Goodbye to Phantom Daily - their Final Day has come

Bard

After 4 and a half years on the air, it's emerged that what I would consider the cornerstone of Phantom 105.2's schedule and their flagship show, 'Phantom Daily' is drawing to a close this Friday.

While new, independent and rock music was always at Phantom's core, Phantom Daily always merged this nicely with a mix of lively and fun banter on everything from quirky to current affairs (filling a talk requirement with the BAI and being, in my opinion, great entertainment).

However, radio is about far more than just the music these days - I for one always listen for the personalities involved and I really think it's a sad day for the station knowing that there's now no place in their schedule for the excellent Simon Maher.

So, tomorrow, from 2.30 to 4.30pm is the final Phantom Daily - I'll be making sure to tune in for every minute of it and would suggest that anyone else who loves great radio do the same. In Dublin, you can hear it on 105.2FM - elsewhere, tune in on www.phantom.ie - and you can take part by texting the show on 51052 or emailing live@phantom.ie

I'd just like to express my disappointment at the end of the show - one which has made me laugh and made me think a LOT in the past few years,- a show without which I wouldn't have learned of some amazing bands and songs - and a show which was in fact one of the first shows I was interviewed on... although we'll not go into detail on that one! I'm quite sad to see it go really as it was one show I particularly looked forward to tuning in to. It won't be the same without Phantom Daily... "Boo-urns!" as Simon himself would say...

I'd also particularly like to pay tribute to Simon Maher - a man who has helped to launch many radio careers through his excellent work both with the station and with Ballyfermot College. I know he's a regular reader and poster on boards.ie himself and I'd like to wish him all the best in whatever he does next. Whatever it is you do, dude, I know you'll rock.

Fago!

Simon Maher is a complete legend. Will miss his show. He taught me alot in BCFE. it's a sad day

jaydeep

That man is a legend.

He is Phantom, he set the whole thing up. Now he's being taking off air so

Alison Curtis can do ... " talk radio " ?

Best of luck Simon , Best of luck Alison ... very best of luck.

_feedback_

That's incredible.

Simon IS Phantom.

Best of luck Simon.

ottostreet

I have to admit I've never heard beyond maybe an hour in total of this show, but I would hope that Simon lands on his feet with a new gig. A thoroughly nice fella and a shame to see someone as talented left without a slot.

Best of luck Simon

Okami_shinobi

Jeez thats terrible news, as I know that it was Phantom Daily that changed so many minds about Phantom FM.
Sorry to hear about it Simon

Slutmonkey57b

Back in the days when I was allowed to listen to the radio at work, Michelle, Sinead and Simon made for a perfect day. Two down, and only Michelle left. And I won't be able to listen to the last phantom daily! Growl.

Loretta.

Bard wrote: »

While new, independent and rock music was always at Phantom's core, Phantom Daily always merged this nicely with a mix of lively and fun banter on everything from quirky to current affairs (filling a talk requirement with the BAI and being, in my opinion, great entertainment).

are ya having a laugh??
stop with the simon love. he never bothered to change the format of the show once. same old tired guests that he found wandering around the phantom kitchen, and the same blatant money grabbing tactics of "involving" the listeners by those RIDICULOUS text in "whats your favourite food/colour/fruit, that just so happens to be mentioned in a song?".
lazy lazy lazy

the man is clearly a station manager and not a presenter, and it took until they were parked in Marconi, for him to finally be shifted. we might finally have someone in (hopefully a new fresh presenter), who can structure the show more professionally.

miketv

Any dealing I've had with Simon have been fantastic. Himself and Ger Roe are some of the nicest and most helpful people you could meet.

ThisRegard

Shame, as it's one of the better day time shows at the moment. There's no justice in the world if the intolerable breakfast show is allowed to continue as is.

Deediddums

Loretta. wrote: »

are ya having a laugh??
stop with the simon love. he never bothered to change the format of the show once. same old tired guests that he found wandering around the phantom kitchen, and the same blatant money grabbing tactics of "involving" the listeners by those RIDICULOUS text in "whats your favourite food/colour/fruit, that just so happens to be mentioned in a song?".
lazy lazy lazy

the man is clearly a station manager and not a presenter, and it took until they were parked in Marconi, for him to finally be shifted. we might finally have someone in (hopefully a new fresh presenter), who can structure the show more professionally.

