RTÉ presenter Alf McCarthy hangs up his microphone for the last time tonight

As RTÉ late-night radio presenter Alf McCarthy hangs up his microphone for

‘PM Live’ in 1997

CRUISING past midnight down the motorway on a half-metre bed of fog with the song ‘Vienna’ by Ultravox completing the haunting experience.

An abiding memory of RTÉ Radio One’s Late Date radio show, but it highlights just one aspect — the good music — which is blended with humour and banter and topped off with the sense of companionship that comes with being part of what has become known as the ‘Late Date Family’.