It's the end of an era as The Ronan Collins Show signed-off today on RTÉ Radio 1 with Ronan telling listeners: "Thank you very much - it's been a privilege and a pleasure."
The last-ever episode of the much-loved hour of music went out at 12 noon with Louise Duffy set to take over the slot. She’s admitted she has "very big shoes to fill".
Ronan opened his final show playing Our Last Song Together by Neil Sedaka, and closed it on the double, "two last songs – one for me and one for you", Linda Rondstadt singing Jimmy Webb's Adios and Thank You For Being a Friend by Andrew Gold.
In the most recent JNLR survey, published in November, The Ronan Collins Show was still the most listened to music show on Irish radio, drawing 232,000 listeners every weekday.
As well as playing classic songs and new music, Ronan's taste in music is about as eclectic as it comes. He'd have no problem playing a Joe Dolan hit back-to-back with a Led Zeppelin track. And follow that with some Stan Freberg comedy record.
It’s not the end of the radio road for Ronan though.
The 70-year-old DJ also confirmed that he will continue to broadcast on RTE Radio 1 on Bank Holiday Mondays with The Collins Collection. He'll also be spinning the occasional classic on RTÉ Gold.
At the time he announced he was stepping aside, Ronan said: "Nobody will ever know how grateful I have been for all the opportunities over the past 40 years and going forward with RTÉ.
"I've been working on afternoon radio on RTÉ Radio 1 for nearly 38 years, plus six years before that on Radio 2, and nobody will ever know how grateful I have been for all the opportunities over the past 40 years and going forward with RTÉ.
"I often ask myself 'how much longer can I continue to do this?' and the answer always is 'Just keep going.’
"New challenges await now on RTÉ in 2023, and I will continue to be on RTÉ Radio 1 with The Collins Collection on Bank Holidays."
