Alf McCarthy (1950 – 17 April 2024) was an Irish radio and television broadcaster who worked primarily with Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ).

Early life

Born in Ballinlough in Cork in 1950, McCarthy was educated at Sullivan's Quay CBS and as a boarder at St Francis College in

Rochestown Rochestown is a primarily residential area in Cork City, Ireland. Originally a somewhat rural area in County Cork, housing developments in the 20th and 21st centuries have connected the area to Douglas, Cork, Douglas and nearby suburbs. The area ...

. His father worked as a stonemason and had a yard on Copley Street in Cork. His father, known as Buddy Mac, was also a band leader and saxophonist in several showbands. McCarthy had a number of jobs after school, including factory worker, pizzeria manager, TV rental company worker, encyclopedia salesman and labourer with Irish Steel.

Career

McCarthy was performing on stage and as a DJ when he began his broadcasting career with

RTÉ Radio Cork RTÉ Radio Cork, also known as RTÉ Cork Local Radio and Cork 89FM, was a local radio station in the Republic of Ireland serving Cork City. The FM signal spilled into Ballincollig and Carrigaline, but the rest of County Cork had to rely on the ...

in 1979. He spent 20 years presenting local current affairs and arts programme ''Corkabout''. He created the comedy and satire series ''Shortt Circuit'', ''The Usual Suspects'' and ''

Bull Island Bull Island (), more properly North Bull Island (), is an island located in Dublin Bay in Ireland, about 5 km long and 800 m wide, lying roughly parallel to the shore off Clontarf, Dublin, Clontarf (including Dollymount), Raheny, Kilbarra ...

'', which was later adapted for television, as well as producing a number of documentaries. McCarthy's television credits included ''

Live at 3 ''Live at 3'' is a popular Republic of Ireland, Irish afternoon chat show broadcast live on RTÉ 1. Presented by Thelma Mansfield and Derek Davis, it was RTÉ's flagship daytime show from 1986 until 1997. Ireland's most successful Daytime TV pro ...

'', ''

PM Live ''PM Live'' is Raidió Teilifís Éireann's former live flagship daytime show, running from Autumn 1997 until May 1999. Replacing the long running daytime chat show ''Live at 3'', it also replaced RTÉ One's midday show ''12 to 1'', merging mu ...

'' and ''Down Here with a View to Above''. He retired from RTÉ in December 2015, by which stage he was presenting ''Late Date'' on

RTÉ Radio One (; ; RTÉThe É in RTÉ is pronounced as an English E () and not an Irish É ()) is an Irish public service broadcaster. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, ...

Death

McCarthy died at

Cork University Hospital Cork University Hospital () is a large university teaching hospital in Wilton, Cork in Ireland. Its academic partner is University College Cork and serves as one of two major trauma centers for Ireland: the other is Mater Misericordiae University ...

on 17 April 2024, at the age of 73.

References

External Links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:McCarthy, Alf 1950 births 2024 deaths 20th-century Irish people 21st-century Irish people Irish television presenters Irish radio presenters RTÉ Radio 1 presenters People from Cork (city)