Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
Updated 7.45pm
RAY D’ARCY HAS begun his new show on RTÉ Radio One, following weeks of anticipation.
D’Arcy’s first guest was fellow RTÉ presenter Gay Byrne, who spoke about his interview with Stephen Fry on the ‘Meaning of Life’ which aired last night.
Byrne kicked off the interview by saying: “Good afternoon and welcome home dear boy.”
On his interview with Fry, he said people are “getting much more excited about it than I am”.
This time we happened to have a man who is a particularly good speaker, particularly robust at expressing his views and cantankerous about it and expressive about it.
However the presenter would not give anything away about his own religious beliefs, telling D’Arcy he believed it would be unfair to people coming onto his show in the future.
“If they knew where I’m coming from they might be tempted to edit or censor their own answers before they give me an answer.”
All in all, D’Arcy’s first show went down a treat.
The programme kicked off in a fashion that will be familiar to many listeners of D’Arcy – him saying he’s unsure of how to work the technology in front of him.
“Ah, it works,” were the words he first uttered – to his surprise.
D’Arcy, who began preparing for the new show on 5 January, said he tried to avoid meeting people when he made his way back into the radio centre last month as he had been “gone 14 years” and was “a bit self conscious”.
He didn’t go in the main door, instead choosing the goods entrance. The first familiar face he saw that day was veteran radio presenter Larry Gogan.
“I could have kissed him with his lovely warm face and his big smile,” D’Arcy recalled.
He said everyone has been very friendly since he returned to his old stomping ground with Joe Duffy giving him a free copy of the RTÉ Guide and Dave Fanning offering to buy him a coffee.
D’Arcy did have one issue to get off his chest, however: namely, why soup costs the random figure of €1.02 in the canteen.
“I haven’t got around to ringing the office [to find out why].”
D’Arcy said it took him “about an hour last night” to choose the first song to play. In the end, he went with a classic:
D’Arcy told listeners signs with ‘Good afternoon’ and ‘RTÉ Radio 1′ were stuck on the walls to avoid any mistakes.
Several people were quick to wish D’Arcy and his team well on their new venture, but one old colleague took a slightly different tack:
There was also lots of cake to be had, which is always good.
The show will air every weekday from 3-4.30pm. Derek Mooney’s old slot had been temporarily presented by Marty Morrissey since December.
- Additional reporting by Michelle Hennessy.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Your soup cost€1.02 because it costs me €160
The canteen is where RTÉ researchers go to line up guests for RTÉ radio and TV shows.
Except on Saturday nights when they go there to find somebody to present The Saturday Night Show. And the only one who’s ever there is Brendan O’Connor.
The merry-go-round of interviewing one another on RTÉ has go to stop!
@David: Doubtful, it’s not like he has any charisma or presenting talent to begin with.
His opener “jokes” are dire.
Had a listen today a Bit different I think Dustin is right, Retirement Home
Ray darcy promised to leave the country if enda kenny became taoiseach .still here ray?
It’s called cross – promotion. It’s a technical term.It’s a radio/ tv term
Why is the canteen in rte subsidised? I understand subsidised canteens in factories like batchelors or cadburys where workers are on a modest wage but rte??
Why not? Sure is not their money. It’s ours.
The majority in RTE probably aren’t on huge money. A mate of mine is a sound engineer there and he certainly doesn’t be paid a fortune.
Normal RTE workers such as clerical staff, sales people and technicians are on a far more normal wage than the talent who make the headlines.
Yeah, but most people who work are on a normal wage but don’t get their lunch subsidised.
@ Neal:
Haha, talent at RTE… Jesus, with such “gems” as Ray D’Arcy and Brendan O’ Connor. Lord, what an oxymoron.
Fitting that D’Arcy should interview Byrne after that interview with Fry; they’re both as insufferable and judgmental as each other.
Vin, please direct us to wherever we can sample your radio show or other creative output. Thanks in advance.
Why, can you not have an opinion on something unless you’ve tried it yourself?
Wow, this whole same sex marriage debate is gonna get a while lot more interesting. :-D
@ Neal; No I don’t have my own radio show, nor do I work for RTE; I don’t have the right family connections for it, I’m afraid a la Nicky Byrne, Gay, Ray, etc.
