John McMahon, almost a year into his tenure as head of 2FM, talks trouble, shake-ups and moving on from the death of Gerry Ryan

WHEN JOHN McMAHON took the job as the new head of 2FM last September he was fully aware of the mammoth task facing him – or thought he was.

The station was no longer the powerhouse it once was. Back in 2001 2FM had a market share of 19 per cent, according to Joint National Radio Listenership (JNLR) figures, the benchmark for radio listenership in Ireland. But in the most recent JNLR book in July, covering the period from July 2009 to June 2010, this was down to 9.3 per cent.

Some of the reasons for 2FM’s steep decline were, admittedly, beyond the station’s control, such as increased competition from local stations and more people turning off their radios in favour of MP3 players, many of which lack a radio function.

But 2FM didn’t do itself any favours over the past 10 years, with badly thought-out reshuffles and an ultimately doomed attempt to attract a younger audience. The station went through four breakfast-show line-ups in two years under McMahon’s predecessor John Clarke, for example, as it ambled and muddled along. Few were surprised that listeners went elsewhere in droves.

McMahon was brought in to remake and remodel the station to woo listeners in the 20-44 age group. As he settled into a corner office he knew this would involve significant changes.

Then, on April 30th, the station’s biggest commercial attraction, Gerry Ryan, died suddenly and what McMahon calls a tsunami of emotion hit the station. “Gerry was the life and soul of the station as a human being. He was exactly like he was on air – only more so. We lost a friend, a colleague and the biggest link in the 2FM chain.”

For McMahon it meant changes would have to come sooner than he thought. “I wanted a new shape to the schedule, and it became very obvious very quickly that this wasn’t a case of small changes and tweaks. We needed to make a statement about where the future of the channel was going to be. It hastened the decisions that needed to be made, but I don’t think it changed what those decisions were.”

Last week McMahon announced his first new 2FM schedule. It features a return to the station for Ryan Tubridy, a move to the breakfast show for Hector Ó hEochagáin, new slots for Rick O’Shea, Colm Hayes and Larry Gogan and exits for Jim Nugent and Nikki Hayes.

He knows Ó hEochagáin at breakfast will divide listeners. “People will write to me and will be online, saying ‘this is a terrible idea’ – he’s too Navan or too Galway or too whatever else.

“But a bland non-reaction is not what I want. Sure, people will either love him or hate him, but I think the first will outnumber the second.”

Bringing Tubridy back to 2FM had been on the cards since last year, McMahon says. “Then 2FM was a station with one huge star, and I wanted it to have three or four huge stars. What happened was we lost our biggest star. Ryan is not a replacement for Gerry. You can’t replace Gerry. Ryan is different from Gerry. Ryan will do stuff over time that Gerry didn’t do, just as Gerry did things Ryan will never do.”

McMahon began working for RTÉ 15 years ago, as the station's webmaster, before moving on to produce various RTÉ Radio 1 shows and 2FM's Full Irishbreakfast show, with Tubridy. This led to spells as editor of current affairs on RTÉ Radio 1 and deputy head of TV

scheduling before 2FM came calling for the one-time “long-haired muso head from UCD”.

He has very definite views on what makes for good radio. “I would love to hear more fun, more craic, more anarchy on the radio. When I say getting into trouble I don’t mean getting a rap on the knuckles from the BAI – I mean things which are a bit naughty.”

McMahon admits 2FM’s audience lost faith with the station of late. “There were things I would have done differently. The station was aiming at a 15- to 34-year-old audience, and we moved that to 20-44.

“The repositioning was acknowledging where our audience was and accepting that those who listen to 2FM were actually in their early to mid 30s. We had to accept that reality and create a station for that audience.”

McMahon is still eager to find more new voices for 2FM. “There are 50-odd radio stations in the country, and there are some really talented presenters out there, so that’s one place to keep looking. But I’m also fascinated by the idea of finding someone who has no interest in being a broadcaster but who has

opinions on things and is a loudmouth, someone who had a life outside of the media and has something to bring. Gerry had a law background; Marian Finucane used to be an architect: they’re people who can

contribute to the national conversation.”

McMahon knows there’s a lot resting on his shoulders now that he has shown his hand with the schedule. It has been a tough first year for him. (Last weekend his wife, fellow RTÉ broadcaster Evelyn O’Rourke, issued a statement saying she had undergone treatment for breast cancer and is pregnant.)

“I’ll be in this job a year in two months’ time, and in that time we’ve had a pretty astounding professional tsunami, a changing landscape and a pretty nasty recession. I hope that, in another 10 lifetimes, I don’t have to go through that weekend when Gerry died again.

“I don’t think anyone in 2FM, including me, should rest on their laurels and say they’ll be here in five years’ time, because the next five years’ time will be very interesting in radioland.

“It’s been a very challenging year so, if you ask me if I’m here for the long run, I’m here until I get a better year than this one. It’s been challenging and interesting and all of that – but I certainly hope the next few years will be a lot more fun.”