Newstalk cuts two late-evening programmes

TWO EVENING programmes have been cut at national radio station Newstalk which yesterday confirmed that job losses have taken place at the station.

Late Night Live, a talk show presented by Declan Carty, and Splanc, an Irish language programme, have both been ended.

Late Night Liveaired on Monday to Thursday from 10 until midnight while Splancfilled the same time slot on Fridays.

The station will play a repeat of Tom Dunne's morning programme in this slot instead.

Newstalk would not confirm last night whether staff working on these programmes had been made redundant or been redeployed.

However, it did confirm that some full-time employees had been let go. "Newstalk has taken steps to reduce costs and this has inevitably led to a reduction in the station's workforce," it said in a statement.

"These reductions have been made across all departments in the station and to minimise the number of full-time job losses and any impact on prime-time programming, the reduction includes a combination of operational economies, some full-time employees and reduced usage of freelance services," the statement continued.

Declan Carty has been a presenter with the station since 2002. He previously worked for 98FM, FM104 and RTÉ. His late-night programme recently won a justice media award for its legal slot.

Splanc, the Irish language programme, was presented by Daragh Ó Tuama and covered music, current affairs and sport.

Last month it emerged that Today FM and Newstalk, which are both owned by Denis O'Brien's company Communicorp, were to pool some of their newsroom resources.