John Clarke has his own song. It's by Marc Gerimino, it's called Rex Bob Lowenstein and its theme is an ageing DJ, "45 going on 18". "It's about a DJ who's trying to survive on radio," says the 48-year-old newly appointed head of 2FM. "He will play anything from Madonna, to George Jones to the punk bands. He just plays music in the old-fashioned way of DJs. There's no nonsense."
In the job a week, he still hasn't put his name plaque on the office door. The new top boss at the station seems markedly uncomfortable with the "management" label.
"I just keep the door open," he says from behind the new desk, in the new office. "I'm not one of those people who will swan around under the halo of `Head of 2FM'. I'm going to leave the door open and this is just part of the rest of the office."
The approach to the new position is perhaps attributable to his route to it. Unusually in broadcasting, he has come to management by way of the coalface, having started out aged 14 with three records and a plastic bag.
"The first ones I bought were Hello, Good-bye by the Beatles, Kites by Simon Dupree and the Big Sound and Walkaway Rene by the Four Tops.
"An opportunity came to DJ at a party, but I only had the three records. So I had to go up and down the street with my plastic bag borrowing records from my mates. I put together the Top 30, travelled off to the party and from there just worked at it.
"There was no music radio to get involved in. I listened to Radio Luxembourg as almost everyone did. I was bitten, but I thought they were too classy. And then the pirates came - Radio Caroline - and I could identify with them. And at that stage I decided, `That's for me'."
He was raised by an aunt - his mother died when he was very young - who was unimpressed by this music lark and urged him to keep the "permanent pensionable job" as a quality controller with Ernie's Chocolates. But with the closure of Ernie's and the end of the permanent pensionable job, Clarke got involved with pirates Radio Dublin and Alternative Radio Dublin.
1979 saw the announcement that RTE would be opening a second radio station. He auditioned, got through to the fifth round but, finally, was not chosen.
It was he says, "bitterly disappointing; the first knock I got. But I realised then what the business was all about. Radio is only as good as its presenters, and you're only as good as your last job. If someone said I was not good enough, it was up to me to prove I was."
He did land a job in the new pirate station, Radio Nova, where, he says, he "learnt a lot": "I learnt commercial production; the scripting of commercials; music programming and how commercial radio worked. It was very different from RTE because in commercial radio you do so much more than one specific duty."
Over five years, however, he watched people who had done less than him in radio getting jobs out at Montrose, which he felt indicated he was underselling himself. He resigned his five-day-a-week position at Nova.
Within a week he had a position at RTE - "just two days a week on a gamble". Two years on and he was the first producer/presenter of the Sunday afternoon Rock 'n' Roll, I Remember. In "around 1988" he was appointed a senior producer at the station with sole responsibility for music output. "Every year," he says, "I have kept moving forwards."
Now, he will continue to produce the Breakfast Show and is still presenting his Friday night album show, although he is unsure how long he will remain there. "I would miss it, and I think you need that hands-on element. Part of the advantage I had in getting this job is that I know what it's like from both sides. And I think it's important to see what is going on, on the floor."
In terms of the schedule, and personalities, they will evolve. "Musically I would like to see it broader. I think to my ear, the music may be too safe, too dictated by singles, which are basically marketing tools for the record companies. Albums far outsell singles and I'd like us to say `Hold on. What do we really want to hear?' "Of course there won't be any radical changes. Bill [O'Donovan, his predecessor] has built an enormously successful station. The [Dave] Fanning show is rock solid and we'd be fools to touch Gerry [Ryan].
"Radio is so much a part of people's day. If we were to revamp the morning schedule it would throw people into disarray. They expect a certain thing to happen at 7.45 a.m. If it doesn't, they're late for work. We set our clock by it and expect it to be familiar."
He adds there is room for movement, however, and there will be injections of new talent.
"As a basic target I want success, but not at any cost. Dumbing down or commercialisation is not what we're about. We're about good music and being a national station with a broad range of music, not a branded, commercial product."
Asked about accusations that the station has lost ratings, he counters that when a new station comes on the scene, all existing stations are going to lose out.
"And there will be more new stations. The bottom line though is that we remain the premier national music station and are neck-and-neck with FM104 in the competitive Dublin market."
He doesn't leave much room for tough imponderables: "I am told I'm the perpetual child, yes. I have never grown up. Of course I'm aware of what's going on in the world, but I don't get over-concerned about politics and issues which occupy so much of people's minds.
"I realised a long time ago that worry gets you nowhere. Learn from life's experiences, and other people's, and move on. My concern is people, encouraging people and not doing the dirt on anyone."
Referring back to his old role model, Rex Bob Lowenstein, Clarke concludes: "As the song goes on, he hears there's a new batch of DJs, and he's not going to be able to play the wide variety of music - which had made him popular. So he locks the studio to play his selection and the station owners take him to court. In the parting chorus of the song the judge says, `There's not a lot I can do, but by the way, thanks for playing Springstein's The River last night'."