SHOW PROMO

DUBLIN'S PIRATE DAYS

A NEW SIX PART SERIES HAS BEGUN TO AIR ON DUBLIN COMMUNITY TELEVISION.

This six part interview series looks at the momentous moments as the new Wireless Telegraphy Act came into force at midnight on December 31st 1988 and closed the majority of the pirate radio stations that were dotted across the country. In the series we chat to some of those iconic names in pirate radio many of whom are still on the air today. We hear stories of guns being put to DJ's heads at Big D, The US Ambassador to Lebanon rescuing Radio Dublin DJ's who found themselves in a war zone, the raids, the fun, the postman who was arrested just because he was delivering post to a radio station as it was being raided. The characters some of whom are no longer with us but are fondly remembered. Tune in each Friday at 7 on UPC Channel 802, Dublin Community Telelvision, AERTV or on Vimeo.

THE SAINT - IRISH SHOCKER FOLLOW UP

My thanks to Burl Barer at the Saint.org web site for this kind e mail.

http://www.saint.org/

THE SAINT - A SHOCKING IRISH DISCOVERY

I was recently asked at my lecture on 1930s Irish Broadcasting History if I was aware that the first radio broadcast of Leslie Charteris's The Saint was on Radio Eireann in 1939. The Saint is perhaps more famous now through the television incarnations of actors Roger Moore and Ian Ogilvy. I had to be honest that I was not aware of that but it sent me on a little CSI style investigation.

My first port of call was the internet and the always reliable Mr. Google. There it was not 1939 but 1940. I was stunned. I checked a number of 'The Saint' fan sites all all pointed me in the one direction even Old Time Radio sites in the United States refered to Radio Athlone and its historic connection with the suave spy.

http://www.saint.org/radio.htm

My attention was peaked and I continued to research the mighty internet. I began to look at the career of the actor who 'played' the role on Radio Eireann Terence DeMarney and sadly discovered that he died in 1971 when he accidently fell under a train in England. Then I came a cross a very disingenuous remark towards the Irish national station in a book on The Saint

This piece of misinformation and inaccuracy came from the 2002 James Chapman book 'Saints and Avengers, British Adventure Series of the 1960's'

'A short lived' station that is now almost a century old. I next checked the radio guide of the day The Irish Radio News and to my surprise there was no mention of the six part series. It occured to me that perhaps the books reference to 'commercial' may have indicated that the drama's was part of the sponsored programmes that were carried by Radio Eireann in the 1930s and early 1940s but when I looked up the Irish Hospital Sweepstakes archives as they were the main radio sponsors of the day, yet again nothing found on now the elusive Saint.

The research went on and I began to trawl the Irish Newspaper Archives and everything that had been written in articles, magazines and respected books was completely and totally wrong. Inaccuracy in facts has led to a myth that is simply not true. Radio Eireann did NOT broadcast the first radio incarnation of Leslie Charteris's The Saint. In fact the series was broadcast by the BBC.

This from the Irish Independent October 25th 1940

To prove that Radio Eireann/Radio Athlone did not broadcast the show as given in evidence on October 18th 1940 this is the programme schedule for the Irish state broadcaster for that Friday and no mention of The Saint or even a drama being broadcast

The only connection Ireland had with The Saint in October 1940 was the fact that showing in a number of cinema's was the movie 'The Saint Takes Over' starring George Saunders in one of his many 'Simon Templar' roles. But my next question in the investigation was why? Why had this myth grown up and how did it come about. The investigation was a little complicated as was many events during the Second World War.

With the outbreak of the Second World War, the British War Office instructed the BBC to synchronize their transmitters to prevent the German air force from using the signals as beacons for their bombing raids. Most of the BBC’s transmitters for their national and regional services were synchronized on 449m and 391m medium wave. The problem for the War Office was that Radio Athlone’s powerful 100KW transmitter could be used as a directional beacon and despite low level communications between the British and Irish Governments initially their was no co-operation from Radio Athlone to synchronize their transmitter on 531m with those less powerful transmitters in Dublin on 223m and on 242m in Cork.

The BBC was ordered to take three of their transmitters out of service and use them to mask Radio Athlone. The BBC engineers would use a receiver to tune in the Dublin frequency and then relay by landline to three UK transmitters to rebroadcast programmes from Radio Athlone.

The three transmitters used were the five kilowatt transmitter at Redmoss outside Aberdeen in Scotland that originally broadcast on 373m but was moved to the Athlone frequency of 531m. This was similarly done at Penmon outside Angelsey in Wales and at Clevedon near Bristol in Somerset.

The BBC continued with these rebroadcasts from September 1939 until October 1940 when the Irish Government purchased the equipment required to synchronize the three Radio Eireann transmitters. Thus British listeners who had been listening to Radio Eireann's programmes which had been secretly rebroadcast by the BBC assumed once the Irish Government had synchronized the Irish transmitters that it was still Radio Eireann when in fact Redmoss, Clevedon and Penmon begun broadcasting BBC programmes once more to their own audience in October 1940.

