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Forgotten obscure radio presenters thread

Dr Julius No

It used to happen that a presenter would pop up on an national station but quickly disappear and never be heard again, some examples I can remember, Anna Santina = a young girl who did a once a eweek overnight show on 2fm about 30 years ago... Jay Ahern = an American guy with a great radio voice who did a late night Sunday indie show on 2fm in the early 00s... Susanne McReyonalds = popped up one summer in the mid 00s on RTE Radio 1 filling in for Marion, was never mentioned again. Anyone else have any examples ?

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bobbyss

Morgan someone. He used to interview film stars from USA on RTE Radio 1. Connected to Ardmore studios in some way. Morgan... ???

KReid

Karsini wrote: »

Gerry Wilson was definitely 2FM, he had a late night show called World Web Radio in the late 90s where people could e-mail him stuff. To this day I remember someone sent him 8MB of WAV files and it was massive at the time.

Oh I know he was on 2fm, but I think i heard him somewhere else, probably around 2003? Could be my imagination but I remember his voice.

Leo Varadkar

A good few of the today fm weekend line-up of the early to mid 00s, Cliff Walker, Enda Caldwell, Tracy Lee,

MikeyTaylor

Leo Varadkar wrote: »

A good few of the today fm weekend line-up of the early to mid 00s, Cliff Walker, Enda Caldwell, Tracy Lee,

The latter two were last heard on Non Stop 90s.

Ursus Horribilis

bobbyss wrote: »

Morgan someone. He used to interview film stars from USA on RTE Radio 1. Connected to Ardmore studios in some way. Morgan... ???

That'd be Morgan O'Sullivan

ford fiesta

KReid wrote: »

Oh I know he was on 2fm, but I think i heard him somewhere else, probably around 2003? Could be my imagination but I remember his voice.

Gerry Wilson went on to Dublin's Country 106.8 and was on the original line up October 2001, think mid morning slot.

Declan A Walsh

Again, I would not describe Gerry Wilson and Aidan Leonard as obscure and I'm not sure if they have exactly been forgotten either!

I remember talking to Gerry Wilson on three different occasions when I rang Dial A Number 1!! The last time I heard him was on last year's run of Christmas FM.

Thanks to the publicity associated with Non Stop 90s, Enda Caldwell and Tracey Lee have been mentioned quite a bit this year. There were well-known names from the late '90s after moving from pirates to licensed radio. So, obscure? Not true either!

As regards Morgan O'Sullivan, he is a successful producer. The wider public may not remember him, but he certainly was far from obscure when he used to present his weekday morning show on Radio 1!

As I alluded to before, the best examples of forgotten obscure presenters are those that never made it to commercial or national radio stations and only got as far as pirates or temp. licenses or community stations.

Here are a few I can think of: Dave Jackson on temp. licensed Premier FM, Mike Doyle on temp. licensed Premier FM and Choice FM and James Murphy on the first temp. license run of 8radio.com, Actually, there are a few who went through temp license runs of 8radio.com who are now kind of that category - one more is Brian Gunn.

Phantom, the fully licensed version, did have a couple of presenters that are now arguably forgotten and obscure - Shane Galvin, Micko, John Meehan, Emma Meehan and Aidan Lynch, for example. Poor Aidan Lynch went back to Coast FM, then Alcatraz (his own alternative rock station), then part of the guys who set up Spectrum and Phantom through its different unlicensed/licensed phases. He used to be called Paul Clarke in his pirate days (don't confuse with at least one other with the same name!). He was mainly behind the scenes in the fully licensed Phantom but was the original presenter of Icon.

CeilingFly

Paul Vincent - a mainstay of the old Sunshine Radio even before it became "hot hits"

Wonder where he is now?

Probably about 65 years old.

Declan A Walsh

CeilingFly wrote: »

Paul Vincent - a mainstay of the old Sunshine Radio even before it became "hot hits"

Wonder where he is now?

Probably about 65 years old.

Here you go - I had a thread about him!
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=102212564

I just thought of two possible contenders from the Radio Ireland days (now Today FM): Donal Scannell and Ita Ryan.

Red Fred

Ursus Horribilis wrote: »

That'd be Morgan O'Sullivan

He also presented Late Date in the 1980s.

A few names that spring to mind include Brian Paige from Sunday mornings on Radio Dublin. I remember a jingle he had "Your man on stage - Brian Paige". He became station manager when they introduced their better music format. He left after I think to set up Smile FM in Ballyfermot.

Another name I remember was Clem Francis. He did Friday and Sunday nights on DCR/ KISS 105 based in Foley Street, Dublin.

Will add more as I think of them.

