Dave Fanning - last man standing

Austin Mayo

Dave Fanning is the only older DJ remaining at 2fm, he will become their longest serving presenter of all time on February 1st

mr_edge_to_you

Seen them all come and go so he has!

I would love to see ("hear") him on Gold with a regular slot. His show in the 90s was the soundtrack to my youth.

Used to love all the in-house sessions - was a great promoter of Irish music.

His fab-50 countdown was also great craic.

Gimme A Pound

Dave is fantastic. Found out about so much great music through listening to his excellent show.

gamecube

Dan Healy has got rid of Hector, Colm Hayes, Ruth Scott, Will Leahy, Rick O' Shea & Larry Gogan.....Dave is the next man to go to RTE Gold in the near future.

ford fiesta

Look at BBC Radio 1 they have Annie Nightingale (78) doing a weekly dance programme.

Dave should be moved to RTE Radio 1, if they can find a slot for him...not RTE Gold

Brendan Bendar

gamecube wrote: »

Dan Healy has got rid of Hector, Colm Hayes, Ruth Scott, Will Leahy, Rick O' Shea & Larry Gogan.....Dave is the next man to go to RTE Gold in the near future.

The sooner the better.

RTE GOLD.... great ‘station’ but a good ‘swamp’ to bury those who have gone beyond their time.Nothing personal on those mentioned.

Lookit.... for fohhhrkes sake you can’t rock into Montrose forever……and ever .

Jeez man.

Not a fchuuurking rest home paid for by the taxpayer.

ford fiesta

Brendan Bendar wrote: »

The sooner the better.

RTE GOLD.... great ‘station’ but a good ‘swamp’ to bury those who have gone beyond their time.Nothing personal on those mentioned.

Lookit.... for fohhhrkes sake you can’t rock into Montrose forever……and ever .

Jeez man.

Not a fchuuurking rest home paid for by the taxpayer.

Only Rick, Will and Larry have moved directly from an RTE radio station (2FM) into GOLD

Declan A Walsh

ford fiesta wrote: »

Only Rick, Will and Larry have moved directly from an RTE radio station (2FM) into GOLD

Did John Clarke did not go from 2FM to RTE Gold, or maybe was with both, before leaving for Nova? Didn't Colm Hayes also do a stint with RTE Gold before leaving 2FM (and RTE)? I think Michael Cahill, producer with 2FM, moved as a presenter to RTE Gold.

If Dave Fanning was moving to one of the RTE digital stations, 2XM might be suitable for his more alternative tunes.

ford fiesta

I was referring to the current Gold line up. And yes Michael Cahill is another. And not forgetting Aidan Leonard.
Though as you say he remains a producer on 2FM

Brendan Bendar

ford fiesta wrote: »

Look at BBC Radio 1 they have Annie Nightingale (78) doing a weekly dance programme.

Dave should be moved to RTE Radio 1, if they can find a slot for him...not RTE Gold

Advertising bad hair color products?

sideboard

Brendan Bendar wrote: »

The sooner the better.

RTE GOLD.... great ‘station’ but a good ‘swamp’ to bury those who have gone beyond their time.Nothing personal on those mentioned.

Lookit.... for fohhhrkes sake you can’t rock into Montrose forever……and ever .

Jeez man.

Not a fchuuurking rest home paid for by the taxpayer.

You specialize in knocking RTE and/or their presenters. Not that you are a failed poke from a 'commercial' rival. Positivity hurts?

Arghus

Dave's pretty much the only one of the long-time RTE presenters that I still have time for. A lot of the hate he gets is mystifying to me.

worded

Dave Fanning and the rock show
.... live from 10 till 2

Used to tape show and listen over and over .... had to put a wire out the window attached to the antenna for a better FM signal

Top 50 at xmas .... who would be number 1

Ah the memories

Brendan Bendar

sideboard wrote: »

You specialize in knocking RTE and/or their prese nters. Not that you are a failed poke from a 'commercial' rival. Positivity hurts?

