Today FM

Today FM is absolutely my favourite Irish radio station. There is nothing like waking up to the Ian Dempsey Breakfast Show and hearing Ian and co easing you into your day. They ease the pain of the morning! The Gift Grub segments are hilarious and worth setting your clock for even if you’re on a day off. The whole show is just brilliant — definitely Ireland’s best brekkie one. After Ian Dempsey, you have Ray D’Arcy’s show, which is generally topical and entertaining. Then you have Ray Foley and Tony Fenton. I’m a fan of The Last Word also — it kicks off at 4.30pm and is presented by Matt Cooper. If you never listened to another scrap of news or current affairs The Last Word would keep you up to speed on the country’s goings on.

As a nationwide broadcaster Today FM probably fits in somewhere between stern and serious Radio One and cool and bratty 2FM. We’re talking easy listening and classic music and talk shows that veer between current affairs and intelligent banter.
Maybe I’m mainly a fan of both DJs Ian Dempsey and Ray D’arcy because they’re mates with Zig and Zag but I also happen to think that their shows are funny and irreverent. They may invite the odd phone-​in but they don’t try to stir it and feed off bored/​angry/​lonely, callers unlike some phone-​in shows we could mention. They also both sound like they actually enjoy their jobs and having the craic. Laughter is infectious and its exactly the dose you need to catch on a cold, grey, Irish Monday morning.

Today FM is usually my station of choice. I’m not a huge fan of Matt Cooper in the evenings, he’s a bit hectoring and patronising for my liking but over all its a great talk radio station with enough musical segments to keep everyone happy.
Although it does get slagged for being cuclhie FM sometimes, Its a label I don’t really think it deserves as theres as many Dublin listeners as the rest.
As Aoife & Kate both mention Ray D’arcy is the man of the moment and the stations most popular DJ. His show is as well known for Ray being Mr Softly, softly as well as a bit of prude as it is for team of researchers and producers Will, Mairead and Jenny. Ray Foley in the afternoon is a unashamed attention seeker and messer but the show can be fun too.
On the music side Paul McCloone, Alison Curtis and Donal Dineen all know their stuff and the less said about the dinosaur that is Tony Fenton the better, he’s pretty much upstaged by his unflappable producer Pamela on every show.
As 2fm starts to verge into territory most uncool, its good to see commercial radio is alive and well on a national level.

Today is the slightly cooler radio station if you were to pick one out of the new national stations.
It’s biggest dj would probably be Ray D’arcy — he has a slot from about 10am-​12/​1pm and it is extremely popular. Again, its not only Dublin locals who listen to this — it has a huge following from the country folk too. The culchies’ only love today fm!!!