Declan A Walsh

Random names are beginning to come to me!

'90s pirate DLR (later renamed Hits 106) proved to be good training ground for future careers as presenters on licensed radio (especially starting with East Coast FM!), but they, too, had their fair share of presenters who could be categorised as "Forgotten obscure" - certainly to the general public. I have three examples: Sean Rivers, Nigel H and Bud Johnston.

I had a thread about northside pirate Radio Caroline. What became apparent about it was that, despite its lengthy period around (1989 - 2001), very few of its presenters were particularly well-known - many are long forgotten obscure presenters!

testarossa40

Declan A Walsh wrote: »

I don't think Barry Lang, Anton Savage, Suzanne Duffy or Ken Stewart count because they are certainly not obscure and in the case of Anton it's a bit soon to be talking about forgotten!

Declan A Walsh wrote: »

Again, I would not describe Gerry Wilson and Aidan Leonard as obscure and I'm not sure if they have exactly been forgotten either!

Appreciate your insights & contributions, Declan, but not everyone contributing here is an industry insider.

bobbyss

ford fiesta wrote:

Jay Ahern took over the album show from John Clarke and briefly Mike Moloney when John become head of 2FM / take over the biggest jukebox from Simon Young.

Declan A Walsh wrote:

As regards Morgan O'Sullivan, he is a successful producer. The wider public may not remember him, but he certainly was far from obscure when he used to present his weekday morning show on Radio 1!

No O'Sullivan was quite a fixture at the time but today he is largely forgotten and obscure.

twinklerunner

Declan A Walsh wrote: »

Random names are beginning to come to me!

'90s pirate DLR (later renamed Hits 106) proved to be good training ground for future careers as presenters on licensed radio (especially starting with East Coast FM!), but they, too, had their fair share of presenters who could be categorised as "Forgotten obscure" - certainly to the general public. I have three examples: Sean Rivers, Nigel H and Bud Johnston.

I had a thread about northside pirate Radio Caroline. What became apparent about it was that, despite its lengthy period around (1989 - 2001), very few of its presenters were particularly well-known - many are long forgotten obscure presenters!

More like obscure radio stations - never heard these pirates.

Red Fred

twinklerunner wrote: »

More like obscure radio stations - never heard these pirates.

DLR stood for Dunlaoghaire Local Radio but covered all of Dublin and beyond. It was a pop music station. A name that springs to mind from DLR for the list is Les Vickers. Think he was on Radio Dublin at some stage too.

Radio Caroline was based in Sutton on Dublin's northside. I don't think they covered all of Dublin but open to correction there.

Dave Jackson who was mentioned earlier was one of the founders of Premier FM in its pirate days. Apparently there were "artistic differences" between the founders during the temp licence runs so they went their separate ways.

twinklerunner

Kristopherus wrote: »

Is he still around/alive?

I don't know. Can't find any info on him. Enjoyed his show when it was the only 'rock' programme on RTÉ Radio.

Ursus Horribilis

bobbyss wrote: »

No O'Sullivan was quite a fixture at the time but today he is largely forgotten and obscure.

If that's your criteria, then all anyone has to do is pull out the old RTE schedules and rattle off the names of presenters who happened to be on the air before most boardsies were born.

ford fiesta

Dr Julius No wrote: »

It used to happen that a presenter would pop up on an national station but quickly disappear and never be heard again

The original OP is not just looking at RTE Radio 1 and 2FM. All national FM stations.

I am sure there are more chance of obscure and forgotten presenters that popped up on national stations like R Na G, Newstalk, Century FM, Lyric FM, Radio Ireland...

Declan A Walsh

Declan A Walsh wrote: »

Random names are beginning to come to me!

'90s pirate DLR (later renamed Hits 106) proved to be good training ground for future careers as presenters on licensed radio (especially starting with East Coast FM!), but they, too, had their fair share of presenters who could be categorised as "Forgotten obscure" - certainly to the general public. I have three examples: Sean Rivers, Nigel H and Bud Johnston.

I had a thread about northside pirate Radio Caroline. What became apparent about it was that, despite its lengthy period around (1989 - 2001), very few of its presenters were particularly well-known - many are long forgotten obscure presenters!

twinklerunner wrote: »

More like obscure radio stations - never heard these pirates.

Red Fred wrote: »

DLR stood for Dunlaoghaire Local Radio but covered all of Dublin and beyond. It was a pop music station. A name that springs to mind from DLR for the list is Les Vickers. Think he was on Radio Dublin at some stage too.

Dave Jackson who was mentioned earlier was one of the founders of Premier FM in its pirate days. Apparently there were "artistic differences" between the founders during the temp licence runs so they went their separate ways.