With all due respect Loretta I fail to see why you felt the need to share this uninformed and overly harsh viewpoint on a thread seeking to honour a man who has done great things for Irish radio so far in his career. He's been a source of inspiration and help to a lot of people starting out in the industry over the years.

Fair enough if you didn't enjoy Phantom Daily - a show that mixes a quirky take on the news, current affairs, music etc and has such defined personality is never going to appeal to everyone. The point is, it appealed to many people who were big fans - as evidenced by the huge number of detailed texts and emails that they got in everyday (which by the way don't in fact generate any revenue from the station).

Loretta.

Deediddums wrote: »

With all due respect Loretta I fail to see why you felt the need to share this uninformed and overly harsh viewpoint on a thread seeking to honour a man who has done great things for Irish radio so far in his career. He's been a source of inspiration and help to a lot of people starting out in the industry over the years.

Fair enough if you didn't enjoy Phantom Daily - a show that mixes a quirky take on the news, current affairs, music etc and has such defined personality is never going to appeal to everyone. The point is, it appealed to many people who were big fans - as evidenced by the huge number of detailed texts and emails that they got in everyday (which by the way don't in fact generate any revenue from the station).

with all due respect 'Deediddums', last time i checked this was an open forum for discussion and we were free to post our opinions. if you re-read my post you will see that not once did i question what he has achieved or that fact that he has helped people starting out in the industry, i merely made the point that the structure of his show was lazy and unambitious, and that his job was station manager (correct me if im wrong if this is no longer his role), and that he was taking a prime time slot away from one of these younger broadcasters who he has 'inspired'.
let's not turn this into a cant-talk-bad-about-certain-dj's thread.

with regards the station not generating revenue from the texts/email, the volume of all these will be recorded, and the figures shoved in the faces of sponsors/advertisers to show the size of their listenership and thus they will receive more money. Phantom Daily, more than ANY other radio show i have ever heard, is just so damn blatant at getting people to txt/email in, by having the most ridiculous questions. if they bothered to think a bit more creatively about what they were asking the listeners, then they would encourage a far healthier debate with them and not just limit it to simon reading out the txts every few mins and saying "good call good call". the presenters are far too removed from their audience because of this.

Bard

That's nice Loretta.

Look, you're entitled to your opinion, but this thread was set up to pay tribute to Simon and Phantom Daily. That's the topic. Therefore I DO consider negative criticism of Simon or the show as off topic on this thread and so, with all due respect to you and while I appreciate the need for balance and a certain degree of freedom of speech, I would ask you to please not indulge in it any further.

Deediddums

Loretta. wrote: »

with all due respect 'Deediddums', last time i checked this was an open forum for discussion and we were free to post our opinions. if you re-read my post you will see that not once did i question what he has achieved or that fact that he has helped people starting out in the industry, i merely made the point that the structure of his show was lazy and unambitious, and that his job was station manager (correct me if im wrong if this is no longer his role), and that he was taking a prime time slot away from one of these younger broadcasters who he has 'inspired'.
let's not turn this into a cant-talk-bad-about-certain-dj's thread.

with regards the station not generating revenue from the texts/email, the volume of all these will be recorded, and the figures shoved in the faces of sponsors/advertisers to show the size of their listenership and thus they will receive more money. Phantom Daily, more than ANY other radio show i have ever heard, is just so damn blatant at getting people to txt/email in, by having the most ridiculous questions. if they bothered to think a bit more creatively about what they were asking the listeners, then they would encourage a far healthier debate with them and not just limit it to simon reading out the txts every few mins and saying "good call good call". the presenters are far too removed from their audience because of this.

Fair enough Loretta, I'm not going to argue with you over whether or not this is an open forum for discussion, because it is - you're correct in that. I would say however that whenever I myself enter an open discussion, I tend to take care to make sure the line I'm taking or potential deviation I might be making is appropriate to the discussion and the people I'm talking to...just a thought. If nothing else though you've provided some rich irony in commenting about Simon being removed from his audience as it would seem that's exactly the trap you've fallen in to here.

Bard

Deediddums wrote: »

Fair enough Loretta, I'm not going to argue with you over whether or not this is an open forum for discussion, because it is - you're correct in that.

