Tributes have been paid following the death of the former RTÉ 2FM DJ Simon Young. Best known as host of The Beatbox and Simon’s Saturday Choice, he also contributed to Dempsey’s Den, hosted by Ian Dempsey.
Dempsey led the tributes to Young – real name Thomas Meade – whom he called a “naturally deep-thinking, soul-loving, funny friend”.
On Monday, in an interview on RTÉ Radio One’s Ray D’Arcy Show, Dempsey said that Young, who was originally from Glasnevin in Dublin but was living in Washington, DC, at the time of his death, wouldn’t want anyone to be morose about his death. “I think it’s great to celebrate a fantastic talent and a really warm guy and a very, very funny man. ” He said the pair instantly hit it off when they worked together at 2FM.
I'd go into the studio, and I think Simon was probably on the Benson & Hedges and Ruth was on the Mores, and I couldn't see them in the studio. It was just smoke. I'd have to follow the voices
The station’s head, Dan Healy, said Young, who started his career in the 1970s in pirate radio, was one of the biggest names on the station in its formative years. “He was a great radio professional and a favourite among Irish audiences.”
Ryan Tubridy told listeners of his RTÉ Radio 1 show: “I was desperately sad to hear about this. Simon Young was somebody very instrumental to my early days in RTÉ. He presented a show called Poparama for a long time with Ruth Buchanan, and when I was about 12 or 13 years old I came in to review books...
“I’d go into the studio, and I think Simon was probably on the Benson & Hedges and Ruth was on the Mores, and I couldn’t see them in the studio. It was just smoke. I’d have to follow the voices ... and I would sit down and review the books. He was the nicest man. Very warm and amiable and friendly.”
Young left 2FM in 2002. In 2011, in an interview with Hot Press, he spoke candidly about his struggle with depression.“There were several times when it looked like it was all over for me,” he said. “I had some kind of seizure, too, and it was so severe that it took four female nurses and three male nurses to hold me down. The priest was called three times, and I was actually given the last rites during one of his visits.”
Around the same time he told The John Murray Show on RTÉ Radio 1 that he had spent half of the previous nine years in hospital with various illnesses.
