Gareth O’Callaghan

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He announced on Twitter last night that he has been diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease.

https://twitter.com/GarethOCal/status/970750786199269376

chalkitdown1

Wish him the best, it's a horrible disease.

He'll surely have to cut down on the ridiculous hours he does on 4FM, now?

smallfridge

Brilliant interview with Neil Prendeville on Red Fm with him this week. Spoke very well.

JoeA3

Very sad news, poor Gareth has decided to step away from radio due to ill health.

A legendary voice on Irish radio for decades, it’s a real shame imo.

https://m.independent.ie/entertainment/radio/gareth-ocallaghan-to-quit-radio-over-serious-illness-37227610.html

Infoanon

JoeA3 wrote: »

Very sad news, poor Gareth has decided to step away from radio due to ill health.

A legendary voice on Irish radio for decades, it’s a real shame imo.

https://m.independent.ie/entertainment/radio/gareth-ocallaghan-to-quit-radio-over-serious-illness-37227610.html

Sad news - a legendary broadcaster - first heard him as Tony Garrett on Nova and then enjoyed his return to Irish radio on Energy 103

lazer.blue

Sad news indeed. I suppose it's just me showing my age but the new generation of broadcasters just don't cut it for me.

gifted

Always liked listening to him...terrible news and I wish him and his family all the support and hope they deserve...

Ursus Horribilis

Poor man. I really feel for him and his family. I can't even begin to imagine what they're going through right now. I hope they go on to have many happy times in the future and not too many dark days. There are so many unspeakably cruel illnesses out there and nobody deserves to develop them

martingriff

He had been missing more then normal from his show I thought. Always listened to him on my way home from work. He had a happy go lucky I have s great job attitude.

Mental Mickey

Aaahhh no. That's very sad

Declan A Walsh

This is sad news for Gareth O'Callaghan and for his friends and family. He had already announced earlier on this year that he had been diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease.

By the way, the article in the Irish Independent does not mention that "Classic Hits" is "Classic Hits 4FM" or 4FM. This could be misleading for those who are not familiar with the station. Gareth is the last remaining weekday presenter on 4FM from the original lineup back in February 2009. He was the original weekday breakfast presenter. Owen Larkin is the only other presenter on 4FM that goes back to the start. He was always a weekend presenter and left the station for a couple of years before coming back again.

Gareth did the rounds of the Dublin pirates, starting in the late '70s with Radio Dublin. Unusually, in 1983 he moved from Radio Nova to Sunshine Radio (most would have gone the opposite way in those first few years of Nova). After a number of months with Sunshine, Gareth got involved with the relaunched off-shore U.K. pirate Radio Caroline from the Ross Revenge ship. He stayed on in England long enough to get some legal radio experience - Radio City in Liverpool, I think(?). Gareth came back to Dublin - first to Energy 103 and then to Q102.

Gareth left the pirate scene for good during 1988, starting with RTE's special Dublin station Millennium Radio. In April 1989, Gareth moved across to 2FM where he made a name for himself. His afternoon show included the first version of Mrs. Brown's Boys, believe it or not. Sometimes, he was a stand in presenter on Radio 1. When Ian Dempsey left 2FM for Today FM in the summer of 1998, Gareth O'Callaghan was moved to the breakfast slot for the first time. After a few more years at different daytime slots, Gareth left on a sort of sabbatical and I believe he pursued a career in psychotherapy - he certainly wrote about it. Then he turned up on Galway Bay FM as its breakfast presenter. This was just before 4FM.

Gareth O'Callaghan's soothing and upbeat voice will be missed on the airwaves. I know he could be a bit cheesy at times with his Steve Wright (the U.K. radio presenter!) type of chat, e.g. texts saying "Gareth, loved the show"! But he has his own style that listeners are familiar with and possibly reassured by. Incidentally, the person who I think would be best placed to replace him would be the one who has stood in for him on many occasions on 4FM already, namely Enda Murphy. He even sounds vaguely like him.

A few years ago, Gareth was talking about the sad passing of his friend Tony Fenton and now he is suffering from an illness. I wish him the best for the future.

MikeyTaylor

This is very sad.

JoeA3

^^^ Nice post Declan ^^^.

One thing that’s always struck me about Gareth is that he clearly loves the job, so this must be so difficult for him. For example, you’d often hear him doing a live show on Christmas Day afternoon... when most of his colleagues are at home with their feet up or rival stations running pre recorded shows.