It isn't. She's not.

It's a moderated forum and as such there are rules to follow. Nobody said this was a democracy.

As I said, this thread was set up as a tribute to Simon and Phantom Daily. Negative comments directed towards the show or the team behind it will be considered off topic.

[EDIT]: Discussing moderation issues on the thread is also off-topic. Feel free to PM me instead.

Thanks,

ghostdancer

Loretta. wrote: »

are ya having a laugh??
stop with the simon love. he never bothered to change the format of the show once. same old tired guests that he found wandering around the phantom kitchen, and the same blatant money grabbing tactics of "involving" the listeners by those RIDICULOUS text in "whats your favourite food/colour/fruit, that just so happens to be mentioned in a song?".
lazy lazy lazy

the man is clearly a station manager and not a presenter, and it took until they were parked in Marconi, for him to finally be shifted. we might finally have someone in (hopefully a new fresh presenter), who can structure the show more professionally.

I agree to a certain extent.

i like Simon, and think he does a good job, but the format of PD is awful.
as pointed out, the "send us your texts about your favourite blah blah" is beyond tedious. tweet us blah blah.
but i suppose it's part of the ever increasing movement of Phantom to be A.N.Other daytime talk BS station.

i guess a lot of it for me boils down to the rubbish that is playlisted and the MOR indie landfill music that is played on Michelle, Simon, and Richie's shows.
obviously this is mainly the fault of whoever decides the playlist, or whoever decides The Wombats, Adele, and The View should be played. for the most of the day, the music is so "safe", i'd expect The Script to be played any minute.

i wouldn't have a problem with the above so much, if it wasn't fitted around nonsense "interviews" or lazy, dumbed-down updates on current affairs of the week.

from 10am-7pm, i'm unlikely to listen to phantom for more than 30mins these days, compared with most of the day a year ago.

audreyp

I love Phantom Daily, anyone idea why he is leaving the show? It's actually really upsetting listening to the last ever show!!

Loretta.

Bard wrote: »

That's nice Loretta.

Look, you're entitled to your opinion, but this thread was set up to pay tribute to Simon and Phantom Daily. That's the topic. Therefore I DO consider negative criticism of Simon or the show as off topic on this thread and so, with all due respect to you and while I appreciate the need for balance and a certain degree of freedom of speech, I would ask you to please not indulge in it any further.

Thank you for addressing all my legitimate points Bard.
Now if you'll just change the thread title to "the simon maher appreciation thread", i'll be on my way.

Bard

audreyp wrote: »

I love Phantom Daily, anyone idea why he is leaving the show? It's actually really upsetting listening to the last ever show!!

I do know, but I'm not going to go into details. He's on boards.ie himself so maybe he'll reply. It's pretty emotional listening alright, especially knowing the guy and knowing that he lives and breathes that station. Very sad to hear it come to an end.

He's already said a few times himself on the show today that finishing up on air certainly wasn't his choice.

audreyp

I have heard him say that alright but don't know why he have to leave otherwise. I love this show. After every bad day of work a few minutes of listening to him would cheer me right up! Definitely a big loss.

I-Shot-Jr

My memories of Phantom Daily will be happy ones, I used to listen to it everyday for a while but now given my work schedule I wasn't in a position to listen to it as much as I used to, I've met Simon and I have to say he was a lovely bloke, and also answered my e-mails with radio related questions I had for him, not to mention the seemingly unlimited amount of texts I used to send in. To top it all off I won a competition a year or two ago for a guitar signed by most of the headliners at oxegen. Happy memories. I'd kill for a job in their studio!

LtERipley

I can't believe it's over either. I'd love to know why it's being got rid of too. The volume of texts/tweets etc would surely indicate that the shows popularity is still high, no?

Bard

Confirmed there that Alison Curtis starts with "a talk show" on Phantom at 2pm next Monday, replacing Phantom Daily.

Pretty emotional end to the show there. Well done Mr. Maher .. kudos! - and thanks for the last 4.5 years.

LtERipley

Phantom is no place for a talk show! That's why I listen to Phantom- Music lives there, talk is secondary and funny.

Third_Echelon

Always liked Phantom Daily. It was nice to have the Phantom schedule broken up with a show that wasn't just about playing as many songs in an hour as they could. Good craic and topics of the day discussed. It was an entertaining show, and I for one think canning it will be to bad for the station. Will be interesting though to see what Alison Curtis' show will be like.

