Wireless, War and Intelligence during the Irish War of Independence

© The Irish Broadcasting Hall of Fame

Imagine a battlefield where the most valuable weapon is invisible. No rifle shot, no explosion, no military column—just a faint signal travelling silently through the air. In Ireland between 1919 and 1921, that invisible weapon was wireless. As the British authorities struggled to maintain communications across a country where telephone and telegraph lines were routinely cut, Sinn Féin and the Volunteers began to recognise that whoever could listen, intercept, disrupt or exploit the new technology might gain a crucial advantage. Wireless was still in its infancy, yet in the middle of Ireland's guerrilla war it had already become something more than a means of communication: it was becoming a weapon in the battle for information.

 

On June 15th, 1920, Dame Nellie Melba sang into a microphone at Chelmsford. This was radio broadcasting as we know it today: entertainment transmitted by wireless. Across the Irish Sea, however, wireless was being used for a completely different purpose: war. During the Irish War of Independence, wireless technology became part of an evolving struggle over communication, intelligence and military control. While neither side was able to exploit its full potential, the technology increasingly influenced how the British authorities attempted to communicate with their forces and how Sinn Féin and the Volunteers sought to intercept, disrupt and exploit those communications.

 

In 1916, the Easter rebels used their ingenuity, knowledge and tactical awareness to repair a closed wireless school, and Ireland became the first nation in the world to be declared by wireless. The rebels circumvented the strict Defence of the Realm Act (DORA), which attempted to censor and control the airwaves during the midst of the First World War. The war ended on November 11th, 1918, but within two months the first shots of the Irish War of Independence were fired. The British authorities, with the military taking the lead, attempted to maintain strict control over the new communication medium. While wireless would not have a significant impact on the guerrilla-style war, it did exercise military planners on both sides.

 

On February 1st, 1919, the police raided a Sinn Féin hall on Clonliffe Road, and twelve of the forty men present found themselves before the courts. The Freeman’s Journal reported that, when questioned, Inspector O’Flaherty stated:

‘The Inspector said they found an old bayonet and some singlesticks. A small wooden model, apparently of wireless apparatus, was also produced, and Mr O'Flaherty said it was a model from which a lot could be learned.’

Throughout the war, both sides would experiment with the use of wireless, and both would encounter problems that limited its effectiveness. In February 1919, British newspapers reported on ‘Sinn Fein Wireless’, their communications system. The Empire News reported:

‘I hear a curious tale of the Sinn Fein method of disseminating instructions and news. The system was traced to the so called ‘creameries. Whence information and messages were carried and disseminated by every market cart.’

As the war intensified throughout 1919, the Volunteers attempted to curtail the British military and police's ability to call out reinforcements or direct raids by cutting telephone and telegraph lines. The intelligence services of Sinn Féin included sympathisers in local post offices, in telephone exchanges and in the communications department of Dublin Castle. Michael Collins always believed that safest and most effective way of communication through a highly sophisticated network of human couriers and physical written despatches rather than radio transmissions. But nevertheless, wireless was a weapon of war that either needed to be harnessed or disrupted.

Towards the end of 1919, the British were relying increasingly on wireless communications. This method linked rural RIC barracks with major troop concentrations. Even the fledgling RAF was using one-way communications from surveillance aircraft to the ground. The aircraft were not capable of two-way communication. One of the problems that the Volunteers would have encountered was coded messages. This had been developed on the battlefields of the First World War, with the British attempting to prevent the Germans from understanding intercepted messages. For an observer in an aircraft, it would have been difficult, with little time and cramped facilities on board, to properly send coded messages and for someone on the ground to decode them. These delays would have made it almost impossible to send patrols quickly to an identified area. First World War military wireless technology transitioned from bulky, primitive spark-gap telegraphy into the foundation of modern two-way voice and radio communication, and this is what was to be deployed in Ireland.

By January 1920, the decision was made to furnish as many RIC county headquarters as possible with wireless telegraphy. Complaints were coming from the field. One correspondent wrote:

“I am stationed in a very special centre and on several Sundays, I’ve seen Special men[1] complain that they cannot get in touch with Dublin Castle though they have very important messages to transmit, Post Offices are closed on those days and consequently telegrams could not be sent.[2]”

In March, the Daily Mail reported that:

‘owing to the frequency with which telephone and telegraph wires are cut in Ireland, the Government authorities have decided to make extensive use of the wireless telephone there. Operators are drawn from the signal section of the navy which explains the frequent arrival in Ireland of the sailors with mysterious appliances in their bags.’[3]

Throughout May, newspapers widely reported the installation of wireless telegraphy stations in Kerry. On May 1st, wireless communications were established between the military and police barracks in Tralee and other barracks in the county. On May 15th, the Freeman’s Journal reported that naval wireless mechanics had installed a wireless apparatus in Listowel.

An advertisement in the Birmingham Evening Dispatch on May 21st, 1920, indicates the rapid advancement of wireless communications in Ireland as the War of Independence continued. The authorities, while seeking ‘wireless operators and wireless electricians, fitters and instrument makers’, singled out discharged naval men, as many would already have completed their wireless proficiency while serving at sea. The headline stated:

‘£100 Army Bounties For Wireless Operators and £50 Bounties For Wireless Electricians, Fitters and Instrument Makers.’[4]

On June 20th, a newspaper report highlighted the difficulties facing the British authorities:

‘In official Irish circles it is now admitted that the situation in Ireland is not improving but rather getting worse. Sir Hamar Greenwood and Sir Nevil Macready have been back in London without any fresh grounds for the hope that the end of the outrages is as yet in sight.