He always seemed to work best on afternoon shows. His stint on 2FM breakfast and other breakfast shows didn’t seem to last that long. He always seemed more at home in afternoon slots where I guess it’s a lot less “manic” than a breakfast program. The more laid back format of afternoons better suits him.

Anyway, I really wish him well. Maybe we’ll hear him again.

bobsman

Sad to read this. Love Gareth. He has had his struggles.

GreenLobster

Watched his many posts on FB concerning the Philip Cairns case. Who will take this issue up now?

ford fiesta

Very sad to hear. listened to gareth since he started on 2FM in the late 80s. his afternoon show was brilliant.

His time on 2FM is what he is best known for I think..

always would have liked him to turn up on something like late date on radio 1, though now this won't happen.

i do remember when he left 2fm in 2003 and only turned up a few months later to fill in on the breakfast show between the time of Rick & Ruth and Marty Whelan !!

padd b1975

lazer.blue wrote: »

Sad news indeed. I suppose it's just me showing my age but the new generation of broadcasters just don't cut it for me.

I agree.

The number of broadcasters still on the air who functioned in a world without the crutch of endless texts from listeners is pretty low at this stage.

Welsh Megaman

I enjoyed listening to Gareth on weekday afternoons on 2fm circa 2001/2002.

I wish him and his family all the best now and into the future.

Einstein A. Gogo

Declan A Walsh wrote: »

By the way, the article in the Irish Independent does not mention that "Classic Hits" is "Classic Hits 4FM" or 4FM. This could be misleading for those who are not familiar with the station..

They seem to have dropped the 4fm from their advertising. I noticed their billboard ads around the country just refers to Classic Hits recently.

Einstein A. Gogo

GreenLobster wrote: »

Watched his many posts on FB concerning the Philip Cairns case. Who will take this issue up now?

A lot of that was him surmising and his rants upset a lot of people connected with the Cairns family. He also made wild and bordering on defamatory claims about people.

Declan A Walsh

I got some more info about Gareth's time in the U.K. in the '80s after Radio Caroiline:
He was a presenter on Radio Aire, Leeds ('Saturday Night Soul Show')and BBC Radio Bedfordshire ('Breakfast in Beds'). He may well have done some stand in programmes on BBC Radio 2 as well.

razorblunt

Sad news, I listen to Classic Hits occasionally on TuneIn and his voice always reminded me of his afternoon 2FM days when my Dad would pick me up from school and the show would be on for the drive home.

AwaitYourReply

Below is an edition of RTÉ music series, "Video File" from September, 1990 which was hosted by Gareth O'Callaghan.

http://www.sproutology.co.uk/interviews/gareth-ocallaghan-rte-video-file-1990/

If memory serves me correct, when Gay Byrne first began to cut back his hours in favour of a 3 day week while doing "The Gay Byrne Show" on RTÉ Radio 1 during the mid-90's, I think it was originally Gareth O'Callaghan who filled in on the Monday & Tuesdays from 9-11am and then Gay would resume Wednesday, Thursday & Fridays each week. Later, other replacements would deputise for Gay such as Des Cahill and/or Joe Duffy until the GB Radio show came to an end in late 90's. Marian Finucane then switched from LiveLine to a new weekday morning slot "The Marian Finucane Show" from 9-10am followed by "Today with Pat Kenny" from 10-12noon. Joe Duffy took over from Marian on Liveline at the time.

Gareth seems to have had his own share of heartache in his own personal life and occasionally shares intimate details which you would never have known as he always ensured a true professionalism in his presenter duties role on live broadcast radio. Gareth will be a missed voice on the airwaves and his upbeat show was a hallmark of the weekday afternoon schedule for 2FM radio during the 90s with that station was a big deal among the "Under 35yrs" demographic and let's remember it was pre-internet/smart phone era. Gareth used take over after Larry Gogan and gave way to Barry Lang on Drivetime if I recall. Mrs. Brown's Boys 2-3 minute segment made it's radio debut on Gareth O'Callaghan's 2FM show (long before it became a TV series on BBC/RTÉ) and he also had his own unique style including tear jerker stories from listeners and some funny stitch-ups. He'll be a huge loss to afternoons on Classic Hits 4FM afternoon schedule 2pm-7pm Mon-Fri is a very long gap to fill. Heard him speaking to Mick Mulcahy on RedFM in Cork this morning and who knows he may release a Podcast and mentioned he is writing a book. Wishing him all the best in this toughest of battles.

