Pat Kenny has described his last day presenting his weekday show as “emotional”.
The veteran broadcaster joined Newstalk from RTÉ in 2013 and his three hour daily programme quickly became a firm favourite with listeners across Ireland.
“I was delighted to make the move and I think, in everything, timing is key,” he told Jonathan Healy on Newstalk Breakfast.
“And I left RTÉ, I think, at just the right time because all the difficulties that followed made it quite an unhappy place for a while.”
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Since moving to Newstalk, The Pat Kenny Show has won a string of awards and is the most listened to show on commercial radio.
As the clock ticked down towards Lunchtime Live, Pat finished up by revealing that his father was fond of the proverb that ‘self-praise is no praise’.
Despite this, he decided to quote one text into the show that he felt summed up what The Pat Kenny Show has tried to achieve over the last 12 and a half years.
“When I came here, I didn't know much about Ireland and Irish [people],” it read.
“My presumption was all Irish people do is play football and go to the pub every weekend and, of course, sing beautifully.
“Little I knew before I started to listen to Pat Kenny's Newstalk morning show; I got to learn not only about Irish people's culture, but so many things across the world.
“Listening to his programme, it changed my assumptions about Irish [people] as a whole.
“Thank you, Mr Kenny. Your show will be missed so much.”
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Pat then went on to thank the team behind his award winning show, beginning with editor Eimear Bradley “who is a rock of sense and when I might be running off a bit, she would steady the ship beautifully for me”.
“Cormac McDonagh, who has been my sound operator for 12 and a half years,” he continued.
“He's been fantastic, he has the dump button in case I say something I shouldn't say - and in fairness, he's never had to use it in 12 and a half years.”
Pat also thanked senior producer Claire Darmody who brought “energy and general good cheer” to the programme.
“Her recommendations as to what I should be watching on television or what I should be reading have been valueless,” he said.
“But she makes coming into work every day an absolute joy.”
We are celebrating 10 years of Pat Kenny on Newstalk!🥳⁰⁰That's a decade of debate, discussion, opinion, analysis, chats and plenty of laughs while getting us through to the afternoon 📻⁰⁰Join Pat every weekday from 9am, on Newstalk🙌 pic.twitter.com/HJOnX1KyFd
— NewstalkFM (@NewstalkFM) August 31, 2023
He praised broadcast assistant Anne Marie Kane, who has worked on The Pat Kenny Show since the beginning.
“A monument to changing hairstyles, I have to say,” he said.
“And also she is our podcast maestro, so thanks to her.”
Pat also mentioned producer Niamh Dunne who joined the show last year and went “from a standing start to being at full speed in jig time”, as well as researcher Cian Burns who has been a “revelation in terms of the scope of his talents and his abilities”.
Next week, Claire Byrne will take over the presenter’s chair on Newstalk every week between 9am and midday, while The Pat Kenny Show will move to the weekend.
You can tune into Pat every Saturday and Sunday between 10am and midday, where he hopes “to make a big impact”.
Main image: Pat Kenny and his team.
