Remembering the sponsored programmes on Radio Éireann
By Tom Gillespie
BACK in the early days of Radio Éireann sponsored programmes were the main means of advertising for the broadcaster. They were broadcast in the morning and at lunchtime.
I do remember Val Joyce presenting the long running 'Irish Hospitals’ Sweepstakes' programme. The programme was sponsored by the Irish Hospitals’ Trust to promote the sale of tickets for the Irish Sweepstake.
The first sponsored programme, featuring Euthymol toothpaste, was broadcast on December 31, 1927.
Through the 1930s, Independent Newspapers sponsored ‘Slumber Hour’, PJ Carroll, makers of Sweet Afton cigarettes, sponsored ‘Sweet Afton Varieties’, The Savoy Cocoa Company sponsored the ‘Savoy Minstrels’, and The Blackrock Hosiery Company, ‘Rock Revellers’.
‘The Walton’s Programme’, sponsored by the Dublin music shop of that name, became among the best-known and longest running sponsored programmes.
It was presented by Leo Maguire on a Saturday afternoon and always ended with Maguire stating: "If you feel like singing, do sing an Irish song."
This was a weekly sponsored show during which Maguire played recordings of popular Irish ballads. The programme was broadcast for almost 30 years until its cancellation in January 1981.
Patrick Leo Maguire (1903 to December 17, 1985) was a singer, songwriter, and radio broadcaster.
Born in Dublin's inner city, Maguire trained as a baritone under Vincent O'Brien, John McCormack’s voice teacher. For many years he performed with the Dublin Operatic Society.
Maguire was a prolific composer, writing over 100 songs. These include 'Come to the Céile’, ‘The Old Killarney Hat’, ‘If You'll Only Come Across the Seas to Ireland', ‘The Dublin Saunter’ (which he wrote for Noel Purcell) and ‘Eileen McManus’ (recorded by Daniel O'Donnell).
His most famous song is ‘The Whistling Gypsy’ which usually featured on the Walton’s programme.
In 1954 Rose Brennan was awarded third place by the New Music Express for the best recording of the year for her cover of ‘The Whistling Gypsy’.
It was also a hit in Ireland and later in the United States. Maguire also wrote parodies and humorous songs under the name Sylvester Gaffney.
January 1981 saw the last of RTÉ radio’s sponsored programmes ever to be transmitted, marking the end of an era spanning over 50 years.
I remember enjoying the sponsored radio programmes in the 1950s and ‘60s - we had no television then - where all the latest hits were played. Otherwise I tuned into a crackly Radio Luxembourg on 208 metres medium wave at night for the latest pop news, charts, songs and tunes.
In the 1960s Val Joyce started the programme 'Pop Call on Radio 1', the first ever phone-in pop request programme.
Later, on Saturday afternoons, Val presented 'Airs and Races', a horse-racing and music programme that brought Val’s two great interests together.
In the 1970s Val was deeply associated with the Castlebar International Song Contest and regularly featured quirky stories from The Connaught Telegraph on the 'Airs and Races' programme.
In the ‘60s I got my first transistor radio, a gift from my grandmother, Sarah Fahey, when she returned from a month-long trip to relatives in Vancouver in Canada.
I could only get stations on medium wave and the only one available then was Radio Éireann, but it was novel and had a single ear piece, or, as it is called today, an ear bud. Unfortunately, it was very severe on batteries but it was a teenager’s dream accessory.
'The Kennedys of Castleross' was a serial drama, or in today’s lingo a soap opera, which was broadcast on Radio Éireann from 1955 to 1973.
The serial was devised by Arks advertising agency on behalf of its client, Fry-Cadbury, and the first script writers were Mark Grantham and Bill Nugent. The first episode was broadcast on April 14, 1955.
The cast included Marie Kean, T.P. McKenna, Vincent Dowling, Angela Newman and Philip O’Flynn.
Each 15-minute episode was transmitted at lunchtime on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The programme's signature tune was the second movement of Hamilton’s Harty's 'An Irish Symphony', sub-titled 'The Fair Day'. During its long run, various other scriptwriters worked on ‘The Kennedys of Castleross’, including playwright Hugh Leonard and broadcaster David Hanley.
When Fry-Cadbury withdrew its sponsorship in the 1960s, Radio Éireann bowed to popular demand and retained the serial as part of its regular programming.
However, after an almost 18-year unbroken run, the station announced in January 1973 that 'The Kennedys of Castleross' had reached the end of its natural life and would be cancelled.
As a measure of how much the long-running soap opera's popularity had declined since its heyday, Radio Éireann received only one letter of protest following the announcement.
For the final episode, Radio Éireann broke with convention and broadcast a special one-hour edition on February 24, 1973.
Looking back, the first voice broadcast of the original 2RN took place on November 14, 1925, when Seamus Clandillon, the 2RN station director, said: 'Seo Raidió 2RN, Baile Átha Cliath, ag tástáil', - ‘This is Radio 2RN, Dublin, calling'.
Regular Irish radio-broadcasting began on January 1, 1926. A high power (initially 60 kW) station was established in Athlone in 1932, to coincide with the staging of the Eucharistic Congress. 2RN, 6CK and Athlone became known as ‘Radio Athlone’ and were receivable across virtually the entire country. Radio Athlone became known as Radio Éireann in 1938.