Ronan Collins bid an emotional farewell to his RTÉ Radio 1 listeners today.
The 70-year-old, who has been at the station since 1985, hosted his final show on Friday.
However, the veteran DJ won’t be off the airwaves for too long as he’s landed a new radio slot on RTÉ Gold, starting in February.
Speaking on his final show today, the Dublin native said he was “overwhelmed” by the support he’s received from listeners.
“I don’t think the Radio 1 listenership are happy with the change, there’s a lot of people have been in touch in the last few weeks since I made the announcement and I’m feeling so many things,” he confessed.
“I’m flattered by the attention, embarrassed by the attention and I’m a little upset that so many people are unhappy about the fact that I’m going.”
“It was my call to go, I’m 70, I’ve been doing this for 43 and a half years coming in here five days a week and loving every single minute of it right up to driving in this morning.”
Join the wonderful Ronan Collins now for his very last show today until 1pm 😞✨ pic.twitter.com/8uVxrnBj9a
— RTÉ Radio 1 (@RTERadio1) December 23, 2022
“I always had a fear that I’m in danger of wearing myself out here completely and I had a fear that other circumstances might make me have to stop doing it.”
“I felt it was better that I get out ahead of these changes which were inevitable, but I had to look at my life and figure what do I want out of the rest of my life and time is the one thing that I would like, time to do other things.”
Before finishing the show, Ronan got emotional as he introduced his final two songs – Linda Ronstadt’s Adios and Andrew Gold’s Thank You for Being a Friend.
“It’s been a pleasure and a privilege.” ❤️
Ronan’s final farewell to his listeners. Best of luck Ronan in your next chapter, we’ll see you soon. #RonanCollins pic.twitter.com/igc4C4JoPF— RTÉ Radio 1 (@RTERadio1) December 23, 2022
After the songs played, he said: “That was for all of you, it’s just so many people particularly over the past few weeks, my entire working life has been about music and that’s why I let those two songs speak for themselves.”
“I could thank lots and lots of people but as always happened on this programme there was never enough time to do what I wanted to do.”
“Thank you very much, it’s been a pleasure and a privilege.”
