Atlantic 252 What happened?

TheBaldyRef

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121838219#Comment_121838219

Thank you. Now I'll sleep again 👍👍

EveryoneKnowsNobodyCares

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121758557#Comment_121758557

Hmmm! I think some guy did one in the afternoon, I can't remember the name of the slot, but it shared the name with the theme music, which was some sort of instrumental. Might have been "Our Song" or something, sorry. Very distinctive opening four notes. Think it went G-A#-A-D (long) on a flute. Then at night time there was another one, which tended to run along these lines:

Dear ...,

I'm so heartbroken. This summer, I went on holiday and met a boy. We got on really well and we fell in love [etc etc]. Now the summer is over, we're back in our home towns, but he lives in Newcastle and I live in Southampton [etc etc to the end of the letter]

Then usually (and even predictably at one point), I Will Always Love You by Whitney Houston.

EveryoneKnowsNobodyCares

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121762595#Comment_121762595

Yes, I think you're completely right! I remember now thinking some songs sounded higher pitched then elsewhere (or maybe that some songs sounded lower pitched on 2FM)

alzer100

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121852386#Comment_121852386

"Simon Bates Our Tune was the feature you are referring to and it was prerecorded in the London Studios and sent over on DAT, carted up and played out daily during middays around 94/95 after Simes had left Radio 1."

It was a popular feature and capitalised on the fact that the feature "Our Tune" had record audiences previously on BBC R1. It transferred really well to Atlantic.

Tork

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121852386#Comment_121852386

I'm pretty sure there was a version of that on 2fm many moons ago. Colm Hayes springs to mind for some reason. Did he have an afternoon show?

Glaceon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121852593#Comment_121852593

Gareth O'Callaghan's "Your Song" slot I'd say. He still does it on his Classic Hits show on Saturdays.

sekefhiijj

Aidan Leonard also did such a feature while he hosted an afternoon 2fm show around 95-99. You'd be amazed at the amount of features like that which are recycled all the time.

squonk

Mark Byrne I think it was did something like that evenings on Cevtury around 8 or 9pm weekday evenings. Even at the time as a young teenager I thought it was dross lol!

alzer100

Atlantic had another variant of this at night called "The Loveshack" and before that it had been titled "Love Letters In The Sand" (with Sandy Beach) and prior to that "Love Letters In The Sack with Tony West. 1 Love Letter 1/2 songs at around 11.15pm at Night. It was another version of "Dedicated To The One I Love" from Sunshine 101's successful evening show. A feature which Mark Byrne incorporated into his Century evening show. Dross or not it got massive audiences wherever it was used as a feature. In the days prior to smartphones, social media etc. - radio was #1 and was the media used at night on a school night by the youth of not just this nation but worldwide. Nighttime CHR was king.

squonk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121853966#Comment_121853966

Definitely. Even outside of the love slots there were requests and messages played for people going out with each other. Then 2FM also did a class slot at one stage where a class picked a bunch of tracks that got played. Class Tracks I think it was called. On the love songs vein, Lorcan Murray had a slot I think on his Daturday evenjng show in the late 80s if I remember. lol they were all at it really.

Declan A Walsh

There is a Capital Radio (London) connection with Atlantic 252 staff: Gary King, John O'Hara, Sandy Beech and Kevin Palmer. Any more?

ford fiesta

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121853966#Comment_121853966

I liked "The Loveshack" that featured just one song each night (I think) - it was a chance to hear some love songs that were not on the usual tight 252 playlist ..... such as Bob Dylan "Lay Lady Lay" and Kate Bush "Wuthering heights"

thejuggler

Many memories of 252 during its imperial early 90s phase. I remember them playing recordings of one liner jokes from stand up comedians 3 or 4 times a day at the top of the hour. (9, 2 and 5?) Jo Brand used to feature regularly. The imaging was memorable too. Bumper Morgan jingles etc - one that stands out was Hey we’re on long wave - we can do whatever we like’ - it really summed up the irreverent feel of the station which appealed to many.

alzer100

Andrew Turner of Atlantic 252 News has died on Wednesday. He was at BBC Radio1 in the 70s, then Laser Hot Hits 576 on The Communicator. Then Atlantic 252's main anchor, later he went to Capital Gold reading the news for Tony Blackburn. A father, a friend and storyteller. The utmost professional of Newscasters.

alzer100

With immense sadness, I have to inform that Andrew Turner passed away yesterday.  