Darragh

Phantom's forum on Boards.ie - http://boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=64

and Simon's account - SimonfromPhantom

The show today was great (as it usually is). It's been a pleasure dealing with Simon in his role there and it's a pity to see it happen the way it has. Best of luck to Simon and Roisin!

LeSageMignon

I'll miss Phantom Daily too. I hate talk radio but PD was good craic. (Roisin was a bit of an eejit though.) It's such a pity Phantom is becoming so commercialised. I've been listening since it was a pirate radio station but it seems to be morphing into feckin 2fm. I cannot stand Michelle Doherty. She hasn't a clue about alternative music, her voice is like nails on a chalkboard and she's so fake! If Phantom continues its demise I shall have to abandon radio-listening altogether. Jack Hyland (the BEST Phantom DJ), John Caddell, Simon Maher and Richie Ryan should go set up their own station :-)

Good luck wherever you're heading Simon!

Third_Echelon

LeSageMignon wrote: »

I'll miss Phantom Daily too. I hate talk radio but PD was good craic. (Roisin was a bit of an eejit though.) It's such a pity Phantom is becoming so commercialised. I've been listening since it was a pirate radio station but it seems to be morphing into feckin 2fm. I cannot stand Michelle Doherty. She hasn't a clue about alternative music, her voice is like nails on a chalkboard and she's so fake! If Phantom continues its demise I shall have to abandon radio-listening altogether. Jack Hyland (the BEST Phantom DJ), John Caddell, Simon Maher and Richie Ryan should go set up their own station :-)

Good luck wherever you're heading Simon!

What ever happened to Sinister Pete? Still floating about somewhere in the background or did he go back to Canada?

LeSageMignon

Sinister Pete was great! That's what was brilliant about the station - intelligent, witty DJs with great taste in music. Other stations are afraid to be intelligent in case they alienate the moronic masses. Just read on another thread that someone from Spin is joining Phantom. Good Jaysus! The end is nigh ......

Deediddums

Apologies Bard! I meant Boards in general but I agree with the intent of this thread anyway. I think he's a great broadcaster and will sorely miss him of a weekday afternoon.

Nicdea

I have been a long-term listener from Berlin.
It was around 10 years ago when I discovered this channel on the web, glad they had such an excellent choice of music and did not get on my nerves.
Once 'the talking' came in, there eventually was SIMON MAHER to look forward to, who soon became a figurehead of the station.
His vivid way of conducting interviews, in a lively and genuinely interested manner in his vis-à-vis, with an audible credibility for a broad audience out there who would tune in, just for him, and not only from Ireland, made the show a beautiful distraction from daily work.
I logged on whenever affordable and was delighted to find him ready to present both, easy-going fun and thought-provoking ideas, reading out all sorts of text messages, not prejudiced, not judgemental, always open-minded and friendly, aware of the multitude of possible opinions on a subject.
The music on his show was a blend of old indie and recent upcoming bands, so altogether this show made a daily highlight for me - and particularly today I am sad at any programme I had to miss...

Let me direct the following at the management of Phantom and whoever is/was in charge for such a miserable decision:
Phantom started as an independent voice in a mass of commercialised music media, and it was welcomed by listeners with their very own taste and expectation. The makers of Phantom just as the presenters then, who were very much the same in the beginnings, were independent in their style as well - and that was highly appreciated; this is what brought Phantom to fame!
What you seem to be doing now by these dramatic alterations not only affecting Simon Maher and his broad world-wide(!) audience, but also other radio shows and presenters, leaves me to speculations: It appears to originate from greed and selling out to the dirty biz. Over here as well as on the isles, we find commercialised radio feeding the masses and creating little inspiration.
Quickly built up and quickly vanishing youthful pretty DJs and DJanes under 30, with a definite lack of conversational basics, are placed before the target group of young people, easily persuaded, with short-attention span, a bit dim and ready to consume. That btw is a general subtle insult of all media who cut short on culturally valuable programmes and then fill the gap with some brain erasing fast food dish...
I thought Phantom could manage to remain a bit of a stronghold in such matters...
The changes you are bringing about will inflict either harm on your station - or completely change the spectre of listeners, therefore the image you have had so far.
So what am I to do now?
I will continue to listen, to Michelle or The Kiosk e.g., not as regularly as before, but for the sake of music, yet at the same time I shall try and find out what the best radio presenter you have had on board and his colleagues will be doing from here - and where to receive them again asap: I wish Simon Maher a great new opportunity to prove himself as the vivid music presenter and eager journalist he is!
This one goes to Loretta's like-minds: Do you know what made John Peel a legend?
He was allowed to stay in his radio format due to ongoing success, and he inspired generations of listeners with his choice of music and his honest, personal style.
We cannot mourn the loss of real radio personalities and generally complain how nobody is there to fill such a gap, whilst breaking the style of those who may have the potential to become such figureheads for generations of listeners - listeners who had hoped to be accompanied in their daily lives for many more years by one unique voice, charm, laughter, talk and inspiration, brought to them by the one and only SIMON MAHER!

