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