As from Monday September 26, the primetime slot will be taken over by veteran RTE man Marty Whelan who impressed station bosses during the summer when he stood in for Gerry Ryan.
“Marty is a proven talent and I am delighted that he is working for us,” enthuses Head of 2FM John Clarke. “He adds further strength to a very competitive daytime schedule.”
The current breakfast duo will now go their separate ways with Ruth Scott anchoring the weekday 4 to 6pm slot, and Rick O’Shea returning to the late night 10 to 12pm shift.
Says a well-placed source: “2FM want Whelan to deliver as big a possible audience to Gerry Ryan who’s dropped 40,000 listeners over the past 12 months, most of them to his Today FM rival Ray D’Arcy. Gerry and Marty are seen as being complimentary whereas Rick and Ruth were bringing in a much younger age group which defected as soon as they went off.”