RTÉ has confirmed that Ger Gilroy will join its Podcasts team to present a new daily sports podcast, launching later this year as part of a wider push into digital audio.
The appointment brings one of Irish sports media’s most experienced podcast and broadcast figures into RTÉ at a time when the national broadcaster is preparing to launch a new audio app and expand its original podcast slate.
Anyone watching the FIFA World Cup on RTÉ TV will have noticed the heavyweight promotion of RTÉ Podcasts in the ad breaks.
Gilroy, most recently Managing Director of Off The Ball and host of Off The Ball Breakfast from Monday to Thursday, will front a daily show covering the biggest stories across GAA, soccer, rugby, athletics, boxing and beyond.
Major Podcast Move for RTÉ Sport
The new show is being positioned as a daily sports agenda-setter, offering RTÉ a fresh route into the increasingly competitive sports audio market.
For the broadcaster, the move adds a recognised voice from outside its existing sports stable, while also strengthening its ability to reach audiences who now consume sports discussion through podcasts, clips, digital video and social platforms as much as through traditional radio and television.
Born in Belfast, raised in Athy, Co Kildare, and based in Dublin since the 1990s, Gilroy has worked across radio, podcasting, television and digital video for more than 25 years.
His new role will see him collaborate with RTÉ Sport while also building a podcast-first audience around daily conversation, analysis and personality-led storytelling. He will go head-to-head with former colleague Joe Molloy, doing similar with the Irish Independent as well as Off The Ball, and his other one-time collaborators at Second Captains.
“I’m thrilled to be joining and can’t wait to start chatting with new audiences across RTÉ’s podcast network about the things they love,” said Gilroy.
“It’s great to have two-way conversations that include the audience, so we’ll be wherever they are online — talking to them, but also listening to what they’re interested in.”
Gilroy also referenced the changing media landscape, saying that audience engagement was “more important than ever in the face of the onslaught of AI and, let’s face it, some made-up stuff.”
Part of Wider RTÉ Audio Strategy
The new sports podcast forms part of RTÉ’s broader strategy to grow its podcast offering alongside the launch of a new audio app later this year.
RTÉ Podcasts this week launched Ramble with Joe McGucken, an interview series exploring some of Ireland’s more unusual stories and places. That follows the recent success of the history podcast What Were We Like.
Further launches planned by RTÉ include a weekly true crime podcast, a dating podcast and a high-performance interview series with hurling great Joe Canning.
Patricia Monahan, RTÉ Director of Audio, said Gilroy’s appointment was part of the broadcaster’s New Direction strategy, which is focused on engaging audiences with high-impact content on digital platforms as well as through established linear services.
“Ger’s appointment, the original slate of podcasts that we are rolling out in the coming months and the launch of our new Audio App later this year are signs of how that promise is now coming to life in RTÉ Audio,” she said.
She added that RTÉ’s ambition was to provide content for audiences “wherever they are.”
Sport at the Heart of Podcast Expansion
Hugh Ormond, Head of RTÉ Podcasts, said sport had been a central part of the plan for RTÉ’s podcast development from the beginning.
“We are really excited to work with Ger because of his obvious on-air charisma and his standing in the sports community — but also his innate understanding that love of sport is rooted in stories, characters, opinions and humour,” he said.
“We are looking forward to growing Ger’s RTÉ audience, bringing them amazing sports coverage, and seeing where else this might take us.”
The new daily podcast will sit alongside RTÉ’s existing sports audio portfolio, including Inside Sport, Saturday Sport and Sunday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1, as well as RTÉ Sport’s specialist podcasts across rugby, soccer and GAA.
The show will launch later this year.
Sport for Business Perspective
Gilroy’s arrival is a notable move in the Irish sports media landscape.
Off The Ball has been one of the most prominent independent sports audio and digital brands in the Irish market, and Gilroy has been closely associated with its development across live radio, video, podcasting and social-first sports conversation.
His move to RTÉ signals the broadcaster’s intent to compete more directly for daily sports podcast listeners and to build a stronger digital audio habit around its sports coverage.
The appointment brings credibility, experience and a presenter with an established relationship with Ireland’s sports audience.
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Image Credit: RTÉ
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