Colm Parkinson’s hugely popular GAA Podcast The Smaller Fish is set to make its first TV appearance this Friday on Virgin Media.
It is a significant breakthrough for Parkinson’s Smaller Fish brand which has a considerable base of podcast subscribers.
This pilot episode is being broadcast at 9pm on Friday – and it is hoped it can return for a 16-show run next year during the inter-county GAA championship.
After a career change in the early 2010s, the former Laois and Portlaoise footballer gave up his job in finance to go back and do a Masters in Journalism in DCU. He then started out his working career on Off the Ball on Newstalk before moving to SportsJoe.ie where he fronted the the GAA Hour podcast.
Parkinson then struck out on his own in 2021 with the Smaller Fish podcast which is subscriber-only and has over 4,000 subscribers at €5 per month.
Among his regular pundits are former Laois hurling manager Seamas ‘Cheddar’ Plunkett, Armagh’s Aaron Kernan, Meath’s Cian Ward and Christy O’Connor from Clare.
He also does a very entertaining regular ‘Hurling and Farming’ podcast with former Galway hurler Damien Hayes.
This first TV episode features Parkinson visiting the Fossa club in Kerry where he interviews All Star Paudie Clifford and does a segment testing out his kicking skills.
Pundits Aaron Kernan and Cian Ward in studio discuss the proposed Gaelic football rule changes that are being trialled in third-level games at the moment while Parkinson also gives out his now annual ‘Wooly Awards’.
Friday’s show has the unenviable task of clashing almost directly with the RTE Toy Show, but Parkinson is hopeful that it can be the start of a successful partnership with Virgin Media.
“Up against the Toy Show no less,” Parkinson joked on his own show on Monday this week.
“I nearly had a heart attack when I saw the Toy Show was on. The good news is we will have a half hour up against the news and if we make a good enough impression, people might hold off on the Toy Show.
“We recorded it yesterday (Sunday). It’s done. There was a few nerves which is normal enough. Myself, Cian and Aaron did it yesterday in the Virgin studios.
“It was supposed to go out Tuesday night and it was supposed to be an All Star special but then I’d to take the All Stars out completely because nobody will still be talking about the All Stars by then so we had to kind of change the show around but it’s done.
“It just needs to be packaged up and press play on it. I’ll be sitting at home on the couch the same as everyone else.
“It’s with a view of doing 16 shows next year if we can get a sponsor – that would be fantastic. I’ll do hurling and football shows depending on the week that’s in it. I’m going to use all my own pundits as much as possible.
“It’s a bit of a break for the show. There’s no midweek GAA shows and Virgin appreciate that. It’s a good partnership even though they have no GAA rights. They still appreciate that there is no midweek GAA TV show.”
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