One of the main difficulties experienced by the Irish Government turns upon the communication of local news and an efficient system of intelligence. From the earliest stages of the trouble Sinn Fein has beaten the Government hollow in that particular. People who are not supporters of Sinn Fein are intimidated.

The enemy knows everything, and the Irish Government knows next to nothing. Telephone and telegraph wires can easily be cut down, but wireless cannot be so treated. The wireless installations in Ireland are wholly inadequate to cover the distances as required. A large expenditure upon wireless communication has become a necessity of the situation.

Steps will now be taken to get the wireless service made efficient as a means by which the military and police may have an improved chance of anticipating attacks upon buildings which the enemy has marked for destruction.’

These newspaper reports were having the desired effect on the Intelligence Department of Sinn Féin. When the Volunteers were raiding RIC barracks or the premises of sympathisers, they not only sought guns and ammunition to commandeer, but also attempted to seize wireless sets. Where the equipment could not be removed, it was destroyed beyond further use.

A raid on Kilbrittain RIC barracks was described by Michael Crowley in his Bureau of Military History Witness Statement:

‘This success netted us fifteen rifles and approximately 10,000 rounds of .303. Before leaving, we dismantled and removed wireless transmitter. The disarmed Marines were soon evacuated, and the building was subsequently burned by the local Volunteers. The wireless transmitter was set up with technical assistance of post office linesmen from, I think, Bandon, to the best of my recollection. Some messages between the R.I.C. barracks were intercepted, but the quickening tempo of operations in the area made it difficult effectively to operate without detection.’

Further witness statements provide an insight into how Sinn Féin and the Volunteers viewed wireless technology. Patrick McKenna from Ardfert, Kerry, stated:

“About the end of the year, Paddy Cahill, Brigade O/C, asked me if I knew of anyone in the area who understood wireless telegraphy. It so happened that a man named John Joe Sullivan, a wireless operator on one of the British Merchant ships, was home on leave at the time. Cahill suggested that we should ask his assistance in erecting a wireless station in our area, out of wireless equipment at Ballymacquinn wireless station which was not being used at the time. I contacted O'Sullivan and, with the help of the local Volunteers, dismantled and removed some of the equipment at Ballymacquinn. When it was examined and tested by the Brigade Engineer, it was found to be useless for our purpose. O'Sullivan later joined the Volunteers and did not rejoin his ship.”

Meanwhile, Liam Archer stated:

“Towards the end of 1920, or else early in 1921, we procured a British Aircraft W & T receiver and set up a listening station in a house in Nelson Street. We engaged full time on this a trained wireless operator - Delargy - but I do not recollect that we secured any tangible results. Later we secured a transmitter and receiver which we took one day to R. Barton’s in Wicklow and experimented with it, but again I recollect no tangible results.”

In early 1920, the British authorities believed they could circumvent the stalling tactics created by the Volunteers' cutting of telegraph lines by using wireless telegraphy. But just as battlefield tactics evolve to counter an opponent, Sinn Féin not only built crude wireless receivers to intercept messages but also stole wireless sets from the military and used them in an attempt to stay one step ahead of the enemy.

This was apparent when messages being sent from spotter RAF aircraft back to base were reportedly intercepted, allowing Volunteers to abandon positions and melt back into the countryside before military trucks arrived.

‘The mails and telegraph services are in the hands of Sinn Fein. Not only are mails at the stations regularly raided, trains and mail-carts held up, but Sinn Fein have their agents in the telegraph offices, who transmit to Sinn Fein agents all telegrams connected with official and military business. Some of these agents are known. When discovered they are not dismissed the Service but moved to another place where they cannot do much harm.

At Limerick station I saw baskets of homing pigeons being placed in the train under military escort. On inquiry I was told that these were for out-lying military stations to communicate with headquarters.

Listowel police barracks have been fitted with wireless, but Sinn Fein have also their wireless stations, and recently the destroyers lying in Kenmare River have been picking up Bolshevist messages from Sinn Fein, urging the crews to throw their capitalist officers overboard.

The Sinn Fein intelligence service is wonderfully complete. Their spies and agents are everywhere. There seems little doubt that Inspector Redmond was murdered as the result of a traitor in the Dublin police. The fact that certain arrests were carried out successfully when ordered by the military authorities could only be due to the fact that the “wanted persons” were warned in time, and when their houses were raided, they were gone.’[5]

The battle over the wireless airwaves continued unabated. Rural wireless continued to be rolled out, with local newspapers reporting that stations in County Limerick, including Abbeyfeale, were having wireless telegraphy installed.[6]

The authorities did have some success in hitting back in the wireless war. In August 1920, it was reported that James Merne, described as a technical instructor from Drumsna, County Leitrim, was arrested when police and military raided his house and seized a complete wireless installation.

The Daily Express in London reported on July 9th:

‘a small portable wireless has been carried about by numerous Sinn Fein secret service agents. It is chiefly employed in intercepting military wireless messages from station to station and was used during a recent search by Royal Air Force pilots and observers.’

The Daily Mail reported:

‘The National Telephone [7] premises at Cork have been raided. Several sets of wireless and telephonic instruments were taken away. Wireless is playing a prominent part in the Sinn Feiners’ campaign. They are manufacturing portable sets in the hundreds. This accounts for the rapid concentration of men in unexpected places and Sinn Fein’s knowledge of the movement of troops. A portable set is easily carried and does not demand great electrical energy[8]. It is quite satisfactory for distances of 20 or 30 miles, and the collapsible aerial which Sinn Fein is employing can be quickly set up and as quickly taken down. The source of the messages can of course be traced but when the military appear on scene, the birds have flown.’

In October, the Kerryman newspaper reported that the wireless station at Cahirsiveen was raided and ‘valuable wireless and telegraphic instruments’ were taken.

