Claire Byrne: I have to exercise most days, or I can’t function

NewsTalk presenter Claire Byrne is in work mode from the minute she wakes up, so a balanced lifestyle is essential to sustain her demanding schedule. She talks to Gemma Fullam about her non-negotiables, including sleep, strength training and family time

Broadcaster Claire Byrne at Newstalk's Marconi House, Dublin. Picture: Gareth Chaney

The early afternoon sun is streaming through the floor-to-ceiling windows of Marconi House’s conference room when broadcaster Claire Byrne breezes in. The Newstalk presenter has been on the go since 5am and already has a full day’s work done, but, dressed in a coral co-ord, her hair and make-up immaculate, she looks as fresh as the proverbial daisy.

She thoughtfully moves a chair to give the Irish Examiner’s photographer a clean background for his final few shots before sitting down to chat.

She’s in work mode from the minute she wakes up, she tells me, “checking the newspapers on my phone with one eye open”. As she gets ready, it’s on with the BBC World Service, followed by Shane Beatty’s Breakfast Briefing on Newstalk — “such a useful resource” — and BBC Radio 4. Then, after a half-hour commute from her Co Wicklow home, she arrives at Newstalk’s city-centre studios for 6.30am, from which point it’s “full on”.

By 9am, Byrne is live on air, presenting three hours of breaking news, current affairs, showbiz, and interviews, followed by a debrief and discussion of the next day’s programme. “Then some work happens in the office, and generally I will leave early enough in the afternoon, collect my children from school, feed them, do whatever life-admin bits I need to do, and then I work again in the evening towards the next day.”

By any standards, it’s an intense schedule, but at this stage of the game, Byrne, who brought her 15-year career at RTÉ to an end for a fresh start at Newstalk earlier this year, is clear on what she needs to do to sustain that hectic pace.

She aims to be asleep by 10pm during the week. “If I’m staying up late and still wandering around the house after 10 o’clock, it’s a disaster. I need my sleep, and as I’ve gotten older, I’ve realised that I can’t burn the candle at both ends. It doesn’t serve anybody well around me, or myself. Sleep is key.”

When we meet, the latest round of JNLRs has just been released; the second tranche of listenership figures since Byrne took over Pat Kenny’s NewsTalk slot in February. For Byrne, it is good news: The Claire Byrne Show has gained 4,000 listeners since May, upping its audience to an impressive 210,000. While there is every reason to celebrate, Byrne is measured about her success. “It’s great. We’re on the right path, but the work never stops to try and grow the audience,” is her pragmatic take. “ It’s positive, but I’m conscious that we have work to do still.”

It’s no surprise that the 51-year-old applies the same measured philosophy to dealing with life in the spotlight and the trolls that can follow.

“You probably don’t ever get used to people being nasty about you, but it has less of an effect,” she says, and while she doesn’t actively go looking for online commentary about herself, “sometimes there might be a message that comes to you directly, and you’ll see it, and think, ‘What is wrong with that person that they’ve gone out of their way to say that to me?’ There’s probably something going on in that person’s life that means they have to hit out at somebody like me, who doesn’t know them and probably never will. But it’s never nice to be on the receiving end of trolls.”

She accepts that it’s part of being in a high-profile position. “I’ve been around long enough to know that being discussed publicly is par for the course. So you have to just take it, and if it’s too much, then you probably shouldn’t be in the business.”

Exercise is essential

Claire Byrne: I need my sleep, and as I’ve gotten older, I’ve realised that I can’t burn the candle at both ends. Picture: Gareth Chaney

A decent night’s sleep doubtless helps her stay grounded, while another “non-negotiable” that helps keep her on track is regular exercise. Over time, she has changed the way she approaches her fitness, segueing from training intensely towards a goal, such as a half-marathon, and then doing no exercise at all, to more recently embracing a more consistent regimen.

“What I’ve realised over the last, say, five years, is that I have to exercise most days of the week or I can’t function. It’s just so beneficial,” she says. “I exercise at home, because if I have to go out and do it, I won’t do it.”

She has a “very basic” weights set-up, and since the pandemic, has followed the strength training routines of Co Antrim-based personal trainer Caroline Girvan. “I started following her then, and now she’s moved to an app [CGX by Caroline Girvan]. I find her absolutely brilliant. I’ll do her workouts, which are about 40 minutes, between three and five times a week, depending on how my week is working out. Once I have ticked that box, I’m done. I find it great.”

Weight training also means she no longer does “madcap” diets, but chooses instead to eat healthily.

I’m not going to deny myself a bit of chocolate or a glass of wine on a Friday night, and that suits me, and I’m happy with that. Cutting out food groups and all that stuff, that’s history for me. I just won’t do it.

As she has got older, she says, she’s realised, “life is for living, everything in moderation”.

Byrne used to run, but found it “hard on the body”. Strength training makes her feel “more resilient” and that she’s “achieving something”, she says, and she notices she’s stronger as a result. “I can feel it when I’m taking the shopping out of the car, or having to do any kind of physical work”.

An added benefit is that since she began “doing it religiously” she hasn’t been sick, “touch wood”.

With three children — Patrick, 12, Jane, 11, and Emma, nine — the flexibility of being able to work out at home is essential for the Laois native.

“I have to be able to do it on my terms, or I won’t get it done. It has to fit into my day, because a lot of what we are doing now at home is dropping people off and collecting people. Obviously, we don’t have nappies, but we have all of the different activities that they do, so we’re very busy.”

Importance of family time

You probably don’t ever get used to people being nasty about you, but it has less of an effect. Picture: Gareth Chaney

At home, the other half of that ‘we’ is Byrne’s husband of 10 years, Microsoft executive Gerry Scollan. Quality time with family is a priority, and Byrne takes “a good break every summer” to facilitate that. “I take three weeks off, and we go away together as a family.” Those three weeks are a “really nice time to have a reset and spend time with your children”, she says, while admitting — as many parents do — there are moments when she can’t wait for school to resume and for everyone to be back in a routine.

She’s “not really” able to switch off on holiday, but is OK with that.

“To be honest, I think if I came back and I hadn’t been looking at the news in some way, I’d feel very much at sea for maybe two weeks. So I don’t do that.”

Even with one eye on work, she views the summer sojourn as “a precious time” with her family. “I really enjoy it, and I really value it, and I think you see a lot of changes in your children over the summer as well. I always find that in the summertime they grow more, and they develop more and become more mature. I almost felt like I was bearing witness to that this summer because they’re moving on, and my eldest is going into secondary school.”

Her children are “in that lovely sweet spot where they still like us. And that might change,” she says. “We’ve built a lovely relationship with our children, and I hope that they feel they can be open with us, and that what we did in the early years will stand to us and to them as they go through the maybe the more difficult years as teenagers.”

Whether at the radio station or at home, hard work doesn’t faze Byrne. She’s a grafter with high standards and has her off days like anyone else, but it’s how she deals with them that sets her apart.

“I think no matter what job you’re in, if you’re having a bad day, you have to just take a deep breath and get on with it, don’t you?” she says. “I can’t go into that show at nine in the morning and grump. I have to leave all of that behind. And that means if something isn’t working out, take a deep breath, leave it on the back burner until you’re off air. You have a job to do.”

Doing a job well is “very, very motivating” for her, and while she likes “making a success of things”, she admits to never having had “a grand plan”, despite people often assuming she does.

“I never do,” she says. “I like focusing on what I’m doing right now.”

And she’s smashing it.

• The Claire Byrne Show’, Monday to Friday, 9am to 12pm, Newstalk