By Kristin Snapp

When Keith Finnegan took over Galway Bay FM in 1991, he fired 11 people during his first day on the job.

But he doesn’t just get a thrill from giving employees the boot.

“I don’t care if someone fails once, twice, or even three times, as long as they tell me,” Finnegan said. “Because I fail at something every day.”

Those firings and hard work by Finnegan and others led to a rebirth of that struggling station into a leader.

Finnegan, in addition to being the CEO of Galway’s only independent radio station and the largest station outside of Dublin, is the host for the Keith Finnegan show, which pulls in 47-48 percent of the listener population daily. The station also includes music, talk shows and plenty of sports coverage, which is integral to life in Galway.

Having such a large listenership means that the advertising team has a unique set of challenges to face – Companies want to advertise with Galway Bay FM, and there is simply not enough air time for everyone.

Finnegan’s daily show is produced by his daughter, Katie Finnegan, but even she does not have immunity from losing her job.

“We’re nurturing talent to come up behind Katie,” Keith Finnegan said. “We change it up every five to seven years. We bring in new blood, and we go from there.”

Currently, Katie Finnegan is looking for positions in the United States, most likely in Chicago, so this father-daughter duo will not be making the Keith Finnegan Show happen together for much longer.

“I do a lot of firing, but that’s the best way to get a feel for the program,” Keith Finnegan said. “You need to be full of beans when you wake up in the morning to come here.”

Keith Finnegan takes his role very seriously and expects the same from his employees. In looking for a new producer to follow behind his daughter, Keith Finnegan says he wants someone who finds stories on their own, without using Google or social media.

“We lead, the papers follow,” Finnegan said. “I don’t know what anyone else has told you, but the newspaper industry in Ireland is dead in the water.”

But how does Keith Finnegan consistently pull in the majority of the population of radio listeners?

“I’m in a cocoon from 8:45 until noon,” Finnegan said. “If my mother – who is still alive – if she died, they wouldn’t tell me during the program. I’m just in the zone.”

And in fact, while students were in the studio with Keith Finnegan during his show, high temperatures caused one student to pass out. Keith Finnegan heard her fall but did not know what happened and did not skip a beat in his broadcast.

And it’s this sort of dedication that cultivates listeners’ trust in Keith Finnegan.

He told students of a situation a few months ago where a woman walked into the Galway Bay FM offices and handed the receptionist an envelope for Keith – inside was a check for 10,000 euros, with a suicide note instructing him to give half of the money to her son and the other half to her husband.

Finnegan was able to get the woman on the phone and save her life – a situation that he believes likely would not have been possible if he and his station weren’t such a staple in so many Irish people’s daily lives.