RTÉ DJ is not the only one shedding a tear, judging by the correspondence he has received since announcing he’d be stepping down from his Radio 1 show
Ronan Collins: as he takes his leave of the daily show he has hosted on RTÉ Radio 1 since 1985, the DJ doesn’t so much close the door as slam it and take off the hingesAs he nears the end of the final edition of his afternoon show, Ronan Collins makes a halfhearted attempt to tamp down the emotion of the occasion. “The instruction is, Close the door gently behind you,” he says, as if to ready himself for his exit.
But as soon as he introduces his valedictory song, Thank You for Being a Friend, by Andrew Gold, things go awry. Normally the epitome of on-air bonhomie, Collins falls uncharacteristically quiet. Then his voice catches. “Yeah, so many friends,” he manages to say before urging himself to keep it together: “Come on, Ronan.” As he takes his leave of the daily show he has hosted on RTÉ Radio 1 since 1985, Collins doesn’t so much close the door as slam it and take off the hinges.
In the process he breaks a personal promise. Talking to Philip Boucher-Hayes on Today with Claire Byrne beforehand, Collins says, “It’s very important that I don’t crack up.” But one suspects that the long-serving DJ is not the only one shedding a tear, judging by the amount of correspondence he has apparently received since announcing his departure, two weeks ago. Not for the first time, Collins suggests that his core audience worry that their musical tastes will be overlooked once he’s gone.
The latter category have been a key part of Collins’s success. Those of us who didn’t misspend our youth on the Irish dance hall circuit of the 1960s and 1970s may have occasionally been baffled by his tendency to attribute greatness to so many showband musicians and ballroom crooners of the era. But in proclaiming his admiration for what once got the floors hopping, Collins – a showband drummer in the 1970s – undoubtedly cemented his relationship with his audience of contemporaries.
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