RTE Gold discussion thread

thejuggler

Al Dunne did a stint with Atlantic 252 in the early 90s doing the showbiz news ‘On location’. Unsure if he presented as well. He definitely plays a lot of 70s tunes when he fills in on RTÉ gold. In contrast Will Leahy is more 80s and 90s fare.

ford fiesta

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118825713#Comment_118825713

Of course Al Dunne was a presenter on Atlantic 252 from Trim, Co. Meath. He was part of the original daytime on-air line up in Sept 1989 and one of their longest serving presenters.

Al progressed to Programme Director of the station in the mid 90s. He stayed with Atlantic for around 10 years before joining Lite FM, Dublin.

Declan A Walsh

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118825713#Comment_118825713

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118825747#Comment_118825747

I remember Al Dunne on Atlantic 252 largely for his On Location news. I think I also remember him presenting on their Classic Sunday slot when they used to play classic rock. I did not realise that he was still involved with the station in the late '90s or early '00s.

ford fiesta

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118825893#Comment_118825893

"On Location" slot was done by many presenters at the time.

Al left Atlantic in late 1998. He was on afternoon weekdays at the start of the station

channelsurfer2

just caught a bit of the morning show today with no Rick O shea. Is he on holiday as its unusual not to have a stand in presenter for him doing it rather than just music for the 3 hours..

ford fiesta

channelsurfer2: rick's absence already discussed above.

ford fiesta

Rick tweeted that due to Covid he will be back this Wednesday

Butson

Anyone having trouble getting Gold to play on Google Home?

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118882536#Comment_118882536

Never heard that song 😂

GSF

Apparently you have to tell it to “stream Rte gold” now as opposed to “play Rte gold”

ford fiesta

Main man at RTE Gold, Aidan Leonard - joined RTE 30 years ago this week on 2FM.

Declan A Walsh

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118936469#Comment_118936469

That was his second time with RTE. Aidan Leonard had been with 2FM in the late 1980s before leaving for Capital Radio (since renamed FM104) in 1989.

alzer100

Between 1988 and 1989 some of the 1980's era super pirate presenters landed small presenting slots within RTE, mainly between 2FM and Millennium FM. Most of which departed RTE in 1989 to take up jobs at the new licensed radio stations (Aidan Leonard being one of them).

Declan A Walsh

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118939286#Comment_118939286

They included Scott Williams - Millennium Radio and 2FM, Colm Hayes - 2FM and Gerry Stevens - 2FM. Like Aidan Leonard, they all went to Capital Radio. There was also Mark Byrne - Millennium Radio, who went on to Century Radio.

alzer100

Not forgetting Nails Mahoney. He showed up on 2FM in early 1989. I can recall Robbie Robinson of Sunshine 101 stating that Nails was purely on loan as Robbie was very confident that he would secure a license for one of the Dublin local franchises.

alzer100

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118939324#Comment_118939324

Millennium 88FM wasn't a bad radio station and it was enlisting a lot of the Dublin 1980's radio super pirate talent. I think Ray Burke turned out to be of much as a thorn in the side for RTE as he was for the super pirates.

Declan A Walsh

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118939399#Comment_118939399

Nails Mahoney turned up in Millennium Radio and then moved on to 2FM. Unlike the others mentioned a few posts back, he stayed for a while with 2FM rather than going to the new licensed stations. After a few years, he moved to Atlantic 252, which was partly owned by RTE. Similarly, Gareth O'Callaghan came from the superpirates (last one being Q102) and went first to Millennium and then to 2FM. As we know, he was to stay with 2FM for a long time.

alzer100

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118939434#Comment_118939434

I don't know exactly how long he stayed with 2FM. I know he that he turned up on Atlantic 252 along with Mark Byrne around 1991. I can recall hearing him on Capital 104.4 during 1990 along with David Dennehy. I say this because they were all ex Sunshine 101 presenters. I'm not too sure if Nails Mahoney presented in the US and Canada after departing 2FM???

ford fiesta

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118939152#Comment_118939152

I am not sure if he was. What programmes was Aidan presenting, in the late 80s on 2FM?

alzer100

He presented Sunday nights 10pm to 12 midnight early 1989.

ford fiesta

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118939635#Comment_118939635

I thought Marty Whelan / or sometimes Tony Fenton did that slot around that time and they used to count down the UK Top 40, on Sunday nights after BBC R1 broadcast it.

Lorcan Murray took over the slot then.

alzer100

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118939704#Comment_118939704

You are correct but Aidan did that slot for a couple of weeks. He was acting as a fill in presenter on 2FM in early 1989. I'm not too sure what other slots he may have done but again he was just filling in.

Declan A Walsh

I heard Aidan Leonard at least one Saturday morning on 2FM in early 1989.

I mentioned Scott Williams already!

I was not aware that Nails did a stint on Capital Radio- I am still learning stuff! I think he must have been on 2FM before that in 1990. I think he went to Canada after Atlantic 252.

Mark Byrne joined Atlantic in late 1991 after the demise of Century Radio.

ford fiesta

In the "Vintage 2FM thread" I have just posted 2 2FM schedules from early 1989 and no sign of Aidan on them.

Interesting in one of these schedules, Declan Meehan did a short stint returning to 2FM in March 1989, filling in (or replacing) Brendan Balfe's Rock n' Roll Saturday lunchtime show!!

I am not sure how long Declan lasted in this slot or if he covered any other show on 2FM in 1989 !!

Probably as Millennium Radio was just finishing and Declan was on the Millennium schedule. Like the other ex-Millennium presenters mentioned above...he was probably available for 2FM cover work at that point.

alzer100

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118939846#Comment_118939846

Aidan Leonard's first stint on 2FM was particularly brief in 1989. He had no permanent slot on 2FM and by spring of 1989 he was being head hunted by Martin Block to join Capital Radio in the summer of that year. RTE had a very stringent loyalty culture back then so they didn't really have a problem with Aidan moving on.

alzer100

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118939829#Comment_118939829

I don't know exactly how long Nails Mahoney stayed with 2FM but I honestly don't think it was that long. He presented on Capital 104.4 during the first half of 1990 and I state ,4 because it was before they subtlety changed their programming format in August of that year. They dropped the ,4 and became Capital 104 FM. If I can recall correctly he did mostly weekends I think Friday/Saturday evenings and sometimes Sunday with David Dennehy also doing something similar.

TheBMG

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118939916#Comment_118939916

I have zero recollection of Nails working on Capital 104! I always thought he left 2FM and headed over to Canada.

Following a successful run in Canada Nails came back to Ireland in 1996 when he did a stint on 252 before joining 98 breakfast (replacing Mark Byrne who was moving to Today FM).

TheBMG

the 1989 2FM jingle package (the TM Century one) even had a Declan Meehan name check on it, so it must’ve been a total surprise to them when he went over to Century

alzer100

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118939971#Comment_118939971

Nails Mahoney presented on Atlantic 252 for a period in 1991 while Paul Kavanagh was PD. This was after Capital 104.4, again on Capital he was just presenting on weekends. He has worked on radio in Canada on at least two occasions.

TheBMG

Wasn’t doubting you for a second! Nails was always a favourite jock of mine so can’t believe I missed his Capital stint.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118940199#Comment_118940199