Twenty-five years ago, Gerry Ryan was "top of the jocks" and one of the biggest broadcasters in the country. To celebrate his success, he talked to Donal O'Donoghue for an RTÉ Guide cover story that appeared on this week in March 2001.
"'Come into my office. I think there's some champagne. Oh actually, we drank it all this morning.' Welcome to Gerry Ryan's office, an open-plan affair where there is no champagne but there is a life-size cut-out of Ryan circa late 80s. It is a 'cominatcha' mop of black hair, flashing teeth and a pair of Ryan-sized arms, outstretched either in aggression or embrace," wrote O'Donoghue.
"Right now GR is in embracing mood. Earlier today the JNLR figures (the listenership ratings that give the broadcast world nightmares twice a year) brought good tidings. Gerry Ryan, the show as opposed to the man, weighed in at third position, behind Moming Ireland and Marian Finucane. The show was up by 18,000 listeners to a publicist's dream of a whopping 392,000. So the champagne is long gone, but the show still goes on."
Gerry Ryan died in 2010, aged 53.
