Social Benefit Project (R48) – Social Benefit Conference 13th February 2025

David Larkin, speaking on behalf of the Chairperson

Community Radio in Dundalk has reached a milestone insofar it has been a fully licenced station now for 20 years – it began as a weekend pilot service radio in 2002, and was awarded a full licence in 2004.

The frequency has changed over the years from 107 to 100 to 97.7FM. The make up of our community in Dundalk has also changed. It has grown in size, it has attracted major business investments, it has wide ranging educational services. Dundalk has a thriving community and voluntary sector, which along with sports facilities and arts venues means that Dundalk FM is busy keeping listeners up to date with developments. Keeping Community members informed and aware of what is happening around their community is Social Benefit Number 3. Three of six that we are going to explore today with the help of presenters and community group representatives.

As part of funding that the station received from Round 48 of the Sound and Vision Community Benefit Round, the station decided to invite Community Groups to a one day workshop to explore and document the social benefit stories of their involvement with the station.

Thank you for coming along today and I hope we will encourage you to think think about the station as a place where programmes are made – yes, but also a place where people’s lives are enhanced through gaining skills and confidence and that your sense of identity and belonging is increased by engaging with the station

Anita Guest

Hello my name is Anita Guest, and I’m a member and radio presenter at Dundalk FM.

I present a radio show called Rehab Care On Air every Thursday night at 9

I go to Rehab Care 4 days a week, I’m an independent person and can speak up for myself.

I like music, puzzles, word searches, computer games and knitting.

I first came to Dundalk FM in 2004 with my friends from Rehab Care, Jason Kelly and Oliver Hanratty to learn how to do a radio show. We signed up to do A Learn About Radio Course with Paddy Mac and Edel McMullen who worked at the station.

I was nervous at first because I didn’t know what to expect and I was anxious about using the radio equipment and speaking in to the microphone and hearing my voice.

Over the last 20 years, I have recorded one off special shows including Spotlight, Alphabeats, Spooky Halloween shows and Christmas Specials. I present my own Rehab Care On Air Show every Thursday night at 9 O’ Clock and I also received a CRAOL Achievement Award for my documentary The History And People Of Rehab Care Dundalk

I represented Dundalk FM at the Craol Achievement Awards Ceremony 2023 with my mam and Dundalk FM Station Manager Alan Byrne at the CRAOL Féile in The Sheradon Hotel Athlone.

I’ve learned a lot at Dundalk FM, like how to put a running order together, how to do a playlist, how to research, how to use a digital recorder and how to record and save a show using a sound desk, microphone and computer.

I love coming in to Dundalk FM because its a big achievement for me to be able to do my own show. The staff have always been very kind to me and always helped me with recording and editing, and Tony who works at the station helps me to make promos for the show.

I love meeting people at the station and having the craic and a laugh with them. I pre-record the show on Friday afternoon and it is Broadcast the following Thursday night.

My mam and me listen to it at home together and she is very proud of me for being able to do it.

Ebony Devlin

I heard about Dundalk FM because my mum told me about it, and I told her that I was a massive fan of radio, I always loved radio from a young age – it was the way I saw the world.

My mum asked Paddy Mac if I could come into the studio. It was really fun. It was really exciting.

So the next thing was that I put my name down for a Radio Course with Marissa. I found it easy enough. I just basically did the mic training and everyone else did the editing. I couldn’t do that because I’m visually impaired. I put in a programme proposal and recorded a demo for a show called ‘A Little Bit Of Everything’. The demo was easy because you had to basically pretend you were doing your show and you got to introduce the songs. And I got it. Now I have my own show

Before I come in, I have to listen to the songs online. I basically do my own song list and build my show around the songs. I have to make sure that I write my script and I have to make sure that I email my playlist to the producer. When I come in, I do a mic test. I check the headphone volume and mic level and then I record my script. My mum loves the show. She thinks I’m a natural. She thinks I’m very, very good and it’s her favourite part of the month – She loves it.