I don't comment unless there is need for comment.

Claude Burgundy

Brendan Bendar wrote: »

I don't comment unless there is need for comment.

With almost 8,000 posts the need must be quite great

worded

Is it possibly to get podcasts of Dave Fanning?
I listen to very little radio these days

Thanks

Ursus Horribilis

Yes. Google Dave Fanning and Podcasts.

Edit :I'm not being sarcastic by the way. Everyone has their own way of accessing Podcasts

kneemos

Arghus wrote: »

Dave's pretty much the only one of the long-time RTE presenters that I still have time for. A lot of the hate he gets is mystifying to me.

He's the Jimmy McGee of the music world,all the facts and figures.
It has to be "cool" before our Dave will play it.

Also Gold was great before it had DJ's.

Brendan Bendar

kneemos wrote: »

He's the Jimmy McGee of the music world,all the facts and figures.
It has to be "cool" before our Dave will play it.

Also Gold was great before it had DJ's.

Very little input from ‘DJs’ on Gold.

That’s why Lorcan is going there.

AwaitYourReply

To me "The Dave Fanning Show" that I remember ran weekdays from Monday to Friday from 8:00-10:00pm on Radio 2FM. The appeal of Fanning's programme was that it would always be there to showcase emerging Irish rock/pop music talent that needed a plug. U2 were still trying to make it big outside these shores and Fanning was there for them which they never forgot. In fact, Larry Mullen Jr. always made a point of giving exclusives to Larry Gogan as well to show his appreciation for all of his support and publicity since the early years. Just before Dave you would have had The Hotline on 2FM with Barry Lang (Tony Fenton would later succeed Barry on the Hotline which had a Hitlist of songs that would be published weeknights in the Evening Herald and people would ring in as this was before SMS/Whatsapp!) After Dave came "Lights Out with Gerry Ryan" from 10:00pm-12Midnight and then it was "Night Train" with Mark Cagney from 12Midnight until 01:50am when Radio 2FM was required to closedown until 06:30am. Dave Fanning often broadcast interviews with artists and bands for his show over the years. They used also have a 30 minute slot "In Concert" once a week on Fanning's show for many years in addition to "Fanning's Fab 50" which was effectively a Christmas countdown but it did not run in 2018.

Fanning would later venture into more mainstream especially when he presented "2TV" on Network 2 television on Sunday mornings for a while.

I would definitely agree that Dave Fanning tended to speak far too quickly for the audience at times which was exhausting at times from a listener perspective and this may have gone against him whenever he was filling-in on speech orientated programmes as he used often take over from Gerry Ryan's popular morning show between 09:00am-12noon if Gerry was off on holidays.

No doubt about it but I reckon the reason Dave lasted all these years is probably because he is a hard grafter behind the laid back persona. Whenever you hear his film reviews, you know he has done his homework. I think when "Drivetime" show from 4:30-7:00pm weekdays on RTÉ Radio 1 the show was originally promoted as having three presenters: Mary Wilson, Des Cahill & Dave Fanning! They were up against shows like The Last Word on Today FM, The Right Hook on NewsTalk 106-108 and McGurk on 4 on 4FM (4FM was later rebranded as Classic Hits). For some reason, the Des Cahill sports slot and Dave Fanning music slot never took off and their involvement as anchors to the "Drivetime" programme strand was gradually hushed.
See below press release from RTÉ from May, 2007.

https://www.rte.ie/about/en/press-of...rivetimemay07/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Fanning

ford fiesta

Good post above on Dave Fanning.

Remember he also presented some TV shows and series in the 1980s, not just music one offs and documenteries but also programmes for youth issues like unemployment etc.

While his chat/magazine show was on Radio 1 7pm - 8pm around 2007 ?? (which was previously on 2FM in 2005/06 era), he remained on the 2FM schedule by just the skin of his teeth when a voice tracked music show was played on Sunday nights around midnight to 2am.
His nightly music show was then brought back to 2FM (not sure when though in around 2010) and this was also voicetracked from 8pm to 10pm with Dan Hegarty following at 10pm.

