The 2 Johnnies have admitted that "something had to give" in terms of their workload - and that's the reason they’ve quit 2FM.
Johnny B and Johnny Smacks were guests on Saturday’s edition of The Brendan O’Connor Show on RTÉ Radio 1 and explained their situation and their reasons for their departure, which was announced last Tuesday.
"We haven’t time," Johnny B said. "To be honest, we’ve been working seven days a week for the last two years, and we’re working all day today and all day tomorrow again on our new show.
"Like, if you were us - we can’t stop doing our podcast, we can’t stop doing our patreon podcast, we can’t stop doing live gigs. Something had to go like. We could’ve stopped doing telly, but that’s very sporadic work.
"So if we ever want to have our lives back, unfortunately radio was the one that had to go. And we loved doing it, Brendan."
"But if you loved it so much," Brendan O'Connor responded, "If they offered you more money would you stay?"
"The money was agreed long ago," said Johnny Smacks. "You can’t keep working seven days a week forever. We want our lives back."
The pair were then asked if radio "is a side hustle for people like you, that it’s not your main gig."
"It was never our main gig," Johnny Smacks insisted. "But radio is magical. Before we went into it, we weren’t listening to a lot of radio. And then we got into it and we could see the connection you make with people.
"We were the sound of people driving home from school or work. Radio really does matter to people. But for us . . . the sun in our universe is the podcast.
"That’s the biggest thing we have and that’s the mother ship. Everything revolves around that."
The Brendan O'Connor Show, Saturdays and Sundays, RTÉ Radio 1