What I like about coming into Dundalk FM is that you can just do your own thing. No one really bothers you. You can just go in and come out. The atmosphere at the station is very chill. It’s a comfortable atmosphere.

For me to be a radio presenter and to be a member of Dundalk’s community radio station means absolutely everything. It just means everything to me. I just learned how to talk on the microphone. I never really learned how to be a radio presenter. It just came natural to me. Because I always listened to the radio, I was always able to talk. I just love radio. I suppose Dundalk FM has given me an opportunity… to do my own show. I’ve always wanted to do this. Every time I do a show on the radio I am living my dream.

John Morgan

I heard about Dundalk FM when it opened originally and have sent in Community Notices which were read out and joined presenters to talk about the community work that I do.

I completed two of the radio courses here, and then as a result I got the confidence to do a documentary in 2018, which was on the centenary of the sinking of the SS Dundalk. I had a personal interest in it, in that a granduncle of mine was killed on the boat.

The history on the boat was that it was just an ordinary mail boat that used to go from Dundalk over to Liverpool. And then in 1917, the Germans said that any boat on the water was fair game. My great-granduncle was also a seaman and he didn’t want his son on the boat. So he got him a job with McGuill’s Funeral Home and Taxi here in the town. But in 1918, with the Spanish flu, they were looking for volunteers to go on the SS Dundalk. So Vincent put down his name.

Unfortunately, it was torpedoed by the Germans just off the Isle of Man. Vincent would have been killed straight away because he was a greaser on the engine. But the sad thing was his own father didn’t know he was on the boat because he was on another boat coming back from Liverpool to Newry with a boatload of coal. And it was only when he got back to Newry…that they had heard that the SS Dundalk had gone down, and he didn’t actually realise that his son Vincent was on it. This story is important, not just for myself but for other people in Dundalk who lost family at that time. I was really pleased to get help from the staff here to record my script and to edit the programme for me. I have learned an awful lot, just even from doing the interviews.

I also called in to chat with Joe Duffy on the Afternoon Show about an uncle of mine who was a musician in Canada. He was involved in a group over there called the Leprechauns and he was a great musician. He was that well-got or thought of over there that after he had passed away, there were two songs written about him. So I was delighted, I must say, to have the opportunity to talk about him on the radio.

I am interested in Community work and my next programme was a Spotlight show about Harry Chapin, who was an American singer-songwriter. Not many people might know the name, but they’d know the songs such as Cats in the Cradle and Flowers are Red. Again, I had a personal interest because he was a great humanitarian – he was actually the main instigator to persuade President Jimmy Carter to set up the World Hunger Programme, and that led to different programmes which America funded. But again, researching and presenting that show, it’s like community work to me.

At the moment, I’m doing a proposal to put together a Country and Irish show. The late Jimmy Neary used to do a great programme here on Sunday afternoon. Now, I’ll never be as good as Jimmy, but he was a great, great presenter. But please, God, I’ll learn from the old tapes that he had made. The only thing that I always feared was the technology. I’m not really a great techie person and like I say, going forward with this new programme, I would hope to learn a wee bit more about using the faders on the sound desk, lining up tracks and playing out the news and I’ll be looking for the staff at the station to help me with that.

Like I say, I just love helping people. I love coming into Dundalk FM. It’s given me confidence to do the programmes and to do the research. I would hope, over time, to do a couple of more documentaries. It’s great volunteering and I would encourage anyone to do it. Thank You.

Liliia Smirnova

The first time that I came to visit Dundalk FM was in 2022.

I had seen a post in a local Ukrainian chat looking for people to join a radio training course.

Previously, I worked as a radio host and also as a TV host in a local TV Channel in Ukraine and I loved meeting people and keeping up to date with local events.

It was really interesting work for me.

When I joined the course, the trainers helped us to script links for a 25 minute magazine programme.

We also created a Spotlight Show featuring music from our countries.

This helped me to learn the vocabulary used in a media centre and in a radio studio.

Not only that, but I met people who, like me, were new to the twon and together, we learned about researching music, voice work, script preparation and recording and editing audio.

