Karl Collins / Presenter

Karl Collins grew up in Laytown on the Meath coast and fell in love, at an early age, with a music scene that very few people around him had heard of. Forty years ago, when ska and rocksteady were not exactly the talk of the east coast of Ireland, Karl was digging through record shops and market stalls, building the knowledge and the collection that would eventually become one of the most distinctive and internationally recognised specialist shows on Irish community radio.

In 2015, he brought his passion for ska, reggae, mod, soul, and Britpop to Dundalk FM with the launch of Rocksteady Rhythms. What happened next surprised even Karl. The Rocksteady Rhythms Facebook group now has over 2,500 members from across the world. People in Canada, Japan, Australia, the United States, and across Europe tune in to a show made in Dundalk because the music and the person presenting it are genuinely the real thing. The community that has grown around the show is not just an audience; it is a network of friendships built around shared enthusiasm for music that changed the world without ever quite getting the credit it deserved.

Presenting the show has opened doors Karl never anticipated. He has interviewed artists who were his heroes when he was first getting into the music. He has played festivals across Ireland, sharing stages with acts from the very scene he celebrates on air every week. The overlap between what he does in the studio and what he does in the world of live music has become something he could never have planned but would not trade for anything.

The show covers the full arc of the music, from the original Jamaican sound system culture of the late 1950s through ska, rocksteady, reggae, soul, and the British revival that gave it all a second life. Karl plays the classics alongside the new artists keeping the spirit alive today, because for him this music has never stopped moving.

Join the Rocksteady Rhythms Facebook Group and become part of a community that spans continents.