The row between Ryan Tubridy and Pat Kenny over who should present primetime slots on radio and television has escalated, with Kenny telling the younger broadcaster to slow down, earn his spurs and enjoy what he has.

Tubridy last week suggested that his morning radio show should be lengthened, an extension which would eat into Kenny's time slot. He also said he wanted to move his TV show Tubridy Tonight to Friday nights, which is when Kenny hosts The Late Late Show.

"There's a new boss [Clare Duignan] in radio and she could put Ryan Tubridy on 2FM for all I know," Kenny said. "I have no interest in what might be good for Ryan in the schedule to be quite honest. That's up to him. I don't know what he's doing. He's writing books. He's doing all sorts of things. He's a young man in a terrible hurry. He's only 35 and he's desperate to do everything that everyone before him has done.

"My advice to him would be to slow down a little and enjoy what he has instead of rushing headlong into something and asking himself after five years 'Is that all there is? I have done it all, thanks very much, now I'm 40, what do I do?'"

Kenny said he had just signed a contract to do a two-hour radio show every day. "All these things are at the discretion of RTé, but it can't be a two-hour show at four in the morning. It's a primetime two-hour show. That's what I am contracted to do."

Kenny claims that he wouldn't mind Tubridy's current slot. "I would be very happy to go at 9am in the morning. I used to do that. My show was originally nine o'clock in the morning until 11, then they put Marian Finucane in between nine and 10. That didn't sit easily there. Then they put Ryan in. I've been at 10 to 12 since. In fact, my show has occupied different parts of the morning for quite a long time."

Ultimately, he said, any changes would be for Duignan to decide. "Normally people when they come in want to make their own mark on things. They rarely do anything suddenly, they take time to look at figures and analyse the trends. The question really would be, 'In this troubled time: what kind of programme do you need in mid morning?' That's the big question."

Tubridy has also suggested that he would like to move his TV show Tubridy Tonight to Friday nights and see The Late Late Show given to a "deserving host on a Saturday night, someone who isn't presenting a radio show five days a week".

Kenny responded: "I think he [Tubridy] has been reading old clips from the newspapers of me and Gay. I think that's why Ryan is doing this, because myself and Gay had this little rivalry. It was just a statement of the blindingly obvious.

"Ryan has only been doing his Saturday show for three years or something. I did Kenny Live for 11 years and I was never out of the top 10, in all the time I did that show.

"You've got to win your spurs is what I would say to Ryan. Win your spurs, be in the top 10, week in, week out. Then stake your claim. I wish Ryan well."

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