This is a slice of espionage that Simon Templar would have been proud of.

TODAY FM - GUARANTEED IRISH?

I spotted this advertisement for Today FM at Blackrock Dart station yesterday. What strikes you as odd about the photo used?

This is Cork born Matt Cooper posing on a London styled taxi, that is painted in New York cab colours. It featured a rugby player and Rugby is an English game the invention of William Webb Ellis in 1823. The cab has a running board similar to the gangster movies of the prohibition era in the United States.

There are clearly too many passengers for this cab. The nurse has a stethescope invented in France. The 3D glasses are an American creation,popcorn has its origins in Peru, South America and the electronic megaphone is a 1954 US invention.

The runner is wearing sneakers an American product while the businesswoman is wearing high heels a European fashion creation with origins in the Middle East.

The show is sponsored by Irish Life who are owned by a Canadian firm.

So thats what I got out of Today FM today, not much Irishness for the national independent broadcaster.

IRELAND'S GOT PUPPET TALENT 2

Ireland and Irish television has a proud history of non human puppets anchored at the top of the ratings. They have entertained, educated and brightened up our viewing experience. There has been a lull, an uneasy peace from our on screen heroes. They have represented us in the Eurovision, taught our children to be safer on the roads and abused celebrities on our behalf but now is the time for a new hero on screen.

Introducing Ireland Has Puppet Talent 2, the search for a new puppet star to take on the mantle of Judge, Podge and Rodge and Dustin. Let the talented creative people of Ireland, design and display their new creations live on television. Just like any of the current crop of talent shows on ITV or BBC, the new show will be judged by experts in the field and hosted by Podge and Rodge. The Irish viewing public will vote on the winner, with the prize of a new television show and new safety campaign aimed at the youth of our nation.

That's the dream. Maybe it can become a reality with the right people, are you listening Ciaran, Mick and John. While we are waiting here is a look at the non-humans who as a nation we have taken to our hearts and have grown up with over the decades.

BROADCASTING 'AS GAEILGE' IN 1939

(AN EXTRACT FROM THE BOOK '1930'S IRISH BROADCASTING AN EVOLUTION NOT A REVOLUTION' BASED ON THE LECTURE OF THE SAME NAME)

In 1970 a group of enthusiastic activists crowded into a small caravan in County Galway and asserted their right to have a dedicated Irish language radio station on the air. Two years after those pioneering pirate broadcasts Radio na Gaeltachta took to the airwaves and has been broadcasting nationally ever since. In recent years other stations have provided programming in the native tongue including Radio Na Life (http://www.raidionalife.ie/old/english/history.htm), Radio Failte and local community stations across the country. These have been augmented in recent years by internet based Irish language radio stations.

In the early days of Irish radio (2RN going on air in January 1926) Irish language supporters believed that the airwaves were not being used properly for the promotion of the native language. Activists initially wanted the state run station to be solely broadcast in Irish and that it should support National ideals and traditions but there was very little support from the political establishment who were unsure how to treat the new medium and were suspicious of the intentions of traditionalists. Over eighty percent of the station’s output was in English, the language of Government and the Irish language did not even make up the entire remainder as French, German and Esperanto all received significant airtime. Less than half of all music played on the new station was Irish traditional and this caused much debate in the newspapers of the day.

The Irish language has always been a hot potato when it comes to broadcasting and the positioning of various lobby groups has often affected the direction of both programming and language revival. In 1989 when the Independent Radio and Television Commission perused proposals for the new commercial national franchise there was derision in the media when former pirate broadcaster Chris Cary (Radio Nova) in his submission advanced his proposal for an Irish language ‘word of the day’. This English born entrepreneur seemed unable grasp the importance of the native tongue on a national stage but fast forward twenty years and the national franchise now Today FM offers a thirty second occasional slot ‘creid é no ná creid é’ not far off Cary’s 1989 thoughts on the subject in 1989.

Radio Eireann in 1939 was the chief provider of Irish language broadcasting but this year would see four different stations in three different countries broadcast ‘as Gaeilge’. Vatican Radio aired Irish programmes at 7.30pm hosted by the Rector of the Irish College in Rome broadcast on short wave for the faithful in Ireland to listen to. In Germany, Nazi state radio began broadcasting in Irish on December 10th 1939. The presenter was Hans Hartmann and their propaganda was anti British and an overt attempt to reinforce Ireland’s position of neutrality during the Second World War and finally the IRA’s Broadcast station that was located in Ashgrove House, Rathgar began all their broadcasts with a speech in the native tongue usually delivered by Seamus Byrne who became a successful playwright after the War. The station was raided and closed at the end of December 1939.

(The first radio programme in Gaelic was not transmitted by Radio Eireann but on 2BD in Aberdeen on October 10th 1923)