I worked with an audio editing programme and it’s really interesting to edit voice to make it more professional.

The staff were wonderful and they encouraged me to improve.

The course gave me a certified qualification.

It’s important for me to qualify my skills here in Ireland.

Then I gained practical experience and connections in the radio industry.

It’s also important for me.

It gave me confidence, new skills and a new platform where I could share my voice.

After the course, I created and hosted a radio show featuring Ukrainian music.

I shared my programme in local chats.

Other work that I have done at the station includes voicing a Timed Promo to encourage Ukrainians to join as a volunteers.

I was asked to play a part in a Radio Drama as an artificial AI voice.

My part was the Tone Controller and the play was called Radio Dogstar and Attic Boy.

This experience opened for me new opportunities, new skills, new people, new emotions.

The atmosphere at the station is welcoming, supportive and creative.

The Dundalk FM offices and studios are a friendly environment and a great opportunity to create and collaborate. It’s important because here it helps me to feel as if I belong and here I have an opportunity to be part of a creative community.

I’m a creative person and I use Social Media to post stories about life in Ireland.

Dundalk FM is a big opportunity for me, as a creative person.

I have a lot of ideas I would like to share.

I would like to collaborate with local people and make a different programme.

Because I like to learn here another experience.

Learn another version.

Another version of experience.

Because my experience in Ukraine is one experience, here I gain another experience.

And in my opinion, I learn each time I volunteer at Dundalk FM

Thank You.

Pat Byrne, Dundalk Lion’s Club

SB1 growing in confidence and creativity.

We had a chat about the Lion’s and then Hugh plays a song and then he asked me to read from the Dundalk Democrat live, which I did, I’ve been doing it ever since.

SB2 Course/Skills

I then took part in a Learn About Radio course. I sat in with other presenters and operated the sound desk for the local history show – Fadó Fadó. During the Lions Show, Hugh sat behind telling me when to push up faders for microphones, how to connect to a phone call, play out tracks, ads, community notices and the news – and he was a great teacher. Over the years, there have been, I’d say around 20 Lions Members involved in our radio show. Presently Ciarán Clarke, has two contributions, the ‘whiz quiz’ and ‘on this day’, we have a ‘poetry corner’ with John Hennessy and his wife Marion. John records his feature on a digital recorder which he emails to me. During COVID we debated whether we would keep the Lions Show going. Initially we were using repeat shows – but they were dated. So we asked ourselves, can we record at home? I set up a facility at home. I have a wardrobe converted into a studio where I can record and edit, if I need to, from time to time.

National to Local SB4

On the show, apart from the quiz, the poetry corner, and on this day – we invite community groups representatives in for an interview. Our programme highlights local and also national national events and campaigns. For instance, when the Lions wish to promote Diabetes Day we’ve had representatives from Diabetes Ireland come on and talk.

I have also joined the team that presents the weekday morning community affairs show – Town Talk. Along with the other presenters, we get to meet lots of amazing people that you wouldn’t get to meet normally and to hear what’s going on in the town and what’s going on in the community. At the station, you meet many radio presenters who might have similar interests. I am an avid fan of new music and when I met Cathal McCooey, wee decided on the idea of a Saturday afternoon series of shows about bands that played in Slane. We interviewed many of the Irish band members, We then followed that up with a series on Self Aid. Next up are programmes about bands that played gigs in Dundalk.

The Lions motto is ‘We Serve’, and you can serve the community in many different ways. Having our own show on Dundalk FM means that we are keeping the Lions name out there. People are hearing it in the car, in the taxi and in local businesses and in their homes. We know that because when we were out shaking buckets for our Annual Christmas Food Appeal or Daffodil Day (and people were very generous!), quite a few people said ‘Yeah, we know you’re on the radio’. As a Community Group, you have to keep pushing and raising your profile. Yes, you have a website, you have social media, and Dundalk FM is another way of connecting with the community. For the Dundalk Lions, it works very well. And every so often, we help somebody, through the show to connect with the community in a very positive way. I’m sure it would work for any Community Group. Thank you.