The Profile

Oliver Callan: The craic commando in RTÉ’s sights

The satirist is tipped to take over Ryan Tubridy’s radio slot full time, but he may have to tone down his comedy to have the last laugh

Oliver Callan is now bookies’ favourite to replace Ryan Tubridy as presenter of RTÉ’s 9am show, but he has been known to ruffle more than a few feathers. Illustration: Peter Hanan

Willie O’Reilly was chief executive of Today FM back in the early 2000s when he got a slightly unusual request from the head of his newsroom. It was about Oliver Callan.

“Oliver was in my newsroom, and he was a journalist, basically – he was just someone who read the news and who filed stories. Not ‘just’, but that was what he did,” O’Reilly, who later served as RTÉ’s group commercial director, told the Business Post.