JoeA3

Yeah I remember Gareth moving to RTE1 too, initially to share duties with Gaybo. I imagine the long term plan at the time was for Gareth to eventually replace Gaybo but that never happened for whatever reason and he was back on 2FM by the late ‘90’s. First replacing the suddenly departed Ian Dempsey and then back in the familiar afternoon slot. I seem to remember he often filled in for Gerry Ryan too whenever he took extended holidays.

He was sometimes very cheesy, in an old school jock kinda way I suppose, but always good humoured and good fun. Most of the current crop of weekday radio presenters aren’t fit to lick his boots imo but maybe I’m just getting old.

SEPT 23 1989

Gareth should do the country some service and dish the dirt before he goes

Bring the whole lot down in Montrose

AwaitYourReply

I often got the impression all those years ago that Gareth was not best pleased about the whole RTÉ Radio 1 temporary arrangement. I'm trying to recall if Gay used publicly express a personal preference for Joe Duffy to follow in his footsteps and in the end RTÉ decided to split the old Gay Byrne Radio Show time slot by inserting Marian Finucane for first hour and then Pat Kenny for second hour. Looking back "Radio Ireland" launched around March 1997 (which later became "Today FM") and RTÉ Radio 1 was anxious to replace Gay Byrne's slot with strong replacement although; I think the way RTÉ dragged it out probably did some damage as people were hearing "The Gay Byrne Show" with Gareth O'Callaghan every Monday & Tuesday which was daft as it went on like this for a prolonged period of time. RTÉ Radio 1 clearly had no clue what to do once Gay decided to cut back his hours.

When the late Gerry Ryan passed away suddenly in April, 2010 RTÉ and 2FM had nobody capable of holding the slot that G Ryan had made his very own since he first started that programme around March 1988 which all probably came about as a result of Jimmy Greeley exiting the old 9am-11:30am Radio 2 slot as Greeley would become one of the leading voices on Millennium 88FM across the capital city to mark Dublin city's charter 988-1988. In fact the Gerry Ryan Show 09:00am-12Noon (Mon-Fri) was one of the few shows that survived the relaunch of RTÉ Radio 2 which would become known as: 2FM some 12 months later as the youth orientated national station prepared for the launch of competition from the commercial independent sector with "Century Radio" due on air from September, 1989. Meanwhile, I don't recall Jimmy Greeley returning to 2FM following the closure of the temporary Millenium 88FM although; Greeley was probably working at RTÉ News and doing voice-over work at RTÉ Television for a number of years afterwards as I can still recall his distinctive style announcing a preview of programmes for RTÉ One TV evening schedules right thru 90's but I think he may have done local radio in Dublin too in those years. I was going mad when Jimmy faded away from 4FM some years ago. The original 4FM was like Ireland's own answer to BBC Radio 2! Another former RTÉ Radio 2 DJ, Jim O'Neill faded from Today FM during their last major station re-brand some time ago.

Gareth O'Callaghan like many of the high profile DJs/Presenters must have found it difficult post his 2FM days. One got the impression from his interview on RedFM that his remuneration in later years had dropped significantly and that he could no longer afford to make pension contributions for quite some time. That said, Gareth is a talented individual and apparently is a qualified clinical psychotherapist and has written a number of books over the years.

AwaitYourReply

razorblunt wrote: »

Sad news, I listen to Classic Hits occasionally on TuneIn and his voice always reminded me of his afternoon 2FM days when my Dad would pick me up from school and the show would be on for the drive home.

In the early-mid 1990's I recall 3:00-5:00pm weekdays and it would start with a really upbeat build-up jingle "Gareth O'Callaghan in the Afternoon" Woo Woo Woo Woo Woo... which used remind me of a similar upbeat style I'd heard previously on shows like "Steve Wright In The Afternoon" on BBC Radio One in 1980's. Not sure if it was Gareth who first brought us the radio segment "Net News" as the old dial-up internet was only first emerging in mid-90's and very few private homes/businesses would have had access to the world wide web and it was probably in the days before you even had search engines like Google, Yahoo! Ask Jeeves! Gareth loved sharing trivia with the nation on "the station that belongs to you - 2FM"!! Happy Days alright!

AwaitYourReply

JoeA3 wrote: »

Yeah I remember Gareth moving to RTE1 too, initially to share duties with Gaybo. I imagine the long term plan at the time was for Gareth to eventually replace Gaybo but that never happened for whatever reason and he was back on 2FM by the late ‘90’s. First replacing the suddenly departed Ian Dempsey and then back in the familiar afternoon slot. I seem to remember he often filled in for Gerry Ryan too whenever he took extended holidays.

