When the soothing tones of classical music flood the airwaves of Lyric FM in the mornings, you can’t help but imagine Marty Whelan sitting behind the microphone, ear phones on, waving his arms around wildly like a conductor. “Who would have thought one man would have such fun in a studio on his own?” he laughs.

It’s a warm laugh, infectious, one that couldn’t be faked. In fact, from the get go, its clear Marty is a gentleman. As he walks around the Radisson Blu Hotel, just a stone’s throw from his base in Montrose, posing for photos for Irish Country Living , he holds a door open for an elderly lady, chats like a best friend to a man from America and even carries our handbag.

There doesn’t seem to be any act. But if there was (and we had fallen for it hook, line and sinker), he definitely couldn’t have kept it up for 287 pages of his new book That’s Life, which is on sale this week.

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“I had been asked a few times to write a book but, to be honest, the guys in Gill and Macmillan brought me to the Westbury and schmoozed me,” he laughs.

The truth is, though, the timing was right for Marty to tell his story. His mother sadly passed away two years ago and, as his memories of her pour onto the page, you can’t help but wonder whether writing this book was part of his grieving process.

“My mother was an amazing woman. Imagine: she lived until she was 95 years old. As an only child, I had a very strong relationship with both my Mam and Dad. When I was young, the three of us used to head off to seaside locations. It never bothered me that I was an only child. And it was quite rare. Up the road where we lived in Killester, the Burns family had 12 kids, the Grennans had 10. The only thing was I could never get anyway with anything; I was their only focus.”

Marty says his love of music definitely came from his parents, and his whole book’s theme is around songs that have impacted his life. “Yes, there were guitar lessons, drumming lessons. There was even a not-so-successful ’70s band called The Ulysses.” And although we might be used to Marty now, with his more old school music on Lyric FM, many readers can reminisce on a day when Marty was rocking it out on 2FM or Radio 2, back when it was in its infancy.

“When 2FM first took off in 1979, over 2,000 people sent in DJ recordings to get the gig. Even when I got it, people thought I was mad to leave a permanent, pensionable job with PMPA (now AXA), but the excitement levels were off the charts. I had done my stint with pirate radios; there was this new national station aimed at young people and I was working with household names: Larry Gogan, Pat Kenny, Gerry Ryan, Dave Fanning.”

This was some risk that paid off for Marty. So years later, when Century Radio – another new venture – came a-calling, Marty was the man who took the leap. That was until it all collapsed within a few months. In his book, Marty reveals quite a dark time. He was basically ousted from RTÉ Radio for making the move.

No regrets

So Marty, do you regret it? “There was no doubt that it was a hard time, and we were really worried. Jessica was just a newborn, and it was a case of we have to feed the baby. Looking back now, though, I couldn’t say I regret it because, if I had stayed in RTÉ Radio, would I have gotten my foot into television? Would I have gotten the Eurovision gig? Would I have presented the Rose of Tralee?”

Certainly, although the boys in RTÉ Radio didn’t let Marty back in through the doors, for years after the Century Radio incident, the TV team were a little more forgiving. “I remember doing a telethon in 1992 and Gay Byrne saying, ‘Look who we have here.’ And that was it. I was back.”

In fact, it was his years in TV that really got Marty connected with the Irish audience and specifically his time hosting the different versions of Winning Streak.

“It’s such a unique show. You know contestants are there one week buying a scratch card for €2 and the next, they’re in a TV studio with lights, make-up, cameras. And then we are telling them to act natural, when really many are like a deer in headlights. But it’s spending those days, easing them into the show, connecting with people, I love that. And I’ve met some gorgeous people, and some others who are just pains in the arse, but that’s life. It’s still got that local aspect: people making banners, entire communities tuning in to support one of their own.”

something different

This feedback from the audience is also what drives him on his morning show on Lyric FM. “Ah, we really have a laugh. The audience sends me gags and stories – and it’s loopy, but it’s good loopy. I love to keep that part of it alive. And musically, we go anywhere from Vivaldi to Van Morisson. I really think Lyric is providing an alternative for listeners. Most stations are either top-40 hits or news. We’re achieving something different.”

Enough about work, though. While Marty’s book brings us through an interesting career in Irish radio, one of the nicest parts is the honesty of a man who quite simply thinks there is nothing better in life than his family. He even says when he saw his wife Maria for the first time in Clontarf in 1974, it was love at first sight.

“I know it’s a cliché and I promise you it wasn’t the same for her.”

He was definitely on to something, though, as Maria didn’t object when their potential wedding date got pushed into the future so Marty could buy his dream car: an MGB Roadstar.

Thirty years later, Marty says it all comes down to communication.

“She was with me getting that car, and everything else. We just had a thing from the get go, well at least I thought we did. We talk all the time, and with the kids too. Well, ‘kids’: Jessica is 25 now and Thomas is 23. But dinner time in the Whelan house is still a priority. Speaking of dinner, I must tell you about my time on Open House, when we came across a very fresh-faced 23-year-old chef called Neven Maguire…”

And he is off again. To enjoy the full array of Marty Whelan’s stories, That’s Life is on sale now nationwide.

Quick-fire round

Favourite co-star? Well, that’s just an unfair question, but it would have to be Mary Kennedy; no question really. We were on Open House together five days a week for six years. We’re great friends and we were right from the beginning.

Favourite TV moment? Oh, it would have to be a Eurovision moment. It’s the best fun you can have across Europe (legally) and at the expense of other nations. But when Johnny Logan won for the second time with Hold Me Now, I was there and the cheers and excitement was just incredible.

Favourite radio moment? What I’m doing now with Lyric FM gives me so much pleasure. I don’t have a specific moment, but getting up for work at five in the morning just isn’t a burden.

Favourite person to interview? When I interviewed Tony Bennett, I couldn’t believe it. He is such an icon in the world of music and it really was a pinch-yourself kind of moment.