Mary Wilson (broadcaster)
Encyclopedia
Mary Wilson is an Irish
broadcaster
and journalist
. She currently presents the RTÉ
radio programme Drivetime
on RTÉ Radio 1
during weekday evenings. In 2006, she was described as "one of Ireland’s leading journalists".
, she began her career at RTÉ’s local radio service in Cork
before moving to Dublin. Whilst there she worked across a wide range of areas in the RTÉ Newsroom. Before presenting Drivetime, she was the legal affairs correspondent for RTÉ News and Current Affairs between 1996 and 2002. She won the "ESB National Media Awards Journalist of the Year" in 2000. In 2002, she was promoted to the post of legal affairs editor. She spent 10 years in the job overall before moving on in 2006. She has covered many high-profile court cases. When Wilson grew weary with the nationwide escapades of then Taoiseach
Bertie Ahern
, prior to the Irish general election
in 2002, she described herself as "being left a little short of information".
In 2006, when Rachael English
finished up Five Seven Live
, Wilson was promoted to presenter of Drivetime
. Her programme airs Monday to Friday from 16:30 until 19:00. Her programme has 229,000 listeners. Joseph O'Connor
's radio diary is commissioned by Wilson on this show each Wednesday.
She has appeared on the Irish
television programme The Restaurant
. She received three stars in an episode which featured Ainsley Harriott
as a guest star critic. Wilson served a caesar salad and Portuguese
mussels and prawns for starters, two main courses of cod with chips and tartare sauce plus braised lamb shanks with roast root vegetables and her preferred dessert of profiteroles and chocolate.
Wilson has also appeared on the cover of Village
.
editor Tony O'Donoghue
until 2005. She has a one daughter, Aoife, who in 2007 was 10.
Wilson described Carl Bernstein
's A Woman in Charge: The Life of Hillary Rodham Clinton, as "a complete picture of the woman who would be president
", and has spoken of her admiration for Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
's Biafra
n book, Half of a Yellow Sun
. She also enjoys the works of Helen Shields and John McGahern
, Life of Pi
by Yann Martel
, An Evil Cradling by Brian Keenan
and John Boyne
's The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas
, which she has described as "great for reading with your children". Her favourite films include Atonement
, The Last King of Scotland
, Shrek
, Shrek 2
and Ratatouille
. Her preferred painter is Louis le Brocquy
and her favourite song is "On Raglan Road
" by Luke Kelly
. She listens to The Marian Finucane Show
and Today with Pat Kenny
on the radio and her television pleasure includes Newsnight
with Jeremy Paxman
, The West Wing, ER
and Father Ted
.
Irish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
broadcaster
Presenter
A presenter, or host , is a person or organization responsible for running an event. A museum or university, for example, may be the presenter or host of an exhibit. Likewise, a master of ceremonies is a person that hosts or presents a show...
and journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
. She currently presents the RTÉ
Raidió Teilifís Éireann
Raidió Teilifís Éireann is a semi-state company and the public service broadcaster of Ireland. It both produces programmes and broadcasts them on television, radio and the Internet. The radio service began on January 1, 1926, while regular television broadcasts began on December 31, 1961, making...
radio programme Drivetime
Drivetime (RTÉ)
Drivetime is an Irish news and current affairs radio programme broadcast by RTÉ Radio 1 on Mondays to Fridays between 16.30 and 19.00. It attracts approximately 229,000 listeners daily....
on RTÉ Radio 1
RTÉ Radio 1
RTÉ Radio 1 is the principal radio channel of Irish public-service broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann and is the direct descendant of Dublin radio station 2RN, which began broadcasting on a regular basis on 1 January 1926...
during weekday evenings. In 2006, she was described as "one of Ireland’s leading journalists".
Career
Wilson joined RTÉ in 1990. Although originally from TipperaryTipperary
Tipperary is a town and a civil parish in South Tipperary in Ireland. Its population was 4,415 at the 2006 census. It is also an ecclesiastical parish in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cashel and Emly, and is in the historical barony of Clanwilliam....
, she began her career at RTÉ’s local radio service in Cork
Cork (city)
Cork is the second largest city in the Republic of Ireland and the island of Ireland's third most populous city. It is the principal city and administrative centre of County Cork and the largest city in the province of Munster. Cork has a population of 119,418, while the addition of the suburban...
before moving to Dublin. Whilst there she worked across a wide range of areas in the RTÉ Newsroom. Before presenting Drivetime, she was the legal affairs correspondent for RTÉ News and Current Affairs between 1996 and 2002. She won the "ESB National Media Awards Journalist of the Year" in 2000. In 2002, she was promoted to the post of legal affairs editor. She spent 10 years in the job overall before moving on in 2006. She has covered many high-profile court cases. When Wilson grew weary with the nationwide escapades of then Taoiseach
Taoiseach
The Taoiseach is the head of government or prime minister of Ireland. The Taoiseach is appointed by the President upon the nomination of Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Oireachtas , and must, in order to remain in office, retain the support of a majority in the Dáil.The current Taoiseach is...