By the end of 1920, neither side had been able to take full advantage of wireless. While the Irish Volunteers had an extensive network of informers, spies, messengers and sympathisers, the British authorities were increasingly unable to rely on telephone or telegraph communications. Wireless also proved problematic, whether because of the destruction or seizure of sets, difficulties in operating equipment, or the interception of messages.

Much of the scaremongering about the failures and defects of wireless telegraphy on the battlefield came from the British press. The British military had expanded and developed the use of Marconi’s invention on the battlefields of France during the First World War. In the newly developed guerrilla warfare employed by Sinn Féin and the Volunteers, however, the British authorities sought explanations for their difficulties, and wireless was one of the factors identified.

To provide balance to the British press point of view, the Irish Independent, in a piece titled ‘What Is The Object?’, wrote:

‘For the past month or so, curious little paragraphs have been appearing in London newspapers about the success of the Irish Volunteers in tapping wireless communications sent from military commands in this country. One report stated that the Volunteers had small wireless apparatus with receiving radius of five miles, by --which they “read” messages sent from aeroplanes sent out to search for General Lucas. A later paragraph told the arrival of carrier pigeons at Dublin Castle to keep up military communications in this country. A still later item mentioned the discovery somewhere in the West of Ireland of what the military believed to be a complete wireless installation, and the latest is to the effect that the wireless apparatus in the hands of the Volunteers was captured from the military, and must be operated by ex-service men, who had experience of it at the front.

Now, whoever is responsible for the giving out of all this gratuitous information must have no very exalted opinion of the intelligence of the British public, for whose consumption it is intended. If the Volunteers are in possession of the handy five-mile-radius apparatus they are the last people in the world to give the show away. The surmise of the military who were trying to locate General Lucas, that their messages were “read” lacks confirmation from the only persons who can give it. We fancy most of the military messages are sent in code, so that more than a receiving set would be required to tap them.

But if the Volunteers are in possession of wireless apparatus, where is the occasion for surprise, considering that loyal British firms are prepared to supply anyone with wireless sets for a few pounds. One has only to take up any of the semi-scientific periodicals to find offers of everything required for wireless telegraphy, and there is no stipulation made as to the nationality or “loyalty” of the purchaser. English electric apparatus makers appear just as willing to trade with any customer as were Birmingham traders to supply guns in the good old days.’

In July 1921, shortly before the declaration of the Truce, the Daily Mirror reported on a raid in Tralee where a ‘Sinn Fein Wireless was Seized’, along with signalling flags, revolvers, ammunition and gelignite.

Conclusion

Wireless communication occupied an important, if often overlooked, position within the technological history of the Irish War of Independence. The evidence demonstrates that its significance lay less in transforming the conflict into a technologically driven war than in becoming another contested means of communication, intelligence gathering and counter-intelligence. The British authorities increasingly recognised wireless as a potential solution to the vulnerability of telephone and telegraph networks, particularly as lines were repeatedly cut and local communications were disrupted. At the same time, Sinn Féin and the Volunteers sought to exploit the same technology through interception, acquisition and experimentation.

Contemporary newspaper reports frequently presented wireless in dramatic terms, sometimes attributing considerable effectiveness to Sinn Féin's interception capabilities. However, the surviving witness statements suggest a more complicated reality. Volunteers encountered technical difficulties, unreliable equipment and a shortage of suitably trained operators. British installations faced similar problems, while the mobile and clandestine nature of guerrilla warfare limited the practical value of fixed communications infrastructure. Wireless therefore became part of a wider intelligence system that also incorporated sympathetic officials, postal and telephone workers, couriers, informers and traditional methods of communication.

The history of wireless during the conflict consequently illustrates an important transitional moment in Irish communications history: new technology was being introduced into an old struggle for information, but its effectiveness remained dependent upon people, infrastructure, technical knowledge and the circumstances in which it was deployed.

© The Irish Broadcasting Hall of Fame

 Notes

[1] Special Branch, plain-clothes detectives.

[2] A letter signed ‘Aerial’ and published in the Constabulary Gazette, January 31st, 1920.

[3] Edinburgh Evening Dispatch, March 29th, 1920.

[4] Evening Daily Dispatch, May 21st, 1920.

[5] Roscommon Herald, June 19th, 1920.

[6] July 10th, 1920.

[7] The National Telephone Company was formed in 1893, replacing the Telephone Company of Ireland.

[8] Most wireless transmitting sets, especially portable sets, required battery power rather than mains electricity.

Sources

The Bureau of Military History

The World Radio Online Archive

The US Library of Congress Newspaper Archive

The Irish Newspaper Archives

The British Newspaper Archives

The National Library of Ireland

The National Archives of Ireland

The National Archives Kew Gardens

 

Some Thoughts on Radio

 

Donal Giltinan, One of Ireland's Greatest Radio Playwrights

Long before the television thirty-minute soap and drama series, radio provided the serial entertainment. In the US there was This is Your FBI, Dragnet, Richard Diamond and Boston Blackie and the across the Irish Sea three was Sexton Blake, Sherlock Holmes and Father Brown. Here in Ireland, the early days of Radio Eireann also saw the creation of the thirty-minute cliffhanger serials. One of the most prolific writers in the genre in Ireland wrote under the pseudonym ‘Cusex’. According to the Evening Echo in 1969,

‘He has some six hundred radio productions to his credit fifteen TV series, including "Duty Bound," which ran to six issues, eight other TV items, ten plays, of which "Goldfish in the Sun," is my favourite; three film scripts and three musicals, "The Golden Years," "The Last Troubadour" and "The Impresario." Now his musical "Phil The Fluter" has opened successfully in the West End.’