I was referring to Gay Byrne’s blatant unprofessionalism in relation to his interview with Fry; it’s as if the arrogant clown thought an interview with Gay Byrne would have Fry fully converted to Catholicism. D’Arcy, I could go on for hours about him, but his recent uniformed comments about MMA are probably the most recent bout of idiocy I’ve heard from him. Incidentally, I think I’m entitled to having an opinion on these two as a taxpayer given that my TV licence keeps the pair of them well fed and my motor tax goes towards the usual RSA that Byrne heads up. Any more patronising questions for me?
@ The Doctor; hilarious response.
I also think that the RTE canteen is a little unfair! I worked there one day and got my lunch for far cheaper than I would have been getting in UCD across the road. As a student working a poorly paid part time job it was hard to see how these grown ups with proper jobs could get cheaper food. I was hoping to see someone cool but it was all non-famous staff, the well paid staff probably do go somewhere else.
Any company I have worked in had a subsidised canteen.
Roisin, It could have been any amount the point was why 2 cent e.g. €10.02? not logical. Bit like the €9.99 thing :)
RTE and James Bond are opposite entities, one has a licence to thrill and the other has our licence to bore
Ha ha ha, Gay Byrne as his first guest, probably followed by Miriam O’Callahan and then Marian Finnucane later next week. Keep it in the fat cat family, RTE!
Why do I have pay €160 for his f@&kin soup?
This recession has left us without a pot to piss in. I’m sickened to the gut that I have to pay a licence fee so this guy can receive half a million per year, sick, sick sick… ‘public service broadcaster’ my ass.
He’s done us all a great favour disclosing just how good they have it at RTE…€1.02 for a bowl of soup! And us mugs are paying for it. He was well able to feed himself whilst he was away from RTE so I’m at a loss at to why we should be subsidising his lunch now…he gets paid more than enough to feed himself!
yes, Ivan I agree that is it totally sick.
RTE staff are earning salaries of, up to, 500,000 K a year. While many ordinary Irish families can barely afford their grocery bills each week.
It is totally wrong and unjust & just about sums up everything that is wrong with our society.
They are taking us for fools.
http://www.independent.ie/entertainment/radio/rte-salaries-condemned-as-ludicrous-following-ray-darcy-move-30817594.html
No great fan of Ray Darcy but the reality is that talent costs – he was obviously pulling in the audience numbers at Today FM and is expected to do the same at RTE.
Some people get paid more than others (and you and me).
And some employers offer other benefits such as subsidized canteens. Maybe they think its a good idea in an organization which by its nature includes celebrities and other workers to encourage people to dine together.
Just because I don’t get soup for €1.02 doesn’t mean I should despise anyone who does get their Cream of Vegetable for this knock-down price.
Listened today, but it’s back to Moncrieff for me.
The best afternoon radio show in Ireland bar none (IMHO).
Thanks be to fook for Moncrieff.
I don’t know how it’s possible to get worse than Mooney but they have. D’Arcy is a self-centered, cranky little fart who can’t get enough of talking about himself. It’s only a matter of time before his easy-to-please audience eventually get pissed off with him too.
Darcy pretends to be so easy going and affable. He is anything but.
That guy has a real nasty streak. – really showed his true colours when interviewing the Irish mixed martial artist Cathal Pendred.
Sick to the teeth of the self satisfied, overpaid clique that is RTE.
It’s like the mafia. Ian Dempsey tells a story about when he left RTE and he wasn’t alliwed back in to pick up his record collection. Pure spitefullness.
One answer. BBC 3 and 4
Next Ray D’Arcy story.
10 ways Ray D’Arcy can complain about stuff
Half a million in wages to highlight soup at €1.02…..RTE getting value for money already…. :P
Menopausal Ray back on the airwaves
I’m going to puke…
F*cking hell,talk about a love-in.
Stop, stop eject – it was annoying on Today FM and it’s even more annoying on RTE!! Surely knowing how to operate equipment is essential to being an on air professional !!!!!!!! Tuned in to see what sort of programme it’s going to be – turns out it’s the same dated rubbish from his previous station!
LMAO at the ‘crew’ crouching to look shorter than him.
ps, an interview about the experience of interviewing someone who wasn’t even there? Sounds riveting.
Ahaha that is pathetic. I wonder was that one of his must have clauses in the contract.
