For thousands of his fans, New Year's Eve night will be just like any other - they'll be going to bed with Johnny Barry. For five nights a week the Radio Kilkenny disc jockey sends his listeners to sleep, or provides solace for insomniacs, with his two-hour country 'n' Irish music show.
His play-list does not suit all tastes, nor has he a voice made for broadcasting. He is, however, the most popular late-night presenter on local radio.
The walls of his Kilkenny home are festooned with goodwill messages from chart-topping singers such as Charlie Landsborough. He gets requests from listeners in Longford, Clare, Dublin and Cork.
When an event was organised in September to celebrate 10 years of his programme, fans came from as far away as Derry.
Mr Diarmuid Healy, the chief executive of Radio Kilkenny, says no matter where he goes in the country, when he mentions where he's from people say: "Oh, do you know Johnny Barry?" "I think his success is down to the type of music he plays and the fact that his enthusiasm for the music is infectious."
Several songs have been written in Mr Barry's honour, with verses like this one, penned by Teresa O'Donnell, for an occasion in 1995 when a group of musicians gathered to pay him tribute:
It's only six short years ago since Dublin ruled the waves
And Irish artists didn't have a voice
Then our local station came
Johnny helped us make a name
It's because of him we're standing here tonight.
His late-night listener-ship figures within Kilkenny are unmatched in any county, and that does not take account of the large numbers who tune in elsewhere. "I get an awful lot of phone calls, during the programme and after it, from people on their own, and I really appreciate that," he says.
"I've had people say to me: `Only for your music, Johnny, I'd be dead long ago.' And that's what I'm here for, to give some enjoyment to people who are in hospitals or on their own, or ill or whatever."
He would love to stay on air all night, he says.
His hours of broadcasting, from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. on weeknights, except Thursday, and 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. on Saturdays, have prompted his oft-stated remark that listeners take him to bed every night. The claim is just a bit of fun, he stresses, the reality being that "I don't drink, smoke or go with women. People ask me if I'm married and I say: `I am, I'm married to the music'."
He is not exaggerating. "I have little speakers under my pillow and I switch on the radio and listen to it during the night. I go to sleep to it and I wake up to it as well. That's me."
His home near Kilkenny city centre, where he lives alone, is cluttered with 2,000 CDs, posters, photographs of musicians, sound systems and other music paraphernalia. While The Irish Times was visiting a woman made a prearranged call to collect 20 tapes of his programmes which she was sending to a relative in Australia.
While his musical tastes are broader than one might expect, ranging from Mario Lanza to Westlife, he only plays Irish country musicians on his programme, and is known for giving many a start in the business.
He is the man to thank - or blame, depending on your perspective - for the phenomenon that is Richie Kavanagh, of Aon Focal Eile infamy. He doesn't want any pats on the back, however, for promoting people who go on to do well. "I'm not looking for compliments, I play them because I like them."
Established artists also appreciate his support. "He is the best there is on local radio," says Mick Foster, one half of the chart-topping duo Foster and Allen. "There are so many young producers and young presenters in radio that if it wasn't for Johnny and the likes of him we'd be snookered."
Mr Barry, who is 57 and does the job "more or less as a hobby", will ring in the new year on air this weekend in the usual fashion, playing a recording of the bells of St Canice's Cathedral.
The secret of his success, he says, is that he is "always the same person", whether on air or off. "I'll never change. Even if I win the Lotto, I'll be the same Johnny Barry."