 

Yet little is known or written about this renowned Irish playwright. ‘Cusex’ was Cork born Donal Giltinan and wrote under an assumed name early in career as he was a civil servant in the Custom and Excise service. Born in 1908 and he attended Presentation College, Cork. After adapting and writing several radio pantomimes his first radio show was a play titled ‘The Chieftain of Dartry’ broadcast in February 1937. In May of that year is first radio serial was broadcast with the three episodes of ‘Beasts of the Border’. He followed this up the following year with ‘Coup D’état’. The press described the show as,

‘The story of an imaginary European state, the radios service of which is used to avert war and saves the existing regime’.

Having worked on the border with Customs in Monaghan, he used that experience to create a variety show called ‘Castleblayney Calling’ featuring local artists and musicians including the Castleblaney Ceili Band. That evening’s programming ended with a secondary ‘Castleblayney Calling’ where Giltinan hoped to present the famous Scothouse ghost, needless to say, without success.

 

Each year pantomimes adapted by Giltinan were performed across Dublin and Cork including ‘Alladin’ in the Father Mathhew Hall, ‘Cinderella’ in the Gaiety and ‘The House that Sean Built’ in the Opera House in Cork.

 

In July 1939, he created a one-hour long variety show titled ‘Anything Can Happen’. So popular was this radio show that it spawned a twice nightly show at the Olympia Theatre staring and produced by the popular Dublin actor and comedian Noel Purcell. Giltinan also created further variety shows for Radio Eireann including ‘X’ and ‘Bath Night’.

 

In 1940, relayed from his native Cork was ‘The Cusex Half Hour’ which alternated from variety sketch style comedy and comedic plays including ‘The Wings of Ballinatub, the Flight of Fancy’. In January 1942, by popular demand, he was back writing serials for Radio Eireann with the detective serials ‘Ask Sergeant Murphy’. But the relationship between the prolific dramatist and the national broadcaster turned sour when he sued Radio Eireann for £21, he claimed they owned him for writing a seven-part series on the ARP that was broadcast a year earlier. He lost the case and while he would write one more serial for Irish radio, he moved to the UK to pursue his career, now having left the Civil Service.

 

His final and most popular serial for Radio Eireann was ‘Inspector Keen’. Starting in 1948 with ‘Ask Inspector Keen’. The series is based on submissions of murder clues and solutions by listeners; each programme contained two short plays based on two of these submissions; the listeners whose solutions surpassed 'Inspector Keen's' solutions were awarded a prize. In May 1953 came a six-episode cliff hanger serial titled ‘The Prince of Darkness’ featuring the character of 'Inspector Keen', with a plot set in Rio de Janeiro. Then came two 10-part serials broadcast Monday to Friday over two weeks with an omnibus on a Saturday, the first was ‘Inspector Keen and the Power Seekers’ and the final outing was titled ‘The Return of Inspector Keen’.

Between the two Keen incarnations he wrote a ten-part serial for the Irish Press, ‘Searchlight in the City’. Advertised as,

‘No, he wasn't out in 1916 and his father wasn't in the G.P.O.! There was, indeed, some courage in " a handful of men, badly armed, standing up against the military might of ah empire." Donal Giltinan read avidly about the fighting, thrilled to the capture of the rebels! Strange that among the leaders were a Count and Countess! But from his West-British home Dublin might have been across the Atlantic. To him it was as far distant as Tir na n-Og.’

The Last Troubadour was a 1956 radio biography of Percy French broadcast on Radio Eireann starring Chris Curran as French. The programme was the highlight of the station’s Christmas Day schedule. This Giltinan turned into a musical comedy ‘The Golden Years’ and later led to ‘Phil The Fluter’s Ball’ becoming a major hit. A BBC TV version of the play was broadcast in 1957 starring George Baker and Joan Hickson.

 

‘The Light in The Sky’ featured the life of another famous Irishman, Robert Emmet. Dealing with a highly dramatic period in the life of Emmet, the18th Century failed revolutionary, Giltinan asks many questions of history. How aspiring for martyrdom was he? Was he a fair man? Was his judgement clouded by his infatuation with the daughter of John Philpot Curran? Were his efforts to seize Dublin Castle futile, given his small number of followers?

 

He began working for BBC television, his first work was ‘The Gentle Maiden’ starring Joseph Tomelty and Sheila Manahan. First broadcast in February 1953, the play was set in fictional waiting room of a railway station at Cloonana. A month later his play ‘The Goldfish in the Sun’ was broadcast on BBC, once again starring Sheila Manahan. In 1958 he wrote a six-part detective series titled ‘Duty Bound’. That same year he wrote a play ‘The Break’ for ITV.  In 1963 he wrote an episode of the popular TV series Armchair Theatre titled ‘The Snag’. He wrote the 1965 movie screenplay for ‘Dead Man’s Chest’ starring a young John Thaw, later to star in the Sweeney and Inspector Morse. The film plot centred on two cynical young journalists attempt to expose the frailty of circumstantial evidence by planning to fake a murder, but the plan goes wrong.

 

He was married to Frances Harbourne in Baltinglass, Wicklow in 1931 and the couple were living in Sussex. He died suddenly in 1976 in Malaga, Spain. His widow passed away in 2001 aged ninety-nine.

 

Where's Wally on Radio Luxembourg? Ireland is on the Hunt.

 

Recently while I was researching the historical significance of Radio Luxembourg’s broadcasts in the 1950’s on Irish listeners. The Irish public had their radio tuners firmly on Radio Eireann for a quarter of a century but as Radio Luxembourg changed their focus to become a dedicated pop and rock and roll station in the early 1950’s, the Irish youth had found a new listen. As I researched, I found this unusual advert in the ‘personals’ of the Irish Independent on September 8^th 1955,

‘George, please come home on Saturday night and listen to Wally Petersen in ‘By Candleglow’ on Radio Luxembourg at 10pm, Janet.’

