MFR legend Tich McCooey signs off with thanks to listeners and no bitterness over changes to station owner Bauer
MFR legend Tich McCooey signed off today as most locally produced programming at the radio station comes to an end.
However he has suggested the door remains open for a possible return to the airwaves in the future - and refused to condemn the programming changes that have seen many listeners threaten to give up on the station altogether.
“I was there pretty much from day one in 1982,” he said after his last “Tichmix” came to an end this morning. “The station started on a Tuesday and I was in on the Saturday for the chart show, and was with the station for 33 years after that.”
It was a sad day for listeners when he first hung up his headphones, in 2015 - changing to delight when he returned two-and-a-half years ago.
And even now, he says, his time with the station might not quite be at an end.
“I don’t know what the future holds but the door has been left open,” he said.
“The message I got was that they will be in touch if they really need that local voice for specific projects, so who knows?
“Maybe if there is a link with a local charity or something like that in the pipeline I could be back on board.
“MFR is in my bones and I would certainly never say never.”
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Messages from listeners poured in during today’s last breakfast show, he said, and left him feeling incredibly touched.
“There were people saying ‘thanks for the smiles’ and thanking us for our company over the years,” he said.
“That was really nice to hear, of course, and I’d just like to return those thanks, it’s been great.”
On the controversy over MFR owners’ Bauer’s decision to ditch the last of the station’s locally produced programming from the schedules he says he understands why it has happened.
“It used to be q requirement that stations had to have so much local content on them, but gradually over the years that has become less and less,” he said.
“Bauer is a company with shareholders to be answered to so, when the regualtions change and that ‘local’ requirement is less, of course they have to look at that and respond.
“This is what local radio is now - and of course the local news is still there, and the travel.
“To be honest there have been lots of changes over the years and it just feels a litlle bit like, oh well, now it’s my turn.”
While a return to MFR remains a tantalising possibility, for the immediate future Tich is looking forward to being able to meet more of the pubic demand for his services.
“Of course there are all the club nights I’d do and I was always being asked ‘oh can you play my birthday…my wedding?’ and I’d have to turn most of them down.
“It will be great now to be able to do more of that and just see what comes up.”
