From Tuesday 24th to Thursday 26th of September RTÉ will once again be in the thick of the action at the 81st National Ploughing Championships in Ratheniska, Stradbally Co Laois. RTÉ will be bringing visitors and audiences at home an eclectic mix of programmes and activity from the event, from news, to sport, lifestyle and music, across TV, Radio, Online and Mobile.
Two of Ireland’s biggest news programmes will broadcast live from the event. Morning Ireland comes live at 7am on Tuesday and the Six One News, co-presented by Sharon Ní Bheoláín, will also be live from the event, bookended on Thursday as Bryan Dobson dons his wellies to co-present on the final evening of the event. In addition there will be regular reports on RTÉ News bulletins throughout the event, as well as live updates on Morning Edition and News2Day. Nuacht will also be broadcasting live each day from the RTÉ exhibition area.
RTÉ Radio 1, 2fm, lyric and RnaG too will be on the ground from the off. On Tuesday, Tubridy, on RTÉ 2fm at 9am, takes a look at the lighter side to this major national event and Hector gets a lie in, as he takes over at the later than usual time of 11am.
On the following day (Wednesday 25th) Today with Sean O’Rourke makes its first trip to the National Ploughing Championships and at 7pm Nationwide devotes an entire programme to the best of the Ploughing 2013. And it wouldn’t be RTÉ at the Ploughing Championships without Liveline and the ‘Funny Thursday’ crew live from 3pm (Thursday 26th).
In addition to on-air content audiences are invited to come along to the RTÉ exhibition space where there will be a host of activities for visitors of all ages. Get a sneak peek at what’s in store on the Today programme this year as Daithí O’Sé and Maura Derrane launch their new season, presenting a blend of lifestyle items, especially for visitors to the RTÉ exhibition area, including a cookery demonstration with Paul Flynn, a live performance from Tommy Fleming, fashion show, and a special ‘ploughing’ makeover. Also confirmed in the packed schedule are Michael Lyster and The Sunday Game panellists Michael Duignan and Kevin McStay who will lead an interactive panel discussion in what is set to be a bumper September for the GAA.
And there’s plenty more in store: live music with an RTÉ Raidio na Gaeltachta seisiún, George Hamilton with the Chatham Quartet, the chance for visitors to try their hand at being a radio presenter with lyric fm Outreach, or a TV weather presenter with Weather Wannabes, children’s storytelling with RTÉjr, and RTÉ Archives is dusting off the film cans and showing a visual presentation of RTÉ output through the years.
The RTÉ Guide will be on sale at a special Ploughing Championships price of €1 which includes the chance to take away your very own RTÉ Guide cover.
