The brand new music talent show The Hit, presented by Nicky Byrne and Aidan Power, kicks off on Friday July 26 on RTÉ One at 9:35pm, and 2fm is very much on board too.
The brand new music talent show The Hit, presented by Nicky Byrne and Aidan Power, kicks off on Friday July 26 on RTÉ One at 9:35pm, and 2fm is very much on board too.
Speaking to Louise McSharry on 2fm's morning show (10am to 1pm) Summer with Louise, radio presenters Cormac Battle and Ruth Scott said they have a big role to play on the night.
From 8pm Battle, who presents 2fm's The Battle Axe, will DJ live on 2fm in front of the audience in the O2 before the TV show begins, and then from 9pm to midnight Scott, who co-presents Weekenders, will present live from the Roadcaster at the venue.
Over the next six weeks of The Hit, RTÉ 2fm will also feature songs from the show and interviews with the presenters and songwriters.
Speaking about the event, Scott said: "I'm so excited – I saw this [The Hit] originally when it was done as part of the Format Farm on RTÉ where they got a load of different TV shows.
"This was the one that jumped out and this is the one that's going to be made – it's going to be on in the O2! Cormac Battle is going to be doing his best Dizzee Rascal with the live audience in the O2."
Battle explained the concept of The Hit: "I'll give it to you in a few bullet points about how it works: this Friday, there are six songwriters who have gone through the process of getting through - from thousands of entries - and they're in six pods.
"There are two artists - this week it is The Stunning and Julie Feeney. They are the artists who will potentially be performing and recording one of these songwriters' songs."
He continued: "Six pods, songwriters in them. Julie Feeney and I think Steve Wall of The Stunning, they race around as these people are playing their songs."
Battle added: "There's a speed element, they have to be very quick about it. They go into the pods listening to the song for a couple of minutes, as long as they can. They move into the next pod, each flying around to find a song which they like. Through that frenetic period they each have to pick two of the six [songs] so The Stunning would pick two…and Julie Feeney will pick two. Obviously, two songwriters are eliminated immediately.
"What happens then is they go away to a recording studio - I think it's Windmill Lane, big massive studio - with a producer and whittle the songs down again to one each and they record those two songs. Nobody knows the song they've [each] recorded. Then on the Friday they reveal the song they've done by playing it live in front of the songwriters. Someone is going to be very happy; someone is going to be very sad. Then that song gets released as a single."
Scott explained the 2fm link: "That song is going to be played, not only live on TV. It's also going out live on 2fm because I'm going to be outside in the Roadcaster and it doesn't matter what we're doing we are going to play the songs live."
She added: "Also, when the show is over, it's kind of Xtra Factor style. We're going to have the songwriters in; we're going to have Nicky Byrne and Aidan Power who are presenting it coming in. We're going to have Julie Feeney and Steve Wall; it's going to be brilliant."
When asked if he'd ever performed at the venue before, Battle said: "I have played the O2 in a band but I've never played as a superstar DJ, David Guetta style!"
Listen back to the full interview on Summer with Louise on the RTÉ Radio Player here.
For more on The Hit, click here.
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