RADIO bosses in RTE are not scrambling to make any “contingency plan” to fill Claire Byrne’s slot on Radio 1 in the event she vacates for the Late Late Show.
Claire is the frontrunner to take over from Ryan Tubridy when he steps down from the host of the Friday night chat show on May 26 - but an announcement has yet to be made.
A source revealed to us that Radio 1 bosses were considering putting a plan in place and looking at the schedule of the station in case Claire leaves her show.
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An insider revealed: “They could be looking at who could potentially take on Claire’s radio slot. Would it be Sarah McInerney on her own. Would Cormac Ó hEadhra get a new Drivetime host.
“The whole schedule could be rejigged.”
But an RTE insider said this was not the case and any talk of emergency radio schedule changes is “wholly inaccurate”.
Claire has previously spoken about radio as her first love. Dancing around the subject of the next Late Late Show host, Claire told the RTÉ Guide last month: "I think over the years, if someone asked me what my first love is within my work, I would automatically say radio. Now I question that.
"I love radio and I have always loved it. I love the intimacy of radio but there is a buzz with television as well. It is different. I think a bit of both is a healthy mix.
"I suppose I made the decision to take TV out of my life for a time. Radio is my day to day, my bread and butter job.
"I probably would find it very difficult if someone said to me, 'No you can't do the radio anymore'.
"So maybe that is my answer, it is my first love, but I can't say that TV is the poor relation or anything. I have a great fondness for TV as well.
“My radio job is my dream job in many respects, and I feel very comfortable in saying that.
“I feel like I have a good rhythm in it now. I can pick and choose in terms of television what I want to do, so that’s a really great place to be, to be able to say and to be able to say no. I am exactly where I want to be, and I feel everything is in balance and I know now that I did the right thing,” she added.
Meanwhile, Donegal native Ciara Doherty has been added to the host of names poised to take over the Late Late Show gig. According to Boylesports, The Tonight Show host is 50/1 from 200/1 to sit in the hot seat in RTE.
Support for women in general has been very strong with Claire Byrne top of the pile as the 2/5 favourite followed by Sarah McInerney at 7/2, Kathryn Thomas at 9/2 and Jennifer Zam-parelli at 12/1, while dance partner Doireann Garrihy has now drifted to 100/1 after ruling her-self out of the running.
The closest male candidate in the betting is Tommy Tiernan but at 25/1 it’s now an outside chance. Judging by the latest price moves, a female taking the hot seat looks like a foregone conclusion with BoyleSports quoting an unbackable 1/50 on the next host being female.
Sarah Kinsella, spokesperson for BoyleSports said: “The next Late Late Show host market has been an extremely busy one for us and just when we thought things had started to quieten down, support arrived for Ciara Doherty this morning.
"She has excellent presenting skills and is also very warm and compassionate, so we’re not surprised to see that support has started to arrive for her but she has a lot of ground to catch up with Claire Byrne.”
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