1. WOMANSWAY.IE2
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ByAoibeannDiver
A SPECIAL DAY FOR RADIO
A
lison Curtis has become a big name in
Irish radio. Her Saturday Breakfast
show is the fastest growing show on
Today FM and she now has a Sunday
morning slot as well.
“I was delighted to extend the show to
Sundays,” she says. “I suppose because I
produced Ian Dempsey’s breakfast show for
so long, I’ve been an early riser for a really
long time. It’s my natural fit and it’s the kind
of radio I understand best. Saturday breakfast
has just exceeded the expectations of everyone
at the station. The fact that mine and Phil
Cawley’s shows are the third most listened
to programmes in the whole station is a huge
achievement when you think about it.”
The Canadian-born presenter moved to
Ireland in 1999 and soon fell in love with radio.
“I had just graduated from university and I
was treating Ireland as kind of a pitstop before
going on to Scotland to do a masters for a
year. I got a job in Today FM within a couple
of months of being here and just instantly
fell in love with the medium of radio. I
loved working with Ian Dempsey who is
incredibly passionate about radio. He is
the best breakfast show presenter in the
country and he is an innovator when it
comes to what you can do with radio, so
I was just drawn into it. So that’s what
kept me here the first few years and then a
man kept me here after that.”
Alison is married to Anton and they
have a five-year-old daughter called Joan.
“She’s five going on fourteen, I have
to say,” says Alison. “I’m happy I have a
little girl and I think it’s an interesting
time to raise a little girl because
it’s so different to when I was
growing up. There are lots of big
challenges ahead I’d say.”
When it comes to
balancing her career with
her family life, Alison has
it well sussed out.
“I’m very lucky because
my working life now is
Saturday breakfast and
Sunday breakfast. It has
afforded me a really lovely
lifestyle because I work
every day here and there
and then I have two or three
full working days. It allows
me to do the school drop-off
“You have to think
about who is
listening at home
or in the car”
Today FM presenter Alison Curtis talks about weekend
breakfasts, family life and her passion for radio
and collection and I kind of treat Monday
and Tuesday afternoons as my Saturday and
Sunday afternoons.
“My daughter and I get to do loads of fun
stuff at a time when it’s not so busy. You can go
to the zoo on a Monday afternoon and it’s not
as busy as a Saturday morning.”
Alison’s first presenting gig on Today FM
was a Sunday night alternative music show
called The Last Splash, which earned her four
Meteor Award nominations.
“I had basically been pressuring our then
CEO into giving a woman a show because we
weren’t great on that front, so he gave me the
Sunday show and it grew from 4000 to 41,000
listeners at its peak. The award nominations
were amazing because I was the only person
in the categories to have a weekly show.
Everybody else had a daily show so I felt a real
nod of respect.”
Her breakfast shows are driven by her
listeners, who Alison says are hugely
important to her.
“I teach courses sometimes on radio
production and I always say you have to think
about who is listening at home, who has the
radio on in the kitchen in Carlow or in the
car in Donegal or wherever they are. Because
without them, you don’t have anything.”
Alison became an Irish citizen in 2013
but she says she wishes she could combine
the things that are great about Canada and
Ireland.
“When I’m in Canada I miss the Irish people,
I miss the Irish way of interacting and a lot of
people don’t believe me when I say
that, but there is a big difference
and I definitely feel more Irish in
that way.”
Alison has a website in
development which will be a
mix of blog pots and podcasts.
“I’ve started to do a lot
more writing so I’ll probably
try to do more of that again
now that my daughter is in
school so I have more time.
I’ll be getting the Sunday
show up and running as well
and focus on that because
Sundays are a special day for
radio, certainly in Ireland and
you can do a lot of different
things with it.” WW
Saturday Breakfast with Alison
8-11am, Sunday Breakfast with
Alison 7-9am
WW32 Celeb 1 pg.indd 2 04/08/2016 12:22