“The Ryan Line is open”, was the introductory line of Gerry Ryan’s morning radio show for the 20 years he occupied 2FM’s three hour morning slot. His particular skill lay in his empathy and ability to instantly befriend his callers. For years listeners even felt they knew “Mrs Ryan” because he mentioned her so regularly. Once, Morah Ryan phoned in under a pseudonym to complain about how untidy her husband was and how he left his underpants on the floor. He only realised who was calling when his production staff started laughing.
Gerry Ryan. "The light that burns twice as brightly burns twice as fast."
Born in Clontarf, Dublin, on June 4, 1956, Gerry Ryan was the son of Vinnie, a dentist, and his actor wife Maureen, who came from the Bourke family, who ran the Dame Street theatrical costumes business. Her sister Grainne was married to the broadcaster Eamonn Andrews.
After going to St Paul’s College, Raheny, he studied law at Trinity, but was drawn to broadcasting after a pirate radio gave him microphone time. He joined RTÉ in 1979, first presenting evening pop music shows and then moving on to late-night slots.
The 1987 “Lambo” incident could have ended his career. Out on an SAS-style survival course in Connemara with a group of volunteers for The Late Late Show , he claimed to have clubbed a lamb to death with a rock in a sock and eaten it. It turned out to be a hoax, but he survived.
His salty language and frequent sexual innuendo were the subject of complaints on the grounds of taste and decency to the Broadcast Complaints Commission. Listeners knew where he went on holidays and what he had for dinner, exhibiting an openness and intimacy that made him the housewives’ choice.
What he called “the rude stuff” could be intrusive, scatological, or plain offensive. More than once – for example, when he speculated on whether it would be blasphemous to say that “God is a bollocks” on air – he was denounced by listeners whose view was upheld by the broadcast complaints body.
The Gerry Ryan Show began in 1988 and became the longest-running show on 2FM. Gerry Ryan started the show every day with a review of the day’s papers, using a story as a springboard to rage about the state of the country or to congratulate a winning team, comment about a skilful photograph or have a laugh.
In his private life, he was “exactly like you heard him on radio every day, only worse”, according to one broadcasting colleague. He was the centre of any social gathering, a storyteller and bon vivant. Married in 1982 to Morah Brennan, with whom he had three daughters and two sons, they separated in 2008. Also that year, he published his autobiography, Would the Real Gerry Ryan Please Stand Up, for which Penguin paid an unprecedented €100,000. It was also the year he began his relationship with Melanie Verwoerd, the former South African Ambassador to Ireland.
He was less of a success on TV, but not for the want of trying. At the time of his death he was planning a Saturday night chat show on RTÉ television, which might have moved him to a new role as serious interviewer.
In his autobiography, he quoted the film Blade Runner: “The light that burns twice as brightly burns twice as fast,” but, despite his high living, his death came as a shock to listeners and friends.
He died at his Leeson Street apartment on April 30, 2010. He was survived by his partner Melanie Verwoerd, his ex wife Morah and his children, Charlotte, Rex, Elliott, Bonnie and Babette.
When the inquest was held in December 2010, it was revealed that Gerry Ryan died of arrythmia triggered by his use of cocaine with alcohol. According to a pathologist’s report, the broadcaster had died from an abnormal heart rhythm which was likely to have been caused by his consistent use of cocaine.
His partner, Ms Verwoerd, told the inquest that one of the “non-negotiable” rules of their relationship was that he would not use drugs. In a statement after the inquest, she said: “Gerry knew how strongly I felt against drugs and had made me a promise at the beginning of our relationship that he would not use any drugs.” At the inquest, she said: ” As far as I know, that is a promise he kept. ”
It also emerges that at the time of his death, Gerry Ryan, who earned over €600,000 in 2008, had massive debts, and was under pressure to repay.