A former children's television producer has been handed the task of revitalising the fortunes of RTÉ radio, which has been steadily losing ground to commercial rivals.
Mr Adrian Moynes was yesterday appointed the new director of radio at Montrose, succeeding the current incumbent, Ms Helen Shaw, who steps down on September 1st.
He takes up the reins at a difficult period for RTÉ.
While overall listenership for Radio 1 and Lyric FM has been rising, the dedicated pop music channel 2FM continues to surrender market share to private broadcasters.
A former teacher and native of Armagh, Mr Moynes joined RTÉ in 1979, working on education programmes for radio and on children's television shows including Bosco and Jo Maxi.
He was promoted to editor of young people's programmes in the early 1980s. He later became head of scheduling in television.
In 1997 he was named special assistant to the RTÉ director-general, Mr Bob Collins.
His appointment from a field of more than 20 candidates ends weeks of speculation, prompted after Ms Shaw unexpectedly announced she was stepping down to take up a Weatherhead Fellowship at Harvard University.
According to the most recent JNLR/MRBI interim listenership figures Today FM is gaining twice as many new listeners as RTÉ Radio 1, Lyric FM and 2FM combined.