Dave Fanning

David Fanning (born 27 February 1956) is an Irish television and radio broadcaster, rock journalist, DJ, film critic and author.

Fanning currently hosts weekend midday magazine/chat show The Dave Fanning Show on the Irish national radio station RTÉ 2fm and a number of RTÉ Radio 1 programmes.

Born in Dublin in 1956, Fanning is the youngest of six children (one sister, four brothers).

His father, Barney, was a commissioner in the Irish Office of Public Works, his mother, a retired schoolteacher.

Obsessed with music from an early age and fascinated by his older brothers’ music interests (jazz, folk, pop), his twin obsessions, during an "idyllically happy childhood" were music and movies.

He was a member of The Beatles fan club from the age of eight.

He was educated at Blackrock College, graduating from University College Dublin (UCD), with a degree in English and Philosophy and a Higher Diploma in Education.

He began working as a DJ on the fledgling pirate radio station, Radio Dublin; that same year he took over as editor of Ireland's rock magazine (Scene).

Fanning then moved to Big D when it was formed by Radio Dublin deejays in 1978.

On both pirates, he presented rock shows.

He met Gerry Ryan in 1978 while both were working in Dublin pirate radio station "Big D", sharing the common bond of both having attended college, though at separate colleges.

He continued with that format when he made the move to legal radio in 1979.

He has been a disc jockey for RTÉ 2fm since it began in 1979.

Produced and coordinated by Ian Wilson, live weekly sessions with "demo tape" bands helped establish Fanning's evening show.

In 1980, he was the first person ever outside of RTÉ Radio 1 to be honoured with a prestigious Jacob's Award for "the depth and scope" of his radio show.

By the early 1980s, Fanning was seen by the industry and music fans everywhere as Ireland's answer to John Peel, BBC Radio 1 presenter.

Following Christy Moore in 1990 and preceding Van Morrison in 1992, Fanning was awarded the IRMA Special Industry Award in 1991.

In 1993, after a live TV interview with Richard Branson, Branson invited Fanning to join his new station Virgin Radio, where Fanning presented his own show every week.

With a 4-hour Saturday afternoon programme (initially following Chris Evans’ show) broadcast live from Soho, London, Fanning stayed with Virgin Radio until September 1994.

Their friendship led them to socialise and holiday together, while the Fannings even moved in with the Ryans for a time in September 1995 when the Fanning house was under construction.

He is married to Ursula, a solicitor (formerly a TV researcher, most notably for Gay Byrne on The Late Late Show), and they have three children.

Fanning has written for a number of newspapers and magazines in Ireland and the UK.

He has also written and presented a number of TV and radio shows in Ireland, the UK and the US.

U2 performed a special tribute when he won the Special Industry award in 2004.

He also hosted RTÉ's live television coverage of Live 8 in Hyde Park, London (July 2005), and Live Earth in Wembley Stadium, London (July 2007).

He has conducted over 200 interviews with global rock stars.

Fanning has been the recipient of a number of 'Best DJ' awards from various publications, including Hot Press where he topped the annual readers' Poll for over twenty years.

BP Fallon commented in 2008: "Without Dave Fanning on the radio, music in Ireland would have had a poorer face. Dave changed things, opened up ears".

In recent years he has been the recipient of a number of accolades and awards ranging from the 2012 Dublin Lord Mayor's Award ("To the voice of Irish Radio, in recognition of his broadcasting career, his support of new Irish talent and for bringing alternative Irish music to an Irish audience") to the 2014 University College Dublin Music Society Award.

(The Honorary Fellowship citation reads "in recognition of his outstanding contribution to music through his work as a journalist, DJ and broadcaster – in particular his support of homegrown Irish talent").

He won numerous IRMA awards and was nominated for Best DJ at The Meteor Music Awards on seven occasions, winning four times.

He regularly deputises on RTÉ Radio 1 across a range of primetime programmes and also presented his own Monday-Friday 9 am show Mornings With Dave Fanning in 2015.

Due to his friendship with U2, Fanning has for four decades been granted the first airing of any of the band's new singles before anyone else in the world, with band members often calling Fanning to tell him what they are doing.

He has presented more than twenty different TV shows for RTÉ Television, from 2TV to The Movie Show.

In 2016, he was inducted into the Irish Radio Hall of Fame.

Hot Press regards Fanning as "one of the most familiar faces and voices in Irish broadcasting", summing up his impact: "When Billboard magazine referred to the introduction of 2FM as one of the major factors behind the growth of Ireland as a major music centre, they really meant Dave Fanning".

Rob Sharp of UK newspaper The Independent has referred to him as a "legendary Irish DJ".

Alongside Larry Gogan, he is one of only two of the original disc jockeys to make it as far as the station's 40th anniversary in 2019.

In The Sunday Times of March 2020, Jim Lockhart said of Fanning "he was central to a whole generation's interface with music and he is a force of nature".

The Sunday Tribune's Eithne Tynan has defined his style as a "thousand words a minute, start a whole new sentence before you've finished the previous one".