Limerick Post reporter ANDREW CAREY caught up with popular DJ before his biggest gig of all
AS THE Irish Rugby squad enters the final few weeks of preparation ahead of the World Cup, the IRFU have drawn upon their wisdom and linked Limerick again with being very much part of the heart and soul of the modern game.
Ahead of the visit of France and England to the Aviva Stadium over the next two weekends, Limerick’s very own 2fm Drivetime DJ, Will Leahy, will be the man charged with “warming up the crowd” as he takes on the role of MC for both games. All going well, there’s an opening for more to follow.
Looking to emanate the performance of Hector ahead of the All Ireland Finals, the Limerick solicitor and Drivetime host, as he says himself, “will have to stand in the middle of the pitch in front of 50,000 souls and have them singing and clapping before introducing the teams at the start of the games.” With both fixtures being beamed on TV, he will also have an international audience.
Proud to be a Limerick representative on such a stage, the Limerick solicitor says that “he has compered many events in my time, but this is by far the most daunting. Half of them might be at the bar and the rest might be wondering who I am?”
Thankfully, Will, with a radio audience of 120,000 each weekday, says he will solicit the support the legendary Munster Army to help him out and lend their voice and support.
“It will be a great honour for me to be in the tunnel with the Irish World Cup team, now all I have to do is learn the words to “The Fields of Athenry”.
With the popular DJ continuing his role with Daithai O’Shea as a commentator on the Rose of Tralee next Monday, he takes a brief look back to where it all began for him behind a mic.
Having presented the very popular Saturday Show for eight years on the run, and now well settled into his new slot in the evening, Will shared his born love of radio.
“I always wanted to be a DJ and none of my family are performance orientated, although my mother was an Irish dancer. My love of radio came when I was eight-years-old and Radio 2 started, I remember it well because we had never heard the likes of such a thing and while we had ‘Big L’ and ‘John the Man,’ it seemed like being a DJ was the best job in the world”.
Will continued recalling his friends choices of profession, comparing them to his wishes and hopes for the future.
“When everybody else wanted to be a fireman or an astronaut, I wanted to be a radio DJ and my wish was to work for Radio 2 and nothing else. It was sometime in May 1980 and I was around 18, and there was a competition to win a trip to spend a day in Radio 2 and I entered and won. I couldn’t believe it but that’s how much I wanted to work in radio and Radio 2. The day came where we were to make our visit and my brother and cousin came with me. It was fantastic”.
Ignored in his native city…but discovered in Galway
ADDRESSING his earlier years in Limerick before getting his break, Will reminisced on first few live broadcasts before finally making it into the big time.
Curiously, it was while working as a DJ in Galway that his talents were fully recognised.
“I worked in all the pirate stations in Limerick while I was growing up, yet I couldn’t get a job in RLO when it started, and then it became Radio Limerick 95fm and they still wouldn’t hire me. I went in there two summers in a row trying to get a job and they wouldn’t even give me one making the tea. Finally, things changed when I went to UCG I got a role in the local Galway radio station”.
But his difficulty in getting employment at home continued.
“I still couldn’t get hired there [Radio Limerick 95fm], even while I was in college. I came home every summer and they just wouldn’t hire me. But while I was in Galway and working my slot, the programme controller of a radio station in Dublin heard me while he was on holidays, made contact and offered me a position so I began working in Spin 98.
“My breakthrough came at last. While training to be a solicitor in Dublin I would send tapes into 2fm for two years and they finally called a year after I stopped sending in tapes. They must have kept them on file and asked if I would cover maternity leave and do a 2am to 6am slot for a year. It’s probably the slowest overnight success story in history”.
As he embarks upon taking to the centre stage of the Irish rugby world at the Aviva Stadium this Saturday, and again on August 27, Will Leahy says it is a huge honour for him and indeed, the city.
“I have to stand in the middle of the pitch and announce the teams. If it goes well, I could be doing it for the Six Nations next year in front of our new President”.
With a nod to the future and continued success, Will touched on his hopes for his native city.
“I have lived here all my life and would see myself doing so for the future. It is great that the concerts have taken off in Thomond Park and I would love to see them return as I think the city is crying out for bigger events. “Big events can be held in other places around the country and Limerick should be no different. I hope that we get a proper summer music festival. If there was anything I could do to influence it, I would. But sure nobody listens to me, I’m only the guy from the radio”.
Will is on air weekdays from 4.30 to 7pm.
