{"id":509963,"date":"2026-05-30T07:06:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-30T07:06:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/509963\/"},"modified":"2026-05-30T07:06:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-30T07:06:08","slug":"marty-whelan-id-like-to-be-paid-more-particularly-when-i-see-what-other-people-are-on-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/509963\/","title":{"rendered":"Marty Whelan: \u2018I\u2019d like to be paid more, particularly when I see what other people are on\u2019 \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cYou\u2019ve caught me reading the Daily Mail!\u201d says Marty Whelan<\/a> as I come into the radio studio. He whips out The Irish Times for appearances\u2019 sake. I\u2019m in the control room and I can see him through the glass, the carefully combed hair, the rich moustache. He\u2019s talking through the intercom. It\u2019s an ad break.<\/p>\n

How is he feeling coming up to his 70th birthday? \u201cClinging to the wreckage,\u201d he says, but he\u2019s grinning. He\u2019s just back from Sorrento. His wife, Maria, surprised him with a holiday. He\u2019s in great form, he says. \u201cI don\u2019t know if it was the alcohol last week or the lack of alcohol now but my head is full of nonsense.\u201d<\/p>\n

He comes in most mornings very early, before his producer Ian McGlynn arrives (\u201cHe\u2019s far too handsome for the job,\u201d complains Whelan of McGlynn). He brings a bag of CDs because the internal system \u201csometimes decides not to work\u201d and he reads all the papers.<\/p>\n

As Emer McLysaght wrote for this publication<\/a> a few years ago, Marty Whelan is having a renaissance. His Lyric FM show Marty in the Morning has hit new audience highs for the station (71,000 in the last JNLR figures) and he has been acclaimed by pop-country star CMAT who chose to announce her last album on his show. \u201cWhere else?\u201d says Whelan.<\/p>\n

As I watch Whelan shoots the breeze with his listeners, contemplating the wildlife show suggestions of one listener (\u201cWhelan in the Deers\u201d), playing some audio from a child listener: \u201cCould you please tell my sisters and my mum to get out of bed\u201d, and doing a bit of a tribute to Ennio Morricone or \u201cEamon Macaroni\u201d as he likes to call him. McGlynn keeps giving me salted caramel chocolates left by a guest. The next day they\u2019ll be broadcasting from Bloom<\/a>. \u201cThat will be bedlam,\u201d says McGlynn.<\/p>\n

After the show Whelan is carrying a pile of letters and packages sent in by listeners. \u201cOnce someone sent me hash!\u201d he says. He hands a me a Marty in the Morning moustache fridge magnet. He has a cappuccino. \u201cI want to pretend I\u2019m still on holiday,\u201d he says wistfully.<\/p>\n

Whelan, an only child, grew up in Killester and went to Belgrove national school and then St Paul\u2019s in Raheny. \u201cI wasn\u2019t good in school,\u201d he says. \u201cI was never picked for the sport because I was rubbish. When I eventually discovered that if you have the ball you\u2019re in the most dangerous position on a rugby pitch, I\u2019d just get rid of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Music was his thing. The first band he loved was The Monkees. \u201cI was the guy going to school telling other people that The Monkees were better than The Beatles.\u201d His favourite song ever is Something in the Air by Thunderclap Newman. \u201cI\u2019ve never ever found another song that hit me the way it did. It was the first time I had a transistor [radio].\u201d To this day, whenever he plays it, he says, \u201cI\u2019m 13 with my transistor and I\u2019m down in Wexford on holiday.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MaryMary Kennedy and Marty Whelan at the launch of Whelan’s memoir, That’s Life, in Trocadero restaurant in Dublin, in 2015. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw <\/p>\n

He learned drums and played with a band called Ulysses. \u201cNothing pretentious about that,\u201d he says and laughs. He never pursued it seriously. \u201cI wanted something steady,\u201d he says, then laughs: \u201cI\u2019ve been on rolling contracts all my career.\u201d<\/p>\n

He would go to the Grove disco in north Dublin just to sit near the stage and listen to the album tracks that DJ Cecil would play early in the night. It\u2019s lucky he did because that\u2019s where he first saw Maria. \u201cI was smitten immediately and that was the end of me. Ten years later we got married and had our babies … The love of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

