Radio veteran and TodayFM presenter Ian Dempsey said he never feels like he is competing with other radio stations, including his former home RTÉ.
The morning show presenter first started his career in the national broadcaster on 2FM, hosting the breakfast show in the 1990s.
Ian made the shock announcement in 1998 that he was leaving RTÉ Radio to join the newly revamped TodayFM.
Since then, 2FM has struggled to find a long-term replacement, including Ryan Tubridy, Marty Whelan and Doireann Garrihy – Ian goddaughter - who recently announced she would be leaving RTÉ.
Ian said he’s never taken count of the 2FM presenters after him, but agreed it was “impressive” he’s lasted this long in TodayFM himself.
“People have to try things out,” he told The Anton Savage Show. “I don't say, ‘Oh well they're all doing this so I'm going to try and do that’.
“No matter what anybody does, and how many incarnations of it there are, I'm always going to do what I do.”
Ian said he also doesn’t feel like he has any sort of competition with other morning radio shows.
“I want to do the best that I can do,” he said. “I want to use the people that I have around me and I want to try and get the best out of them.
“I honestly don't really listen – I mean, I don’t know what they do on FM104, I don't know what they do on 2FM anymore, even.
According to Ian, he was just ready to enter commercial radio and did exactly that.
Ian Dempsey, 1998. Image: Rolling NewsIan has been interested in the world of broadcasting from a young age, taking a bigger shine to radio than TV.
“I wouldn't have any huge kind of ambitions to be on television, but I like being on radio,” he said.
“It's nice to be there to kind of give people the news, the bit of goss from the night before everybody else has chewed up and spat it out.”
Ian has, however, taken a dip into the world of television at different times, including Dempsey’s Den in the 1990s, which also gave the alien twin puppets Zig and Zag their first break to the small screen.
Ian swears Zig and Zag are real life aliens, and no “puppetry” is involved in their existence.
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