Noel Curran (born 13 November 1967) is an Irish radio and television producer and journalist who has been the Director-General of the
European Broadcasting Union
The European Broadcasting Union (EBU; french: Union européenne de radio-télévision, links=no, UER) is an alliance of Public broadcasting, public service media organisations whose countries are within the European Broadcasting Area or who ar ...
since October 2017. He previously served as the
Director-General of RTÉ
The Director-General is chief executive and editor-in-chief of public service broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ). The current director-general is Dee Forbes, who replaced Noel Curran in the role in 2016.
Appointment and role
The RT ...
(Ireland's national broadcaster) from 2011 to 2016.
He has worked in the Editorial, Management and Commercial areas of media.
The European Broadcasting Union is the largest alliance of public service media organisations in the world. It represents 115 media companies in 56 countries.
It is based in Geneva but has offices in New York, Washington, Moscow, Brussels, Singapore, Rome and Beijing. As well as representing the interests of public service media internationally the EBU provides a worldwide news service to its members, purchases international sports rights for its members, provides live classical and jazz concerts, provides a technology and innovation service, a media research unit and a range of television and radio content.
The EBU also operates an independent commercial subsidiary Eurovision Services, which provides distribution and production of large sporting events around the world.
Curran is Chair of Eurovision Services.
He is the first Irish national to be Director General of the EBU.
Previously he was
Director-General
A director general or director-general (plural: ''directors general'', ''directors-general'', ''director generals'' or ''director-generals''
) or general director is a senior executive officer, often the chief executive officer, within a government ...
at Ireland's national broadcaster
Raidió Teilifís Éireann
Raidi (; ; also written Ragdi; born August, 1938) is a Tibetan politician of the People's Republic of China. He served as a vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress from 2003 to 2008, and the highest ranking Tibeta ...
(RTÉ). According to RTÉ's Annual Report 2015 the Director-General was responsible for 2000 staff, four TV channels, four radio stations, RTÉ Digital output, two orchestras, Ireland's transmission Network (2RN) and 334 million Euro in revenue. According to the report 155m Euro of that revenue was generated through commercial activity, which means that, as a percentage of total income, commercial income is higher at RTÉ than at most other European Public Service Media organisations.
Early life
Curran was born in
Carrickmacross
Carrickmacross () is a town in County Monaghan, Ireland. The town and environs had a population of 5,032 according to the 2016 census, making it the second-largest town in the county. Carrickmacross is a market town which developed around a ca ...
,
County Monaghan
County Monaghan ( ; ga, Contae Mhuineacháin) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Ulster and is part of Border strategic planning area of the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the town of Monaghan. Monaghan County Cou ...
, where he attended both primary and secondary school. He studied
Communications
Communication (from la, communicare, meaning "to share" or "to be in relation with") is usually defined as the transmission of information. The term may also refer to the message communicated through such transmissions or the field of inquir ...
in
Dublin City University
Dublin City University (abbreviated as DCU) ( ga, Ollscoil Chathair Bhaile Átha Cliath) is a university based on the Northside of Dublin, Ireland. Created as the ''National Institute for Higher Education, Dublin'' in 1975, it enrolled its f ...
, where he specialised in Irish and International Broadcasting Policy, writing his final year thesis on the future of Public Service Broadcasting. He also wrote about European broadcasting policy while studying for post-grad.
Career
RTÉ
He joined
Raidió Teilifís Éireann
Raidi (; ; also written Ragdi; born August, 1938) is a Tibetan politician of the People's Republic of China. He served as a vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress from 2003 to 2008, and the highest ranking Tibeta ...
(RTÉ) as a business and investigative reporter in 1992, after a period working for ''Business & Finance magazine''. While working at ''Business & Finance'' Curran was involved in several prominent investigations. He became deputy editor of ''Business & Finance'' two years after joining as a reporter, before leaving for RTÉ. He joined Current Affairs as a senior financial journalist before becoming a television producer. Curran went on to win national and international awards as a documentary producer and Editor.
