Eamon Keane is the presenter of the new Deise Today morning show on WLR. The former RTE and Newstalk broadcaster and producer now takes on a full-time position with the south east station based in Waterford. The new 10am to midday show replaces Deise FM, hosted by Billy McCarthy for 27 years, until he died in November.
Keane is already well-known to WLR listeners from his psychotherapy advice features on Deise AM broadcast every Wednesday in recent years. Brother of BBC journalist Fergal Keane and nephew to playwright John B Keane, he was born in Dublin. His grandfather hails from Ardmore, Co. Waterford and he himself lives in Ring, in the west of the county.
For three years, he presented Lunchtime with Eamon Keane on Newstalk, for which he won a PPI award for best news programme. He has been a reporter on RTE’s Morning Ireland, News at One and Drivetime with Mary Wilson. He was senior producer on the Marian Finucane and Vincent Browne shows and a contributor on BBC Radio Ulster.
A qualified therapist and lecturer in counselling and community work, Keane is a musician, touring with John Sheehan and the Dubliners, releasing a platinum-selling album and writing music for film and TV. Deise Today’s producer is Jennifer Long, who produced Deise AM for the past seven years. In 2014, the show won a PPI silver award for current affairs.
Keane’s appointment follows the recent death of WLR’s sports editor Kevin Casey, 40, after a short illness. A native of Glenflesk, Killarney, Co Kerry, Casey had worked with WLR for the past decade and was highly popular with listeners. His work in sport was honoured with two GAA MacNamee awards, in 2010 and 2016 respectively. Requiescat in pace.