He was sometimes very cheesy, in an old school jock kinda way I suppose, but always good humoured and good fun. Most of the current crop of weekday radio presenters aren’t fit to lick his boots imo but maybe I’m just getting old.

HaHa - As soon as Ian Dempsey confirmed for Today FM, he was not permitted to return to the airwaves again to say farewell to his listeners on his RTÉ 2FM Breakfast Show and there was a long period before he would commence on Today FM's new breakfast show. Also felt sorry for DJ Mark Byrne who warmed up that slot for Iano on Today FM as he lost out big time. That said, Ian Dempsey was always perfect at breakfast time as he set the right tone for that time of morning. It's quite a while since I tuned into Iano but used enjoy the show on 2FM and in the early years of Today FM.

Gareth's signature closing on 2FM Breakfast Show was instrumental from "Wichita Lineman" just before 9:00am.

Declan A Walsh

AwaitYourReply wrote: »

I often got the impression all those years ago that Gareth was not best pleased about the whole RTÉ Radio 1 temporary arrangement. I'm trying to recall if Gay used publicly express a personal preference for Joe Duffy to follow in his footsteps and in the end RTÉ decided to split the old Gay Byrne Radio Show time slot by inserting Marian Finucane for first hour and then Pat Kenny for second hour. Looking back "Radio Ireland" launched around March 1997 (which later became "Today FM") and RTÉ Radio 1 was anxious to replace Gay Byrne's slot with strong replacement although; I think the way RTÉ dragged it out probably did some damage as people were hearing "The Gay Byrne Show" with Gareth O'Callaghan every Monday & Tuesday which was daft as it went on like this for a prolonged period of time. RTÉ Radio 1 clearly had no clue what to do once Gay decided to cut back his hours.

When the late Gerry Ryan passed away suddenly in April, 2010 RTÉ and 2FM had nobody capable of holding the slot that G Ryan had made his very own since he first started that programme around March 1988 which all probably came about as a result of Jimmy Greeley exiting the old 9am-11:30am Radio 2 slot as Greeley would become one of the leading voices on Millennium 88FM across the capital city to mark Dublin city's charter 988-1988. In fact the Gerry Ryan Show 09:00am-12Noon (Mon-Fri) was one of the few shows that survived the relaunch of RTÉ Radio 2 which would become known as: 2FM some 12 months later as the youth orientated national station prepared for the launch of competition from the commercial independent sector with "Century Radio" due on air from September, 1989. Meanwhile, I don't recall Jimmy Greeley returning to 2FM following the closure of the temporary Millenium 88FM although; Greeley was probably working at RTÉ News and doing voice-over work at RTÉ Television for a number of years afterwards as I can still recall his distinctive style announcing a preview of programmes for RTÉ One TV evening schedules right thru 90's but I think he may have done local radio in Dublin too in those years. I was going mad when Jimmy faded away from 4FM some years ago. The original 4FM was like Ireland's own answer to BBC Radio 2! Another former RTÉ Radio 2 DJ, Jim O'Neill faded from Today FM during their last major station re-brand some time ago.

Gareth O'Callaghan like many of the high profile DJs/Presenters must have found it difficult post his 2FM days. One got the impression from his interview on RedFM that his remuneration in later years had dropped significantly and that he could no longer afford to make pension contributions for quite some time. That said, Gareth is a talented individual and apparently is a qualified clinical psychotherapist and has written a number of books over the years.

Jimmy Greeley was a newsreader on 98FM from 1994 until 2009. I think he may have been briefly with FM3 (the part-time predecessor to Lyric FM) before he left RTE.

What pirate or pirates was Gareth with between Radio Dublin, circa 1979, and Radio Nova? Nova started in 1981 but I'm not sure when he joined.

ford fiesta

For many years, Gareth has been the only on air personality of the 4FM launch in 2009:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKK1do6C2Tw

AwaitYourReply

Declan A Walsh wrote: »

Jimmy Greeley was a newsreader on 98FM from 1994 until 2009. I think he may have been briefly with FM3 (the part-time predecessor to Lyric FM) before he left RTE.

What pirate or pirates was Gareth with between Radio Dublin, circa 1979, and Radio Nova? Nova started in 1981 but I'm not sure when he joined.

