'Lar' was the
undisputed king of Irish popular music. A legend in his own lifetime. Although
he lived to the ripe old age of 85, he never lost his on-air mojo. The passion
he had for what he did remained undiminished to the very last. Larry once
remarked that he'd been blessed to have been able to work as a disc jockey.
"All I ever wanted to do was play records and talk in between them"
he said. This was a typically modest assessment of the kind of work he'd done
on both Radio and television over some 60 years.
His consummate
modesty made the work he did sound simple but, we all know that it takes lots
of talent and loads of dedication to have kept his shows sounding both fresh as
well as current over a period of more than half a century. Larry's God-given
talent was something that simply couldn't be replicated with his natural,
easy-going flair making him utterly inimitable.
Larry Gogan
seemed to have been around forever, making it all too easy to have taken his
enduring presence for granted. It's safe to say that Marian Finucane gave the
women of Ireland a voice during her long and distinguished broadcasting career
whilst the legendary Gay Byrne got the whole of Ireland talking. But it was
Larry who got Irish feet tapping.
The great man's
DJ career grew alongside the rise of popular music in Ireland. He started
spinning his pop records on Rádio Éireann during the early 60s and remained
loyal to his favourite genre despite a spell of pop doldrums in the 1970s.
However, his perseverance paid off when RTÉ launched RTÉ Radio 2 in 1979. Now
known as 2FM, Radio 2 was to become Ireland's equivalent to BBC Radio 1 giving
popular music a home on Ireland's airwaves. 2FM also became Larry Gogan's home
for over 40 years, a place where he rapidly grew to become a national treasure.
His popularity was thanks, in part, to 'Larry's Golden Hour' and his often
hilarious 'Sixty Second Quiz'.
Gogan had
originally aspired to become an actor but, luckily for us, he discovered his
calling when he first heard Elvis on Radio Luxembourg (The Mighty 208). He got
his breakthrough an uncanny stroke of good fortune when one of his father's
regular customers popped into the family shop; a radio producer called Maura
Fox. Fox helped the young Larry Gogan into a job at The Eamonn Andrews' Studios
in Dublin. He later joined RTÉ, starting his life as a DJ in 1961. Larry Gogan
produced his own show and drew up his own playlists.
Colleagues
tell how Larry was known for fastidiously keeping up with the very latest pop
news, gossip, and new record releases. This was especially so after he landed
the prestigious job of presenting Ireland's Top 30 countdown every Sunday
afternoon. This was a show that I would seldom miss back in the days when we
all had our fingers poised on the "pause" button, ready to record our
favourite chart music for playback on our car stereo systems. Larry's
presentation style was always bright and enthusiastic. In a word - excellent!
His gift as a
broadcaster provided him with the opportunity to move on to television. In the
'80s, he presented Larry's Golden Hour as a 'simulcast' on 2FM and RTÉ
Television. This meant that RTÉ viewers got to see the latest popular music
videos on their TV sets whilst listening to the audio output in perfect hi-fi
stereo. But Larry's earliest TV stints harked way back to the 1960s when he
presented Pickin' The Pops and The Go 2 Show. Very early on, Larry Gogan had
become a star but he wore his stardom with quiet dignity and consummate
professionalism.
Gogan's
abilities attracted attention far beyond Ireland's shores, with both the BBC
and Radio Luxembourg offering him various opportunities. But Larry was a very
happily married man, having wed his childhood sweetheart Florrie. With a young
family of five children, the couple decided to stay in Ireland despite lean
times in 1970s Ireland where opportunities for a DJ were somewhat limited in
the rather austere environment of 70's RTÉ. During those bleak old days,
Larry's weekly show 'Discs-a-Gogan' was one of only a few outlets for
contemporary rock & pop on the rather stuffy Rádio Éireann.
But things got
a whole lot easier once RTÉ Radio 2 started broadcasting in 1979. Larry's
afternoon show was aimed at the mainstream audience with 'The Golden Hour' helping
to broaden the station's appeal by providing space for a little dollop of pure
nostalgia within a schedule that had some much younger presenters at the helm.
People such as Dave Fanning, Mark Cagney, Arthur Murphy, and the highly
irreverent Gerry Ryan.
Larry's
devotion to his job never diminished. The studio was always his natural domain.
Larry once recalled having a heart monitor installed. His doctor remarked that
Larry's blood pressure was never lower than when he was presenting his daily
show live on air!
Larry's
"Sixty Second Quiz" became a national institution, made famous by the
jingle "JUST A MINUTE - THE SIXTY-SECOND QUIZ!" The quiz became well
known for its often comedic wrong answer. Here are just a few of the gems:
Q: "Where is the Taj Mahal?"
A: "Opposite the dental surgery."
Q: Name a bird
with a long neck.
A: Naomi
Campbell
Q: What star
do travelers follow?
A: Joe Dolan
Q: What was
Hitler’s first name?
A: Heil.
Over the
years, Larry became a well-loved fixture on 2FM with his enduring on-air
presence. But poor health and personal bereavement eventually visited Larry.
The sad death of his beloved wife Florrie in 2002 delivered a huge blow to
him.
2FM became
increasingly youth-orientated which necessitated moving Larry from his daily show
onto a less arduous weekend slot. Larry finally announced that he was leaving
2FM in January 2019 after 57 years of service. Despite his declining health,
Larry kept on working, presenting a show on RTÉ Gold. “You’d go mad doing
nothing," he said.
Following the
deaths of Gay Byrne and Marian Finucane, Larry Gogan’s passing seemed to close
an entire chapter at RTÉ. Perversely, having been one of Ireland’s first-ever
DJs, it may well turn out that he'll end up being one of its last. It's almost
fitting because it's a case of - follow that.
There's no
question that Larry Gogan was the very best of the old-school DJs. He was
never more content than when he was playing the music that Ireland loved and
wanted to hear. You could say, he was 'happy as Larry'.
It all sounds
pretty easy doesn't it? The thing is though, no one else did Radio quite like Lar.
His affability made easy listening, well, easy. And you can't bottle that!
Larry Gogan - 1934 - 2020
Douglas Hughes is a UK-based writer producing general interest articles ranging from travel pieces to classic motoring.
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