He then became executive producer of live entertainment series and productions, producing several live television shows at the
Point Theatre
The Point Theatre (sometimes referred to as the Point Depot or simply as the Point) was a concert and events venue in Dublin, Ireland, that operated from 1988 to 2007, visited by in excess of 2 million people. It was located on the North Wall Q ...
, before being appointed as executive producer of the
Eurovision Song Contest 1997, held in
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...
, presented by
Ronan Keating
Ronan Patrick John Keating (born 3 March 1977) is an Irish singer. He debuted in 1993 alongside Keith Duffy, Michael Graham, Shane Lynch, and Stephen Gately, as the co-lead singer (with Gately) of Irish pop group Boyzone. His solo career start ...
and
Carrie Crowley
Caroline Anne Crowley (born 23 May 1964) is an Irish actress, Gaeilgeoir and former radio and television presenter.
She appeared on television shows such as ''The Morbegs'' and '' Echo Island'' for Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ). She also h ...
. He was a member of the EBU Eurovision group. His younger brother is Richard Curran, deputy editor of the ''Sunday Business Post'' and presenter of TV's ''Dragons Den'' series.
Independent work
Curran left RTÉ in 2000 to become a director of a private independent production company. As an independent, he won an IFTA award as executive producer of the investigative documentary ''Bad Blood'.
Senior management at RTÉ
He returned to RTÉ as Editor of Current Affairs, where he helped launch the ''
Prime Time
Prime time or the peak time is the block of broadcast programming taking place during the middle of the evening for a television show. It is mostly targeted towards adults (and sometimes families). It is used by the major television networks to ...
Investigates'' series of documentaries. He was editor of the award winning
Mary Raftery
Mary Frances Thérèse Raftery (21 December 1957 – 10 January 2012) was an Irish investigative journalist, filmmaker and writer.
Raftery was born in Dublin. She started her investigative journalism career with '' In Dublin'' magazine in ...
documentaries ''Cardinal Secrets'' and ''Broken Trust''. He spoke on Radio 1's 'Drivetime' programme about Mary Raftery's contribution to journalism after her death in January 2012.
In 2003, he was appointed managing director of TV, at 37 the youngest person to hold the position, according to the ''Irish Independent'' and ''Irish Times''. He led a policy of increased investment in Irish TV production during his tenure, as RTÉ's commercial income grew to its highest historic level. According to the ''Sunday Business Post'' Curran's tenure marked the first time editorial and commercial departments in TV were integrated under one managing director.
Director General of RTÉ
In March 2010, Curran left RTÉ to pursue a consultancy and other private business interests before being interviewed and then appointed DG by the RTÉ board effective from 1 February 2011.
In 2017 he was appointed Director General of the EBU.
He returned to Dublin City University in April 2016, where he criticised Irish broadcasting policy and warned that RTÉ and public media faced a difficult financial future without changes in policy and funding.
[''The Irish Times'' 14 April 2016]
Personal life
Curran is married to musician
Eimear Quinn
Eimear Mary Rose Quinn (; ga, Eimear Ní Chuinn, ) is an Irish singer and composer. She is best known for winning the Eurovision Song Contest 1996 with the song " The Voice". Since then she has toured and performed extensively internationall ...
, winner of the
Eurovision Song Contest 1996
The Eurovision Song Contest 1996 was the 41st edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, held on 18 May 1996 at the in Oslo, Norway. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster (NRK) and presented by Norwegian journalis ...
. They have two daughters: Joelene born in October 2009 and Marlene born in April 2012. They divide their time between Ireland and Switzerland.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Curran, Noel
1967 births
Living people
Alumni of Dublin City University
Directors-General of RTÉ
Irish radio producers
Irish television producers
The Late Late Show (Irish talk show)
People from County Monaghan