
The Hard Shoulder on Newstalk. Join us 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.
CONVERSATION THAT COUNTS | Ireland’s national independent talk station for news, sport, analysis and entertainment
Listen to Newstalk at newstalk.com/listenlive | Download the GoLoud app now... more
| Publishes | Daily | Episodes | 6303 | Founded | 9 years ago |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of Listeners | Category | Society & Culture | |||

Minister for Defence Helen McEntee today unveiled a €1.7 billion defence spending plan that will run until 2030.
The Minister described this plan as "absolutely essential". Its aim is to speed up the modernisation of the Defence Forces and improve d... more
TV Presenter and Fashion Designer, Brendan Courtney joins Ciara to discuss the Irish Heart Foundation’s ‘12 Dips in December’ challenge, and why you should take part!
The suspension of the LUAS Green Line has caused chaos for many.
But, is this just part of having a public transport network, that things will occasionally go awry, or should we be concerned?
Sadhbh O’Neill is Project Lead for Feminist Communities ... more
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has ordered diplomatic correspondence to stop using the Calibri font and return to the more traditional Times New Roman, reversing a shift by Joe Biden’s administration to the less formal typeface, which Mr Rubio cal... more
People also subscribe to these shows.





In all the Newstalk podcasts I have to turn up volume to hear guests and turn it down to hear presenter . Also you do not know more than your guest and stop talking across them and trying to be funny …grow up !
Friday’s show is always underwhelming.
Maybe time for a new producer and someone to replace the bumpkin.
Need to do something. The rest of the week is not much better these days. Disappointed!
It’s “this evening” - awful show with terrible overuse of THEEEEEEE before everything. Note to presenter: reading a quotations book and spouting random clever references does not make you clever.
This guy is so disingenuous. The posh accent is actually cringe
Kieran is a breath of fresh air after George/Ivan. Good command of detail and wry sense of humour at times. I like the travel slot, the head to head/common ground. Better week in review possible of a Friday. Very good at uploading podcasts quickly which is great.. V good on insta/social. So far this show is my preference to last word/Drivetime. Great show!
Key themes from listener reviews, highlighting what works and what could be improved about the show.
How this podcast ranks in the Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube charts.
Apple Podcasts | #227 | |
Apple Podcasts | #36 |
Recent interactions between the hosts and their guests.
Listeners, social reach, demographics and more for this podcast.
| Listeners per Episode | |
|---|---|
| Gender Skew | |
| Location | |
| Interests | |
| Professions | |
| Age Range | |
| Household Income | |
| Social Media Reach |
A mix of discussions focused on contemporary social and cultural issues, featuring interviews with noteworthy figures at the forefront of current stories. The content often balances serious topics with light-hearted banter, creating a dynamic flow between analysis, opinion, and entertainment. Typical episodes explore various themes such as political developments, health, and local events, aiming to engage listeners with a blend of information and humor that helps to contextualize newsworthy events while inviting audience participation in critical conversations.
Rephonic provides a wide range of podcast stats for The Hard Shoulder. We scanned the web and collated all of the information that we could find in our comprehensive podcast database. See how many people listen to The Hard Shoulder and access YouTube viewership numbers, download stats, audience demographics, chart rankings, ratings, reviews and more.
Rephonic provides a full set of podcast information for three million podcasts, including the number of listeners. View further listenership figures for The Hard Shoulder, including podcast download numbers and subscriber numbers, so you can make better decisions about which podcasts to sponsor or be a guest on. You will need to upgrade your account to access this premium data.
Rephonic provides comprehensive predictive audience data for The Hard Shoulder, including gender skew, age, country, political leaning, income, professions, education level, and interests. You can access these listener demographics by upgrading your account.
To see how many followers or subscribers The Hard Shoulder has on Spotify and other platforms such as Castbox and Podcast Addict, simply upgrade your account. You'll also find viewership figures for their YouTube channel if they have one.
These podcasts share a similar audience with The Hard Shoulder:
1. The Pat Kenny Show
2. The Last Word with Matt Cooper
3. Today with David McCullagh
4. Brendan O'Connor
5. The Anton Savage Show
The Hard Shoulder launched 9 years ago and published 6303 episodes to date. You can find more information about this podcast including rankings, audience demographics and engagement in our podcast database.
Our systems regularly scour the web to find email addresses and social media links for this podcast. We scanned the web and collated all of the contact information that we could find in our podcast database. But in the unlikely event that you can't find what you're looking for, our concierge service lets you request our research team to source better contacts for you.
Rephonic pulls ratings and reviews for The Hard Shoulder from multiple sources, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Castbox, and Podcast Addict.
View all the reviews in one place instead of visiting each platform individually and use this information to decide if a show is worth pitching or not.
Rephonic provides full transcripts for episodes of The Hard Shoulder. Search within each transcript for your keywords, whether they be topics, brands or people, and figure out if it's worth pitching as a guest or sponsor. You can even set-up alerts to get notified when your keywords are mentioned.
Recent guests on The Hard Shoulder include:
1. Emer Higgins
2. Alexis Faure
3. Russell Alford
4. Lucy Woolfe
5. Paul Davis
6. Louise Lennox
7. Mairead Carty
8. Reham Al Jarrah
To view more recent guests and their details, simply upgrade your Rephonic account. You'll also get access to a typical guest profile to help you decide if the show is worth pitching.