John Murray is an Irish journalist and broadcaster. Currently heard on

Weekend Sport ''Weekend Sport'' is a Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ) radio programme broadcast at weekends on RTÉ Radio 1. ''Saturday Sport'' is broadcast between 14:00 and 18:00 on Saturdays, although broadcast times are often extended depending on ongo ...

, he presented ''The John Murray Show'' on

RTÉ Radio 1 RTÉ Radio 1 ( ga, RTÉ Raidió 1) is an Irish national radio station owned and operated by RTÉ and is the direct descendant of Dublin radio station 2RN, which began broadcasting on a regular basis on 1 January 1926. The total budget for th ...

, "focus ngon lifestyle and entertainment items", filling the slot from 09:00 to 10:00 previously occupied by

Ryan Tubridy Ryan Tubridy (born 28 May 1973), nicknamed 'Tubs ' is an Irish broadcaster. He presents ''The Ryan Tubridy Show'' and '' The Late Late Show''. Tubridy previously presented RTÉ 2fm breakfast radio show ''The Full Irish'', which at its end was ...

, who moved to

RTÉ 2fm (RTÉ) (; Irish for "Radio & Television of Ireland") is the national broadcaster of Ireland headquartered in Dublin. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, while ...

. Murray was one of the presenters of ''

Morning Ireland ''Morning Ireland'' is the breakfast news programme broadcast by RTÉ Radio 1 in Ireland and is noted as that country's most listened to radio programme. It is broadcast each weekday morning between 07.00 and 09.00 and alternate items are normall ...

'', Ireland's most popular radio show, before going on to host his own weekly programme, ''The Business''.

Career

Murray trained at the School of Journalism in

Rathmines Rathmines () is an affluent inner suburb on the Southside of Dublin in Ireland. It lies three kilometres south of the city centre. It begins at the southern side of the Grand Canal and stretches along the Rathmines Road as far as Rathgar to t ...

in Dublin. In 1983, his first job was as a junior reporter with the ''

Tallaght Echo ) , image_skyline = TallaghtDublinD24.jpg , image_caption = Tallaght, Dublin , image_flag = , flag_size = , pushpin_map = Dublin#Ireland , pushpin_label_position = left , ...

''. After six months, he moved to ''The Cork Examiner'' and worked there for six years. He was Head of News in a new independent radio station,

Cork's 96FM 96FM is one of three local radio stations licensed by the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland for Cork (city), Cork City and County Cork, County in Ireland (the other two being its sister station C103 and youth music station Red FM (Ireland), Red ...

, from 1990 until 1992. Later that year, he became a general reporter for

RTÉ (RTÉ) (; Irish language, Irish for "Radio & Television of Ireland") is the Public broadcaster, national broadcaster of Republic of Ireland, Ireland headquartered in Dublin. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on RTÉ Television, telev ...

. Murray worked in RTÉ for three years. In his time there, he worked on ''

''. In 1995, he was asked by

Mary Harney Mary Harney (born 11 March 1953) is an Irish former politician and the current Chancellor of the University of Limerick. She was leader of the Progressive Democrats party between 1993 and 2006 and again from 2007 to 2008, resuming the role aft ...

, then leader of the

Progressive Democrats The Progressive Democrats ( ga, An Páirtí Daonlathach, literally "The Democratic Party" ), commonly referred to as the PDs, was a conservative-liberal political party in the Republic of Ireland. Launched on 21 December 1985 by Desmond O'Mal ...

, to be her media adviser. After two years he became Deputy Government Press Secretary and Head of the Government Information Services. He worked as deputy press secretary until 2000. Murray worked in China for two years when his wife, ''

Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...

'' journalist Miriam Donohoe, was based in the country. In 2003, he moved back to RTÉ. He was appointed as a business reporter on ''Morning Ireland''. Murray co-presented ''Morning Ireland'' until 2010. From 2004, he also hosted his own hour-long radio business programme, ''The Business'', which was broadcast each Saturday morning on

. In 2008, he published his book ''Now That's What I Call Jargon''. From September 2010, he began presenting ''The John Murray Show'' on RTÉ Radio 1, replacing ''

The Tubridy Show ''The Tubridy Show'' was an Irish talk-based entertainment radio programme presented by Ryan Tubridy. It was broadcast on Mondays to Fridays at 09:00 on RTÉ Radio 1. Known for its influential book club, the programme attracted 333,000 listene ...

''. One of his first guests on the programme was

Bertie Ahern Bartholomew Patrick "Bertie" Ahern (born 12 September 1951) is an Irish former Fianna Fáil politician who served as Taoiseach from 1997 to 2008, Leader of Fianna Fáil from 1994 to 2008, Leader of the Opposition from 1994 to 1997, Tánaiste a ...

. ''The Business'' is currently presented by George Lee. In 2007, he won the award for Business Broadcast in the first ever UCD Smurfit School Business Journalist Awards. A 2011 satirical sketch on ''The John Murray Show'', in which the

Tyrone GAA The Tyrone County Board ( ga, Cumann Lúthchleas Gael, Coiste Chontae Tír Eoghain), or Tyrone GAA, is one of the 32 county boards of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) in Ireland, and is responsible for the administration of Gaelic games i ...

manager

Mickey Harte Mickey Harte (born 1952) is an Irish Gaelic football Manager (Gaelic games), manager and former player. He has been manager of the Louth county football team, Louth county team since 2020. Harte managed the Tyrone county football team, Tyrone ...

was the main subject, resulted in significant controversy and an ongoing (as of August 2018) boycott of RTE GAA media events by Harte and members of the Tyrone GAA senior team, owing to the sketch's insensitive nature which appeared to allude to Harte's recently murdered daughter. It was announced on 26 June 2015 that RTÉ would axe ''The John Murray Show'' with the last episode due to broadcast on 3 July. He was replaced by

. As of August 2015, Murray can be heard on

Personal life

John Murray was born to parents

Vivian Murray Vivian Murray (22 July 1932 – 6 March 2009) was an Irish businessman. Murray served as the chief executive of the Irish Goods Council during the 1970s and 1980s, when it launched the "Buy Irish" and "Guaranteed Irish" marketing campaigns. M ...

, a prominent Irish businessman, and his wife, Nancy (née Clear). He has two adult children, Stephen and Catherine. Murray has suffered from depression, which resulted in him taking a six-month break from his radio show in 2013.

References

External links

John Murray
at ''

'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Murray, John 1964 births Living people Irish Examiner people Progressive Democrats RTÉ newsreaders and journalists RTÉ Radio 1 presenters People educated at Synge Street CBS Alumni of Dublin Institute of Technology