Second Captains

Second Captains is an Irish media company set up in March 2013 by Eoin McDevitt, Ken Early, Mark Horgan, Ciaran Murphy and Simon Hick. The company specialises in television, radio and online production and currently broadcast four online radio shows a week as Second Captains @ The Irish Times - the first major radio programme to move from traditional to online radio in Ireland.[1] In September 2013 they created, produced and presented their first television series, Second Captains Live, for Irish national broadcaster RTE 2. Second Captains Live series 2 began in March 2014, series 3 in October 2014 and series 4 will begin on 25 March 2015. They also broadcast on RTE Radio One.[2] They launched their website in 2014 www.secondcaptains.com and in December of the same year, they won the iTunes Podcast of the year.

The 5-man team had previously produced and presented the "Off The Ball" show on Newstalk national radio station for 9 years, garnering numerous PPI radio awards.[3] They left their jobs in Newstalk in early March 2013. Their departure caused major ripples in the Irish media industry[4][5][6][7] and they had to see out a period of gardening leave, during which there was great speculation about what their next move would be.[8][9]

Online radio show with The Irish Times

Second Captains @ The Irish Times began on 14 May 2013. There are 4 shows released every week, 2 on Mondays and 2 on Thursdays. The first show on each day, Second Captains, focuses on all sports, the later show is Second Captains Football. It won iTunes Podcast of the Year in Ireland for 2014.

Each edition is hosted by main anchor McDevitt, with Early and Murphy. Regular guests include Shane Horgan, Richie Sadlier, Oisin McConville and Brian Murphy from San Francisco's KNBR radio station, who speaks weekly on US sports. Other guests in the show's first few months included Irish football captain Robbie Keane, Ireland's greatest ever rugby player Brian O'Driscoll, and respected authors Donald McRae, Jeremy Schaap and Paul Kimmage.

Second Captains @ The Irish Times was number 1 in the Irish iTunes podcast charts on the night before the first show was released, such was the anticipation surrounding that broadcast after their Newstalk departure. The programme has stayed there or thereabouts ever since and is available to download and stream at irishtimes.com through Soundcloud, RSS and iTunes. The show has over 150'000 followers on Soundcloud.[10]

PBESO

PBESO (pronounced pee-bezzo) stands for Pierce Brosnan's Emigrant Shout-Outs and is a regular slot on the show. During PBESO, correspondence with listeners from around the globe is sought and broadcast, with emigrants contacting the programme with funny stories of their travels and missing home. A clip of Brosnan on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno is used to intro the slot. Brosnan is one of Ireland's most successful emigrants.

Second Captains Live

In August 2013, three months after the Irish Times show began, Second Captains made a not-for-broadcast pilot for RTE television. Soon after, they were commissioned for a four-show run on RTÉ 2 in September/October 2013. The first broadcast was scheduled to coincide with a vital World Cup qualifying match between Ireland and Austria, going on immediately after the live coverage of the game. Thereafter the show reverted to Wednesday nights. Second Captains Live was enthusiastically received by audiences, the Irish Independent calling it "sports broadcasting of the highest quality"[11] and the Irish Times describing it as "ridiculously fabulous".[12]

Format

Second Captains Live is hosted by McDevitt, with Early and Murphy sharing co-hosting duties. Mark Horgan is the series producer, with Hick acting as producer and making some on-screen appearances. The show is divided into three parts - the first part is a panel discussion between three current or former sports stars on a particular topic broadly analogous to the big news of that week and touching on their own experiences. The second part is an interview with a main guest (e.g. Ronan O'Gara on episode 1). The third part is a quiz between one of the guests and Murphy, called Challenge Second Captains, playing on Ciaran's previous experiences of competing on old RTÉ school quiz-shows Blackboard Jungle and Gridlock. The show is influenced by Fantasy Football League, TFI Friday and Nighthawks.[13] The show is shot completely live in front of a studio audience, and in between the interviews, RTÉ archive is used extensively, often for comedic purposes. It is described on the RTÉ website as "the place in Irish television where sport meets entertainment".[14] Second Captains Live is directed by Maurice Linnane, whose work also includes the popular music programme Other Voices.

Guests

Guests on series one included O'Gara, Sonia O'Sullivan, Colm Cooper, Mark Rohan, Derval O'Rourke, Jerry Flannery, Donal Óg Cusack and staples from the Irish Times shows such as Horgan, Sadlier and McConville.

Series 2 of the show began on 12 March 2014 and included Neil Lennon and Six Nations winners Joe Schmidt, Gordon D'Arcy, Padraig Harrington, Niall Quinn and Peter Canavan amongst their guests.

Series 3 featured Henry Shefflin, Graeme Souness, Paul McGrath, Anthony Daly, Paul Galvin, Kieran Donaghy, Anthony Tohill amongst others.

The Good Wall

The Good Wall is a feature on the show where the top ten Irish sportspeople of all-time are chosen by Second Captains contributors. Each week, the programmes major guests can make one change to the existing wall, and introduce a new sportsperson to the top ten. O'Gara made a stir when he removed former team-mate O'Driscoll from the top spot in show 1. O'Sullivan subsequently removed Irish golfer Padraig Harrington from the wall entirely.[15]

Origin of the Second Captains name

The name 'Second Captains' comes from a press conference exchange Ken Early once had with then-Ireland football manager Steve Staunton. Commenting on the return of experienced goalkeeper Shay Given to the starting team, Early asked Staunton if it was "almost like having a second captain on the team." Staunton paused for a moment and then said - "Pffft... second captain, first captain whatever."[16]

References

  1. ↑ "Second Captains prepare to go viral". Irish Times. Retrieved 25 June 2013.
  2. ↑ http://www.rte.ie/sport/gaa/2014/0606/622087-second-captains-to-present-radio-1-gaa-show/
  3. ↑ Colm, O'Connor. "Newstalk’s ‘Off the Ball’ team off the air". Irish Examiner. Retrieved 5 March 2013.
  4. ↑ Lynch, Declan. "Declan Lynch: Their work done, Ken and Co take leap into legend". Sunday Independent. Retrieved 10 March 2013.
  5. ↑ Burke-Kennedy, Eoin. "'Off the Ball' team explain why they quit". Irish Times. Retrieved 6 March 2013.
  6. ↑ "Oh captains, our captains: 22 reasons why we’ll miss the Off the Ball team". The Score. Retrieved 5 March 2013.
  7. ↑ Mullally, Una. "Off The Ball team leaves Newstalk". Irish Times. Retrieved 4 March 2013.
  8. ↑ "Great news! The OTB lads confirm they’ll be back on air soon". The Score. Retrieved 12 March 2013.
  9. ↑ Ken, Sweeney. "Off The Ball crew aim for return ... to TV and radio". Evening Herald. Retrieved 4 May 2013.
  10. ↑ "Soundcloud Irish Times Second Captains".
  11. ↑ O'Doherty, Ian. "On Television". Irish Independent. Retrieved 13 September 2013.
  12. ↑ Hannigan, Mary. "Shemozzles and she dazzles as Maher the All Star takes senior All-Ireland at last". Irish Times. Retrieved 16 September 2013.
  13. ↑ O'Dwyer, Davin. "Second Captains find a new pitch". Irish Times. Retrieved 7 September 2013.
  14. ↑ "Second Captains Live". RTÉ.
  15. ↑ Cahill, Paul. "Oh Captain, My Captain?". Back-Post. Retrieved 25 September 2013.
  16. ↑ . The Score http://www.thescore.ie/off-the-ball-best-bits-818810-Mar2013/. Missing or empty |title= (help)