It seemed very random, who were George and Janet? In keeping with the era, was this a cold war secret message aimed at spies in Ireland? Where was Wally? Lots of questions with very few answers.

 

The following day, Friday September 9^th, in the Derry Journal in the ‘Personal’ section the same advert appeared. Was it inserted both North and South of the border to ensure that a spy saw it? Meanwhile the following weekend in the Belfast Telegraph personals the following wording,

‘Babs, I heard Wally Petersen on Radio Luxembourg last Saturday at 10pm. He’s great! Don’t miss him next Saturday at 10, 208 metres, Alan.’

One week later, once again in the ‘Personal’ section of the Irish Independent was

‘Ronald, come around and listen to Wally Petersen’s wonderful programme next Saturday from Radio Luxembourg at 10pm, signed Margaret’

 

If this was a spy ring, there were a lot of random people involved. While we complain today about clickbait on social media, and even ads as you swipe left or right on dating apps, these were ads for a radio programme dressed up in personal ads, lending a certain humanity to an invitation to listen. In the 1950s the personal ads section in the newspapers were often used to seek out pen pals or even a bachelor seeking a spinster for the prospect of marriage.

 

There was probably never any Ronald or Babs or George but there was a Wally and he was easily found. Wally Petersen was an American born actor, writer, singer and musician who in 1955 joined the staff at Radio Luxembourg in the Grand Duchy. His show ‘By Candlelight’ aired at 10pm directly as the Irish Requests Show that was hosted then by David Gell. Strangely when the Irish show ended on Luxembourg, the personal ads ended. It appeared to be an expensive way to advertise a show that was only fifteen minutes in length.

 

In a career that began in the 1930s and occupied seven decades, Wally Peterson filled an extraordinary number of roles in the theatre and on radio — actor, singer, musician, writer and stage manager. Born in Boston in 1917, his first broadcast was for a local radio station at the age of 15 when he sang Blue Moon. In the 1930s, he was a member of the famous Barter Theatre in Virginia, a collective created in the depression that paid its company in food received from the audience.

He continued broadcasting on radio until he joined the Army in 1943, and produced a number of variety performances for the USO, showing his versatility by also singing, playing piano, writing songs and sketches and acting. By 1944, he was in Europe presenting shows and displaying a talent for improvisation by draping curtain material over trees and setting up pianos and music stands in clearings.

 

After the war, Peterson auditioned for a role in the London company of Oklahoma, which opened in 1947. He would five years in the show at the Drury Lane Theatre. In 1948 Peterson met the Australian singer and actress, Joy Nichols, who was the female star of the new hit radio programme, Take it From Here on Radio Luxembourg. They married in 1949 and Peterson moved into radio, writing and performing shows for the BBC and Radio Luxembourg, where at the time he was the only American presenter. His show on Luxembourg was a massive hit but television beckoned where initially he worked as a producer of the independent television company Associated Broadcasting but following the success of his wife’s role in the West End’s ‘Pyjama Game’, the Petersen family now with daughter Roberta moved to New York. While working at the commercial Luxembourg, he was presenting a weekend show on the BBC’s Light service ‘Down Memory Lane’ aired at the same time as his weekday Luxembourg show.

 

There was some confusion in the entertainment pages of newspapers and magazines in 1955 as there was another Wally Petersen. According to the BBC obituary to Betty Driver, famous to many viewers as Betty Turpin the landlady of the Rovers Return on Coronation Street,

‘In 1953 Driver married Wally Petersen, a South African singer who had guested on one of her shows, but the union was not a success, Peterson was a serial womaniser and made free with Driver's money. The couple parted in 1960’.

Michael O'Hehir, The GAA and Radio Brazzaville

 

“Bail ó Dhia oraibh a cháirde Gael. Hello everybody and welcome to Croke Park. And a special welcome to all those joining us today on Radio Brazzaville.” The words of Michael O’Hehir.

In 1953 these words of the great Michael O’Hehir welcomed listeners to the All-Ireland Hurling Final between Cork and Galway. But how did Radio Brazzaville get to rebroadcast the final? The 1950’s represented the ‘heyday’ of Irish missionary work across Africa with an estimated eight thousand Irish across the continent. Beginning life as The Radio Club in 1936, in 1940, Brazzaville, the capital of the Belgian controlled Congo, became the capital of the Free French government in exile under Charles De Gaulle. In 1941, the station became the voice of the Free French and renamed Radio Brazzaville, broadcasting on short wave.

 

After much lobbying by Catholic missionaries, Radio Eireann struck a deal with Radiodiffusion et Television Francais(RTF) to take the transmission to Paris and then sent by land telephone line to Brazzaville who would rebroadcast the final via short wave. It was a major departure for Radio Eireann and a coup for the GAA to have their sport reach a global audience. These broadcasts were not just being heard abroad but by listeners in Ireland often getting better reception from Radio Brazzaville than Radio Eireann. The Derry Journal reported,

‘Those radio enthusiasts who listened on the short wave to the transmission here in Derry had the thrill of hearing the Irish programme all the way from Radio Brazzaville.’

The Minister for Posts and Telegraphs told the Dail that the broadcast cost £41 and that related to the cost of getting the transmissions to Paris, the onward journey for the commentary was provided free by RTF. The broadcast was deemed a success and so a repeat was inevitable in 1954, but this unique experiment was to find choppy waters.

 

In March 1954 a decision was made to rebroadcast the Railway Cup finals via Radio Brazzaville. With O’Hehir behind the microphone, the national station decided to broadcast the hurling final but rather than broadcasting the subsequent football final, they would broadcast a soccer game between Ireland and their Scottish counterparts with commentary provided by Phillip Greene, both commentaries relayed by Brazzaville. The GAA however were not amused.

