Yes, he could be arrogant, bias, opinionated & egotistical. But Gerry Ryan will be sorely missed. He was my car companion for years beween 9.00 & 9.40am on most mornings when I was travelling to country schools. I enjoyed his verbal attacks on the greed and powerlust of many politicans, developers, church leaders etc. He gave a national platform for ordinary people to raise issues that would otherwise not get an airing thereby providing an important public service. On a personal note, 2 weeks ago, his RTE2 show provided info on my DERI lectures for parents/teachers on 'Counteracting Cyberbullying'. I was interviewed by him once- he was sarcastic and bombastic. But I enjoyed it!
Yesterday morning I listened to what I didn't realise was to be his last show as he started off with a witty review of the daily papers followed by a piece on parents slapping their children, not a topic that would be considered 'acceptable' by most other media shows. But it sparked a wonderful thought-provoking debate from callers who seemed to be mainly young mothers.
The programme was mad, funny, irreverent, subversive, sarcastic, silly, serious, disrespectful, educational... In other words, the usual mix for a Gerry Ryan show
