Never have so many been so honoured by, well, so many.

For the first time in the history of Toronto's Irish community, the Irish Person of the Year Committee has decided to quadruple its pleasure by honouring the four men who keep the city's Irish-Canadians, and those who love Ireland, informed and entertained every weekend.

Perhaps picking a cue that if four provinces are good enough for Ireland, honouring the four Brothers of the Airwaves certainly makes sense, as the community honours Frankie Benson, Colm O'Brien, Eamonn O'Loghlin and Hugo Straney.

FRANKIE BENSON

Ironically for a man who works at a radio station that can be heard as far away as America, when Belfastman Frankie Benson first heard the good news, he had trouble hearing the good news.

"I was in a noisy place and she [Kitty Freeley] was in a noisy place. I could hear her but she couldn't hear me as well," said Benson of the phone call that let him know he was being honoured. He's glad to be sharing the accolade alongside his fellow radio friends since "the community's too small for us all to walk on each other."

Benson is honoured to be part of such a group and notes that "it's good that everybody else is there. We work hand-in-hand." But after previous multiple inductions - see last year's accolades for the Kearns' brothers - Benson isn't surprised at the IPOY committee's decision.

"I figured once they went for two, they could go for 100!" he said with a laugh.

(This is not the first time though that Benson has been honoured alongside his fellow Belfast radio host, Hugo Straney, since they both shared the title of Belfast Person of the Year.)

Frankie, as he is affectionately known within the community, has been hosting the Radio Erin Show, for the past 31 years. When he first started out, there was some concern about what the show would be about and "I reassured them that they had nothing to be concerned about."

Just as Colm O'Brien's show is non-commercial, so too was Benson's...for the first edition, anyway. Slowly though, businesses came on board, once they  heard what was on offer.

A lot has changed in both Ireland and Canada in the past 31 years, and Frankie's station ownership has changed with it.

"The studios are brilliant. My music is programmed into the computer in advance," he said of AM 740, Zoomer Radio, owned by City-TV founder Moses Znaimer. "It's amazing the technology that they have."

However, no amount of technology can compensate for the hard deadline that is live radio. Frankie is also well known throughout Toronto as a singer and entertainer of renown. One Sunday afternoon, "I was doing a sound check at the Irish Embassy."  With green lights all around for the sound system, Frankie was ready to head over to his radio studios. However, "my van was blocked in the alleyway!" As a result of his very late start, "I did my show on a cell phone on the QEW." Thankfully, he was able to screech into the parking lot and do the final 15 minutes of his show live from the studio.

One of his show's enduring draws has been his friend Jim McLean phoning in his sports report from Belfast every Sunday evening, with all of the latest weekend GAA results, for the past 12 years.  "It's one of the draws," he says proudly of McLean's reports. That, "plus the dulcet tones of Frankie Benson!...[But] it all comes together. It's like one of those Harrison Ford movies."

Like the other radio lads, Benson has had some noteworthy voices join him mikeside, including former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, singer Dickie Rock and entertainer/comedian Brendan Grace in the studio.

"I had Joe Dolan on my show, live, for the whole hour," he said proudly of the late Westmeath singer's appearance to promote an upcoming Toronto concern. "People were calling in, he had a phone in."

Benson was also able to keep it in the family when "my daughter interviewed Maeve Binchy," on his show.