As momentum builds for the Eurovision 2024 final in Malmö, Ireland’s Bambie Thug aims for an 8th victory, security is ramped up ahead of Israel’s semi-final performance, and rumors swirl that Sweden's ABBA will return to mark 50 years since winning Waterloo. In the midst of the frenzy, Eurovision legend Marty Whelan celebrates 25 years as an RTE commentator. He sat down with our reporter Henry McKean for an exclusive interview.

25 years of commentary - Marty Whelan's milestone

The Hard Shoulder Highlights with Kieran Cuddihy on Newstalk.

Join Kieran every weekday afternoon from 4-7pm for a round-up of the day’s events, interviews with the people at the centre of the stories – and a bit of craic along the way.
Listen and subscribe to The Hard Shoulder on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and Spotify.
    
Download, listen and subscribe on the Newstalk App.
   
You can also listen to Newstalk live on newstalk.com or on Alexa, by adding the Newstalk skill and asking: 'Alexa, play Newstalk'.


Society & Culture

Personal Journals

History

Philosophy

Places & Travel

This week Kieran Cuddihy was joined by the presenter of Weekend Breakfast on Today FM, Alison Curtis and Social Media Content Creator Holly Carpenter to look back on the week that was, but with a few twists!

Winners and Sinners

The festival season is beginning with Forbidden Fruit kicking off this weekend. Electric Picnic, All Together Now and Longitude are on the horizon and smaller festivals like Night and Day Festival in Roscommon are also taking place.  They’re much beloved by patrons, but how important are these festivals, and more importantly how important are they for the artists themselves? Artist Nialler9 joins Kieran to discuss.

Nialler9 on the importance of festivals for musicians

With summer well and truly upon us, and with BBQ’s and summer parties being planned, the Shame of having a messy garden may be playing on your conscience!   Joining Kieran to discuss summer garden maintenance is RTÉ’s Super garden Judge Monica Alvarez.

Summer gardening maintenance with Monica Alvarez

Off The Ball's John Duggan joined Kieran Cuddihy on The Hard Shoulder to review the week in sport and look ahead to the weekend action…

Sport with John Duggan

Aisling Larkin, Mindful Eating Coach and TV Chef joined Kieran to discuss all kinds of cheesecake!

25 years of commentary - Marty Whelan's milestone

Download our free app to listen on your phone