RTE's Marty Whelan becomes a grandad for the first time as daughter Jessica gives birth

RTE star Marty Whelan has revealed he has become a grandad for the first time.

His daughter Jessica gave birth to a baby girl, Lily Nora, four weeks ago shortly after she debuted her baby bump on the red carpet at Aladdin.

Despite becoming a grandad, Marty insists he has no plans to retire – saying moving to Lyric FM has been an “amazing, upbeat twist” to his career.

READ MORE: Hopes RTE's Winning Streak could return as early as 2025 as Marty Whelan calls for TV favourite to come back

The Winning Streak host will celebrate his 68th birthday next month.

But the Dubliner said that while he lives off year-to-year contracts, he said RTE bosses have asked him to stop working.

He said: “They haven’t asked me to stop, and I don’t want to stop.”

Marty opened up about the first song he played on Lyric FM when he joined the station in 2009.

“Something in the Air by Thunderclap Newman, my favourite song ever.

“I know that simply because I’ve played it as the opening track for every new radio show I’ve ever done.

“It probably just helps me settle in and feel good and it was the first song I played when I started on 2FM in 1979.

“But when Lyric FM came calling that was an amazing, upbeat twist to my career because I’d been through ups and downs, lefts and rights and all the rest as you’ve documented before.

“Lyric resulted in one of the happiest times of my broadcasting career, I’m now able to play all sorts of music for three hours every morning and each one brings its own memory,” he told the RTE Guide.

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