Seán O’Rourke keen for more phone-ins with politicians

Two months into his role as the new Pat Kenny, Seán O'Rourke has identified something he is keen to do more of: listener phone-ins with senior politicians.

Last month O’Rourke continued the RTÉ Radio 1 tradition of a post-Budget phone-in with the Minister for Finance.

A phone-in with Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin at the end of September also generated headlines, though most of them were about the party's past mistakes.

O'Rourke says he still feels like he is "in transition" from his old job presenting the News at One, but that more shows that expose politicians to callers' questions – as well as more broadcasts from outside Montrose – will form part of the "gradual evolution" of Today with Seán O'Rourke.

The presenter says that last week’s Joint National Listenership Research survey figures suggested he was correct to have a “gut feeling” that the show was performing well, though he acknowledged that it is early days and will be at least a year before the information shows whether listeners have been loyal to to the channel.