Nic from Berlin

chillin_penguin

I missed the very last few min of the show as my radio went dead, can someone please tell me what his last song was i would really like to know.

Nicdea

It was BLUR "To The End". Guess it made a lot of people weep...

cabrwab

Tbh I was sad to see it go I'm scared as to where phantom is going.
Yeah change is scary but I don't want another today fm/2fm.
It's going down that way of another boring radio station away from the indie rock station it was.
I'm sorry but the moment adele, or however you spell it, was being played meant something was leaving the station.

Slaygal

Simon Maher is the nicest, most genuine person I have ever had the pleasure of meeting.
He along with the other founders of Phantom shed blood, sweat and tears trying to get the station off the ground. It makes me want to weep that such a lovely lovely man has been treated so shabbily.

Simon has been broadcasting since the late 80's mostly on pirate stations and the man is a whizz with duck tape and wires. In my opinion he's an excellent broadcaster who makes a difficult job sound easy.

I wish you all the very best Simon and you will be missed.

Fuzzy Clam

Nicdea wrote: »

It was BLUR "To The End". Guess it made a lot of people weep...

I wouldn't think so.
Most of us realise it's just a radio show.

Bard

Fuzzy Clam wrote: »

I wouldn't think so.
Most of us realise it's just a radio show.

It's a radio show... yes... but for most of his listeners and certainly for Simon himself, it was more than JUST a radio show.

linguist

For so many of us, one of the greatest joys of Phantom was its sheer independence. Many people who felt utterly disengaged from the major commercial offerings genuinely felt Phantom was on their wavelength. Texts got read out no matter how esoteric or unusual and you never once felt that you, as an individual listener, didn't matter. On the couple of occasions that I dropped by 'Phantom towers' to pick up a prize or two, the warmth of the welcome was really something.

Sadly we may not get a public answer about what has really happened in the short term, but we all know that the commercial realities of a major media group are beginning to hit and it wouldn't be the first time in corporate history that a major scalp from the former management was sought at the outset. In time, I'm sure that this story will be written.

Against the backdrop of the independent and uncontaminated ethos of Phantom, I'm sorry to say that the hysterical moderation of this thread stands in marked contrast. Bard, you are coming across in a very insecure and immature light in your attempts to stifle perfectly reasonable dissent here. It's more in keeping with corporate PR management than the original values of a station that all here care about. As long as you're happy in your convictions, why should anyone else's views bother you?

Adiaga 2

Missed the last few weeks of this show due to work. Very sorry to hear it's gone. It took a little while to grow on me after it started when Phantom went legit but for the last few years it was something I looked forward to on the drive home. There was a genuine warmth to the show and that was mainly down Simon Maher. Is he still involved in the management of the station? I really hope so.

chillin_penguin

Adiaga 2 wrote: »

Missed the last few weeks of this show due to work. Very sorry to hear it's gone. It took a little while to grow on me after it started when Phantom went legit but for the last few years it was something I looked forward to on the drive home. There was a genuine warmth to the show and that was mainly down Simon Maher. Is he still involved in the management of the station? I really hope so.

No as far as i can tell he has been effectively kicked out of the station. There has been a Over haul of the stations schedule and management

Adiaga 2

chillin_penguin wrote: »

No as far as i can tell he has been effectively kicked out of the station. There has been a Over haul of the stations schedule and management

Sad news.