Dave was moved a lot within 2FM and to Radio 1 and back to 2FM, I can't really remember the specifics. But a lot since 1999.

What is striking is that it has been a long time since Dave has presented a full "Live" music based show on 2FM.
I would say 10 or maybe 15 years. Time sure flies.

death1234567

It's all been downhill for talks too fast since this: Number One

Mad_maxx

death1234567 wrote: »

It's all been downhill for talks too fast since this: Number One

Remember when gerry Ryan was the other captain.

You wonder what Joe Elliott was doing on that thing, def lepard were big, if not bigger than U2 during that era

ford fiesta

Mad_maxx wrote: »

Remember when gerry Ryan was the other captain.

You wonder what Joe Elliott was doing on that thing, def lepard were big, if not bigger than U2 during that era

Always wondered that. He was living in Dublin at the time (still is).

When Gerry Ryan was the team captain in previous series', Dave Heffernan was the presenter.

Mad_maxx

ford fiesta wrote: »

Always wondered that. He was living in Dublin at the time (still is).

When Gerry Ryan was the team captain in previous series', Dave Heffernan was the presenter.

Yeah I was around nine years old, never remember heffernan from anything else at all, wasn't listening much to radio then

Elliott was living in Dublin, generous of him to do the show, doubt they could have paid him more than his weekly spend on hair spray

AwaitYourReply

death1234567 wrote: »

It's all been downhill for talks too fast since this: Number One

I completely forgot about the cheap as chips Number 1 Quiz!

I also recall Dave Heffernan as host and Gerry as the other team captain - Joe Elliot probably succeeded Gerry in the team captain role while Ian Dempsey replaced Dave Heffernan and it wouldn't surprise me if it was produced for RTÉ by independent producer Frontier Films.

Below is a clip of Dave Fanning presenting his "2TV" music video show on Network 2 television on Sunday mornings in the late '90's.
I thought Damon Albarn of BLUR was doing very hard to look as cool as possible to appeal to his target audience - almost expected him to remove his shoes given the way kept his shoes in full view! Hilarious stuff looking back at it now at a time when music was still bought in record stores

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpZeBlxd6G4

Joe_ Public

Mad_maxx wrote: »

Yeah I was around nine years old, never remember heffernan from anything else at all, wasn't listening much to radio then

Elliott was living in Dublin, generous of him to do the show, doubt they could have paid him more than his weekly spend on hair spray

Dave Heffernan used to be the music guy on Anything Goes, rtes yoof show on Saturday mornings back in the day. Still see his name cropping up on various tv credits so he’s still knocking about montrose. Can’t think of the name of the spiky haired lass who used to do some of the music around that time too, think she’s still on the scene as well. Don’t fly too far from the nest that RTÉ crowd!

Mrs Shuttleworth

Dave is the John Peel of 2FM.

In music, age is just a number.

And Gogan shouldn't be shipped off unless he's genuinely incapable of doing the job.

Dave and Larry are the "Colonel Sanders" of the 2FM brand, most people couldn't name you any of the other jocks, maybe a few Dan Hegarty but that's it.

Mrs Shuttleworth

Joe_ Public wrote: »

Dave Heffernan used to be the music guy on Anything Goes, rtes yoof show on Saturday mornings back in the day. Still see his name cropping up on various tv credits so he’s still knocking about montrose. Can’t think of the name of the spiky haired lass who used to do some of the music around that time too, think she’s still on the scene as well. Don’t fly too far from the nest that RTÉ crowd!

Carolyn Fisher yes!!

And Dave would have Stevie Nicks vids on week after week after week...

