`No music before 1979" is the message at the launch of 2FM's new look: the RTE powers-that-be have decided to go for a younger audience. One wonders how the two older presenters present, Gerry Ryan and Dave Fanning, feel about the ultimatum. "There is lots of good modern music but you do have to go looking for it," says Fanning when pushed on protestations that Bowie, the Doors and the Beatles transcend generations. Does the new look mean an exit for the old baggage? "I do more hours now than ever before," Fanning says. Another 2FM personality who seems to be putting in many hours at the office is Uaneen Fitzsimmons, presenter of No Disco, radio presenter and Party Girl of the Year, as dubbed by the now defunct Himself magazine. But the party-girl image just isn't true, she says - she needs lots of sleep, and anyway her late slot on 2FM gets in the way of the socialising. And Ruth Scott can hardly be gearing up for too much of an exciting social life with her new schedule at 2FM from 6 a.m. to 7 a.m. during the week - but she can always go to work straight from the nightclub, she muses.
One person who does seem to be having a good time was the youthful Mark McCabe. This lad, fresh from golden Spanish beaches, strolls about the serene dock area of Charlotte Quay, bubbly in one hand and a string of photographers following, lapping up the glory of being not only one of 2FM's new DJs but having a record at the No 1 for the past six weeks. One can only guess at the glee at which RTE radio boss Helen Shaw and 2FM head John Clarke rub their hands, with this fine poach from pirate radio.
And it's official, despite what you may have read in recent months, presenter John Power is only 20. The latest addition to the 2FM team confesses he often lets interviewers think he is whatever age they slap on him because they would not respect him in his tender years. Oh, the perils of being young and successful.