Bertie Ahern
Bertie Ahern
Patrick Bartholomew "Bertie" Ahern is a former Irish politician who served as Taoiseach of Ireland from 26 June 1997 to 7 May 2008....
, prior to the Irish general election
Irish general election, 2002
The Irish general election of 2002 was held on Friday, 17 May 2002 just over three weeks after the dissolution of the 28th Dáil on Thursday 25 April by President Mary McAleese, at the request of the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern...
in 2002, she described herself as "being left a little short of information".
In 2006, when Rachael English
Rachael English
Rachael English is an award-winning Irish journalist and broadcaster. She is known for presenting Five Seven Live for six years. English has also presented other radio shows, such as RTÉ News at One,Today with Pat Kenny, The Marian Finucane Show and The Late Debate as well as a permanent presenter...
finished up Five Seven Live
Five Seven Live
Five Seven Live was an Irish radio rolling news programme, produced by RTÉ News and was aired each weekday evening on RTÉ Radio 1 between 17:00–19:00, between 1997 and 2006, the final edition being broadcast on 1 September 2006.-Programme format:...
, Wilson was promoted to presenter of Drivetime
Drivetime (RTÉ)
Drivetime is an Irish news and current affairs radio programme broadcast by RTÉ Radio 1 on Mondays to Fridays between 16.30 and 19.00. It attracts approximately 229,000 listeners daily....
. Her programme airs Monday to Friday from 16:30 until 19:00. Her programme has 229,000 listeners. Joseph O'Connor
Joseph O'Connor
Joseph Victor O'Connor is an Irish novelist. He is known for his 2002 historical novel Star of the Sea. Before success as an author he was a journalist with the Sunday Tribune newspaper and Esquire magazine...
's radio diary is commissioned by Wilson on this show each Wednesday.
She has appeared on the Irish
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
television programme The Restaurant
The Restaurant (Irish TV series)
The Restaurant is a successful Irish reality television programme broadcast on RTÉ One. The seventh series began on 16 November 2008, running on Sundays at 20:30. In each episode a celebrity head chef takes on the culinary challenge of producing a top class, three-course meal with two...
. She received three stars in an episode which featured Ainsley Harriott
Ainsley Harriott
Ainsley Harriott is a British celebrity chef and television presenter.-Early career:Trained at Westminster College of Catering, Ainsley obtained an apprenticeship at Verrey's restaurant in the West End and later worked as a commis chef...
as a guest star critic. Wilson served a caesar salad and Portuguese
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
mussels and prawns for starters, two main courses of cod with chips and tartare sauce plus braised lamb shanks with roast root vegetables and her preferred dessert of profiteroles and chocolate.
Wilson has also appeared on the cover of Village
Village (magazine)
Village is an Irish current affairs magazine founded by Vincent Browne. It was launched in October 2004 and was published weekly. In January 2007, it was announced that Village Magazine would be published monthly...
.
Personal life
Wilson was married to RTÉ SportRTÉ Sport
RTÉ Sport is a cross platform, integrated business division of Irish broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann, responsible for the provision of sport coverage on RTÉ Radio, RTÉ Television, and RTÉ.ie....
editor Tony O'Donoghue
Tony O'Donoghue
Tony O'Donoghue is an Irish sports broadcaster and Group Soccer Correspondent for RTÉ, Ireland's national radio and television broadcaster. He reports on Republic of Ireland, League of Ireland, Champions League and English Premier League games and occasionally presents RTÉ's Monday Night Soccer...
until 2005. She has a one daughter, Aoife, who in 2007 was 10.
Wilson described Carl Bernstein
Carl Bernstein
Carl Bernstein is an American investigative journalist who, at The Washington Post, teamed up with Bob Woodward; the two did the majority of the most important news reporting on the Watergate scandal. These scandals led to numerous government investigations, the indictment of a vast number of...
's A Woman in Charge: The Life of Hillary Rodham Clinton, as "a complete picture of the woman who would be president
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton is the 67th United States Secretary of State, serving in the administration of President Barack Obama. She was a United States Senator for New York from 2001 to 2009. As the wife of the 42nd President of the United States, Bill Clinton, she was the First Lady of the...
", and has spoken of her admiration for Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a Nigerian writer.Her family is of Igbo descent. In 2008 she was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship.-Early life and education:...
's Biafra
Biafra
Biafra, officially the Republic of Biafra, was a secessionist state in south-eastern Nigeria that existed from 30 May 1967 to 15 January 1970, taking its name from the Bight of Biafra . The inhabitants were mostly the Igbo people who led the secession due to economic, ethnic, cultural and religious...
n book, Half of a Yellow Sun
Half of a Yellow Sun
Half of a Yellow Sun is a novel by the Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Published in 2006 by Knopf/Anchor, it tells the story of two sisters, Olanna and Kainene, during the Biafran War.-Plot:...
. She also enjoys the works of Helen Shields and John McGahern
John McGahern
John McGahern was one of the most important Irish authors of the latter half of the twentieth century. Before his death in 2006 he was hailed as "the greatest living Irish novelist" by The Observer.-Life:...