Darcys hayday was about the mid 90′s.The world has moved on around him.His style is now about 20 years out of date.Its just no longer as fresh as he would like to believe.The greats can keep things fresh for decades and always have something new to bring to the table.Darcy is not one of them.FFS his first day on a new job and we get Gay Byrne and conversations about the price of soup in the RTE canteen.The future is not looking very bright unless your pocketing the half a million a year that Ray is.
All on serious money and we have to pay for it!!!
Absolute madness the money these people get paid.
I can smell Twink waiting in the wings…. RTE now scraping the top of the barrel.
He didn’t have far to go for his first guest – bit like the Late Late Show every week – RTE colleagues interviewing colleagues.
They must have spent 2 minutes thinking up new original discussion topics. Conor Pope anti smoking and Daddy Ray (Gaybo). Bring back Marty the best 4 weeks of radio in years with fantastic guests.
#Eamon Murphy I agree!! Marty was a pure joy to listen to. You could hear the delight,freshness and pure joy in Marty’s voice every day at the small blessing bestowed on him. He deserves to be more than a filler in for temperamental bosses in RTE. Had no intentions of ever listening to Ray but going by his first day I will be throwing the radio out the window if it ever strays to RTE 1 in the afternoon again.
#Mary Murphy ps I only read who Ray had on. And to hear Gay welcomed him back, pass the sick bag now please.
Great conversation you’re having with yourself
#Holy I was afraid someone might think I was actually listening to RTE this afternoon hence my correction on myself!!
Rte should increase the price of its canteen soup to €3 a bowl . they would only have to sell 333000 bowls then to pay for rays modest salary
Are you saying he’s on a million a year?or is maths not your strong point
Well when you take in your overheads ,vat@13.5% and labour costs the figure adds up . I’d imagine labour isn’t cheap in the rte canteen . !!!
Maths isn’t his strong point. Probably a shinner!
Remember its the last day to register for Irish water . those lads need cheap soup as well you know .
We’ve already paid for their gym. I’m not paying for their lunch too.
Won’t be tuning in….he’s a moanbag and had really ‘gone off’, before he left Today FM, and although I’m no fan of his replacement Anton Savage, at least he’s upbeat and should pull a few punters! My fave is good old Ian Dempsey!
Paul McLoone is mine. The King.
Big Daddy Darcy keeping us abreast of all the important soup related news. Well worth that half mil quid.
Being able to thank the Nuacht reader as Gaeilge is obviously what sealed the job for him.
Jeez he’s awful old looking.
Surely we have better than that?
Or has everyone between 20 and 60 gone to Australia?
Sure who will see him. Its radio man and yes all our young able bodied people have emigrated because old codgers like gaybo get the jobs.
The headline is what gaybo thought about the interview with fry, the first paragraph related to the headline and the rest of the article was about Ray darcy……..what the hell
Can I just clarify something, and I might be playing devils advocate…. Did Ray leave a private owned, DoB, entity, where by contract could not give out.. To a state , entity, where he should have free speech.
I know, I know… Both cheeks of the same behind… All that stuff, tv licence…overpaid Djs, useless rubbish news, even worse weather forecasts…
I’m just throwing it out as a Q…
And he does not like FG
How the hell is this news?????
Nobody’s saying it is. Rel-aaaaaxe. Take deep breaths in and then out through your mouth.
6000 views in just over an hour: people are interested, whether it’s your idea of news or not
Darcy is after getting the D4 bug, his head is so far up his own arse that he has forgotten that there is a world outside of it, people are not allowed to have an opinion unless it is his opinion. Listened to him for years and heard him crawl right up there so best of luck Ray,glad that you are not poisoning my ears any more with you dribble.
Are they all sitting or crouching down in the pic, so as to make him look tall!
The only reason RTE went for Ray was because he was beating their golden boy Ryan in the listenership stakes. I hope Anton Savage continues the trend that Ray started as it will show RTE’s €500K gamble has failed.
Ray didn’t start any trend. Gerry Ryan dying started that trend.
Good luck! I’m off, I have better things to be doing than listening to Ray Darcey.
All I have is two words to describe his show. ” pure rubbish “
Brink back Marty
So RTE staff interviewing RTE staff. Nothing new there then
Nothing new, still nauseating.
i can see the headlines tomorrow,..
