The announcement that 28-year-old Ryan Tubridy is to take over the breakfast show on 2FM came as one of the most unexpected moves in radio circles in recent years. Not since Ian Dempsey departed the same slot and defected to Today FM three years ago has there been such surprise expressed by insiders. A graduate of Greek & Roman Civilisation at UCD, Tubridy was widely regarded as the rising young star of Radio 1 and something of an intellectual heavyweight – not the usual background of a 2FM presenter.

“It’s a very common reaction,” Tubridy says when I tell him I thought someone had made a mistake by mentioning his name in connection with 2FM’s morning schedule. “I didn’t see it coming myself. It was a bolt from the blue.

“I didn’t jump at it either,” he insists. “It came to me gradually that this might be something different, both for me and for 2FM. I’m totally committed now to making it work and the management are fully behind it. It’s certainly the biggest job I’ve ever been offered.”

The new show, which will be called The Full Irish, debuts on March 18th and will run from 6am to 9am daily. The format is expected to fall somewhere between light news coverage, music and the usual breakfast radio fare.

“We have structures in place but it’s deliberately loose and it’ll take shape over time,” Tubridy explains. “There’ll be plenty of music and we’ll have Des Cahill on sports and we’ll be doing the traffic reports and the weather and all that. We’ll be looking at the newspaper story or headline of the day but nothing is set in stone and we might have something running for a few weeks and then try something else.”

As for the music policy Tubridy says he doesn’t intend to shock anyone that early in the morning. “I known my musical tastes are outdated – it’s mainly the Rat Pack and the crooners but I like a lot of the modern music too. So it could be Dido or The Beautiful South or it could be a David Bowie track that you haven’t heard in a while.

“I’m also keenly aware of the massive audience that Gerry Ryan has from 9.00am onwards. We would hope that if we hit the right chord we could start bringing some of those on board earlier. We also want those people who drifted over to Ian Dempsey back – thank you very much!”

One of Tubridy’s abiding passions is politics and with a general election on the horizon he feels his new role couldn’t have come at a better time. “I can’t wait for it to get rolling,” he says. “For example, I was reading recently about the huge interest in Sinn Féin among third level students. There’s a huge story there. This is the post peace process generation. These are a generation who aren’t au fait with bombs and the bullets. They’re more familiar with Gerry Adams-superstar, meeting Bill Clinton and being welcomed in the White House. But why are they so fascinated and interested in Sinn Féin. Is it the whiff of sulphur? And I’m fascinated to know why did the Gardai wait till last week to make those arrests in Kerry.”

Tubridy is keenly aware that the attrition rate in radio is high but reckons he has about 12 months to make the new show work.

“I’m ambitious about it and I really want this to work,” he says. “But if it fails I’ll put up my hands, walk away and let it go.”