WLR launches new business show The Hot Desk

Waterford’s WLR has launched a new weekly business show to cover the changing fortunes of the city and county.

The Hot Desk, presented by Julie Smyth, will document all that’s hot and happening in Waterford business from the smallest sole trader to the largest multinational. The show will keep the listener up to date with the latest developments in personal finance and consumer issues and provide a forum to analyse and reflect on Waterford’s renaissance.

Waterford native Julie is a former BBC news producer and reporter, who is recently returned to the Déise. A former student of St Angela’s in the city, Julie has a Masters in Communications from Dublin City University, and spent 15 years with the BBC in Belfast as a producer and in the Dublin Bureau as a reporter.

Julie says her interest in business and the economy stems from covering the financial crisis from 2008 onwards: “I started in the BBC’s Dublin office one week before the first emergency budget of 2008, and covered the implosion of the economy, the human cost and the political fallout for five years before leaving, like so many others, for Chicago.

“When it was time to return to Ireland in 2015, I wanted to come home to Waterford and can honestly say it has been one of the best decisions I ever made. This is such an exciting time, there is a tangible optimism in the air and I can’t wait to bear witness to how our future is fashioned over the next few years, and report on some positive business news for a change!”

The Hot Desk is broadcast on Wednesdays at 6.15pm, just after the six o’clock news.