I was just looking at Jimmy Greeley's Wikipedia page and it does not include much of his professional body of work. He was one of the original presenters of the then RTÉ Radio 2 (now 2FM) and may have crossed over from RTÉ Radio (now known as RTÉ Radio 1 since 1979). I recall Greeley in the role of Continuity Announcer on RTÉ One Television and later he did stints in the RTÉ Newsroom in addition to voiceover work promoting nightly programme schedule line-up.

https://stillslibrary.rte.ie/indexplus/image/2212/046.html

Jimmy sharing some wisdom & experience with students of the Irish Academy of Public Relations (IAPR)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxNeTtQGV6M

Jimmy Greeley presenting RTÉ TV News in below clip taken circa 1991
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ns8XoJVpuPg

Greeley's voiceover work from behind the scenes (fast forward to 3:16min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OxkatXKTxA

More examples of Greeley's voiceovers for RTÉ One TV in below clips:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pcd3mNRwQKE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PCeR3ddXNg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDxB3yPhL3o

**********************************************************

Meanwhile, Gareth features around 15:50min on below 15th Birthday Tribute to 2FM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdPl0IMd774

Youthful looking Gareth O'Callaghan from 1989 (fast forward to 5:11min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESu4tEQGd-Q

JoeA3

Here's another brilliant little video I came across today, not featuring Gareth, but his colleague at the time, Tony Fenton, back in the heyday of "The Hotline".

There's great nostalgia in this clip, remember the great jingles Tony used to have - I used to love these meaty intro jingles to that show! Why don't radio shows do jingles like this anymore? Most of 2FM / Today FM imaging sounds utterly lame nowadays. Is that what the "morketing" people want now?

This also features a very youthful looking Daire O'Brian, long before he became a household name in the UK...

https://www.rte.ie/archives/2016/0919/817529-the-hotline-with-tony-fenton/

ford fiesta

great clip there of Tony. at his peak there..and before 2fm had a competitor in radio ireland/today fm

AwaitYourReply

ford fiesta wrote: »

great clip there of Tony. at his peak there..and before 2fm had a competitor in radio ireland/today fm

2FM did indeed have a national competitor some years before Radio Ireland/Today FM. Following the shut down of pirate stations across Ireland you had the launch of Century Radio (also "Century 100" and "Century FM) in September, 1989 and it remained on air until November 1991. It's star performer was former RTÉ Radio 2 DJ, Marty Whelan who hosted Century Radio's Breakfast Show and "Marty's Golden Years". Terry Wogan was one of a number of investors in Century and he used record a show which would then be broadcast on Saturday mornings on the station. If memory serves me correct Claire McKeon first arrived on the national scene with "The Phone Show" on Century and she later appeared on RTÉ television for a short period. I think John Saunders was like Marty's sidekick who presented sports bulletins at breakfast time and they shared some banter in between news, traffic & sport. Declan Meehan & Bob Gallico did a drivetime show too as far as I recall. "The Biggest Jukebox in Ireland" was another popular show on the station and I think much of it's concept was revived when Simon Young (and later John Clarke) gave us "Ireland's Biggest Jukebox" on Sunday mornings some years later on 2FM. Century Radio was only on FM in Dublin, Cork & Limerick cities although; it also went out on AM>Medium Wave of 1143kHz as well. Ireland would have to wait until 1997 before RTÉ had a national competitor again in the form of Radio Ireland/Today FM.

RTÉ News report on Century Radio launch 4th September, 1989

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bu30mgMMRkw

https://www.rte.ie/archives/2016/1118/832757-century-radio-closes/

Just three days prior to this also saw the launch on 1st September 1989 of another radio service called: "Atlantic 252" on 252kHz Long Wave which was a joint venture between RTÉ and Radio Luxembourg.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhFgd9uK15k

https://www.rte.ie/archives/2015/0928/730803-atlantic-252-one-year-on/

AwaitYourReply

JoeA3 wrote: »

Here's another brilliant little video I came across today, not featuring Gareth, but his colleague at the time, Tony Fenton, back in the heyday of "The Hotline".

There's great nostalgia in this clip, remember the great jingles Tony used to have - I used to love these meaty intro jingles to that show! Why don't radio shows do jingles like this anymore? Most of 2FM / Today FM imaging sounds utterly lame nowadays. Is that what the "morketing" people want now?

This also features a very youthful looking Daire O'Brian, long before he became a household name in the UK...

https://www.rte.ie/archives/2016/0919/817529-the-hotline-with-tony-fenton/

It's a great clip of Dara O'Briain & Tony Fenton!

