They're all saying it's a shock departure - but is it really? There's some shtiff competition in the morning, and no doubt he tried his best rousing his 'soldiers of the dawn' since Gerry Ryan's death caused 2FM's last "shake up" back in 2010. October's JNLR results showed he had in the region of 124,000 morning listeners, compared to Ian Dempsey's Today FM breakfast show - which was closer to 180,000 - growing 12,000 listeners in the last book.
News reaches us this evening that Hector did in fact quit his 2FM Breakfast Show after three years. He announced his departure (you have to be fluent in Hector) via Twitter in a post which read: "To All The Soldiers Of The Dawn .... Exciting times ahead but Here ye Go ... I Will speak to All Of you in The Morning ... Keep Her Lit."
The Irish Times report that: "Ó hEochagáin’s stand in presenter Alan Swan will take over until the New Year where a new host will be found for the show. The breakfast show is broadcast from Galway every morning, but will be returning to Dublin in the New Year. Dan Healy, who took over as head of 2FM in April, thanked him 'for the enormous effort it takes to broadcast a breakfast show and for the entertainment he gave to his ‘soldiers of the dawn’.”
Apparently Hector will stay at RTE in a telly guise, as his latest installment of Hector Goes... returns in the spring.
So, who will replace him...?