Remember when they screened the full "Thriller" when it was banned by the Beeb

AwaitYourReply

Joe_ Public wrote: »

Dave Heffernan used to be the music guy on Anything Goes, rtes yoof show on Saturday mornings back in the day. Still see his name cropping up on various tv credits so he’s still knocking about montrose. Can’t think of the name of the spiky haired lass who used to do some of the music around that time too, think she’s still on the scene as well. Don’t fly too far from the nest that RTÉ crowd!

100% correct - Dave Heffernan came on last in the morning line-up for Saturday morning youth show: "Anything Goes". If I recall, the music video for the song, "Old Town" in Dublin City that Phil Lynott did as a solo artist had something to do with Anything Goes! I also remember when Brush Shiels used come in regularly and give guitar lessons to a young guy over a period of weeks. Presenters of Anything Goes were: Aonghas McAnally, Mary Fitzgerald, Kathy Parke and Dave Heffernan. They used often have a plug for Anything Goes straight after Top Of the Pops which used go out on RTE2 tv channel (pre-Network2 days) on Thursday nights but sometimes BBC would abruptly cut away and you often had a sloppy BBC promo for their Saturday Superstore youth programme appearing very briefly on RTE2!

AwaitYourReply

Mrs Shuttleworth wrote: »

Carolyn Fisher yes!!

And Dave would have Stevie Nicks vids on week after week after week...

Remember when they screened the full "Thriller" when it was banned by the Beeb

I thought the Irish premier of Michael Jackson's full "Thriller" video went out on a Sunday afternoon cos I was away the weekend it came out and wanted to get home to see it. I wonder did MT USA with Vincent Hanley on RTE2 television get the premier? This was such a big deal at the time!

Joe_ Public

Mrs Shuttleworth wrote: »

Carolyn Fisher yes!!

And Dave would have Stevie Nicks vids on week after week after week...

Remember when they screened the full "Thriller" when it was banned by the Beeb

God I don’t remember that at all Mrs S, but I did love the show at the time. Does RTÉ even have any decent music presenters or shows now and I’m not talking about the likes of Nathan bleedin carter. Colm o Callaghan I recall had a decent show a few years back but got axed for whatever reason.

Joe_ Public

AwaitYourReply wrote: »

100% correct - Dave Heffernan came on last in the morning line-up for Saturday morning youth show: "Anything Goes". If I recall, the music video for the song, "Old Town" in Dublin City that Phil Lynott did as a solo artist had something to do with Anything Goes! I also remember when Brush Shiels used come in regularly and give guitar lessons to a young guy over a period of weeks. Presenters of Anything Goes were: Aonghas McAnally, Mary Fitzgerald, Kathy Parke and Dave Heffernan. They used often have a plug for Anything Goes straight after Top Of the Pops which used go out on RTE2 tv channel (pre-Network2 days) on Thursday nights but sometimes BBC would abruptly cut away and you often had a sloppy BBC promo for their Saturday Superstore youth programme appearing very briefly on RTE2!

I know Mary Fitz (aka make and do) went to work in pr, including a spell in horse racing ireland, but I always wondered where Kathy Parke got to. Loved her hockey I seem to recall so bet she got a good kick out of the Irish teams exploits last summer.

AwaitYourReply

Brendan Bendar wrote: »

Very little input from ‘DJs’ on Gold.

That’s why Lorcan is going there.

I used enjoy Lorcan Murray playing 30 Years of hits on Sat/Sun on 2FM during the '90's. He has been on RTÉ lyric fm for last few years. I wonder is he remaining with Lyric fm or just also doing a little bit for RTÉ Gold?

AwaitYourReply

Joe_ Public wrote: »

I know Mary Fitz (aka make and do) went to work in pr, including a spell in horse racing ireland, but I always wondered where Kathy Parke got to. Loved her hockey I seem to recall so bet she got a good kick out of the Irish teams exploits last summer.

I first recall Kathy Parke used be a presenter on a pre-cursor to Anything Goes which was called "Let's Go" which aired during the week prior to Anything Goes subsequent debut. "Let's Go" seemed to be more focused on sports/fitness. Kathy used be absent quite a lot from Anything Goes and I felt she never left much of her own stamp on Anything Goes unlike it's other presenters.