‘The G.A.A. learns with indignation of the plan arranged by Radio Eireann to relay to the world through' Radio Brazzaville on St. Patrick's Day, between 3.15 p.m. and 5.30 p.m., a composite broadcast consisting of national game of hurling and the non-Irish game of soccer. The Association feels deeply insulted at being featured without its knowledge or consent in this hotch-potch of hurling-cum-soccer relayed to the world. The Association objects vehemently to the interlarding of an alien football game with the national game of hurling on Ireland' s National Festival.’

RTE however replied,

"With regard to the overseas broadcast, there seems to be some misunderstanding about this. Radio Eireann has no overseas service, and on these occasions, we depend on the goodwill of the French radio authorities in Paris and Brazzaville. By their generous co-operation we have recently been able to bring occasional broadcasts to Irish exiles, primarily the Irish missionaries in Africa, who listen habitually to Radio Brazzaville. On St. Patrick’s Day, Radio Brazzaville is giving up nearly two hours of its own programme time for our broadcast with the commentary in Irish, which few of their listeners would understand.”

RTE came up with an alternative plan, spilt transmissions, while the Brazzaville element would remain the same, the Gaelic commentaries would be covered by the Athlone transmitter, the Dublin and Cork transmitters would relay the hurling followed by the soccer. In the end the split transmission remained but the relay to the world was abandoned.

 

Without the distraction of a soccer match, the rebroadcast of the finals in September 1954 resumed. Radio Eireann was aware that the Irish diaspora across the Atlantic, while they could at times hear Brazzaville, reception was not perfect. The G.A.A. Secretary, Padraig O'Caoimh, disclosed that the games would be relayed by Brazzaville and also WNYC in New York. Listeners to both stations also heard a specially written pageant "The Four Green Fields" performed at half time.

 

In 1956, Brazzaville became part of GAA broadcasting folklore. Cork’s Christy Ring was a superstar and when he took to the field against Wexford, he was hoping to win an unprecedented ninth All- Ireland. Around the world, listeners heard O’Hehir say,

“Paddy Philpott, standing all alone, 50 yards from his own goal, gets the ball and sends it up into the centre of the field. The clash of the ash as it blocks down there by Terry Kelly. Terry Kelly up there to Christy Ring. Ring in front of the goal is going through. He steadies himself; he takes a shot. It's blocked by Art Foley, and it's cleared out by Art Foley. Oh, a great clearance there by Art Foley”

 

Unusually that hurling took place after the football as it had been postponed for three weeks due to a polio outbreak, but it turned out to be memorable and exciting. The champions started in style, held the advantage for most of the first half. Listeners heard two memorable incidents. One was supplied by Mick Morrissey's goal-line clearance and the other by Bobby Rackard who tapped the ball off Ring's hurl when a goal seemed certain.

 

The match is however remembered for the heroic performance of Wexford's goalkeeper Art Foley, who made that crucial save from Ring in the dying moments. Wexford won, securing their first All-Ireland title since 1910 and denying Ring that record ninth medal.

‘The whole of Croke Park has gone stark starring wild’. announced O’Hehir to his listening public.

So popular were the overseas broadcasts that thousands of cards were addressed to O’Hehir via Croke Park to give shout outs to families scattered across the globe. With the arrival of satellite communications and of course television, the Brazzaville experiment ended.

An In Depth Analysis of Radio Luxembourg's Impact on Irish Radio

 Review

This is a highly well-researched and insightful piece of historical writing. It goes beyond a simple "history of radio" and functions as a socio-economic analysis of 20th-century Ireland. It is an excellent piece of historical journalism. It provides a clear "cause and effect" chain: RTÉ’s conservatism + Luxembourg’s technical power + the invention of the transistor = the inevitable rise of the pirates and the eventual birth of 2FM. It treats the subject with the seriousness of a political history while maintaining the energy of a pop-culture retrospective.

For many years, RTE held a monopoly as the Republic of Ireland’s sole state broadcaster and the only authorised source of radio programming for the general public. This dominance faced its first major challenge with the introduction of a legal framework that paved the way for independent and commercial radio stations. The move toward legalising independent broadcasting was a direct response to the widespread popularity of pirate radio throughout the 1980s, which had demonstrated a substantial demand among listeners for alternatives to RTE. However, RTE’s position as the exclusive provider of entertainment for Irish audiences had already started to erode much earlier. The process of dismantling RTE’s monopoly began in the late 1950s and early 1960s, as the Irish public grew increasingly eager for new programming options especially for music listening. This period marked a significant shift in listener preferences, leading to a strong appetite for alternatives to Radio Eireann, which, despite its efforts, struggled to meet the diverse and growing demands of audiences across the country.

In 1953, Radio Luxembourg, based in the Grand Duchy, relaunched when its medium wave and long wave services[1] were merged on 208 metres medium wave. It was a truly commercial station with purchased airtime[2] and sponsored programming. The English language part of the station opened at 6pm and closed at midnight and its powerful 300KW transmitter was clearly heard throughout the British Isles especially during nighttime hours.[3] In 1953 its popularity in Ireland was recognised by the station when the Irish Hour was broadcast with requests once a week, with host Pete Murray.[4] The programme was an instant hit with the younger generation in Ireland who not only heard their own names and towns but the latest music emanating from the new rock and roll scene in London and the United States.

 

There was no escaping Luxembourg as in 1953, the Irish national newspapers were printing the stations daily schedule. On November 11^th, 1953, during a Dail debate on the allocation of funds to cover Radio Eireann, Oliver Flanagan TD said,

“No matter what praise we may have here for Radio Éireann, very few of our listeners listen to Radio Éireann while Radio Luxembourg is on the air. They usually listen to Radio Éireann when they have nothing else to listen to.”

