METAL NOTES last ever show ..

ray mcgowan

You may have heard Phantom FM is closing down and being rebranded. As a result Metal Notes will broadcast its last ever show next monday.

It all kicked off in Feb 1997, from a garden shed in Sandyford. As you may know, it rose from the ashes of Spectrum FM, although they only played indie & alternative ... no metal ?!?!
That would change when i arrived

At the time there was no metal on the radio in Ireland at all and i wanted to change that. To be honest, i never thought it would evolve into a commercial station. But there were some brilliant & passionate people at the helm, who had a vision to bring underground music to the mainstream. Ultimately they succeeded and they will always be legends in my eyes.

Anyway without going down memory lane, i want to thank all my past & present Phantom colleagues. It's been a blast.

It's been great to see the Metal scene develop over the years in Ireland. I've seen some deadly Irish bands come & go. The quality & production of material released by Irish acts has been first class. I'm genuinely shocked that more of them haven't been picked up by major labels.

For my last show, i plan to play all my favorite tracks including some classic Irish stuff. Hope you'll join me !

The last 17 years have been thoroughly enjoyable and i hope someone else takes the baton to get Metal back onto commercial radio soon.

Cheers,
Ray

www.facebook.com/raymcgowanmetalnotes

lord lucan

Thanks Ray for your work on promoting metal over the years and best of luck with your future endeavours.

Motley Crue

ray mcgowan wrote: »

At the time there was no metal on the radio in Ireland at all and i wanted to change that.

True enough. You were the inspiration behind my show Headbangers Ball on South Dublin Community Radio (which ran sporadically from 2002 to 2006) and then later my other Metal show at Tuesday lunchtime (no, I'm not kidding) on Dublin City FM in 2006

I took my love of Metal to Leith FM in Edinburgh and then later Y Radio in Newcastle Upon Tyne but it was Phantom and their "secret broadcasting location" which kept me inspired. I remember looking at a Metallica ticket in 2003 and seeing "2FM/Cool FM presents" and thinking "who the hell is Cool FM, Ray McGowan is the only person who plays Metal on Irish radio? Asides me from me anyway lol"

Seriously Ray, love it, great memories - gutted to see you gone and hopefully you're back on commercial radio in no time. Forget all this RTE Gold crap, we need a proper and diverse commercial music radio station in Ireland

Nailz

"Fade To Black" is a brilliant way to end it...

To you, Ray, I raise the horns! \m/

*Paul from Cavan

Passenger

Yeah, nicely done, Ray. Always enjoyed the show on Monday nights.

All the best to you.

nyarlothothep

Great show to end on.