Shane Smyth is a broadcaster, PR professional and travel blogger based in Bundoran, County Donegal, Ireland. Well known for his influential work in the community, Shane is also the Bundoran Tourism Officer and Volunteer Lifeboat Press Officer for Bundoran RNLI Lifeboat.
📷Helping to organise the St Patrick’s Day Parade is just one of Shane’s jobs as Tourism Officer
Through his radio career, Shane has amassed a wealth of broadcasting and interviewing experience, MC experience as well as public relations and event management, TV presenting, voiceovers and radio documentary production both at home and across the globe.
Shane has worked in radio since 1997 but his interest and passion for the medium stretch back to his childhood! From an early age he wanted to work in broadcasting and has since realised his dreams. During his time in secondary school he completed work experience in the newly established local radio station North West Radio in nearby Sligo which fuelled his passion even further. Following completion of his degree in Media Production and Management from Senior College Ballyfermot (awarded through Thames Valley University, London), he accepted a full time position as Head of Production with North West Radio in Sligo. 3 years later, the big city came calling and Shane accepted a position with the fledgling Lite FM as Head of Production.
Shane spent 11 years in Dublin working first with Lite FM which then rebranded to Dublin’s Q102. During his time there, Shane was heard daily on the station with the Showbuzz Update and regularly interviewed global movie and music stars both in Dublin and on press trips to London. He was also Assistant Programme Director and responsible for the all of the production on the station. Following a short stint working at home on the European Surfing Championships in 2011, Shane decided that it was time to say goodbye to the city that had looked after him since 2000 and hit the road back to his beloved home, Bundoran.
📷Interviewing Adam Sandler
📷With Ben Affleck and Rebecca Hall talking about their movie “The Town”
Shane has radio production at heart and was an accomplished radio producer of his own daily radio show as well as a number of radio documentaries from subjects like Bundoran RNLI, to the media’s coverage of the day Michael Jackson died.
📷On air at Ocean FM
Shane’s upbeat personality, lively presentation skills and “can do” attitude make him a popular choice for event hosting and he has MC’d many large scale events including the European Surfing Championships Opening and Closing Ceremonies (2011), World Boat Angling Championships Opening and Closing Ceremonies (2015), GAA Dinner Dance (2015), Lifeboat Dinner Dance (annual) and the annual RNLI Soapbox Race.
📷Hosting the annual Bundoran Lifeboat Soapbox Race
On a personal level, Shane is an active member of the Realt na Mara GAA Club in Bundoran, runs the Inform Bundoran community page and has represented Donegal at county level in the National Surf Lifesaving Championships. Shane is also a water safety instructor and donates much of his spare time to the RNLI, the GAA and Irish Water Safety.
📷One of Shane’s voluntary roles is that of an instructor with Irish Water Safety