Tony Fenton's enthusiastic broadcasting style first caught my attention way back on RTÉ Radio 2 in the mid-1980's when he used deputise for Gerry Ryan on "Lights Out" at the weekend on Sat+Sun nights from 10:00-12Midnight. The theme music used on "Tony Fenton's Hotline" had been used previously as a background theme on "Lights Out with Tony Fenton" and he also had another theme he used also play entitled: "The Headache" for a regular feature item on that show if I recall. Fenton's show used then give way to "Night Train" with Mike Moloney as Mike used host that show on weekends as Mark Cagney did Night Train on weeknights and of course in those days RTÉ Radio 2 was required to close down as a station each night at 01:50am sharp! And if you think that was early, RTÉ Radio One used close at one stage at 11:45ish - prob 11:48am after late news & national anthem played out! No such thing as 24hrs broadcasting at RTÉ Radio+Television in those days! The relaunch of 2FM around March 1989 probably saw the station go 24hrs and they were all live shows as far as I recall too. RTÉ Radio One then extended their closing time to about 12:45ish before it eventually ran through the night too as the new independent commercial radio stations usually stayed on air all night. RTÉ TV started going right through the night from around 1995/6 or thereabouts. Ah happy days

Declan A Walsh

AwaitYourReply wrote: »

2FM did indeed have a national competitor some years before Radio Ireland/Today FM. Following the shut down of pirate stations across Ireland you had the launch of Century Radio (also "Century 100" and "Century FM) in September, 1989 and it remained on air until November 1991. It's star performer was former RTÉ Radio 2 DJ, Marty Whelan who hosted Century Radio's Breakfast Show and "Marty's Golden Years". Terry Wogan was one of a number of investors in Century and he used record a show which would then be broadcast on Saturday mornings on the station. If memory serves me correct Claire McKeon first arrived on the national scene with "The Phone Show" on Century and she later appeared on RTÉ television for a short period. I think John Saunders was like Marty's sidekick who presented sports bulletins at breakfast time and they shared some banter in between news, traffic & sport. Declan Meehan & Bob Gallico did a drivetime show too as far as I recall. "The Biggest Jukebox in Ireland" was another popular show on the station and I think much of it's concept was revived when Simon Young (and later John Clarke) gave us "Ireland's Biggest Jukebox" on Sunday mornings some years later on 2FM. Century Radio was only on FM in Dublin, Cork & Limerick cities although; it also went out on AM>Medium Wave of 1143kHz as well. Ireland would have to wait until 1997 before RTÉ had a national competitor again in the form of Radio Ireland/Today FM.

RTÉ News report on Century Radio launch 4th September, 1989

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bu30mgMMRkw

https://www.rte.ie/archives/2016/1118/832757-century-radio-closes/

Just three days prior to this also saw the launch on 1st September 1989 of another radio service called: "Atlantic 252" on 252kHz Long Wave which was a joint venture between RTÉ and Radio Luxembourg.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhFgd9uK15k

https://www.rte.ie/archives/2015/0928/730803-atlantic-252-one-year-on/

I remember listening to Atlantic 252 on its first day, but not the launch - 6am was too early for me! I remember Century Radio's launch and practically all of what was said there. I'm pretty sure that the presenter of The Biggest Jukebox was Robbie Irwin. He certainly presented a request show on Sunday afternoons.

It was interesting that Gareth did not stray into the commercial radio sector until later in the '00s with Galway Bay FM. My previous question still stands. What were the pirate(s) he was with after Radio Dublin and before Radio Nova?

AwaitYourReply

Declan A Walsh wrote: »

I remember listening to Atlantic 252 on its first day, but not the launch - 6am was too early for me! I remember Century Radio's launch and practically all of what was said there. I'm pretty sure that the presenter of The Biggest Jukebox was Robbie Irwin. He certainly presented a request show on Sunday afternoons.

It was interesting that Gareth did not stray into the commercial radio sector until later in the '00s with Galway Bay FM. My previous question still stands. What were the pirate(s) he was with after Radio Dublin and before Radio Nova?

Atlantic 252 had most DJs with quirky names like: Robin Banks, Sandy Beech, Dusty Rhodes (later 2FM), Charlie Wolf (later Cork's RedFm late night talk show host of Cork Talk's Back and lately commentator on US political stories) Henry Owens from Cork (real name Henry Condon R.I.P.)