This was the issue for the state broadcaster. The station had no competition during its daytime and evening programming[5] but as soon as Luxembourg opened at 6pm[6], the radios were retuned to 208. Ireland of the early 1950s was slowly emerging from itself imposition international isolation created by the De Valera government. It was still a deeply Catholic country and the national radio service reflected that, plus as a single channel it was attempting to cater to all needs and tastes but the ever growing youth demographic was ignored as conservative Irish listeners and legislators saw the emergence of the new Rock n Roll music with the same disdain they did when American jazz waved across the Atlantic in the 1930’s.[7] For the clergy there was also the emergence of American evangelism on this side of the Atlantic and perceived it as a threat. When a ‘paid for’ religious programme aired on Radio Luxembourg nightly at 11pm, just before closedown, with a significant audience carried over from its earlier more popular shows, the Catholic media in Ireland were upset. The Christian Broadcasting Fellowship aired nightly and promoted its show with advertisements in the Irish newspapers with a contact address of D’Olier Street in the centre of Dublin city, near O’Connell Bridge.

 

By January 1954, Irish advertisers were purchasing airtime on the station, a loss to Radio Eireann. The Bray Holiday Bureau[8] purchased a fifteen-minute slot once a week for three months advertising the town featuring the popular Irish tenor Joseph Locke on its first programme. The pressure on Radio Eireann, which was already cash starved by the Department of Finance continued throughout the 1950’s. Weekly Independent’s radio Supplement gave weekly schedule for Radio Eireann, AFN and Radio Luxembourg side by side. Luxembourg was broadcasting a mix of music along with serials like Dan Dare, Dr, Kildare and Perry Mason.

When an Irish reporter questioned the stations content, gives the answer, " What makes Radio Luxembourg tick?" It's quite simple, he replied, " When the people ask for oranges, we give them oranges. We don't give them bananas." By providing "oranges" (popular music and rock and roll) when the state insisted on "bananas" (traditional and conservative programming), Luxembourg successfully commercialized the Irish airwaves from abroad.

In August 1954, the station cemented its connection to Ireland with the unveiling of their first ever Miss Radio Luxembourg pageant competition. The winner was announced as Miss Phil Tubridy from Monkstown. Not only did she represent the station at various events including the Radio Review ball in the Hibernian Hotel on Dawson Street but also had a weekly fifteen-minute show on the station that ran until Christmas 1954.

By 1955 in a listener survey[9] Radio Luxembourg was the second most listened to station in Ireland. It reported that 85% listened to Radio Eireann and that 56% listened to Luxembourg, with smaller listenership’s to the BBC light Service and the American Forces Network. The poll also showed that Radio Eireann’s listenership was dominated by those listening before 8pm and in rural areas. This reinforced a survey a year earlier reported by the Catholic Standard Newspaper[10]

‘About one in three of the population over 16 tune into Luxembourg at same time during the evening and although there is less listening to radio in Ireland, listening to Luxembourg is at a higher level than in Great Britain. On an average evening less than two in three of the Irish listens in and of these more than half tune to Luxembourg.’

For a national station these were startling statistics as it leaked a growing number of listeners yearly. 

By 1958 The Irish Requests Show was being sponsored by Jacobs Ireland with quarter page daily ads in the Irish national newspapers on the day of their shows.  In 1960 the Irish Hospital Sweepstakes returned to sponsoring programmes on Luxembourg. With no access to advertising into the UK via radio for their lottery, Luxembourg provided that avenue. In 1935 the Sweepstakes were sponsoring programmes on the pre-war Luxembourg.[11]

After almost a decade of dominance by Radio Luxembourg over Irish radio audiences, its relationship with Ireland featured in numerous debates in the Dail. On February 24th 1960, Dr Noel Browne informed the sitting that,

“One of the sad truths about our society is that one of our favourite stations, outside Radio Éireann, is Radio Luxembourg, which is unparalleled in any society for unadulterated rubbish. Their sponsored programmes are under the control of advertisers and private enterprise products, the standard being the lowest common denominator.”

There were also complaints that the Dundalk based Carrolls firm were advertising their Sweet Afton cigarette brand on Luxembourg rather than Radio Eireann

In a debate of Broadcasting Authority Bill which would eventually lead to the launch of television and the creation of Radio Telifis Eireann, John Belton TD (FG) on March 16th, 1960, told the debate,

“The most popular station for radio listeners in the city of Dublin is Radio Luxembourg because it is producing modern programmes that have a greater interest for radio audiences than other programmes.” 

In May 1960, James Dillon (FG) added,

“I am sorry to have to tell the Deputy that that is not the reason recommended to me. It is usually a passionate desire to listen to "Elvis the Pelvis", and I cannot pretend to enjoy that buck. I recognise freely that there are others who do, and every man is entitled to enjoy what he likes best in the form of music, whether it be Elvis or Ludwig von Beethoven. Certain it is, however, that the net result is that Radio Luxembourg gets immense advertising revenue. If we could command a tithe of the advertising revenue Radio Luxembourg enjoys, we would be able to achieve what I think is the ideal: we would be able to cater on one wavelength for the fans of "Elvis the Pelvis" and, on another, for the enthusiasts for Mozart and Beethoven. Perhaps the Minister would explain to the uninitiated amongst us.”

Michael Hillard TD[12] replied,

“We would have to put the "Jolly Roger" up.”

James Dillon TD,

“There is something to be said for the "Jolly Roger" in certain circumstances. Great Empires have been built through the profits derived from the "Jolly Roger". In the old days, they were called privateers. If you got caught, you were a pirate; if you came home successfully with the loot, you were a privateer.”

