In honour of some of the finest presenters to ever grace the airwaves of Dublin's Phantom 105.2 — or any radio station for that matter — I curated a collection of recordings of show finales back in 2012. There were an inordinate number of shows ending in September of 2012 — mostly involuntarily. In addition to those shows, I posted a few older finales, including the one that's quite possibly the most heartbreaking of them all. That being the last broadcast by one of Phantom's pioneers, Simon Maher.
Fifteen months later, Valentine's Day of 2014 marked Phantom's death knell. Devastating news broke that most of the station's staff were given one month's notice. As Simon Maher stated on Facebook, "the bad men (well three bad men) are dismantling what was once Ireland's best little radio station." Shows airing on the 9th through the 16th of March 2014 sadly marked the end of the Phantom era.
As my final cheers to Phantom, I have added to my previously curated recordings to include finales that aired during those last eight days. I'm happy to hear some indications that at least several of the presenters will be continuing on in some capacity at the new station, on other stations, or on other formats. But, that's no excuse to exclude them here. To paraphrase the station's tagline, They Were Phantom. To learn more about Phantom's history, this article published at Journal.ie is outstanding. Kieran Frost's photographic memoir is also an excellent tribute. Also check out my post over on boards.ie.
I initially considered adding only the last hour of each show, or possibly making a compilation of all of the final links of each show. However, the more I listened I realized that the overall content of each show – unique, thoughtful musical selections along with heartfelt stories and "thank yous" throughout – would be best presented in whole. (Or as whole as the stream and my recording software allowed.)
Below are links to mp3 files of each show. There is not an integrated audio player on this website, but rather these files are intended to be downloaded by right-clicking on the links.