Ian Dempsey

Dempsey began his first experiments in radio in 1967 when at the age of six he made his first radio show in a friend's house. In 1978 he joined Dublin pirate station Capitol Radio, and later worked for Alternative Radio Dublin and Radio 257.

On 29 February 1980, he joined the national broadcaster, Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ), to present The Weekend Breakfast Show on RTÉ 2fm, and later, shows such as Poparama, The Hotline, Night Train and The Great Giveaway Show. Dempsey later hosted the lunchtime show before moving to the breakfast slot in the mid-1980s. He picked up where Marty Whelan had left off, engaging the audience with his natural personality, a world apart from the 'jocks' that stalked the Radio Centre in Montrose at the time. Apart from a brief time off breakfast following 2fm's 1989 relaunch, he has remained on early mornings since. Maxi was placed on the breakfast show at that time, but, after a few weeks, it was apparent to all that her style was not suited to the format; Dempsey was promptly reinstated.

1986 saw Dempsey's first major exposure to television, with the children's show Dempsey's Den, which also gave the alien twin puppets Zig and Zag their first break to the small screen. Noted for his choice of brightly coloured jumpers, Dempsey presented The Den until the summer of 1990 and later reflected on his time at the helm in a 2008 RTÉ documentary. He also worked on various TV shows including the pop music quiz show Number 1 and three seasons of The Beatbox, a two-hour music video show simulcast on Network 2 and RTÉ 2fm. He was also the first host of the Irish version of Talkabout.

Dempsey shocked the Irish radio world in 1998 by announcing a move to the newly relaunched Today FM. He had been tempted by a sizable salary package to join the station that 12 months beforehand had languished with a minimal JNLR result. He left RTÉ for Today FM in July 1998 and since 21 September 1998 (when his breakfast show was launched) he has worked at the station with his Gift Grub team providing comedic value. 2fm have struggled to find a suitable replacement ever since. Attempts have included Hector Ó hEochagáin, Ryan Tubridy, Colm Hayes and Marty Whelan in recent years. When the move was announced he was refused entry to the Montrose campus and publicly complained that over 20,000 albums of his were not returned to him by RTÉ. In recent years it has been widely reported that 2fm have tried to tempt him back. In 2007 Dempsey started presenting an online radio show for Irish people abroad called The Craic.

On 16 September 2016, it was announced that Dempsey had been inducted into the PPI Radio Awards Hall of Fame along with RTE 2FM DJ Dave Fanning and South East Radio's Eamonn Buttle and Downtown Radio's Trevor Campbell.