Colm Caffrey, known professionally as Colm Hayes, is an Irish radio broadcaster and sometimes television presenter. He formerly presented weekend breakfasts on

RTÉ 2fm RTÉ 2fm, or 2FM as it is more commonly referred to, is an Irish radio station operated by RTÉ. The station specialises in current popular music and chart hits and is the second national radio station in Ireland. History The station commenc ...

. Hayes had a 10-year radio partnership with James "Jim-Jim" Nugent, beginning on '' The Strawberry Alarm Clock'' on

FM104 FM104 is an independent local radio station broadcast across Dublin, Ireland, on the frequency 104.4 MHz. It is operated by Capital Radio Productions Limited (unconnected with, and not to be confused with, Capital Radio plc), and is a sub ...

where the pair established themselves as the number one breakfast show in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

. The pair moved to national broadcaster RTÉ 2fm to host '' The Colm & Jim-Jim Breakfast Show''. While there they also did '' Colm and Jim-Jim's Home Run'' on

RTÉ One RTÉ One is an Irish free-to-air flagship television channel owned and operated by RTÉ. It is the most-popular and most-watched television channel in the country and was launched as ''Telefís Éireann'' on 31 December 1961, it was renamed ''R ...

. When

Gerry Ryan Gerard Ryan (4 June 1956 – 30 April 2010) was an Irish people, Irish presenter of radio and television employed by Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ). He presented ''The Gerry Ryan Show'' on radio station RTÉ 2fm each weekday morning from 1 ...

died Death is the end of life; the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain a living organism. Death eventually and inevitably occurs in all organisms. The remains of a former organism normally begin to decompose sho ...

in 2010, Hayes split up with Jim-Jim Nugent and presented '' The Colm and Lucy Show'' with Lucy Kennedy for a time before breaking off on his own and moving to his current timeslot. Since 2021, He presents Colm and Lucy In The Morning along with Lucy Kennedy on Ireland's Classic Hits Radio

Private life

His real name is Colm Caffrey. He attended Our Lady of Victories BNS in Ballymun, and St. Aidan's C.B.S. in North Dublin, Ireland. He is the youngest of four siblings. His wife is from

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

. His dog Rocky, born in July 2009, is a brother of the dog owned by Adrian Wreckler, Digital Editor of ''

The Sunday Business Post The ''Business Post'' (formerly ''The Sunday Business Post'') is a Sunday newspaper distributed nationally in Ireland and an online publication. It is focused mainly on business and financial issues in Ireland. Founding to Irish financial crisi ...

''. Hayes smokes cigarettes.

Early career (1980s – 2000)

Born in

Santry Santry () is a suburb on the northside of Dublin, Ireland, bordering Coolock, Glasnevin, Kilmore and Ballymun. It straddles the boundary of Dublin City Council and Fingal County Council jurisdictions. The character of the area has chang ...

, Hayes began his radio career on pirate radio. He broadcast with KELO, Q102 and Energy 103 and the immensely popular Radio Nova during the 1980s. Following the pirate stations ultimate closure by regulators, he worked at the state broadcaster 2FM on the late night shifts. Colm then got the weekday lunchtime slot. He left 2FM during the summer of 1989 for the first licensed commercial radio station Dublin's Capital Radio (now called

). After its launch, Colm Hayes was Capital Radio's first weekday breakfast show presenter. In 1996, Colm became the second anchor presenter of ''The Strawberry Alarm Clock'' on

, after the departure of Timmy Ryan.

Partnership with Jim-Jim Nugent (2000–2010)

Following the addition of Nugent to ''The Strawberry Alarm Clock'' in 2000, the show would prosper with the pair dominating the timeslot in Dublin and winning several awards. In 2007, the pair joined RTÉ 2fm to host the breakfast show reportedly at the behest of

who was worried with the turbulent breakfast slot which preceded his show and had been marred by poor listenership. It was reported in 2011 that RTÉ paid combined fees of nearly €500,000. Their departure from FM104 was acrimonious with the pair escorted from the station's building and blocked from using the "Alarm Clock" reference in their new show, instead settling for ''The Colm & Jim-Jim Breakfast Show''. Whilst initial listenership was healthy, an overall decline in figures for breakfast shows with Ireland's declining economic fortunes (and, as a result, there been less commuters), the pair did not enjoy the same success as previously. The pair did, however, enjoy a television debut with '' Colm and Jim-Jim's Home Run'' which was picked up for international distribution.

Partnership with Lucy Kennedy (2010)

The 2010

death of Gerry Ryan RTÉ broadcaster Gerry Ryan died on 30 April 2010, aged 53. Ryan had been presenting ''The Gerry Ryan Show'' since 1988 and at the time of his death had the largest audience on RTÉ 2fm. Ryan also hosted several television series, including ''Se ...

led to the break-up of the 10-year relationship of Colm Hayes and Jim-Jim Nugent. Whilst initially a temporary move, Hayes went on to host '' The Colm and Lucy Show'' with Lucy Kennedy in Ryan's place until a revamp from RTÉ later in the year. Nugent departed the station before the revamp, declining a new time slot at the station and returned to FM104.

''The Colm Hayes Show'' (2010–present)

Hayes then hosted the 11-1 show, following on from

Ryan Tubridy Ryan Tubridy (born 28 May 1973) is an Irish broadcaster. He currently presents the weekday mid-morning programme ''The Ryan Tubridy Show'' on Virgin Radio UK, as well as a weekend programme on Sundays. His broadcasting career with RTÉ spanned ...

's '' Tubridy'' programme which replaced Ryan. In 2011, Hayes gained listeners in the JNLRs. On 11 November 2011, RTÉ revealed that Hayes had earned €213,954 from RTÉ in 2009, the organisation's tenth highest earner. Jim-Jim, paid less than half this figure before he departed RTÉ, was reported to have been "shocked" to learn of this, describing it as a "mystery", a "betrayal" and suggesting that "RTE is run like

Willy Wonka Willy Wonka is a fictional character appearing in British author Roald Dahl's 1964 children's novel ''Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'' and its 1972 sequel '' Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator''. He is the eccentric founder and proprieto ...

's Chocolate Factory". Hayes does do a singles night. He penned a

UEFA Euro 2012 The 2012 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2012 or simply Euro 2012, was the 14th UEFA European Championship, European Championship for List of men's national association football teams#UEFA (Europe), men's ...

single called "Put Your Green Cape On" for

Jedward John and Edward Grimes (born 16 October 1991), collectively known as Jedward, are Irish media personalities and singers. They are Monozygotic, identical twins who first appeared as John & Edward in The X Factor (British TV series) series 6, th ...

. It was announced in December 2016 he would spend three weeks covering for John Clarke on Radio Nova 100 that month.

Partnership with Lucy Kennedy on Radio Nova 100FM (Ireland)

Colm Hayes officially joined Radio Nova 100FM (Ireland) as its Programming Director in June 2017. On 18 April 2018 Colm co-hosted the first edition of a new breakfast show on Radio Nova 100FM (Ireland) with Lucy Kennedy, called The Colm and Lucy Breakfast Show. Some months prior to this launch, they had presented a one-off show on Radio Nova 100FM (Ireland).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hayes, Colm Year of birth missing (living people) Living people FM104 presenters Irish game show hosts Irish radio presenters RTÉ television presenters People from Santry RTÉ 2fm presenters Television personalities from Dublin (city) People educated at St Aidan's C.B.S.