Mary did her whole "Make & Do" routine which was always interesting to watch.
Aonghus used try his hand at everything from magic, card tricks, snooker, odd colour shoes, guitar playing etc;
Dave was more serious and his focus & concentration was all about the music towards the back end of the programme.
Kathy probably handled sports & fitness related matters?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWoLVOyUAu4

Another popular programme for Irish youth at the time was "Youngline" with Hilary Orpan, Conor McAnally (related to Aonghus McAnally) and Pat Butler and later other presenters which included Teresa Mannion amongst others.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5O5CeeorFm4

Also remember, SBB ina shuí with Seán Bán Breathnach and Gráinne Uí Mhaitiú which was young people's issues ag caint as Gaeilge.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAIqypiGXSM

Joe_ Public

Clap! clap!
Clap! clap! clap!
Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap!
“Let’s Go!!!”

Something like that anyway. Nice bit of nostalgia. I remember youngline usually on just as I got in from school, there was an item on it once about a carnivorous plant and showed it gobbling a fly, don’t think I slept right for a week after it!!

ford fiesta

Just thinking about music TV shows of the 80s and 90s, anyone remember "Rock Sundown" - a video rock music show from 1989 era, which was on RTE 2 (Network 2) and 2FM radio simulcast on Sunday nights, presented by a different 2FM presenter each week, such as Dave Fanning or Mike Moloney?

I clearly remember it showing Neil Young "Rocking in the free world" and Georgia Satellites "Hippy Hippy Shake"

It had the 2FM yellow logo at the bottom of the screen....as did all of the 'simulcast' shows !!

AwaitYourReply

Joe_ Public wrote: »

Clap! clap!
Clap! clap! clap!
Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap!
“Let’s Go!!!”

Something like that anyway. Nice bit of nostalgia. I remember youngline usually on just as I got in from school, there was an item on it once about a carnivorous plant and showed it gobbling a fly, don’t think I slept right for a week after it!!

That's brilliant - it definitely rings a bell with me for "Let's Go" intro!

We raised a lot of money, the princely sum of IR£200 in aid of the Irish Guide Dogs when we did a spelling competition in my local national school in Cork around 1982/1983 in conjunction with RTÉ's "Youngline" back in the day!

AwaitYourReply

ford fiesta wrote: »

Just thinking about music TV shows of the 80s and 90s, anyone remember "Rock Sundown" - a video rock music show from 1989 era, which was on RTE 2 (Network 2) and 2FM radio simulcast on Sunday nights, presented by a different 2FM presenter each week, such as Dave Fanning or Mike Moloney?

I clearly remember it showing Neil Young "Rocking in the free world" and Georgia Satellites "Hippy Hippy Shake"

It had the 2FM yellow logo at the bottom of the screen....as did all of the 'simulcast' shows !!

I recall Dave Fanning doing another music tv series called "Rock Steady" which I think was in conjunction with Channel Four. The presenter for Channel Four was Nicky Horne. The theme signature tune had Sting's vocals.

Found a clip on Gary Moore & Albert Collins being interviewed by Dave Fanning and a very fast clip of cut back to studio at 08:27 - blink and you'll miss it!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2meng8_85k

Below are Notting Hillbillies featuring Mark Knopfler (Dire Straits)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rL68UAAzjw

touts

Liked him in the early to mid 90s but turned out from him when I realised his standard line every week was that some new band was "the best thing to come out of xxxx since yyyyyy" and that they all sounded basically the same.

That said he still has more going for him than the innane giggling and jiggling that seems to pass for being a radio presenter these days.

AwaitYourReply

touts wrote: »

Liked him in the early to mid 90s but turned out from him when I realised his standard line every week was that some new band was "the best thing to come out of xxxx since yyyyyy" and that they all sounded basically the same.

That said he still has more going for him than the innane giggling and jiggling that seems to pass for being a radio presenter these days.

