Dan Casey's Farewell to RedFM

Dan Casey (0:00)

Well, before we wrap up, I just want to take a couple of minutes, because this is actually my final Big Red Bench here on Cork's RedFM, and to be honest, it is a strange one. I knew this day was coming for a few weeks, but I don't think that can ever really, you can never really prepare yourself for saying goodbye to something that's been such a big part of your life. For the last three years, pretty much every single Saturday has revolved around this show, whether it's making the journey down from Dublin on a Friday evening, or getting up to crack it on on a Saturday morning to make it down, preparing the show, or be here for the bulletins, and getting up on the long journey afterwards, getting home at about half 10, 11 It's been a massive, massive part of my life.

Growing up in Cork, RedFM was always the station. So to get the opportunity to come in here every Saturday, sit behind the microphone, and talk about sport, my own county, has been a genuine privilege.

I remember doing my TY work experience when I was 15 or 16, and coming away from it knowing exactly what I wanted to do with my life. I wanted to work in radio, and that was it. That was the dream. To that 15 year old lad getting to sit behind the microphone and present a show on a station like RedFM would have meant absolutely everything, and it has. And here I am, all these years later, getting to say that I've spent the last three years doing precisely that.

Not everyone gets the opportunity to live out a childhood dream. I've just been lucky enough to do it, and I don't think I'll ever be able to fully put in the words just how much that's meant to me. And the fact that I've been able to do it here in Cork, talking about the county and the people that I love, makes it all the more special. I've always said there's something special about the people of Cork. You can feel it in the air, coming over that fly over there by the Kinsale Road around the boat to the studios. You can just feel it.

There's a magic in the air. There's something there. There's nowhere else in the world I'd rather call home, even if I am living it, kill there now. To get to tell the stories of Cork's sport from the biggest days in Crock Park and the heartbreaks that have come with it, to the smaller clubs and communities around the county, that's been an absolute honour.

When I first started presenting the show, we had around 12,500 people tuning in. That grew to 22,500 in my first year on air. At our highest point, I think we had 25,000 listeners. That's not to pat myself on the back now, but that's 25,000 people who at one stage chose to spend part of their Saturday with us on a six to seven show on a Saturday night.

That's fair going and that's meant an awful lot to me. To every single person who's come on the show over the last three years, whether you're a player, manager, pundit, or just a supporter I've dragged on, thanks Mel, you've made my job so much easier. You've made the show what it is. Special mention to the likes of Matthew Hurley, who's been such a brilliant contributor throughout and an absolute star in his own right, and he'll go so far someday. To Ger McCarthy, who's bailed me out more times than I can count with audio at the last minute, thanks a million, I don't think people realise the work that goes on behind the scenes, people out getting audio, he's certainly one of them. He's poor carer anyway, traveling up and down the country roads, down West Cork and Ola Cork. To Ruairí O'Hagan and to George Gilroy, who gave me the opportunity to come down here in the first place, I'll always be grateful. You gave me the chance to do something I absolutely love, I've never once taken that for granted. But there's one person who I really have to thank really, it's my friend Sina Cole, because while I've been lucky enough to spend my Saturdays doing something that I love, she's been the one who's had to put up everything that comes with it really. Friday nights, we couldn't really do anything, because I had to travel to Cork, Saturdays we couldn't spend together, Saturday nights when I'm coming back exhausted on the road, getting back so late that we just can't do anything. That's a lot of time, she's given up over the last few years as well, and she's supported me every step of the way. Sina Cole, thanks Mel, I couldn't have done it without ya. And finally, to everyone who's listened in over the last three years, and if you listened every Saturday, caught a few minutes in the car or just stumbled across us at some point on your way home from a match, thank you so much. You know, I'm sitting here in the studio talking into a mic, and sometimes you forget that there are other people on the side listening. Sometimes you try to forget what it makes you that near. But knowing people have given up a small bit on their Saturday to listen to something that I've put together, means more to me than I can really put into words.