I was the guy going to school telling other people that The Monkees were better than The Beatles<\/p>\n

\u2014 \u00a0Marty Whelan<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

He soon had a day job at insurance company PMPA but he also DJed the drivetime slot on the pirate radio station Big D. When 2FM formed in 1979 he was an obvious choice. When he got the call, his dad said: \u201c\u2018Martin, would you ever ring back and see if that\u2019s for real?\u2019 He thought somebody was winding me up … My mum loved the idea, because she loved music and radio and film … My dad would have been less enthusiastic, because he was worried that it would be a mistake. PMPA was solid and I was in for life. He was scared for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

He was hired alongside other young upstarts such as Dave Fanning and Gerry Ryan. He knew Ryan from school (they were born two days apart) and he knew the others to see. \u201cWe all used to gather in Dolphin Discs on a Sunday when the new records were coming in. I know that sounds weird now.\u201d<\/p>\n

He recalls his first day, seeing Mike Murphy and Gay Byrne and Brendan Balfe wandering the corridor outside the door. \u201cThey were so nice to us,\u201d he says. \u201c[Some people in RT\u00c9<\/a>] gave out about us but it wasn\u2019t the people on air.\u201d He laughs. \u201cWe were young whippersnappers. \u2018How dare you come in here with your love of The Monkees?!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

He flourished at RT\u00c9 for much of the 1980s. Then, in 1989, he and some others were lured away to Ireland\u2019s first legal private broadcaster Century Radio. \u201cMy old hero Terry Wogan was involved and Chris de Burgh was involved … All these things aligned and then you say, \u2018Okay, I\u2019ll go and take a chance.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n

\n

The Daz ads saved me when Century went down … As I often say, we used to eat Daz at that stage<\/p>\n

\u2014 \u00a0Marty Whelan<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It was a huge gamble. Century lasted two years. \u201cIt died at teatime and the following morning there was a radio van from RT\u00c9 outside my house. \u2018How do you feel?\u2019\u201d Maria was a huge support, \u201can arm around the shoulder … We took our little girl down the beach, and we tried to talk our way through this … The fear factor was enormous.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the short term he started appearing in a now-classic advertising campaign for Daz washing powder. He would appear out of nowhere and say: \u201cI\u2019ll swap you two of these for one of those.\u201d He laughs. \u201cThe Daz ads saved me when Century went down … As I often say, we used to eat Daz at that stage.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"PresentersPresenters Marty Whelan and Sin\u00e9ad Kennedy on Winning Streak\u2019s 1,000th episode. Photograph: Bryan Meade <\/p>\n

Reconciling with RT\u00c9 was more complicated. He had a meeting with \u201cthe great Liam Miller\u201d, former managing director at RT\u00c9 television. Miller told him: \u201cTelevision has no problem with you\u201d and started giving him television gigs. \u201cThere was a marathon on a big fundraiser thing. Moya Doherty was producing, Gay [Byrne] was the presenter, and he opens this door and I\u2019m behind it, and [Gay says], \u2018Look who it is!\u2019 There was no animosity from those people.\u201d He presented the Rose of Tralee and a number of other shows, \u201cand we were able to have our babies and live a life.\u201d<\/p>\n

It took a lot longer before he got back on RT\u00c9 Radio. \u201c\u2018Over my dead body!\u2019 Is the phrase I\u2019ve been quoted,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Who said that? He laughs. \u201cAn individual!\u201d<\/p>\n

Were they punishing you? \u201cNo question.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eventually, after a 13-year absence, he began filling in for his friend Gerry Ryan and has been a consistent presence on radio ever since. As mentioned above, Marty in the Morning recently achieved record ratings. If I were to guess, I\u2019d say it\u2019s because increasingly people are choosing his upbeat, avuncular humour and warmth over the slow apocalypse of news radio. \u201cAnd sure, you might get a bit of Steely Dan into Pavarotti,\u201d he adds. He loves music. We spend a good third of our conversation discussing the likes of Bruce Springsteen, Willie Nelson, Jimmy Webb and, of course, CMAT.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Marty Whelan\u2019s wonderful world has extra appeal in dark timesOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

