The blast with Ray Foley - 10 years ago

Moe Gilmore

Did you know It's 10 years ago this year since Ray Foley joined Today Fm to present the blast ? Stacys mom was the first song he played. Imo it was the best radio show of the 00s on Irish radio. It's such a petty Today fm haven't really given new young talent a chance since.

wnolan1992

Moe Gilmore wrote: »

Did you know It's 10 years ago this year since Ray Foley joined Today Fm to present the blast ? Stacys mom was the first song he played. Imo it was the best radio show of the 00s on Irish radio. It's such a petty Today fm haven't really given new young talent a chance since.

The Blast was what got me into loving radio. It came along just at the right time for me and showed me that radio didn't have to be either dull monotonous drivel or diddly-idle music.

Hard to believe it's been ten years though...


♫It's, the bitch's box of sh*te, it's the bitch's box of shiiiite! It's the bitch's box of sh*te, it's the bitch's box offfffff..... SH*TE!♫

Skid X

The Blast was a real breath of fresh air at the time. Foley connected with his audience really well. I remember him spending ages talking about workarounds you could use if your College or Workplace had blocked Bebo. It was essential information at the time!

It's a shame Today FM went more conservative at Nighttime once he left for Lunchtimes. They could have gone for a Blast #2 with someone else, but they brought in Tim Kelly. It was like telling The Blast audience that they weren't wanted.

soc160

Skid X wrote: »

The Blast was a real breath of fresh air at the time. Foley connected with his audience really well. I remember him spending ages talking about workarounds you could use if your College or Workplace had blocked Bebo. It was essential information at the time!

It's a shame Today FM went more conservative at Nighttime once he left for Lunchtimes. They could have gone for a Blast #2 with someone else, but they brought in Tim Kelly. It was like telling The Blast audience that they weren't wanted.

I think a lot of his audience went with him to lunchtime in sense, a younger generation moved into listening to him, and a Blast #2 would probably have received negative criticism because it wasn't the same or as good.

As mentioned already, it was kind of one of those shows that got me into radio too. I listened to it during the summer, flicking between that and The Aidrian Kennedy Phoneshow. Those were the days....

Green Giant

Damn you OP, you've got me misty-eyed with teenage nostalgia!! :P

Started tuning into The Blast by accident in late '04, soon became essential night-time listening. More often than not I'd be in school the next day chatting to lads about the show. It's one of the things I associate with studying for the Leaving!

I remember there was a guess the number game where people would ring in and guess a number between 1 and 10 (I think), and if they got it wrong Foley would press a 'wrong answer' buzzer. The best was when some lunatic would ring up taking the pi$$ and shout something that blatantly wasn't a number between 1 and 10!

That, and 'Eh Ya OK', where Foley and JP would ask you a series of questions and if you said any of those 3 words, you were cut off. People wised up to it soon enough, though, and then there was a rule where you couldn't repeat one answer about 10 times or you couldn't spend 10 seconds thinking of an answer. Any cut-offs were accompanied by a repeated klaxon noise


Ray Foley, God bless you!

wnolan1992

The Big Game
Ray: "OK, are you ready caller?
Caller: "Yeah."
Ray: "Right, let's start the clock. [clock starts] So where are you from caller?
Caller: "Oh, I'm from Town in Roscommon."
Ray: "Oh, I know Town. What's your favourite chipper there?"
JP: "IT'S AGAINST THE CLOCK!"
Caller: "I like McCarthy's."
Ray: "Yeah, they do lovely chips. Don't really like their battered sausage though. McKenna's do a lovely battered sausage."
JP: "IT'S AGAINST THE CLOOCK!" [getting more and more frantic]
Ray: "Jesus alright, calm down JP. Let's go caller, the score to beat is one, you only have to get one question right to take home the prize! Question one. In 1965-"
[KLAXON]
Ray and JP: "Awwwww no!"
Ray: "Shur we'll give you the prizes anyway!"

Batings for Ratings, Trickie dickie, The Oldie But a Goodie Guessing Game... STRIKES BACK!...

Jesus christ I loved that show.

Seren_

Absolutely loved The Blast. Listened from about mid 2004 until they moved to lunchtimes. I'd been a Chris Moyles devotee for a couple of years beforehand, so hearing a similar (often word for word ) style of radio in Ireland was awesome.

The Big Game was probably my fave feature, I'd love if they brought it back. Tricky Dick, Entertainment Update, Bitch's Box of Shíte.... Good times. I used to read the rayfoley.net blog on our awful dial-up internet was devastated when they moved to lucnchtimes cause I never got to listen due to school. Ended up switching over to Colin Murray on BBC Radio 1 then, which was a great show.