A gift for radio

FOR YEARS now Ian Dempsey has been described as the “nicest man” on radio, but it is a description that he visibly abhors.

Instead, Dempsey seems determined to show he has many different sides to his character — including his addictive personality.

Maybe it’s the early morning starts — 5am every weekday for over 20 years, first for 2FM and now for Today FM — or that he reached a milestone birthday, 50, this year — but Dempsey freely confides that he had needed something to give him a “hit”. To be precise, six Solpadeine tablets a day on a regular basis.