I know what you mean - he sometimes rattled off that line too often which made it sound repetitive for the listener. When he was good, he was great and I'd have to agree with you that many of today's presenters are lacking in sharing knowledge and personality which can make for boring monotonous radio at times. Fanning was great at sharing knowledge and imparting interesting trivia and Larry Gogan has this knack as well. Actually, I've grown to appreciate Ronan Collins, Cathal Murray, Neil Doherty, John Creedon & Philip King in recent years for giving a bit more. Gareth O'Callaghan also did this well on 2FM and later 4FM prior to his early retirement on health grounds.

Ursus Horribilis

touts wrote: »

Liked him in the early to mid 90s but turned out from him when I realised his standard line every week was that some new band was "the best thing to come out of xxxx since yyyyyy" and that they all sounded basically the same.

That said he still has more going for him than the innane giggling and jiggling that seems to pass for being a radio presenter these days.

I've seen him compared to John Peel but that's not a like for like comparison. Dave Fanning has always come across to me as someone who likes a certain genre of music (guitar bands mainly) and doesn't really stray outside of that. You could hear almost anything on John Peel's shows. He never seemed at ease presenting the Beat Box on Sunday mornings either -I doubt he was ever a follower of the Top 40.

Despite this, you are right. Unlike too many of today's radio presenters, he comes across as being an actual grown adult. I enjoy his cynicism and those long unwieldy questions he asks. He's distinctive and I like that. I'm surprised he has survived on 2FM for as long as he has, given what the rest of its line-up is like. Radio 1 would be a more natural fit for him at this stage but where would you put him?

worded

Do you have to use itunes for his podcasts ?

Can someone give a URL to his podcasts pls.

Ursus Horribilis

https://2fm.rte.ie/2fm-shows/dave-fanning/

https://player.fm/series/2281713

What are you wanting to listen to the podcasts on? The links I've posted should work in any browser on a computer. No need to install iTunes (I assume it's still the horrible bloatware monster it was years ago)

I mostly listen to podcasts on my Android phone using an app. The search engine in the app I use (Podcast Addict) uses the iTunes search engine. I'm sure most other podcast apps do the very same thing. This just happens to be the podcast app I tried out and liked when I was looking for one. I've never used an iPhone so I don't know anything about those or what apps to use. You don't need to mess around with URLs at all.

ford fiesta

It was 2TV Dave presented, not the Beat Box and he is very open that he presented the show without any preperation or interest in the pop music of the day

Ursus Horribilis

ford fiesta wrote: »

It was 2TV Dave presented, not the Beat Box and he is very open that he presented the show without any preparation or interest in the pop music of the day

Ah, wrong TV show but the same idea. Goes to show that you don't need to have an interest in music to be a modern day DJ :pac:

ford fiesta

Ursus Horribilis wrote: »

Ah, wrong TV show but the same idea. Goes to show that you don't need to have an interest in music to be a modern day DJ :pac:

Dave had a team working on that TV show, he literally just turned up!!.

His autobiography from 2010 "The thing is" is a good read for radio and music fans

frosty123

Haven Scrawny Joyrider wrote: »

Dave is fantastic. Found out about so much great music through listening to his excellent show.

The irish john peel

AwaitYourReply

frosty123 wrote: »

The irish john peel

So very true.

I always felt he was Ireland's equivalent to the Late John Peel and Andy Kershaw on BBC Radio.

Philip King of all those well renowned Irish bands down through the years not to mention his excellent radio programme "The South Wind Blows" on RTÉ Radio 1 and tv programme "Other Voices" on RTÉ television has similar qualities as a broadcaster.

its_steve116

Austin Mayo wrote: »

Dave Fanning is the only older DJ remaining at 2fm, he will become their longest serving presenter of all time on February 1st

That is a very interesting fact.

ford fiesta

its_steve116 wrote: »

That is a very interesting fact.

Followed by Mr. Spring, been with 2FM (on-air) since late 90s