, Life of Pi
Life of Pi
Life of Pi is a fantasy adventure novel by Yann Martel published in 2001. The protagonist, Piscine Molitor "Pi" Patel, an Indian boy from Pondicherry, explores issues of spirituality and practicality from an early age...
by Yann Martel
Yann Martel
Yann Martel is a Canadian author best known for the Man Booker Prize-winning novel Life of Pi.-Early life:Martel was born in Salamanca, Spain where his father was posted as a diplomat for the Canadian government. He was raised in Costa Rica, France, Mexico, and Canada...
, An Evil Cradling by Brian Keenan
Brian Keenan
Brian Keenan may be:*Brian Keenan , Provisional Irish Republican Army member*Brian Keenan , United States musician...
and John Boyne
John Boyne
John Boyne is an Irish novelist.- Biography :He was educated at Terenure College, before heading to trinity college, dublin, and studied Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia, where he won the Curtis Brown prize. But it was during his time at Trinity that he began to get published...
's The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is a 2006 novel from the point of view of an innocent young boy, written by Irish novelist John Boyne. Unlike the months of planning Boyne devoted to his other books, he said that he wrote the entire first draft of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas in two and a half...
, which she has described as "great for reading with your children". Her favourite films include Atonement
Atonement (film)
Atonement is a 2007 British romantic suspense war film directed by Joe Wright. It is a film adaptation of the 2001 novel of the same name by Ian McEwan. The film stars James McAvoy, Keira Knightley, and Saoirse Ronan. It was produced by Working Title Films and filmed throughout the summer of 2006...
, The Last King of Scotland
The Last King of Scotland
The Last King of Scotland is an award-winning 1998 novel by journalist Giles Foden. Focusing on the rise of Ugandan President Idi Amin and his reign as dictator from 1971 to 1979, the novel is written as the memoir of a fictional Scottish doctor in Amin's employ. Giles Foden's novel received...
, Shrek
Shrek
Shrek is a 2001 American computer-animated fantasy comedy film directed by Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson, featuring the voices of Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, and John Lithgow. Loosely based on William Steig's 1990 fairy tale picture book Shrek!...
, Shrek 2
Shrek 2
Shrek 2 is a 2004 American computer-animated fantasy comedy film, produced by DreamWorks Animation and directed by Andrew Adamson, Kelly Asbury and Conrad Vernon. It is the second installment in the Shrek film series and the sequel to 2001's Shrek...
and Ratatouille
Ratatouille (film)
Ratatouille is a 2007 American computer-animated comedy film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. It is the eighth film produced by Pixar, and was directed by Brad Bird, who took over from Jan Pinkava in 2005...
. Her preferred painter is Louis le Brocquy
Louis le Brocquy
Louis le Brocquy is an Irish painter born in Dublin. His work has received many accolades in a career that spans seventy years of creative practice...
and her favourite song is "On Raglan Road
On Raglan Road
"On Raglan Road" is a well-known Irish song from a poem written by Irish poet Patrick Kavanagh named after Raglan Road in Ballsbridge, Dublin. In the poem the poet, walking on a "quiet street", recalls a love affair he had with a young woman...
" by Luke Kelly
Luke Kelly
Luke Kelly was an Irish singer and folk musician from Dublin, Ireland, notable as a founding member of the band The Dubliners.-Early life:...
. She listens to The Marian Finucane Show
The Marian Finucane Show
The Marian Finucane Show is an Irish radio programme, presented by Marian Finucane. It airs Saturday - Sunday at 11:00 to 13:00. It is the highest-rating weekend radio show in Ireland....
and Today with Pat Kenny
Today with Pat Kenny
Today with Pat Kenny is a current affairs magazine broadcast on RTÉ Radio 1, presented by Pat Kenny. The programme is broadcast weekdays, at 10:00 and ends at 12:00. As of 2008, the average audience for the show was 291,000....
on the radio and her television pleasure includes Newsnight
Newsnight
Newsnight is a BBC Television current affairs programme noted for its in-depth analysis and often robust cross-examination of senior politicians. Jeremy Paxman has been its main presenter for over two decades....
with Jeremy Paxman
Jeremy Paxman
Jeremy Dickson Paxman is a British journalist, author and television presenter. He has worked for the BBC since 1977. He is noted for a forthright and abrasive interviewing style, particularly when interrogating politicians...
, The West Wing, ER
ER (TV series)
ER is an American medical drama television series created by novelist Michael Crichton that aired on NBC from September 19, 1994 to April 2, 2009. It was produced by Constant c Productions and Amblin Entertainment, in association with Warner Bros. Television...
and Father Ted
Father Ted
Father Ted is a comedy series set in Ireland that was produced by Hat Trick Productions for British broadcaster Channel 4. Written jointly by Irish writers Arthur Mathews and Graham Linehan and starring a predominantly Irish cast, it originally aired over three series from 21 April 1995 until 1 May...
.