Kenny's Newstalk move - a long time coming

IT’S the biggest news in Irish broadcasting for years, but Pat Kenny’s departure from RTÉ was brewing for a long time.

The seeds of his sensational move were sown last year when The Frontline was cancelled. As an olive branch, RTÉ offered Kenny a much lesser role on Prime Time — its flagship current affairs show.

Station insiders admitted Kenny found it hard to believe that a journalist with his television experience was being asked to do so little. Coupled with management changes in the current affairs division, he found it all very difficult.