Vintage 2FM Discussion Thread

Radio 2 5th Birthday 1984 from the RTE Guide

Radio 2 schedule from this month 40 years ago 1984, I did not know Barry Lang presented the Breakfast show and I dont think he was filling in for anyone?:

Arthur was filling in for Pascal Mooney on keep it country.

Country music was very popular with the over 18s in Ireland with Big Tom and TR Dallas etc. It was on in the evening so appealed to a slightly older audience, just like Dave Fanning's rock show did.

By the way, 2FM were playing Country and Irish music up until 1999 with Alan Corcoran sunday nights!

If Wikipedia is to be believed, Ronan remained as breakfast show host until the end of May 1985. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_RT%C3%89_2fm_Breakfast_Show

Tim has a site called mrspring.info that may be of assistance

There are some interesting entries. I did not realize that Gerry Stevens had left the pirate scene by 1987. Had he just recently left Q102 for 2FM? I did not know that Maxi had a show on Sundays mid-mornings. It is interesting to see the name Rory O'Brien as one of the contributors to her show. It is only in recent years that I learnt that he was previously with 2FM (Radio 2) and now see one example of where in the schedule. I also do not remember John Clarke's Sunday afternoon show Rock Roll & Remember.

I was young at the time, but I vaguely remember the rebranding of Radio 2 to 2FM circa 1988. I can just about recall an ad campaign and a competition called "The Key to 2FM" (I think the prize was a Ford Escort.) My memories might be fuzzy, but because of those ads, I'd always assumed that Radio 2 just rebranded to 2FM and introduced the "heart" logo. Looking at the November 1987 listings, however, it seems there was a period of "hybrid" branding where the station was referred to as "Radio 2FM" with the heart logo.

I clearly remember the "Radio 2FM" hybrid imaging period between "Radio 2" and "2FM" - it lasted around nearly 2 years - however if memory serves me correctly the DJs continued to announce the station in links as just "Radio 2".

I wonder had they initially wanted to call it "Radio 2FM" for this 1987 re-brand and gradually planned to change their mind in 1989 settling on just "2FM".

Though I think "2FM" was as a result of another re-launch in early 1989 a few months after Gerry Ryan moved to mid mornings. I remember the "2FM is mine" campaign.

It was in early 1987, the first Mercedes Roadcaster was introduced with a new one in 1996, but they continued using the 1987 as well, such was the demand and popularity of 2FM.

By the way it was in 2000 when that black/yellow heart shaped logo was replaced during the John Clarke re-brand - so it lasted 13 years !!

GREAT DAYS !!!!!!!!!!!

That period from 1988-1998 was definitely 2FM’s heyday. They can only dream of that kind of popularity/relevance today.
Is the Roadcaster still a thing to this day? I can’t remember hearing or seeing any mention of it in years. Interesting that Today FM never bothered with a “roadcaster”, to my knowledge.

The 2006 model roadcaster is parked prominently between the Radio and TV centres at the front of the RTE campus, very visible from the Stillorgan road. It is branded with all RTE stations, not just 2FM. They use it still on 2FM and other radio shows. The desk is fairly basic with some faders, a monitor and 2 CD players.

It is interesting thinking about the former 2FM music presenters/deejays who went on to be fulltime sports presenters: Peter Collins, John Kenny (yes - I know he kept his hand in the music!) and Shane O'Donoghue.