It is the end of an era as The Ronan Collins Show said goodbye on RTÉ Radio 1 today, with Ronan telling listeners: “Thank you very much – it’s been a privilege and a pleasure,” reports RTE.
The last episode of the popular music hour finished at noon and Louise Duffy took over. She admitted that she has “very big shoes to fill”.
Ronan opened his final show with Neil Sedaka’s Our Last Song Together and closed with the double “two last songs – one for me and one for you”, Linda Rondstadt sang Jimmy Webb’s Adios and Thank You For Being a Friend by Andrew Gold.
In the latest JNLR poll, released in November, The Ronan Collins Show was still the most listened to music program on Irish radio with 232,000 listeners each weekday.
Alongside classic songs and new music, Ronan’s musical taste is as electric as ever. He would have no problem playing a Joe Dolan hit back to back with a Led Zeppelin track. And he follows it up with a Stan Freberg comedy record.
However, that’s not the end of the radio road for Ronan.
The 70-year-old DJ has also confirmed that he will continue to broadcast The Collins Collection on bank holiday Mondays on RTE Radio 1. He will also spin a classic or two 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,” reports RTE.
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