Yeah, DLR was actually quite a well-known pirate in the '90s - most of its listenership would have been the southside - Dun Laoghaire Borough area - the Dublin Bay area (north and south Dublin by the sea) and Bray. It had its share of well-known names go through it: Nikki Hayes, 98FM's Barry Dunne, iRadio (and former 2FM) presenter Mark McCabe and Tipp FM's Dave Harrington (previously with Q102).

Les Vickers is a funny one as he was with East Coast FM, Dublin's Country 106.8 and Radio 1, but it does seem he was largely forgotten and obscure - strange!

In relation to Radio Caroline, in some ways it was a mirror image of DLR, as it too had a decent reach. I could pick it up in Dundrum during the '90s. It was reasonably well-known around the northside.

The other guys behind Premier FM, or at least when it reinvented itself as an oldies station, were Paul Shepard, aka Ray Jackson, and Walter Hegarty, aka Greg Townsend. And sad to say, despite the following facts
- that they were both veterans of the pirate scene going back to the '70s Capital Radio
- they presented some shows on Premier FM when it became legit
- they co-founded and presented a number of shows on Christmas FM over the years
... they are largely forgotten and obscure to the general public.... The only thing is they will be back, no doubt, next Christmas period again so they won't be names from the past!

bobbyss

Ursus Horribilis wrote:

If that's your criteria, then all anyone has to do is pull out the old RTE schedules and rattle off the names of presenters who happened to be on the air before most boardsies were born.

As far as I can remember he presented radio programmes in the past (like many others refereed to above) and now (as far as I know) doesn't.

Ferrier

Don and Debbie Moore of ARD, Kevin Barrett Shay West DJ Sylvia Radio Dublin; Mike Doyle and Ray Jackson - Premier; Denis Murray on Big D.

hamguy

Anyone remember Pamella Wilson? Can't remember her real name, Frances something?
She worked on Limerick 95 prior to them having their license terminated.

dxhound2005

From April 2009.

Clare FM bullying action settled
A bullying and harassment action taken by a former Clare FM radio presenter against the company that operates the radio station has been settled.
At Ennis Circuit Court yesterday, evidence in the case by Frances O’Byrne (42) of St Patrick’s Terrace, Nenagh, Co Tipperary – known to listeners as Pam Wilson – against Clare Community Radio Holdings plc was due to be heard. The case was settled, however, and adjourned to the next sitting of Ennis Circuit Civil Court for mention only. In a response affidavit, Clare Community Radio Holdings plc denied the allegations.

Pete Ferguson

Niall O`Shea ? Ex presenter of Risin time and possibly late date on RTE

RadioRetro

Leo Varadkar wrote: »

A good few of the today fm weekend line-up of the early to mid 00s, Cliff Walker, Enda Caldwell, Tracy Lee,

Don't know about the first two but Tracey Lee is now married with kids and living happily on Malta.

Danny_Boys_Way

What ever happened to David Harvey? He used to present a phone-in talk show bearing his name on Classic Hits 4FM.

Declan A Walsh

Danny_Boys_Way wrote: »

What ever happened to David Harvey? He used to present a phone-in talk show bearing his name on Classic Hits 4FM.

Again, I don't think he is exactly obscure!

AndyBoBandy

Declan A Walsh wrote: »

Here's another name that might qualify for this list: Derek Jones. I heard him on Premier FM and Christmas FM. Despite decades of pirate radio experience, he would not be well-known outside the Dublin radio scene, and probably just north Dublin at that!

How long is it since you've heard Derek Jones?

My dad spent a lot of time on pirate radio in the 80's, and his radio name was Derek Jones (DJ).

Declan A Walsh

AndyBoBandy wrote: »

How long is it since you've heard Derek Jones?

My dad spent a lot of time on pirate radio in the 80's, and his radio name was Derek Jones (DJ).

The last time I heard him on the radio was on Christmas FM in 2008 or 2009. The Derek Jones I'm talking about was involved with various pirates from the early '70s to the early '00s and I never heard of him until he turned up on Premier FM's first temp licence in 2004!

J.pilkington

MikeyTaylor wrote: »

Former 2FM drivetime presenter Barry Lang who moved to Dubai and became an airline pilot. Does he count?

It depends on how this thread is interpreted, most of the presenters mentioned so far were dropped / unsuccessful which is definitely not the case with Barry Lang. He voluntarily left when 2FM / the industry when 2FM were at the height of their popularity to follow his dream. I still remember his last broadcast for some reason.

He is now flying Boeing 777s for Emirates, a great photographer who shares his shots on Twitter, well worth a follow