Oliver Callan announced as Ryan Tubridy’s replacement on RTÉ’s Nine O’Clock Show as new presenter’s salary confirmed

Oliver Callan has been announced as the new presenter of the Nine O’Clock Show on RTÉ Radio One.

The appointment comes after weeks of speculation – where Mr Callan had been widely tipped as the favourite for the front-runner spot.

The announcement was made on The Brendan O’Connor Show at 11am today.

Mr Callan will be paid €150,000 a year for the two-year contract.

“I asked can we discuss this and I was told no, we are in a new world now,” he said on the Brendan O’Connor show.

RTÉ Director General Kevin Bakhurst has said that the new host will take a pay cut from Tubridy’s take home pay on radio.

“I might as well get it out of the way because people will ask about money and so on and the circumstances,” Mr Callan told the Brendan O’Connor Show.

“It’s a two-year contract, it’s about the same as what they offered Ryan [Tubridy] but I am not going to do the podcast thing so it’s €150,000 a year for those two years.

“It wouldn’t put me in the top ten presenters at the moment but we are in a whole new world. I didn’t negotiate on the money, there was no negotiation on it because there is a pile of people who want to do the job,” he said.

Last weekend the Sunday Independent had reported that the contract was a big sticking point for Mr Callan.

Mr Callan said he reached out to Ryan Tubridy when the payment scandal initially broke last year.

“I said I was very sorry for him because I think he experienced the biggest pile on that anyone has ever experienced in this country.

“Last June and July in particular with paparazzi outside his house. You don’t expect that in Ireland,” he said.

“I thought his scandal, far from being the biggest scandal in Ireland over the summer, it wasn’t even the biggest scandal in RTÉ.

“I commiserate with him because he was great.”

Mr Callan suggested that Mr Tubridy should keep a diary as he has an “amazing story to tell”.

Reacting to the announcement Mr Callan said in a statement: “I am fierce excited to join RTÉ Radio 1 every morning for the hallowed hour of 9am – not least as it will finally stop every person I meet from asking about it.

“Mostly though, because 2024 is set to be the best possible year for being part of the national conversation, with seminal moments in elections, sport and culture coming.

“I plan to keep the comedy going, to celebrate Irish books, music and history and get serious when we need to. I can also promise to keep all on-air mentions of Monaghan to a minimum, like its legendary football, poetry and poultry.”

Peter Woods, Head of RTÉ Radio 1, said: ”I’m delighted that Oliver Callan is joining RTÉ Radio 1 at nine o’clock. We’ve known Oliver for a long time, not least through Callan’s Kicks. He came in at the start of the Covid lockdown and gave the whole country a lift.

“Oliver is an accomplished broadcaster, who already has a connection with the RTÉ Radio 1 audience. He is starting a new journey with us now and he will have the full support of the RTÉ Radio 1 team in a programme that will bear his inimitable stamp.”

Accumulated profits at the entertainment firm owned by satirist and impressionist last year increased to over €1.573 million.

New accounts show that Callan’s Catchy Title Ltd enjoyed a buoyant 2021 after recording profits of €154,803 despite the Covid-19 impact on the entertainment business.

Last year’s profits followed the company recording profits of €131,797 in 2020, profits of €200,944 in 2019 and profits of €249,646 in 2018.

The company’s balance sheet shows that accumulated profits increased from €1.41 million to €1.57 million last year.

The firm’s current assets – made up of cash and money owed by debtors – last year increased from €993,556 to €1.15 million. The firm also had tangible assets with a book value of €492,872.

Callan is a regular stand-in on RTÉ for Ryan Tubridy and also earns income from stand up shows along with his own productions for RTÉ.

Meanwhile, the most recent radio listenership figures were positive for Callan in the wake of him stepping into the gap left by Ryan Tubridy as host of RTE’s mid-morning show.

Callan has been a regular stand-in host for the hour-long slot with the likes of Brendan Courtney and Maura Derran also stepping into the hot seat since Tubridy’s departure.

The Nine O’Clock Show gained 13,000 listeners over a period of three months, according to the latest release from the JNLR.

Statistics show that 347,000 people tune in to the show, with strong performances from Today With Claire Byrne (up 8,000), and The Brendan O’Connor Show on weekends also breaking the 300,000 mark.

RTÉ Director-General Kevin Bakhurst thanked listeners for “sticking with RTÉ” during an “extraordinarily challenging period”.

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