Newbridge's Brenda Donohue: A local voice on the national airwaves for over 30 years

Newbridge native Brenda Donohue, who is celebrating over 30 years in broadcasting, will be the MC for the St Patrick’s Parade in her hometown on March 17.
Busy mother of three Brenda said: “I’ve been doing the parade for six or seven years. I love the colour and atmosphere of the day from the local farmers’ tractors to the Filipino community!”
She is also a Kildare ambassador for the Relay for Life movement - a community celebration which honours current and former cancer patients, their families and friends - and which takes place at the Curragh Racecourse on June 10 and 11.
Currently living in Johnstown, Brenda and her husband Dennis have three children - teenage son Harvey 13 who is in secondary school in Newbridge and two older daughters Robyn and Ali who are at university in Dublin.
Brenda first started in RTE in the 1980s while she was still studying in UCD and soon found herself working on 2FM with radio legend Gerry Ryan and the fledgling show went on to draw hundreds of thousands of listeners every morning.
Tragically, Ryan died suddenly in 2010 - a devastating blow for his family as well as his friends, colleagues and listeners.
Brenda said: “You’d miss him still as he was a big loss and his death came a a big, big shock.
“But of course his family miss him the most - as their loss is much greater than any of his colleagues.
“It's fair to say he was very good at what he did, it came so naturally to him.
“He was highly intelligent and he was also very highly emotional intelligent and listeners really responded to that.
“You never knew where each show would go, and that unpredictability made it very exciting to work on and of course for the listeners to tune into.”
These days Brenda works on fast-paced afternoon flagship show Liveline alongside presenter Joe Duffy, and says it’s “probably the only show that can really force change” by championing issues.
Brenda also works closely with RTE's GAA correspondent Marty Morrissey on the show The Marty Squad on Radio One.
She has a passion for GAA and was brought by her father Michael to many matches in Croke Park going back to the 1970s.
Both her father Michael and mother Mary are very well known for their community activities around Newbridge and County Kildare.
Brenda said she loves mixing with GAA fans and admires their passion for their teams. And of course also enjoys being in the company of Marty!
She said: “Marty loves entertainment. He loves people and people love him, people of all ages, they all beat a path to him.
“He makes them feel good about themselves. Being on the road is mad craic and anything could happen.”
A very versatile broadcaster, Brenda has also been a regular contributor and co-presenter on the Mooney Goes Wild programme with veteran wildlife activist Derek Mooney.
Brenda also said he would love her own daily or weekly show on RTE. She applauds the rise of female broadcasters on Irish radio and TV.
She explained: “There are so many brilliant, talented women out there.
“A woman was often seen in the past as the sidekick to a main male presenter but now the tables have turned and you have two female presenters, for example, on Dancing With The Stars.”
Brenda, who also fills in as a presenter on RTE's farming and rural affairs programme, CountryWide, said: “I would love a show where I could just be myself and talk to people. "I feel I have a lot more to give as a broadcaster.”
Brenda currently works on her own occasional series - Like Family - which is broadcast on bank holidays. She travels across Ireland talking to families, examining trends and discussing the changes in Irish family life.
Brenda is a true natural on the national airwaves and it will be very interesting to see where her career takes her next!