''Newsbeat'' was a Telefís Éireann television current and regional affairs programme presented by Frank Hall and broadcast in Ireland live on weekday evenings from 1964 until 1971.

Background

''Newsbeat'' was created by Telefís Éireann as a replacement for the station's flagship current affairs programme ''

Broadsheet A broadsheet is the largest newspaper format and is characterized by long Vertical and horizontal, vertical pages, typically of . Other common newspaper formats include the smaller Berliner (format), Berliner and Tabloid (newspaper format), ta ...

''. The programme was originally broadcast live from Monday to Friday between 6:01pm and 6:40pm. It was the first television programme by Telefís Éireann to be jointly produced by the News and Programming divisions of the new station.

Content and style

The programme opened with a ten-minute summary of the news and, unlike ''Broadsheet'', concentrated on more off-beat and light-hearted regional filmed reports and unscripted interviews from around Ireland. Frank Hall, as well as being editor of the programme, was also the main presenter. He was assisted in reporting duties by Michael Ryan and

Cathal O'Shannon Cathal O'Shannon (9 June 1890 – 4 October 1969) was an Irish politician, trade unionist and journalist. Early years Charles Francis Shannon was born in Randalstown, County Antrim, he was the third child of Charles and Alice Shannon. As a chi ...

. ''News'' and ''Newsbeat'' were subsequently split into two separate back-to-back programmes before the latter found a regular 25-minute slot weekdays at 7:00pm. ''Newsbeat'' was broadcast for the last time on 11 June 1971.''The Irish Times'', "Inside the Newspapers", 14 June 1971

Presenters

Frank Hall later went on to present the satirical programme ''

Hall's Pictorial Weekly ''Hall's Pictorial Weekly'' was an Irish satirical television series broadcast on Raidió Teilifís Éireann from 1971 to 1980. Regarded as RTÉ's flagship comedy show, it featured satirical sketches on current news stories, politics and pop ...

'' while Michael Ryan went on to present '' Nationwide'' until December 2011.

References

{{RTÉ News and Current Affairs 1960s Irish television series 1970s Irish television series 1964 Irish television series debuts 1971 Irish television series endings Irish television news shows RTÉ News and Current Affairs RTÉ original programming