‘D’arcy stirs up soup-port for a halt to outrageous pricing in RTE canteen’.
Did Ray D’Arcy leave Today FM? HAD NO IDEA! Whats next, Pat Kenny leaving RTE?
Bite your tongue for uttering such blasphemy!
yawn …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
Who the hell sets the salary of 500k? One he’s crap! What was he on in his previous job that they felt they needed to fire 1/2 a million at him! Cut the licence fee cap the salaries and let them play on an even playing field as the rest!
Brink back Marry.
Please let Marty have that show – then I’ll be able to listen to Lyric fm again in the morning.
All Marty does is talk crap (to himself, mainly)!
That station is living well beyond it’s means
Im delighted that patronizing clown Mooney is gone don’t know much about Darcy but he couldn’t be as bad as him.
Welcome back Ray and team.
As usual a lot of begrudgers on this site! Thinks might change on the airways but not on here!
Ah, so because people don’t share your taste in middle ages men with vaginas, we’re all begrudgers?
Maybe, just maybe, some people just don’t like eejits who get offended by the portrayal of men in peppa pig.
@ The Doctor. The comments sound begrudging because the amount he is earning is mentioned do often. Also it would appear to me that 90% of those commentating actually tuned in. What is the big deal? All anyone who does not like Ray D’acy has to do is not to tune in. It is so simple. There are many presenters I dont particularity like but I would never turn the dial and tune in to listen to them!
I think it was a good move by R.T.E. He had the biggest listenship in the morning on Today FM. That means more advertising, which means more money for R.T.E which means less people moaning about the TV licence.
But I guess the moaners will all find something to moan about. Its in their DNA!!
@ Potty I agree 100%… Dont people realise that their is an off switch on their radio?? To many people on here just comment for the green thumbs..
@potty, It’s tax payers money, that’s why people get annoyed. Nobody complained about his wage when he was at today fm.
@pa, Like most people in here who dislike D’Arcy, I was forced to listen to his rubbish for years in work. My boss controls the radio, not me. That’s why I have a completely irrational dislike for the man.
There are loads of broadcasters I don’t like but they don’t annoy me at all because I avoid them.
But to be force fed his crap 15 hours a week for well over a decade, that changes a man. :-(
The Doctor..
Thats what happened me.. I got forcefed Darcy in my previous employment… And i think he is a nasty flute.
I thought i’d barf up my toastie when he was crawling up Larry Gogans backside. Lets face it everyone loves Larry so it was the “perfect opener” for his new show..
Two faced or wha?
My main worry is my boss will stop listening to moncrief now and switch to radio one.
I was off today so I don’t know if he changed the dial or not.
I so agree with you, and I too would like to wish Ray all the very best of good luck going forward.
Well said.
Potty Mouth, people are sick of the same old thing day in, day out, RTE personalities interviewing RTE personalities, Miriam O’Callahan on the cover of every third RTE Guide, so called RTE celebrities who are just relatives of RTE staff…and Indiana Jones back to back every bank holiday….all at a phenomenal fee
Well I for 1 am glad he is back… Why change a formula that worked on todayfm
Delighted you and Jenny are back, can listen to all the show now thats in the afternoon good luck
Should’ve kept Marty Morrissey, he puts a bit of life into the show.
WHY am I paying D’arcys and Tubridys wages? Seriously WHY?? Note to Tv licence fee people. “Ask for feedback..”
Can’t bear Ray Darcy no matter what station he’s on – he’s overpaid and deadly dull. Moncriff is the best afternoon show by far.
Why do people listen to the radio? Serious question. I don’t get it. Terrible repetitive chart music & inane chat.
Marty was upbeat and amusing. Nothing amusing about today’s show. I’ve listened to that show for years when I could. I’m switching radio stations now. It was painful today. Bye bye Rte1 in the afternoons for me.
‘they might be tempted to edit or censor their own answers before they give me an answer’ Haha! Don’t flatter yourself Gaybo…we’re not scared of the Catholics anymore :D
Does Ray ever take off that scarf
Why hide an article about Ray D’Arcy under a headline about Gay Byrne’s reaction to Stephen Fry’s comments?
The soup price varies from €1.00-€1.02 since Ray moved from Today FM.
There is a file in the cake, lol.
have your say