His fantastic storytelling on and off air, and his booming voice will be so so missed.  

His last show was with Tony Blackburn on Capital Gold breakfast show, and since then he continued to be a greatly supportive father and gave his weekly prompt phone calls, only like a professional newsreader would.  

I loved hearing stories of his time at Atlantic 252. If you have any stories you’d like to share, please do. 

Thank you

Jamie Lee Turner

TheBMG

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121867095#Comment_121867095

That’s sad news. Met him on a number of occasions and he was a gregarious man and generous with his time.

ford fiesta

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121867626#Comment_121867626

Of all the shows I listened to on Atlantic growing up in Ireland, hearing Kevin and Andrew in the morning made it even more unbelievable they were both broadcasting from Trim, Co. Meath !!

Rest In Peace, another 252 legend gone but not fogotten.

thejuggler

Sad news. Andrew also co hosted breakfast with Charlie Wolf. Has anyone heard any recent update on Charlie? I know he is battling Parkinson’s disease and effectively retired from media engagements as a result.

Tork

Cripes, this thread has taken a grim turn. Jail, death, Parkinson's... I didn't know Charlie Wolf had Parkinson's but it would explain why he didn't sound great any time I heard him on the radio talking about Trump etc.

L1011

Charlie's had Parkinson's for a while now. Never a fan of his style but impossible to deny he was very good at it

Enda Caldwell

Andrew was a one-off as Kevin and Donie Quinn said to me tonight! Charlie was too! What is a very sad moment for all of us from Atlantic 252 is made more sad to think of the folks he left behind his daughter Lauren and his son Jamie Lee. Thinking of them at this difficult moment. Jamie told me he lives in France and yet Andrew in recent years as his dad would call him at 5pm every Sunday in the professional newsman manner that he always had. In fact he was quite the legend to be in the presence of as a 14 year old wannabe anorak in those hallowed halls of Mornington House in 89/90 hangin' out at Atlantic 252 back in the day. Anyone who met Andrew or worked with him at BBC, Laser 576 or Capital Gold only had good words to say about him. In the current climate of "radio is dead" & "streaming + spotify is king" "social influencers" and celebs taking up certain international shifts way above their talent base it MUST be remembered that Andrew Turner along with Domino (Anthony Lini) and Steve Wright are some of the most talented and creative broadcasters we are ever likely to hear in our lifetime.

And to quote a great post I just caught on Digital Spy:

"https://forums.digitalspy.com/discussion/1637839/andrew-turner"

Bobson Dugnutt

I remember 252 as a teenager. I certainly don’t have the same fond memories of it as others. Terrible audio quality, pretty useless “zany” djs who obviously weren’t good enough to secure work on 2FM etc, bland and generic music choices. You’d think it was the greatest coming together of raw radio talent ever seen by the way some people go on about it.

end of the road

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121888346#Comment_121888346

to be fair it was more a UK and ireland station rather then an irish station, so some of the DJS would not have been looking for work on 2fm anyway, if even any of them.

i'm sure a few of them would have got it if they did want it.

Declan A Walsh

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121888346#Comment_121888346

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121892535#Comment_121892535

Dusty Rhodes went from Atlantic 252 to 2FM. Rick O'Shea went from Atlantic 252 to FM104 to 2FM. Enda Caldwell was on Atlantic 252 and Today FM concurrently - weekdays and weekends/PM drives respectively. Enda continued on Today FM after Atlantic 252 closed down, while working weekdays on Cool FM. Mark Byrne, who had come from Century Radio, later turned up on Radio Ireland/Today FM. Nails Mahoney had previously been on 2FM before he joined Atlantic 252 and was later to do a few stints on Radio Ireland/Today FM. On the UK side, Gary King left Atlantic 252 early on for BBC Radio 1. Indeed the late Andrew Turner had previously been a newsreader on BBC Radio 1.

ford fiesta

Dusty went straight from Atlantic to 2FM in early-mid 1994

The only DJ after that to join 2FM after that was Rick O'Shea who joined 2FM in mid-2001 (after 5 or so years on FM 104 and then a short stint on Cork's 96FM)

Gary King only stayed at Atlantic for around 6 months after the launch, then he joined BBC Radio 1 early breakfast.

thejuggler

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121892987#Comment_121892987

You learn something new every day! Never knew Rick was on 96FM