Why was Today FM called Radio Ireland?

At the time of launch, Radio Ireland was very much targeted at the RTE radio 1 market. It was pitched with talk, specialist music and art programmes and so 'formal and old fashioned' should have appealed to its target audience. RTE did make some mutterings about the name, but there was nothing they could do about it.

It was an embarrassing mess of a schedule from day one. Some not very good presenters mixed in with some good ones.

Dire name, dire imaging. Doomed to fail trying to go up against ( a much stronger in those days) Radio One with such a terrible schedule.

John McColgan, his missus (now RTE Chairperson!!!!) and friends should have set fire to their money instead.

It had a Dermot Morgan comedy selection show which I quite liked though.

Was it called Centaury FM at one stage ?

Yes, Century Radio (I don't know if its name was changed to Century FM - maybe it was) had the original national independent license. It started broadcasting in early September 1989 and the plug was abruptly pulled in the middle of November 1991. A new competition had to be held for that radio license. Eventually, Radio Ireland won that competition and was launched on the night of St. Patrick's 1997. It was renamed to Today FM in early January 1998.

What I would say about Radio Ireland/Today FM for its first year or two was that it had a lot of different styles of programming, including specialist music shows and more talk shows. It was actually quite adventurous, particularly in light of what happened to its predecessor. The original Radio Ireland line up included people who had been on Century Radio - Declan Meehan, Bob Gallicoe and Robbie Irwin. In its last month as Radio Ireland, they were joined by yet another Century Radio presenter Mark Byrne. Another ex-Century Radio presenter, Jim O'Neill, did the voiceover for the rebranded Today FM and eventually did become a presenter on Today FM.

I recall that when Dermot Morgan died in 1998 that there was a special version of the regular Sunday show The Sunday Supplement dedicated to Dermot, which was presented by journalist Sam Smyth. He was a friend of Dermot Morgan and a regular panelist on The Sunday Supplement at the time. This show ran for a few years starting on Radio Ireland. The original presenter was publisher John Ryan and the other regular panelists were George Byrne (r.i.p.), Declan Lynch and journalist and future RTE presenter Katie Hannon. Sam Smyth eventually took over as permanent presenter and it subsequently was replaced with The Sam Smyth Show.

John Kelly left Today FM in late 1998 - possibly November.

The River of Soul, presented by Karl Tsignidos, kept going until 2003.

Among the other original presenters, Declan Meehan and Phil Cawley stayed with Today FM for years. Declan left in 2016 and Phil left last year. He was the final presenter that went all the way back to Radio Ireland.

I'm not sure if sports presenter Paul Collins was there at the very start of Radio Ireland, but he certainly arrived during the Radio Ireland days - possibly April 1997. He left Today FM during 2019.

Among the more curious changes during the Radio Ireland days was replacing a late night Saturday dance show presented by Mark Kavanagh with a love songs show presented by Jon Troy!

It's still their company name, as far as I'm aware... i.e.: "Radio Ireland T/A Today FM" 😉

Half-right. It was with Gavin Duffy. I think the show was called Daybreak, but I am not sure. At various times, either Mark Costigan or Cathy Farrell would stand in for one or other. By the end of its run, the latter two were the main presenters. Philip Boucher Hayes presented an entertainment news type programme weekdays around lunchtime. In early December 1997, Radio Ireland replaced their weekday morning current affairs programme with a music-led breakfast show presented by Mark Byrne. This carried over into Today FM. During the summer of 1998, Mark left Today FM when he heard that Ian Dempsey would be joining the station and presenting the breakfast show! Paul Power, who had been presenting an early weekday show at that stage, was the main breakfast presenter for the remaining period until Ian started presenting in late September.

Interesting article. I practically got the name of the current affairs programme right - Day Break! So by June 1997, PBH was dropped and replaced by Paul Power, who had been a weekend presenter, and Gavin Duffy had left to be replaced by his frequent stand-in Mark Costigan. I think Emily O'Reilly continued for a little longer before being permanently replaced by Cathy Farrell, upon her departure.

Yes, it's one thing basking in the reflected glory of a giant talent like Gay Byrne (as one of a number of producers) and quite another trying to gel together a credible and listenable schedule from scratch for a station that depends 100 per cent on ad revenue.

Just another in a fairly long line ex-RTE producers who think they could do it in the independent sphere (as PDs) and get found out fast.

Caimin Jones in Clare FM and Dan Collins in Radio Kerry being the spectacular exceptions. Both were also skilled broadcasters in their own right.

Always thought it funny that they took the name Today FM considering 2FM, I am sure Ian Dempsey was heard to say 2FM at times by mistake.

😏 come on that's not begrudgery if it was Radio Ireland would largely have the same service that it had back in 1997, they realized that if they were to continue they'd loose money hand over fist. It was a major move for Ian Dempsey and it may not have worked out, AFAIK Today FM programming outside The Last Word and The Ian Dempsey Breakfast Show struggled along until the arrive of Ray D'Arcy.

Note that The Last Word is the only remaining part of Radio Ireland. It is a legitimate criticism of the station when it first began.

Classic Hits (4FM) are clearly aiming for a similar formula today - given that their current schedule is heavily laced with 2FM '90's - 00's era presenters. They even have ex Today FM stalwart Phil Cawley in the ranks now. 1990's - early '00's 2FM was a pretty unique time, they had little to no competition and many of their presenters became household names with big audiences... neither Today FM nor particularly 2FM really cater for that audience anymore.

It is something that Radio stations have to be aware of 4FM was aimed at the over 55s when it began in 2009 the audience would have been teens of the 50s and 60s and 70s, 10 years on and we are all getting older, though I think 4FM has potentially got younger and is aim at the over 35s now.

I though 4fm line up was quite good, but I think the musical interludes during news programmes kind of stifled them.

I think 4fm is a better name than Classic Hits.

That's right. Not for the first time, people are confusing Century Radio with Radio Ireland. As you can see, this was already covered earlier in this very thread! Radio Ireland/Today FM changed ownership a few times before Communicorp came on board, and of course is now owned by Bauer Media. This means that the Denis O'Brien era has come to an end as well. In fairness, it is an easy enough mistake to make, i.e. confusing Century with Radio Ireland, especially as the latter went on to rename itself Today FM.

For the benefit of confused presenters (!):

Century Radio (or variations of the name with Century): September 1989 - November 1991

Radio Ireland/Today FM: (1) Radio Ireland - March 17th 1997 - early January 1998, (2) Today FM - January 1998 - present