Regardless, making the show on a non-existent budget instantly became a labour of love, and an intensely complicated one at that. “We didn’t get assigned a camera crew…there would be a crew shooting the news down in Cork and we would use them if they became free, normally on their downtime on a Monday,” recalls O’Callaghan. “If they had to be called off somewhere to a breaking news story, well then we had to concoct a Plan B. Bearing in mind this was also the time before mobiles and email addresses, it was a logistical nightmare.”

A nightmare that left some lasting memories, however. “One interview that stands out for me is the Jeff Buckley one we did,” offers Dineen. “I got it simply by bumping into him on the street, and after his death, I found out he’d only given a few TV interviews. The BBC showed a documentary on him a few years ago, and in the middle of it was some of the footage, which was amazing to see. I’m a huge fan, and if anything, I was taught that life isn’t a rehearsal, and these things don’t tend to come around twice.”

After Dineen’s departure in 1995 to Radio Ireland, Rory Cobbe – then splitting his time between working at Sir Henry’s in Cork and as a radio researcher – took over the production and directing reigns. He then set about the arduous task of finding a new presenter via an open audition. Armed with untold amounts of enthusiasm, newcomer Uaneen Fitzsimons immediately stood out from the pack.

“She wasn’t right in many ways; first off she was a girl and in indie clubland, so unless you’re Kim Deal or Julie Burchill, you’re in trouble,” Cobbe smiles. “Donal was quite serious so we looked at a lot of different people: we chose Uaneen to take it away from that place where it was.”

“I was happy it continued,” adds Dineen. “Uaneen and Leagues got to put their own stamp on it, and I couldn’t have wished for better people to do that. I was aware of my own limitations at the time, and the show was upped immeasurably by Uaneen.”

In later years, No Disco grew further in scope thanks to a various special reports and interviews: most notably, an insightful report on the independent music scene in Ireland gave voice to bands like Wormhole, Luggage, Decal and Bambi in 1997. Further adding weight to the programme’s influence, Fitzsimons had secured a nightly 2FM presenting slot.

At the age of 29, Fitzsimons’ star was shining gloriously bright… until tragedy stuck on November 22, 2000. Travelling from Limerick with promoter Joe Clarke, she was involved in an accident when their car collided with an articulated truck in Laois, and died instantly. “She’d come back from Australia and we did two weeks of programmes in that week and she went down to Limerick,” recalls Cobbe. “She meant to get the train back, but there were strikes, so she took a lift. An hour before she died, I had an argument with her because it turned out a PJ Harvey interview we did with her was still in her house. So she was yelling at me ‘it’s not my fault, how was I to know?’ As far as I recall, that was the last interview she did, for us anyway.”

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