Before I begin, I'm a big radio fan. It brings me great company and every morning my first action is to turn on the radio. This is why Ray D'Arcy is a touchy subject with radio listeners. Mention the name and various alignments will surface. To some radio listeners he is manna from heaven, to others he is an opinionated twat. Whilst on Today FM, how many times did you or others in your company utter "Ray will be good on this in the morning" when a developing story broke? Would you now? Probably not.

I had felt for a while that Ray was bored on Today FM and it was my assertion was that it began when he hung up on Danny Healy Rae in January of 2013. My initial reaction listening to him was "Hang on Ray, you rang him!" and I immediately thought that his bosses would give him a slight telling off for it. My basis was that I as a mere listener thought it was OTT, so what did a station that relies on advertising think of it? And so it began. I was always a fan of Anton Savage when he filled in for Ray, especially when he was on with Will. It was like they were trying to 'out geek' each other with knowledge. It was fun and easygoing to listen to. Like Ray was when he started. And when I realised that Anton wouldn't be filling in anymore because of his gig with TV3 in the mornings, I was disappointed that I wouldn't be hearing him when Ray went on holidays. However, I had committed over 14 years to Ray, so he had evoke much loyalty in me.

I was taken aback when the news broke that Ray was moved to Radio 1. My first reaction was why Radio 1? Sure doesn't he hate RTE? At least that's what he mentioned on the radio. Several times. Despite his daily mentions of Morning Ireland, which I always took as a public announcement of him not listening to Ian Dempsey. Still, it was a shock. Akin to someone close moving to Australia. Yes, you'd still see them, but not at home or down the local. Then I began to question his reasoning behind moving to the afternoon slot to be vacated by Derek Mooney. No offence to Mooney, but his audience isn't exactly lively! Still, I guess the reasoning was that his old listeners would follow him. However, I have a suspicious mind and when I heard of Ryan Tubridy flirting with the BBC, my mind immediately concocted a theory of Ray being promised the morning gig on 2FM when Tubridy left for the BBC. Ray doesn't strike me as being a long term afternoon anchor.

So, when Anton was named as Ray's replacement it made sense. He knew the gig and he knew the station.  And the station knew him. And what a good choice it was. Anton's show is light and airy, and extremely easy to listen to. Anton's intelligence is obvious and comes across in an endearing way.  Someone described it as "The Big Bang Theory on radio" and that's not far off the mark. One thing that has struck me about the show has been the lack of self information. With Ray we heard incessantly about Jenny and his 2 kids. The other striking aspect of the show is when he interviews someone, you hear the interviewee speak. You didn't always with Ray. You heard Ray, and you heard as much of the interviewee as Ray would allow, depending on whether Ray liked them or not. So it's a thumbs up for Anton.

To say Ray has disappointed is an understatement. Whatever he is being paid, it's too much. This is bland, boring and unimaginative radio. In other words: Radio 1 style radio. Ray isn't interacting with his listeners, and is honing his show for Radio 1 listeners. There's nothing in it for listeners who followed him across. Having listened to his interview with James O'Reilly, I turned off the radio in disillusionment. He allowed O'Reilly off without once asking a difficult question. Failing to puncture O'Reilly with a question after his portrayal of his son with special needs prospering as a result of his son working with top consultants as an example to other similar children was criminal. I was screaming at the radio that not every parent has access to the UK's top consultants. The final straw was Lucinda Creighton and his failure to pull her up on her party's lack of a manifesto. It was too much. Safe radio and an assumption that the listeners hasn't the intelligence to understand an argument. Which Ray didn't do at Today FM.

So while Anton will go from strength to strength with his new shows, I'm afraid Ray is going in the opposite direction. Anton's standard of guest is getting higher and he will engage the listener in fun debate. Ray has the high standard of guest, but his style is alienating the listener because he feels that they won't understand the answers.

It seems Today FM are the clear winners after keeping their cool in a difficult situation. They kept their counsel, and made a good choice of replacement. Losing the old Ray  Darcy would have been a hammer blow, but the new one not so much. Happy listening!