Slutmonkey57b

linguist wrote: »

Against the backdrop of the independent and uncontaminated ethos of Phantom, I'm sorry to say that the hysterical moderation of this thread stands in marked contrast. Bard, you are coming across in a very insecure and immature light in your attempts to stifle perfectly reasonable dissent here. It's more in keeping with corporate PR management than the original values of a station that all here care about. As long as you're happy in your convictions, why should anyone else's views bother you?

Because there's a place for "I don't like show/presenter X", this particular thread doesn't happen to be it. You don't have to post sycophantic nonsense, but equally you can just state "Didn't really like the show" without going on an internet rampage on the subject, which is what Bard was, I feel sensibly, trying to prevent from happening.

I'm not a fan of "text in with your views" programming at all - purely because most of it is drivel. But this show actually made the format work, because the presenters cared about it, they actually read out the views that came in (even unflattering or contradictory ones), they engaged with their subjects, and they did a lot of background work. It was considered and thoughtful, and that really shone through. Compare it with the likes of Joe Duffy and you'll see what lazy programming really looks like. There was never a time listening in to Phantom Daily that I felt either Roisin or Simon were lazily winging it. Brilliant programme, and brilliant effort.

Slutmonkey57b

LeSageMignon wrote: »

I cannot stand Michelle Doherty. She hasn't a clue about alternative music, her voice is like nails on a chalkboard and she's so fake! If Phantom continues its demise I shall have to abandon radio-listening altogether.

Couldn't disagree more - Michelle is one of the most intelligent, funny and well-informed DJ's I've ever heard. She knows Vampire Weekend are dreck, which is a lot more than can be said for a lot of "cool" indie heads.

Lollers

Just to echo what others have said here. I will really miss Simons voice on the radio. His warmth and likeability combined with great taste in music made him a pleasure to listen to. I would wish him good luck, but he won't need it. The way he helped transform phantom from pirate station to what it is today was incredible. I'm sure whatever he turns his hand to next will be a success. Just so sad for him the way things have worked out.

chillin_penguin

Just if anyone did miss the show or would like to hear it again it can now be found here

http://soundcloud.com/simonmaher/finalphantomdaily?utm_source=soundcloud&utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=twitter&utm_content=http://soundcloud.com/simonmaher/finalphantomdaily

Bard

Slutmonkey57b wrote: »

Because there's a place for "I don't like show/presenter X", this particular thread doesn't happen to be it. You don't have to post sycophantic nonsense, but equally you can just state "Didn't really like the show" without going on an internet rampage on the subject, which is what Bard was, I feel sensibly, trying to prevent from happening.

Got it in one. Cheers

allanb49

i missed the show on friday,

When i worked in the bookies i used to have it on,

Simon was the reason i got to go to Florida,

My fianceé said to me she would only agree to go to Florida if, somehow the exact words of allan and lisa should go to florida this summer appeared on the radio or tv,

Simon read out the message and i got her with a loophole,

I remember listening in back in the early years when a "man" called Pete Reed was on air, with the two petes talk rubbish, we have never found out who this man was but i applaud him and Janice for there trying of weird food.

Phantom for me will always be,

Sinister Pete and Simon Maher,

You gave us a good few years and if i ever see Simons big smiley head out in the pub i will buy you a drink, least i can do,

RIP Phantom and good luck to Simon in his future endevours.

Fuzzy Clam

allanb49 wrote: »

I remember listening in back in the early years when a "man" called Pete Reed was on air, with the two petes talk rubbish, we have never found out who this man was but i applaud him and Janice for there trying of weird food.

Pete Reed was a name that Simon used to use on air.

allanb49

yeah i know, back when he had the job in college and they where still a pirate radio station.

Bard

allanb49 wrote: »

yeah i know, back when he had the job in college and they where still a pirate radio station.

He still works as a teacher in 1st year Radio in Ballyfermot college.

strobe

Really unhappy about this. I loved Phantom Daily, it was a fairly straight forward format but Simon really made it work and the music was always great. It was great craic and I often caught myself laughing away to the banter between Simon Rosin and the listeners that took the time to text in. I only found out he was leaving the day before the last show and just presumed he was moving on of his own accord for some reason. Pretty annoyed to hear people here saying he was basically forced out.