There has been, in the past, talk of axing Lyric. Whelan has certainly helped keep it alive. The head of Lyric, Sin\u00e9ad Wylde, is his former producer and she \u201cgets him\u201d, he says. He feels a real responsibility to his listeners. \u201cPeople send me letters [and] tell stories of immense sadness … And at the end they\u2019ll say, \u2018Would you play Labi Siffre?\u2019\u2026 I\u2019ve always wanted to bring humour and a lightness to what I do. I don\u2019t know if I\u2019ve changed that much insofar as I think it\u2019s just me being me, but as you grow into yourself and grow older, life happens. Having a granddaughter [Lily] for the first time concentrates the mind … I still love my children [he has two], still love my wife, still love life … But there\u2019s that extra element that\u2019s arrived and I find myself playing Heigh-Ho from Disney on the radio all of a sudden because you know she\u2019s out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MartyMarty Whelan celebrating his 25th year commentating on the Eurovision Song Contest in Malmo Arena, Sweden. Photograph: Andres Poveda <\/p>\n

He\u2019d like to do more television. He\u2019d love to do a music show \u2013 a musical quiz or something involving the orchestra (he has two Marty in the Evening shows with the National Concert Orchestra coming up in the Bord G\u00e1is Energy Theatre in September). He was sad not to go to cover the Eurovision this year (RT\u00c9 decided to boycott it on the basis of Israel\u2019s involvement) but says: \u201cIt was the right thing to do. It\u2019s very hard to be happy-clappy, singy-songy, when appalling things are happening to people in the Middle East. I was happy with the decision.\u201d<\/p>\n

How did he feel about the various RT\u00c9 payment scandals<\/a>? \u201cThe easy answer is there\u2019s nothing you can do about it,\u201d he says. \u201cThe second answer is all these things are as much of a shock to me as they are to anybody else.\u201d He laughs. \u201cOf course I\u2019d like to be paid more, particularly when I see what other people are on. In my case, when Winning Streak stopped because of Covid, clearly I didn\u2019t get another contract for it. If you\u2019re supposed to be at Eurovision, and we don\u2019t go, you\u2019re not going to get a contract … These are my understandings of how this business works. I would like to think that it works like that for everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n

Has he ever shaved his trademark moustache? \u201cMy lip is probably down to my knees now and I\u2019d look peculiar. Or more peculiar than I do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Would he ever retire? \u201cI\u2019m not sporty. I\u2019m not a club person. This is my club. I love it. I get great pleasure from doing this. And as I\u2019m well, I would like to keep going for as long as I want to, and they want me to … Gay kept going until he wasn\u2019t able to. Larry [Gogan] … I think about all these people who kept going. Who was I reading about the other day? David Hamilton at the BBC. He\u2019s 87, still on the radio.\u201d He adds loudly: \u201cLet that be a warning to everybody. That\u2019s like a threat.\u201d <\/p>\n

I suggest that he\u2019s already the elder statesman in RT\u00c9. He pretends to be affronted by this. \u201cThere\u2019s no need for that dirty talk!\u201d He thinks for a moment. \u201cIt\u2019s Dave [Fanning] and I, really … It\u2019s the same radio office upstairs, the same one I stood in in 1979. And sometimes early in the morning I do stand there and think \u2018Oh my God\u2019 and have a second of reflection.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marty in the Morning airs weekdays, 7am-10am, on RT\u00c9 Lyric FM. Marty in the Evening live with the RT\u00c9 Concert Orchestra is in the Bord G\u00e1is Energy Theatre on Friday and Saturday, September 11th and 12th <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cYou\u2019ve caught me reading the Daily Mail!\u201d says Marty Whelan as I come into the radio studio. He…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":509964,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[75],"tags":[14867,221131,18,51021,117,93158,19,17,122597,888,1181,144397,2212],"class_list":["post-509963","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-cmat","tag-dave-fanning","tag-eire","tag-emer-mclysaght","tag-entertainment","tag-gay-byrne","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-marty-whelan","tag-rose-of-tralee","tag-rte","tag-rte-pay-controversy","tag-weekendreview"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116662264725322208","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509963","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=509963"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509963\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/509964"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=509963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=509963"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=509963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}