This created a paradox in the Dáil, where politicians simultaneously decried the "unadulterated rubbish" of commercial radio while admitting the state could not afford to compete without adopting the "Jolly Roger" tactics of its competitors.

 

In June 1960, as the debate on the future of Irish broadcasting continued in the public domain, Maurice Kennedy writing in the Irish Independent,

“The rural cinemas, the Rock n Roll output of Radio Luxembourg and the car, on the family farm, all mean that rural teenagers are subject to the same influences as their city cousins.”

In the early sixties the new music of the increasing number of showbands were breaking through but with so many bands travelling around the ballrooms of Ireland and many of them recording tracks, an outlet domestically was lacking, and Radio Luxembourg was ready to fill the void. One of the most popular showbands in Ireland was the Capitol Showband, led by singer Butch Moore had their own show beginning in October 1963[13].  Their success was created by an enterprising manager, who himself would go onto a stellar career in broadcasting.  The Capitol’s manager was County Louth born Jimmy Magee who would dominate sports commentating on both RTE radio and television for decades. In December 1963 just as the Capitol’s run of programmes was coming to an end, The Cadets Showband took over with the Marlowe Dry Cleaners sponsoring their fifteen-minute show.

But in the sixties the strength and power of Radio Luxembourg and ergo their advertisers weakened not because RTE began addressing the younger listener, but the arrival in 1964 of Radio Caroline, the pirate-based radio ship. Caroline by 1967 had two ships, one operating off the coast of Essex on England’s east coast and a second ship anchored off the Isle of Man covering the west coast of the UK and all of Ireland. By the late 1960’s hobby weekend pirates were appearing on the Irish airwaves from Dublin to Cork to Wexford and Newry.

The younger listener, who by the end of the sixties had access to cheaper transistor radios, had been acclimatised to hearing the music they liked, not what their peers listened to. The new music of rock and roll, led by Elvis coming from America and the rise of the Beatles music in the UK, sidelined the Irish traditional music and even the showbands, consigning them to the older generation and Radio Eireann. While Radio Eireann and later RTE Radio had, like Luxembourg, sponsored programming, it was the type of music that was being played on the commercial stations that encouraged listeners to return time and time again. The commercial stations also attempted to replicate American broadcasting styles which offered a tantalising taste of other possibilities.  It was the ease of access to listen to Radio Luxembourg and later Radio Caroline that made them attractive to the young listener and therefore to the advertisers who were purchasing their sponsorship of the stations.

 

The growing demand for pop and rock music in Ireland, coupled with limited access for musicians and bands to Radio Eireann, led Irish artists and voices to seek alternative platforms. This quest for exposure resulted in many finding a place on the newly developing pirate radio scene. While pirate radio in Ireland during the 1950s primarily consisted of paramilitary style political broadcasts[14], the landscape began to shift. Hobbyists and amateur engineers started constructing their own medium wave homemade transmitters and basic, affordable studio equipment. This movement sparked a new era of pirate radio, paving the way for further growth in the following decades. As the influence of stations like Radio Caroline and Radio Luxembourg waned in the seventies, the reach and popularity of Irish pirate radio expanded. The impact of Radio Luxembourg on Irish listeners was substantial, significantly affecting RTE's audience and advertising revenue. In response to this shift, some of the lost revenue to RTE was redirected, with advertisers opting to place ads in Irish newspapers promoting Radio Luxembourg's programmes. While Luxembourg started the erosion, the arrival of Radio Caroline in 1964 and the subsequent rise of Irish pirate ships ensured that the monopoly could never be fully restored to its pre-1950s state.

Appendix 1: Some of the various programme sponsors on Radio Eireann and Luxembourg in the 1960’s

Luxembourg

EMI, Decca & Capitol Records, later Phillips (In 1968 all replaced by individual commerical brand sponsors)

Frys Chocolate

Elida Shampoo

Silvikrin Shampoo

Brunitex Shampoo

Racing Blue (Sports Newspaper)

Curry’s Limited

Raleigh Industries

Pye

Top Rank Bingo

Irish Hospital Sweepstakes

Beechams

Sweet afton

 

Radio Eireann

ESB (1950s – 1960s)

Lyons Tea

Associated Ballrooms

Knocknagram Chicks (Jan 1962)

VG Shops

Bulmers Cidona (6am Saturdays Only 1960)

Irish Hospital Sweepstakes

Hygeia

Andrews Liver Salts

Loxene Hair Cream (Men)

Waltons

---

[1] Radio Luxembourg One on longwave was aimed at British audiences while Luxembourg 2 was aimed domestically on 208m medium wave.

[2] North American Evangelists

[3] Marnach transmitter was a broadcasting facility of RTL near Marnach in the commune of Clervaux, in northern Luxembourg.

[4] Murray joined Luxembourg in 1950 and was based in the Grand Duchy unlike many presenters who recorded their programmes in London and despatched to Luxembourg.

[5] There were a small percentage of daytime urban listeners who tuned into the BBC

[6] The station broadcasting in 5.30am – Noon, German Noon to 5.30pm, Luxembourgish 5.30pm to 6pm

[7] That led to the anti-jazz movement of the 1930s led by Father Confrey from Mohill Co. Leitrim

[8] A seaside resort on the border of Dublin and Wicklow

[9] A Poll of 7,000

[10] January 22^nd 1954 by Social Surveys Limited

[11] The Radio Pictorial magazine

[12] The then Minister for Posts & Telegraphs with responsibility for broadcasting

[13] First show 7.45pm October 9^th 1963

[14] Several incarnations of ‘Irish Freedom Radio’ were based in Dublin and along the Northern Ireland border