Unfortunately, not sure of Gareth's involvement in the local pirate radio scene in Dublin as it's not a part of the country I grew up in. I first recall Gareth from his 2FM days since 1989 onwards. Although; the photo on below article would appear to be a youthful looking Gareth from what I understand is Sandymount Community Radio.

http://www.newsfour.ie/2014/02/pirate-days-in-dublin/

Indeed RTÉ 2FM's former show "Ireland's Biggest Jukebox" did cause some controversy a number of years back. A reminder of the story is courtesy of Irish Independent via below clip:

https://www.independent.ie/entertainment/radio/rte-objects-to-former-2fm-boss-john-clarke-hosting-irelands-biggest-jukebox-show-on-radio-nova-31404811.html

Like I said I believe the now defunct station Century Radio called it "The Biggest Jukebox in Ireland" as far as I recall. My first memory of Robbie Irwin as a broadcaster is from his Century Radio days but I'm not too sure if Robbie was a presenter of that particular programme. Perhaps it was someone like Liam Quigley or Joe Harrington but to be honest I'm not certain. I wonder if there any official radio guide listings out there to confirm Century Radio schedule of programmes with synopsis. That said, I've found Robbie Irwin to be excellent - he had such presence & command of his brief whether it was news, sports or music. I had not realised he retired from RTÉ and would regard him as a consummate broadcaster.

If you listened to Century Radio, these jingles are bound to bring back memories.

http://aircheckdownloads.com/CenturyIreland.htm

The photos attached to below Irish Indo news article are worth viewing:

https://www.independent.ie/entertainment/music/2fm-radio-station-still-cominatcha-after-35-years-30316876.html

MikeyTaylor

AwaitYourReply wrote: »

Atlantic 252 had most DJs with quirky names like: Robin Banks, Sandy Beech, Dusty Rhodes (later 2FM), Charlie Wolf (later Cork's RedFm late night talk show host of Cork Talk's Back and lately commentator on US political stories) Henry Owens from Cork (real name Henry Condon R.I.P.)

Unfortunately, not sure of Gareth's involvement in the local pirate radio scene in Dublin as it's not a part of the country I grew up in. I first recall Gareth from his 2FM days since 1989 onwards. Although; the photo on below article would appear to be a youthful looking Gareth from what I understand is Sandymount Community Radio.

http://www.newsfour.ie/2014/02/pirate-days-in-dublin/

Indeed RTÉ 2FM's former show "Ireland's Biggest Jukebox" did cause some controversy a number of years back. A reminder of the story is courtesy of Irish Independent via below clip:

https://www.independent.ie/entertainment/radio/rte-objects-to-former-2fm-boss-john-clarke-hosting-irelands-biggest-jukebox-show-on-radio-nova-31404811.html

Like I said I believe the now defunct station Century Radio called it "The Biggest Jukebox in Ireland" as far as I recall. My first memory of Robbie Irwin as a broadcaster is from his Century Radio days but I'm not too sure if Robbie was a presenter of that particular programme. Perhaps it was someone like Liam Quigley or Joe Harrington but to be honest I'm not certain. I wonder if there any official radio guide listings out there to confirm Century Radio schedule of programmes with synopsis. That said, I've found Robbie Irwin to be excellent - he had such presence & command of his brief whether it was news, sports or music. I had not realised he retired from RTÉ and would regard him as a consummate broadcaster.

If you listened to Century Radio, these jingles are bound to bring back memories.

http://aircheckdownloads.com/CenturyIreland.htm

The photos attached to below Irish Indo news article are worth viewing:

https://www.independent.ie/entertainment/music/2fm-radio-station-still-cominatcha-after-35-years-30316876.html

The Century jingles are quite similar to the 2FM ones introduced around the same time.

JoeA3

MikeyTaylor wrote: »

The Century jingles are quite similar to the 2FM ones introduced around the same time.

They do actually. Very similar to the early '90's 2FM sound. Probably the same production company.

Infoanon

JoeA3 wrote: »

They do actually. Very similar to the early '90's 2FM sound. Probably the same production company.

Both Jam but 2 different packages - the century package was previously heard on Energy 103 and was initially made for Q107 .

Going a bit of topic there - Gareth afternoon shows were loosely based on the Steve Wright afternoon shows on BBC Radio 2

AwaitYourReply

MikeyTaylor wrote: »

The Century jingles are quite similar to the 2FM ones introduced around the same time.

In my opinion, I think the jingles produced for Century Radio were almost a carbon copy of SKY Radio from that time.

Take a listen to SKY Radio jingles from 1989 here:

https://soundcloud.com/marcmannetje/sky-radio-1989

I gather these jingles were produced in Dallas, TX USA but open to correction.

