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Ian Dempsey (born 16 January 1961) is an Irish presenter of television and breakfast radio. He is the long-running presenter of the breakfast show on Today FM, self-titled '' The Ian Dempsey Breakfast Show'', which runs from 6-9 am each weekday. He has won several major awards for his programmes and was the
Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern ...
's tenth most-listened-to broadcaster in 2007. On 9 June 2010, he co-hosted the opening ceremony of the
2011 Special Olympics World Summer Games ) , Nations participating = 185 , Athletes participating = 7,000 , Events = 21 , Opening ceremony = 25 June 2011 , Closing ceremony = 4 July 2011 , Officially opened by = Karolos Papoulias , Athlete's Oat ...
Irish heats at Thomond Park with
Des Cahill Desmond Cahill (born 10 March 1959) is an Irish sports presenter and commentator with national broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann. Cahill presents RTÉ television's GAA programme '' The Sunday Game'' and RTÉ's flagship weekend sports radi ...
.


Early life

Dempsey began his first experiments in radio in 1967 when at the age of six he made his first radio show in a friend's house. In 1978 he joined Dublin pirate station
Capitol Radio A capitol, named after the Capitoline Hill in Rome, is usually a legislative building where a legislature meets and makes laws for its respective political entity. Specific capitols include: * United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. * Numero ...
, and later worked for Alternative Radio Dublin and Radio 257.


Career


RTÉ

On 29 February 1980, he joined the national broadcaster, Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ), to present ''The Weekend Breakfast Show'' on RTÉ 2fm, and later, shows such as ''Poparama'', ''The Hotline'', ''Night Train'' and ''The Great Giveaway Show''. Dempsey later hosted the lunchtime show before moving to the breakfast slot in the mid-1980s. He picked up where Marty Whelan had left off, engaging the audience with his natural personality, a world apart from the 'jocks' that stalked the Radio Centre in Montrose at the time. Apart from a brief time off breakfast following 2fm's 1989 relaunch, he has remained on early mornings since. Maxi was placed on the breakfast show at that time, but, after a few weeks, it was apparent to all that her style was not suited to the format; Dempsey was promptly reinstated. 1986 saw Dempsey's first major exposure to television, with the children's show ''
Dempsey's Den ''The Den'' was a long-running popular children's television strand of Republic of Ireland, Ireland's public broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann. First broadcast on 29 September 1986 on RTÉ1, it moved to Network 2 two years later. Initially a ...
'', which also gave the alien twin puppets Zig and Zag their first break to the small screen. Noted for his choice of brightly coloured jumpers, Dempsey presented '' The Den'' until the summer of 1990 and later reflected on his time at the helm in a 2008 RTÉ documentary. He also worked on various TV shows including the pop music quiz show ''Number 1'' and three seasons of '' The Beatbox'', a two-hour
music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing devi ...
show
simulcast Simulcast (a portmanteau of simultaneous broadcast) is the broadcasting of programmes/programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simult ...
on
Network 2 Network, networking and networked may refer to: Science and technology * Network theory, the study of graphs as a representation of relations between discrete objects * Network science, an academic field that studies complex networks Mathematics ...
and RTÉ 2fm. He was also the first host of the Irish version of '' Talkabout''. Dempsey weathered the storm of the advent of independent radio in Ireland on RTÉ 2fm breakfast. His style was informal and relaxed. His rapport with
Des Cahill Desmond Cahill (born 10 March 1959) is an Irish sports presenter and commentator with national broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann. Cahill presents RTÉ television's GAA programme '' The Sunday Game'' and RTÉ's flagship weekend sports radi ...
was particularly strong. John Clarke, later head of RTÉ 2fm, produced the show and occasionally deputized.


Today FM

Dempsey shocked the Irish radio world in 1998 by announcing a move to the newly relaunched Today FM. He had been tempted by a sizable salary package to join the station that 12 months beforehand had languished with a minimal JNLR result. He left RTÉ for Today FM in July 1998 and since 21 September 1998 (when his breakfast show was launched) he has worked at the station with his Gift Grub team providing comedic value. 2fm have struggled to find a suitable replacement ever since. Attempts have included Hector Ó hEochagáin, Ryan Tubridy, Colm Hayes and Marty Whelan in recent years. When the move was announced he was refused entry to the Montrose campus and publicly complained that over 20,000 albums of his were not returned to him by RTÉ. In recent years it has been widely reported that 2fm have tried to tempt him back. In 2007 Dempsey started presenting an online radio show for Irish people abroad called '' The Craic''. Dempsey appeared on '' The Restaurant'' where he bamboozled the critics with his Mini Bloody Mary Burgers, JFK's Lidded Lobster Soup, Swedish Meatballs, Tagliatelle with Lightly Curried Prawns, Deeply Bitter Chocolate Mousse and a dish he called "The Bomb". In late August 2015, Dempsey and Today FM colleague Louise Duffy presented The Seven O’Clock Show on TV3 filling in for usual hosts Martin King and Lucy Kennedy.


Personal life

Dempsey lives in Sutton, Dublin. He is married to Ger and has three children. Evan is a member of the band The Kapitals who have played the Oxegen Festival twice while Shane works as an engineer for Today FM.


Awards

Dempsey was nominated in the category of Best Radio DJ - National at the 2010 Meteor Awards. On 16 September 2016, it was announced that Dempsey had been inducted into the PPI Radio Awards Hall of Fame along with RTE 2FM DJ Dave Fanning and South East Radio's Eamonn Buttle and Downtown Radio's Trevor Campbell. , - , 2010 , , Ian Dempsey , , Best Radio DJ - National , , , -


References


External links


Official website
of '' The Ian Dempsey Breakfast Show''
2009 ski trip
of '' The Ian Dempsey Breakfast Show'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Dempsey, Ian 1961 births Living people RTÉ 2fm presenters RTÉ television presenters The Den (TV programme) presenters Today FM presenters