Action station: Ian Dempsey

Hotpress: What’s the latest on the listenership front in relation to your Breakfast Show?

Ian Dempsey: We have 196,000 listeners nationwide. I think 2FM have 195,000. So those new figures are very significant for us passing out 2FM for the first time and I’m delighted.

HP: Was your move from RTE a risk?

ID: Yeah, but everything is really. If I hadn’t done it then I would have turned into one of those people out to grass in RTE.

HP: Do you mean Tony Fenton?

ID: (Laughs) No! But I was getting a bit complacent there and needed a fresh challenge – and by God was it a challenge!

HP: Do people get sucked into the comfort of being with the national state broadcaster?

ID: I think they did at one time, but not any more. It’s fiercely competitive now and that’s good for the listeners. The drawback might be that we’re all starting to sound a bit the same, but Today FM has tried to change that a bit, with new music, new ideas, humour.

HP: When you fist started with Today FM you didn’t have the familiarity of Jimmy and Des Cahill around you. Did that make it hard?

ID: It was heart-breaking for the first four months and I was quite unhappy with it. Starting anything new can be like that. It’s just a pity it has to be done in public! But once we got the team working and broke down some of the bureaucratic barriers it began to move.

HP: At what point did you think “Oh fuck! I’ve made a big mistake!”?

ID: You’re just trying to get me to say ‘fuck’ in hotpress! I might have said “Oh flip!” or “Oh dear!”. No, I never felt that, honestly. I felt I could get through it.

HP: There were rumours that you had the security of a long-term contract.

ID: Yeah, that was a comfort, that because I’d made that sacrifice and taken that risk, the money was guaranteed for a specific period of time even if it fell flat on its face. So it’s not a rumour any more. It’s true!

HP: Did joining Today FM rejuvenate you?

ID: I’ve always enjoyed giving space to people like Jimmy and Dessie Cahill and Zig and Zag and bouncing things off them to our mutual benefit, and I knew I’d found that again at Today FM when I met Paul McLoone and Mario Rosenstock, people who are fresh and inventive. I knew then I’d made the right move.

HP: Have you ever been approached to run for political office?

ID: (laughs) No. You’re thinking of Ian Paisley.

HP: Where do you stand re the great debate between Ronan and Louis?

ID: Ronan was very badly treated on the air, particularly when Louis went on about his charitable work. That was uncalled for. There seemed to be three days when Louis was under so much pressure he just lost it. He abused a lot of people on the air, including the Irish Countrywomen’s Association, comments like, “go back to your knitting, missus” or whatever.

HP: Are you playing the Six record?

ID: We’ve played it about twice.

HP: Only twice?

ID: Only twice.

HP: Is that because RTE are making money out of it?

ID: No. We don’t play SClub7 or Steps or Hear’Say much either. Ronan Collins and Larry Gogan on RTE played The Gift album, so there’s give and take either way.

HP: We’re thinking of starting a rumour that you’re going back to 2FM to take over Larry Gogan’s programme.

ID: Nobody could take over Larry’s programme and I hope he’s back on the air soon.

HP: Do you not like Michael Cahill?

ID: (laughs) See? You’re trying to get me into trouble! Larry is irreplaceable.

HP: What was the first record you played on radio?

ID: Joe Dolan’s ‘You’re Such A Good Looking Woman’.

HP: And the first one on Today FM?

ID: ‘Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I’m Yours’ by Stevie Wonder.

HP: What was your most embarrassing moment on air?

ID: I called Ossie Ardiles Ossie Ard-isles. I’ve been caught singing on the air too.

HP: Who’s your favourite radio presenter ever?

ID: I think Larry Gogan is about as good as it gets. On talk radio there’s Gerry Ryan, Eamon Dunphy, Joe Duffy.

HP: They’re all men.

ID: (Exasperated) Jesus. You asked me a question and that’s the answer.

HP: Why is there a dearth of women on radio?

ID: I think women don’t like listening to women on the radio. Men don’t mind either way, but women prefer to listen to a man’s voice on the radio. It could be a competitive thing.

HP: Has this been backed up by any research or did you just make it up?

ID: No, that’s just off the top of my head.

HP: What are you currently listening to?

ID: I like the Vanilla Sky soundtrack. I like listening to the old singers, Ella Fitzgerald types, that jazzy feel. My parents brought me up on that. I also like The Revs. We had them in for a live session, so you can’t fault us for not supporting Irish bands.

HP: Sure didn’t Tom Dunne get a Fairplay For Airplay award on this programme when your back was turned?

ID: He did. And didn’t Hotpress readers vote quite a few Today FM presenters into your annual poll, including myself?

HP: But you were in it before when you were at 2FM.

ID: True.

HP: So you might be the only DJ to have figured in our Poll with two different stations?

ID: I just might.

HP: How old are you.

ID: 41

HP: Can you complete the tie-breaker question. “I think Eamon Dunphy should stay at Today FM because…

ID: “…because he knows which side his bread is buttered on.”