Atlantic 252 What happened?

Wait a second - is that not Enda Caldwell there?

It would be interesting if they were to bring back Atlantic 252 on DAB in the UK. Same music same slogans, I bet they would have a following. Virgin came back on DAB, why not Atlantic 252.

89-96.

I did enjoy the rhythmic format that John O’Hara introduced towards the end of 252 but it was just too late. They had the programming but not the right waveband.

If they had hung on for another couple of years it could’ve been so different. Perhaps DAB could’ve been the savior of Atlantic 252.

I remember it being very popular around 1992-93, it was definitely the iRadio / Spin of its day, except it probably had far bigger listenership than the current offerings as there was literally no other alternative back then! In the west of Ireland your alternatives were 2FM and local radio - which mostly catered for much older audiences.

TBH I couldn’t ever really take to it though. The LW audio was dreadful compared to FM stereo and the silly DJ names and mid Atlantic accents were all a bit ridiculous. I thought it was so bizarre then that this UK/US sounding station was actually based in Co. Meath and never referenced that fact. It was definitely very much of its time.

There’s a glut of early ‘90’s music that still gets airplay to this day that always reminds me of Atlantic 252!

A few years later we had the likes of Dusty Rhodes and Rick O’Shea (still using the daft names) turn up on 2FM. I remember Dusty used to use some of his old Atlantic jingles / voice overs on 2FM!

It wouldn't sound right unless I put my speaker into a plastic bucket and threw some clothes (preferably 90's tie-dyed t-shirts with The Orb on them) in on top of it. As much as anything else, I associate Atlantic 252 with the distinctive sound of Longwave. It was better than nothing at the time but it was a terrible format for music radio.

It filled a market that wasn't there at the time. I loved the station in the early 90s because there was such little choice out there for a teenager who wanted to listen to the Top 40. While 2FM had its moments, it also had Gerry Ryan's talk show in the mornings and oddities like Alan Corcoran playing Declan Nerney records on Saturday evenings. There were no wall to wall music stations at the time. We seem to have come full circle, with so many presenters now playing music that's chosen for them and an emphasis on content creation. That's a topic for other threads!

I don't remember it in its later format but it sounds like it was again catering for an audience which wasn't getting its music elsewhere? I was surprised to see it kept going until the end of 2001. I thought it'd had folded years before that. I find it fascinating that people are saying it sounded great on LW. I always thought music sounded awful on it but it was better than Gareth O'Callaghan's endless Michael McDonald records or the crappy BBC Radio 1 signal we could get.

Favourite memories?

Charlie Wolfe on breakfast. Just brilliant, challenging breakfast radio. Charlie’s conservative worldview was unheard of in the media. These days we have huge podcasts like Ben Shapiro. Back then…nothing.

Politics and hit music. Brilliant.

I have no recollection of Charlie doing anything remotely political in those days tbh .. he was a cheeky chappy and nothing more

yes, the station was bought and it became teamtalk 252.

it didn't last a year if i recall.

The Pizza Man in full flight!! Intense 😂

Still coukd you imagine today's social media starlets even attempting this with a desk?!

Was there a dj called Cliff Walker?

I did not know this. Another voice from my childhood gone.

They wouldnt even be able to queue up and play a CD.

taken way too young.

https://radiotoday.co.uk/2022/10/radio-presenter-gary-wilkinson-has-died-aged-50/

Its not just the desk operation that's skillful, but each of those inserts were on different cart tapes !!

"Even the Hit List on 2FM back in the day had an urgency about it"

100% correct ! Tony Fenton with 26 records and some cart tapes with live phone requests coming in on paper. Nothing prepped or pre-recorded. As his jingles went "More hits in one hour than any other radio station"

It's crazy to think that the above clip of Pizzaman on 252 from 1995 came from a big georgian house in Trim, Meath !!

Not all the time, but certainly a lot of the time!

Sandy Beach

Batman Gomez

Wayne Scales

Dickie Bow

Desperate Dan

Cousin Brucie

Robin Banks

Jo King

Bam Bam

Annett Curtain

Dan the Hitman

Hollywood Haze

I suppose you could add Nails Mahoney, although he had already been using that name prior to his time with Atlantic 252!

Incidentally, there are plenty of threads about Atlantic 252 on Boards. Examples:

And that's not all of them!

Actually, Annett Curtain could have been as a result of a misread of old post somewhere! Forget that one - all the others are right though!

Other female presenters included Becky Chippindale and Lois Lane (Katherine Orman).

Mary Ellen O'Brien is an example of presenters from the early days that were linked to '80s offshore pirate Laser. Most of the presenters that came from Laser to Atlantic 252 were American and also included: Charlie Wolf, David Lee Stone and Andrew Turner. The latter was the exception, being an English newsreader.

My point exactly!! The last "mainstream" jock that ran the desk themselves and knew how to use it to good effect was probably Ronan Collins.

Also, folks that mentioned the energy being missing from radio these days are bang on. You had to be switched on and wide awake to put on a Performance like the Pizza Man in that clip!! Contrast that with the amount of times I've heard Aifric mention being hung over on 2fm and thanking her producers for getting her thru the show!!

That's right. It was something he had done previously on BBC.