Podcast Corner: Mixed output from Ray D'Arcy so far 

After his departure from RTÉ, the presenter is into the second week of his daily podcast 

Ray D'Arcy is producing five episodes a week of his new podcast. 

“This is something I dreamed about doing forever,” Ray D’Arcy tells us on the first episode of his daily podcast, which is into its second week. Five episodes a week, all clocking in at around 50 minutes. 

Of course he has his loyal fans and reels off the many first days he’s had over the years — Today FM, You’re a Star, Rose of Tralee, first TV chat show, RTÉ Radio One. 

It won’t be stopping here either. A philosophical interview series, Being Human, launches this week. Guests will include Poor author Katriona O’Sullivan, Panti Bliss, Mary McAleese, Siobhán McSweeney, and Róisín Ingle.

By the end of the first week of Ray D’Arcy Daily — about 200 minutes in, for those keeping track — D’Arcy, not for the first time, brings up ChatGPT. He says a listener “has a thing where he uses ChatGPT to plot out his career as an NBA basketball player and sometimes a Premier League footballer”. 

Then: “So I was thinking would Jessie Buckley get onto ChatGPT and say, ‘Will I win the Oscar?’ Probably not — so I did it on her behalf.” The uninspired story continues — in keeping with the podcast’s inauspicious, uninspired first week.

On Monday’s episode, D’Arcy pontificates on the pronunciation of ‘marathon’, takes to the streets with his mic to ask the public what’s something they want to do daily, discusses road deaths, even reading out an unpublished letter he sent to the Irish Times a few months ago, and is joined by old pal Mairead Ronan to review Dancing with the Stars, and offers social media tips.

Tuesday brings a cold call to a business owner in Co Clare, after D’Arcy randomly drops a pin on a map of Ireland and phones the nearest company. That it turns into a whole bit — and that the woman on the other end gamely goes along with it — is testament to D’Arcy’s enduring man-of-the-people schtick (even if he did have to invoke his full name to get past her curious phone-screening system).

On Wednesday D’Arcy, tells us the first reviews are in. He doesn’t tell us what they say — though it’s not difficult to guess — but later laments critics and criticism. 

The segment is followed by praise from listeners. Thursday is a chat about air fryers and come Friday, he’s talking about the contents of blue bins and why he doesn’t have one.

 Some fluff is fine on daytime radio. Podcasting, though, tends to reward something a little tighter: A clear idea, a distinct voice, a sense of direction. There’s clearly an audience willing to spend time with him. The question after week one is whether the show will evolve beyond pleasant meandering into something with a bit more shape.