy left-wing campaign journalism; just with even more money behind it.
That’s a somewhat unusual accusation. I didn’t think communicorp on Independent media group would be accused of being left wing.
Irish times is perhaps a liberal newspaper if not quite left wing.
Well I won’t be watching if he is on it
You are all wrong ,he is very good well some of you are
Maybe, but how good will he be while doing an evening or late night TV programme while still getting up for a radio show that starts at 6:30am? He’d better be sponsored by a good coffee.
Best of luck Chris but don’t leave News Talk who would have to insult
Out from under the shackles of O Brien, or does he own utv as well.
have your say