Then the re-brand from Century Radio > "Century FM" involved new jingles which are not as impressive in my opinion.

https://soundcloud.com/good-time-oldie/century-fm

Unable to source jingles following it's final re-brand as "Century 100" but the station was only on air from September 1989 - November 1991 and things got desperate in those final months by all accounts.

ford fiesta

Footage here at 33:11 of Gareth (Tony Gareth) in Nova studio, Herbert Street in 1983. He talks about his early days and mentions Dadio Dublin, ARD and Radio Leinster.

Great footage.

Declan A Walsh

AwaitYourReply wrote: »

Unfortunately, not sure of Gareth's involvement in the local pirate radio scene in Dublin as it's not a part of the country I grew up in. I first recall Gareth from his 2FM days since 1989 onwards. Although; the photo on below article would appear to be a youthful looking Gareth from what I understand is Sandymount Community Radio.

http://www.newsfour.ie/2014/02/pirate-days-in-dublin/

Indeed RTÉ 2FM's former show "Ireland's Biggest Jukebox" did cause some controversy a number of years back. A reminder of the story is courtesy of Irish Independent via below clip:

https://www.independent.ie/entertainment/radio/rte-objects-to-former-2fm-boss-john-clarke-hosting-irelands-biggest-jukebox-show-on-radio-nova-31404811.html

Like I said I believe the now defunct station Century Radio called it "The Biggest Jukebox in Ireland" as far as I recall. My first memory of Robbie Irwin as a broadcaster is from his Century Radio days but I'm not too sure if Robbie was a presenter of that particular programme. Perhaps it was someone like Liam Quigley or Joe Harrington but to be honest I'm not certain. I wonder if there any official radio guide listings out there to confirm Century Radio schedule of programmes with synopsis. That said, I've found Robbie Irwin to be excellent - he had such presence & command of his brief whether it was news, sports or music. I had not realised he retired from RTÉ and would regard him as a consummate broadcaster.

If you listened to Century Radio, these jingles are bound to bring back memories.

http://aircheckdownloads.com/CenturyIreland.htm

The photos attached to below Irish Indo news article are worth viewing:

https://www.independent.ie/entertainment/music/2fm-radio-station-still-cominatcha-after-35-years-30316876.html

Re Century Radio:
Liam Quigley hosted the afternoon weekday show during his time with Century. It wasn't him. I'm pretty sure Robbie Irwin is the host in question.

Now back on topic:
Some of the jigsaw pieces have been filled for me now in relation to Gareth O'Callaghan's pirates after Radio Dublin and before Radio Nova. We have ARD and Radio Leinster and, apparently, Sandymount Community Radio. It appears that SCR was around from 1982 to 1983 and we know that Gareth left Radio Nova for Sunshine Radio in the early part of 1983. So either, he joined Nova later than I would have thought or he doubled up on Nova and SCR, the latter being my hunch.

Ursus Horribilis

Am I dreaming or was he with Treble T R at some stage? I was only a kid at the time so it could be an unreliable memory.

ford fiesta

Gareth due on the Tubridy show tomorrow

AwaitYourReply

ford fiesta wrote: »

Gareth due on the Tubridy show tomorrow

I heard the live interview this morning.

If you read the article in today's Online edition of the Irish Examiner, included is a photo of both Gareth & Ryan together in the RTÉ Radio Studios.

https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/entertainment/death-doesnt-scare-me-i-just-dont-want-to-die-gareth-ocallaghan-talks-about-msa-diagnosis-865037.html

Listen back to the full interview of Gareth O'Callaghan speaking to Ryan Tubridy on RTÉ Radio 1 on Tuesday 28/08/2018 below here:

https://soundcloud.com/rte-radio-1/the-ryan-tubridy-show-gareth-ocallaghan

Very sad to listen to Gareth this morning. He's such a pro. I wish him all the best in the future. It's not going to be easy by the sound of it.

padd b1975

inthehat wrote: »

Very sad to listen to Gareth this morning. He's such a pro. I wish him all the best in the future. It's not going to be easy by the sound of it.

He sounded OK to be honest.

ford fiesta

padd b1975 wrote: »

He sounded OK to be honest.

What is ahead of him will be far from OK

JoeA3

He was due to come back this week to do a few last shows but still hasn’t afaik.

Ursus Horribilis

After hearing what he said in the interview with Tubridy, I could understand if he decides not to do those shows. It was a nice interview but very sad. He's doing well to be putting on such a brave face at all. There are some horrifically cruel illnesses out there. I hope he manages to make some happy memories for himself and his loved ones.