Woman’s Hour presenter Nuala McGovern: ‘I’d have loved to work in RTÉ but I couldn’t see a path in to it’

[Tony Sweeney]

Woman’s Hour presenter Nuala McGovern: ‘I’d have loved to work in RTÉ
but I couldn’t see a path in to it’

The Dubliner talks about her ambitions for the BBC Radio 4 show and the
advice she would give to young women looking to get ahead

Tanya Sweeney

One evening last week, Nuala McGovern bagged a seat in The French House,
a storied and trendy pub in London’s Soho.
“This very tall, young, arty looking guy behind the counter says, ‘Are
you Nuala McGovern? I’m such a fan of Woman’s Hour,’” she says,
referring to the BBC Radio 4 show she presents. “Just goes to show, you
never know who could be listening.”
Getting recognised is something that the Dublin-born broadcaster is
having to get used to, now that she is permanently in one of British
radio’s top jobs. “It happened to me too at the SuperValu in Killester,”
she says. “It’s hilarious, but also lovely.”
McGovern has described being the presenter of Woman’s Hour as “the best
job on British radio, hands down”, and no wonder: it comes with a weekly
listenership of around 3.7 million and is as varied as they come.
“Today, for example, we had senior women from seven of the [British]
political parties in ahead of the election to talk about issues that
were decided by our listeners,” she says. “Then, tomorrow there’s the
author Laura Dockrill, an item about Chinese MeToo, and an item on
female surgeons, and how they improve surgical outcomes on a team. You
never get bored, and I hope that goes for the listener as well.”
McGovern was announced as Emma Barnett’s replacement in April and shares
the role with Anita Rani, who hosts on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
McGovern covered for Barnett during her maternity leave in 2023,
interviewing the likes of Malala Yousafzai, Arlo Parks, Rosamund Pike
and Laura Dern. But other, slightly less starry guests, stick out.
“Katriona O’Sullivan [the Maynooth academic and author of Poor] made
such an impact on me. She blew everyone in here away.
“And last week, a woman came on who had lost her son, he had been a
stillborn baby, and she decided to donate her breast milk, just to give
back to other premature babies. You just think, gosh, what a privilege
to speak to these women.”
About 40pc of the Woman’s Hour listeners are male. Given the heat in the
online climate when it comes to feminist or gender discussion, does she
come up against any trolls or critics?
“I think among women there are lots of different opinions or takes on
what feminism is or isn’t, or should be,” she says. “There’s not one
opinion for Woman’s Hour, and there will be some that are upset with the
programme and the issues [covered], and that’s completely normal. My job
is to serve the listener and to be aware of the issues that are out there.”
McGovern admits that when it came to staking her claim for the top job
after Barnett’s departure, she wasn’t backward in coming forward.
“If there are any younger women reading this, I’ll say, you have to let
people know what you want,” she says. “You have to be clear in your own
mind, and if it’s something you want, go for it. When I actually got the
call, I thought it was a scam because I didn’t recognise the number.
Eventually, I got my wits about me, called them back and realised I got
the job. I was so delighted and yes, proud of myself, that I’d managed
to get where I wanted to go.”
It’s the latest chapter in a varied career for McGovern, who grew up in
Drumcondra with four siblings. She spent many formative years helping
out in her father Jim’s pub, the Goblet in Artane. “They used to give
out to me because I’d be chatting too much instead of working at times —
I guess that was a pointer in what direction I would go in,” she says.
Like anyone hankering for a career in journalism, she looked briefly to
media outlets in Ireland after studying English and Italian in UCD. “I
didn’t really see a way in [to Irish media],” she says. “It was the
early ’90s, and it felt like something that was not achievable. I’d have
loved to have worked on RTÉ, but I couldn’t see the path into it.”
Opportunities came elsewhere. She taught English in Italy and worked for
an Italian newspaper, then was lucky enough to land a visa for the US.
Upon landing in New York, she got a job as a researcher/producer on the
Adrian Flannelly Show, a radio programme for an Irish-American audience.
“I was 25 at that stage and I was like, ‘OK, I’m home’,” she says.
From there, she moved on to the Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC, New York’s
public radio station.
On September 11, 2001, McGovern was working as a producer on this show
and looking out the window on to Manhattan when a plane hit the World
Trade Centre. “From there, we were thrown into a news frenzy,” she says.
“Everything changed from that moment, with US policy as well. It was the
beginning of Afghanistan, Iraq, Homeland Security, Osama bin Laden…. all
those big political stories that have ramifications now.”
American politics soon became McGovern’s strong suit — a base of
knowledge that proved handy when she moved to the BBC World Service as a
news reporter in 2009. From there, she was sent on assignments
worldwide, from Guantanamo Bay and the Mexican/US border at Tijuana to
Ukraine and Turkey.
During Covid, she broadcast many of her reports from the kitchen table
in her family home in Wicklow. After coming home to visit her parents on
St Patrick’s weekend 2020, she realised that she wouldn’t be able to
return to the UK for two weeks. In the end, she stayed here for months.
“I don’t know how they did it, but they managed to get me all this radio
broadcast equipment within a day,” she smiles.
More recently, she covered the inauguration of President Trump, as well
as the funeral of Queen Elizabeth. “That was possibly the most intense
broadcasting experience I’ve had — you’re well supported, you’ve done
your prep and you know what’s expected of you, but there was an
expectation that you get it right, and the scrutiny on it is immense,”
she says.
McGovern is heading back to the US to cover the presidential election
later this year. Her plan, for the rest of the year, is to make Woman’s
Hour as good as it can be.
“I haven’t invented [the show], it’s been here for a very long time, and
I’m trying to treasure it and bring it to the next level and perhaps to
people that aren’t listening yet,” she says. “I want to get to places we
haven’t been before. I’ve been lucky enough to get to this age and still
be at that point that there are new skills to try and hone. Also, let’s
get Dolly Parton on Woman’s Hour.”
• ‘Woman’s Hour’ is on BBC Radio 4 Monday — Friday at 10am, plus
‘Weekend Woman’s Hour’ on Saturdays at 4pm, and available to catch up on
BBC Sounds
Read more
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https://www.independent.ie/entertainment/radio/womans-hour-presenter-nuala-mcgovern-id-have-loved-to-work-in-rte-but-i-couldnt-see-a-path-in-to-it/a1698036185.html

[Dominique Farrell]

Great article. Thanks Tony. The Goblet is my local and I know her, she's a lovely person and always makes a point of coming over to me when she sees me.

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[Tony Sweeney]

Knice to heear that Dominique.

She's the beeb's gain and Ireland's loss for sure.

I think she makes it home to Dublin I understand quite regularly.

I guess with modern technology and so on she could well stay here in
Dublin doing her Woman's Hour show should she wish.

Tony