Athlone native crowned Sports Broadcaster of the Year

Athlone's Adrian Barry was last Friday night crowned Sports Broadcaster of the Year at the PPI Radio Awards in Kilkenny. Speaking to the Westmeath Independent in the wake of his achievement Mr Barry said he genuinely never expected to win the category and paid tribute to local radio station Midlands 103 for giving him his first break in the industry. Adrian, who grew up on the Ballymahon Road in Athlone, was put in the running for the award for his work with 98FM on a shortlist that included RTE's Colm Murray along with Eoin McDevitt, Ger Gilroy and Oisin Langan from Newstalk. "It's brilliant," Adrian said of the result that went his way. "I was completely taken aback. A lot of the time when people win these things they give out the cliché that they weren't expecting it, but it came completely out of left field for me. I wouldn't have expected it at all." Adrian grew up the youngest of five children, with parents Mary and Sean running the Clonbrusk Stores during his childhood. A student of Marist College, he went on to study Communications in the University of Glamorgan in South Wales before being given his first break after returning by Midlands 103. Paying tribute in particular to Mike Reade and John McDonnell, Adrian said he first did some work experience on a mid morning magazine show before being offered a paid position. "They took a bit of a chance on me and gave me a break," he said. After first turning that down in favour of a year-long trip to Australia, Adrian spent about two years working with the Midlands 103 sports team before leaving in 2002 for New Zealand. It was a former colleague at Midlands 103 who helped him break into the Dublin radio scene on his return, furnishing him with a contact in FM104. After three years with FM104 Adrian made the move to 98FM, where he has worked for the past four years. "I was always very much into sport," Adrian said. "I followed it and played it as a kid." However he said he "never really saw sports journalism as an option" and instead focussed on becoming a news journalist. To this day he says he maintains "more than a passing interest" in current affairs and news, but feels "privileged" as a sports fan that he has been able to make his living from sports. "A lot of the time you can forget you're standing in the bowels of the Aviva stadium after a match having a chat with Jamie Heaslip or Brian O'Driscoll," he said. "You can forget how privileged you are." Though an avid sports fan, Adrian said his playing days are almost exclusively restricted to golf now his days with Athlone GAA are over. "The height of my career would have been probably...I didn't make it to minor level, probably under 16," he laughed. His GAA watching unfortunately didn't stretch to getting to see the Westmeath ladies beat Cavan last weekend however, due to commitments to a television show - iTalkSport - he produces for Setanta. However he said he kept abreast of what was happening in the game on Twitter. The same commitment meant there wasn't a lot of time for Adrian to celebrate his radio award win. However he said he did manage to get up in time to see Wales put Ireland out of the Rugby World Cup, something his weekend roommate Dermot Whelan from the Republic of Telly didn't quite manage. Though Adrian says work commitments to 98FM during the week and Setanta at the weekend mean he doesn't get to visit Athlone as often as he'd like, his "primary target" is to play "a bit more golf" here over the next twelve months.