Brendan in the studio for his regular Saturday afternoon slot

In my last story for 2005 I would like to share with you my first year at Mid West Radio.
The station is based in Ballyhaunis Co Mayo; there is also a studio in Ballina and an office in Castlebar. It was back in July 1989 Mid West Radio was launched at a glittering ceremony in Breaffy House Hotel, which is close to Castlebar. The station was an extraordinary success right from the start, in fact the station has never been out of the top three stations in Ireland in any of the surveys carried by The Independent Radio and Television Commission (IRTC) which is the controlling authority of local radio.
The advent of Mid West Radio signaled a rejuvenation of life in the West of Ireland. The stations ethos of providing a truly local service where the listener comes first has been directly responsible for making the station one of the most listened services in Ireland.
The station always strives to be unique and usually succeeds. All the presenters are always willing to help promote an event within the Community, and indeed they give their time freely on many occasions to come along and compare many events to raise Money for various charities.
The Station has very strong links with many Mayo Emigrant Associations in many parts of the world; over the past sixteen years the station regularly broadcasts programmes from all corners of the globe. These shows are very popular and it gives the emigrants the opportunity to send good wishes live on air to their loved ones back home in Ireland.
Musically the station has put special emphases on promoting Irish talent both local and national. Its exposure to the airways of Irish artists has unearthed a vast array of fine talent in the country, folk, ballad and traditional music. Many readers of the Harp would have recently seen and heard Patrick Feeney in Birmingham’s Irish Centre, his big break in the Irish Country Music scene began at Mid West, he called in one day with a C D and on it a song called “Ill Fly Away”, it got a few air plays on the station and soon it was one of the most requested songs and Patrick’s singing career was well and truly launched.
Following the tsunami tragedy the station began playing its part in fund raising for the victims of this dreadful event in Asia. Within three weeks a concert was organized at The T F Royal Theatre in Castlebar and a capacity crowd of Twelve Hundred came to be entertained by a host of Irelands finest talent all giving their service for free, they included Jimmy Buckley, Mike Denver, Patrick Feeney, Robert Mizzell, Louise Morrisey, James Kilbane, Declan Nerney, Frank Mc Caffrey and many more, thanks to the efforts of the station and all who attended Twenty Five Thousand Euro was handed over to The Irish Red Cross, this included a One Thousand Euro donation from the radio station.
In February another major event was held at Knock Shrine, one of the stations presenters Tommy Marron had made contact with officials in The Maldives, which had been badly hit by the tsunami, an auction was organized and the name given to the event was “Mid West to the Maldives”. People were asked by Tommy on his programme to donate articles for the auction and people were so generous, items of every description were donated, it took a day and a half to set up and display all that was on offer for auction and an unbelievable Ten Thousand People came along to snap up a bargain and on the day Fifty Thousand Seven Hundred and Forty Eight Euro was raised, various communities and schools did fund raising to support the Maldives project and thanks to all concerned over One Hundred Thousand Euro was raised for Mid West to the Maldives” project.
In January Mid West Irish Radio began broadcasting on the Internet service, and it had its official launch in the Summer. This is Irelands first dedicated Internet Radio Station and it provides a very specailised style of broadcasting. All the presenters entertain the listeners all day with a unique brand of entertainment music and chat. With the advancement of technology in recent years the world has become a much smaller place. The station prides itself in providing this unique interactive Irish Radio Service.
I was delighted when I had a call one day from Gerry Glennon who has been with the station right from the start back in 1989, he asked me would I like to join the stations new internet service, I thought this was a wind up however he assured me it was true and could I call in one day to have a chat with Chris Carroll the Station Manager, a date a time was arranged and I went along to the new state of the art studio in Ballyhaunis, over a nice cup of tea I had a chat with Chris and he kindly offered me a slot on the new service. He then gave me a guided tour of the station and I was truly amazed with the new technology, which they were using.
Paul Claffey the Stations Chief Executive invited me to sit in with him on one of his shows to get the feel of this modern system, after a three hour show with Paul I felt fairly confident I had got the hang of things, the following day I had a call from Chris Carroll and he said could I start on Saturday 1pm until 5pm, I agreed and my new found career was launched. I had tremendous support from all the Management and fellow presenters and all the backroom team at the station.
I could not believe the amount of listeners who tune in on the internet service right around the world, many of them have never been to Ireland, I am delighted to have many listeners who I know personally, many of them are readers of The Harp and they keep me up to date with all that’s happening in Brum. I have a regular slot every Saturday 1pm until 5pm, I also fill in for all the other presenters when they are on leave, I also drive the station outside broadcast unit and this gives me the chance to meet many interesting people throughout Mayo.
You tune into the Internet service on www.midwestirishradio.com and E-mail your requests to studio@midwestiridhradio.com
It is such a privilege for me to be part of the team at Mid West Irish Radio who are bringing “A Little Taste of Ireland into Homes all over The World”
Finally may I take this opportunity to wish all the readers of The Harp a Happy Christmas and Good Wishes for 2006.
Until the next time Its Goodbye and God Bless from The Hills of Sligo.