IN IRELAND all industries are small but they don't come much smaller than the frantic world of commercial radio. The news, therefore, that the presenters of Dublin's most popular breakfast radio programme, The Strawberry Alarm Clock, had moved to 2FM, the youth wing of RT�? radio, is seen as a major event.

Colm Hayes' contract with FM104 ran out in October. It is well known around the capital that RT�? has been wining and dining certain senior presenters from other stations "because they can't grow their own", as one station manager put it.

Nugent's contract with FM104 does not expire until February. By that time the two presenters of the most popular breakfast-time programme in the Dublin area will be working for RT�?.

The Strawberry Alarm Clock has been running for 11 years. It is still running on FM104. "It's weird to hear it, " says Colm Hayes. "Because anything on there me and Jim-Jim created. We promoted and conceived every bit of it."

Observers and FM104 both doubt this.

"The Alarm Clock was a lot more than the two lads. Had to be, " says one radio head who does not work for FM104. Tim Fenn, managing director of FM104, points to the work of producer Áine Ní Bhroin and of the current presenter, Andy Matthews. "Áine helped out on the phones, " says Hayes.

Of himself and Jim-Jim, he says that they met when Jim-Jim was a researcher on the Adrian Kennedy phone-in show on FM104, and that he brought Jim-Jim on to The Strawberry Alarm Clock. "We're two very creative people on different levels. We have good old barneys. I would be the anchor person of the show and he's the copresenter. We're sort of the Ant and Dec of radio."

Colm Hayes anticipates no problems for non-Dublin people listening to the new nationwide show when it comes on air on 5 March. "The wall around Dublin came down some time ago. Plenty of country people live in the city and the FM104 signal is so strong we were getting listeners in Westmeath and Louth anyway."

Even rivals admit that Hayes is "good at what he does". They estimate his new salary will be in the region of about Euro200,000, with Nugent on less. Colm Hayes refuses to discuss money and says he doesn't know how much his co-host will be paid. "Radio's a tough business, " says Hayes. "But it has been very good to me."

There is still a five-week hiatus between Hayes' and Nugent's departure from FM104 and the start of their new job. In any event their leaving was swift, although Hayes denies that they were escorted from the building: "We weren't allowed to tell the staff at FM104, which we were upset about, we phoned them and had an impromptu drinking session in Searsons. Bono and the Edge were in the snug, and I thought, 'God, even they know!'" says Hayes. He is uncomfortable being off air even for this short period. "My brain is bubbling. My wife says I should put it in a glass."

FM104 was bought by Scottish Radio Holdings and then by Emap, which also owns TodayFM. Its main manager, Dermot Hanrahan, moved to RedFM, the highly successful Cork station.

"I'd say Hanrahan had a tight grip on those two lads, " says one industry insider.

In the past, Colm Hayes worked with the head of 2FM, John Clarke, at Radio Nova. The man in charge of TodayFM, Willie O'Reilly, produced Colm Hayes' RT�? programme, back in 1988. Indeed an old copy of the RT�? Guide, dated 7 October 1988, shows in its listings that O'Reilly produced Ian Dempsey in the morning and then Colm Hayes from noon to 2pm.

So for Hayes this journey is a return of sorts. "It's different now, " he says.

"Then I was learning my craft. Now I've established my credentials." Marty Whelan, broadcasting in the breakfast slot until the end of February, has lost his job.

"Marty's been treated disgracefully, " said one industry insider.

An RT�? press release states that Whelan's programme was "always going to be a bridge to something new".

"Well, that's news to me and I'd say that's news to Marty, " says the industry insider. (Marty Whelan did not wish to comment. ) Figures have been dropping for the vital breakfast slot for some time; in fact since RT�? moved Ryan Tubridy to RT�? R1. Ruth Scott and Rick O'Shea's breakfast show lasted only five months. "If a manager in the commercial sector had made so many errors, he'd be out of the building, " says a manager in the commercial sector.

Earlier last week John Clarke told the Irish Independent: "In reality we were a bit of a confused entity. Now we're aiming at the 15 to 34s once and for all."

"This is very high risk, " says one senior RT�? presenter. "It is an even more uncertain time than usual within RT�? radio centre: Wednesday's the big day in here.

All the presenters grab the RT�? Guide and turn to Monday to see if we're on next week. The next JNLR figures are out in mid-February and then we'll see if the dropping of Rattlebag and the promotion of Derek Mooney has worked. If it hasn't then there'll be blood on the walls.

The big moment for these two fellas will be in August when their first JNLR figures come out."

There is also the question of whether, now that RT�? has got Hayes and Nugent, it will know what to do with them. There is a general consensus that 2FM has been, as one person put it "held together by panic and Gerry Ryan". It does seem strange that a licence-funded public-service organisation is relying on private enterprise to grow talent and formats, which RT�? then hoovers up.

The acquisition of Hayes and Nugent smacks of executives looking for the one big fix, rather than relying on good dayto-day administration and planning. "Listen, " said one advertising executive, "if they could get 2FM newsreaders who could actually pronounce some of the words they're saying, it would be a start.

It's about overall presentation and credibility, not just two guys being parachuted in."

The advertisers don't like RT�?'s attitude. They point out that advertising rates for 2FM have gone up since 1 January, even though the JNLR figures issued in November showed a drop in listeners. According to RT�?'s rate card, a 30-second advertising spot on 2FM now costs Euro720 as compared to Euro700 in 2006.

A minimal difference, but it is resented.

The acquisition of Hayes and Nugent will please most advertising agencies, although within RT�? some feel that 2FM is trying too hard to please them.

Schedulers at other radio stations are wondering how the new acquisition will skew the 2FM schedule. If, as Hayes claims, they can succeed in bringing their large slice of the 15-34 audience with them, what is that going to do to Gerry Ryan who follows them, not with a music show as they were accustomed to, but with what is essentially a chat show?

The central problem is what RT�? wants 2FM to become; if, indeed, it knows.

C.V.

Name: Colm Hayes (real name Colm Caffrey)
Born: 28 January 1962, Dublin
Marital status: Married to Anne. Children: Alex (13), Holly (7)
Job: Radio presenter Name: Jim-Jim Nugent
Born: 11 July 1972, Dublin
Marital status: Lives with his girlfriend, Sharon
Job: Radio presenter
In the news because: They have left their breakfast show, The Strawberry Alarm Clock, on FM104 to go to 2FM