REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE 75TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONS OF RAIDIÓ ÉIREANN
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE 75TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONS OF RAIDIÓ ÉIREANN WEDNESDAY, 21 NOVEMBER, 2001
I am very happy to welcome you all to the Áras today to celebrate the 75th anniversary of Raidió Éireann. I am delighted to see so many of the characters, in every sense of the word, who played their part in what is probably one of the best known, best loved success stories of the 20th century. I am only sorry that so many more of the ‘greats’ of Raidió Éireann and latterly Raidió Teilifís Éireann have passed on and are not with us.
It is hard to imagine today, the impact of radio on life three quarters of a century ago. As a people we were only beginning to pick ourselves up, having suffered the ravages of the War of Independence followed by a hellish Civil War and coming to terms with the birth of a nation. And so it was in this setting that Raidió Éireann came to play its part in the shaping of this new Ireland.
On the 1st January, 1926 Dr. Douglas Hyde gave the opening address on 2RN at 7.45 p.m. marking a truly historic occasion. One of the more notable "firsts" of the fledgling station was the first live commentary of a sporting event outside the USA - to announce Lindberg's crossing of the Atlantic in 1927. Another first, and I thank Jimmy Mc Gee for this as he was quick to tell me that the station also gave the first ever running commentary on a match (even before the BBC!).
Since those early days, Raidió Éireann, our first national broadcasting service has captivated audiences with entertainment programmes, news, information debates and exchanges of views, interviews, music, culture and of course just the occasional ‘match’ and other sporting events. So much of the information we depend on everyday - whether it’s just to know if the M50 is blocked – again!, or who’s playing in the concert hall over Christmas, or whether to put out the washing, cut the grass, plan a picnic or will it rain – better get the forecast – we get so much from the radio. Small things maybe, but imagine life without ready access to those small things, that valuable information source we take for granted.
We also depend on that vital link to learn about and to make sense of what’s happening in our world. Our everyday lives are greatly enriched and enlivened by Radio 1, 2FM, Raidió na Gaeltachta and Lyric FM each helping to uplift and transform, to educate and inform and to break down barriers, misconceptions, misapprehensions, to teach us truths and scold untruths. As our own (but borrowed) Terry Wogan put it “television contracts the imagination and radio expands it”.
And then there’s sport – a matter of life and death – no, it’s much more important than that as any red-blooded Irishman or woman will tell you and it’s thanks to Raidió Éireann that live sporting events first came into the home. How often did we sit listening, hearts in mouths, on a Sunday afternoon to Micheál O'Hehir as he transported us centre field, the tension, the passion, the shouts of joy and of anguish – living it and reliving every puck and kick. You’d be fit for nothing afterwards! People the length and breadth of this island tuned into his commentaries week after week as far back as 1938 when he broadcast first at only 18. Another sporting stalwart of the airways, Eamonn Andrews, made his broadcasting debut with a boxing commentary after participating in an earlier bout himself.
The 1940s' saw a time of major expansion for Raidió Éireann - the symphony and light orchestras came into being as did the Raidió Éireann Players who immediately earned a huge listenership. In the 1950s' light entertainment became very popular with such programmes as Living with Lynch, centred around the inimitable late Joe Lynch, Take the Floor, the re-creation of Irish céileidh music with Din Joe as presenter and the infamous School around the Corner with the late great Paddy Crosbie which eventually made the successful transfer onto our TV screens.
With the establishment of the RTÉ Authority in 1960, Raidió Éireann was effectively separated from what was then the Department of Posts and Telegraphs and our national television service was founded. The pop culture of the 1960s' saw Harry Thuillier introducing the first "Top Ten" and Gay Byrne's "The Seventeen Club", later taken over by Larry Gogan.
Today there are four excellent radio services operating under the banner of RTÉ - Raidió na Gaeltachta whose first transmission was in 1972, Radio 2 or 2FM as it is now called in 1979 and Lyric FM in 1999, joining Radio 1.
The immense talent, professionalism and style of our broadcasters through the years have made us very proud of this remarkable group of people and the envy of many other countries’ broadcasting services. It would not be possible to mention them all – there were and are so many. People like Gay Byrne, Pat Kenny, Marion Finucane, Gerry Ryan, Brendan Balfe, Mike Murphy, Joe Duffy, Rachael English have become household names. In sport, Mícheál Ó Muirchearthaigh, Fred Cogley, Jimmy Magee together with Philip Green and the late Brendan O'Reilly and of course the already mentioned Michael O Hehir have enthralled, excited and enthused us with their commentaries on major sporting occasions and have no doubt helped nurture childrens’ interest in sporting activities so essential to their overall growth and development.
I congratulate everyone associated with the success story that was once Raidió Éireann and is today Raidió Teilifís Éireann. You grew up with this nation and like it your own fortunes ebb and flow. There have been flood tides and ebb tides, each one bringing its own adaptations, demands, days of gratitude and days of grief. There is no respite from that world. It still makes its demands and at times those demands can be hard as they are now. All the more reason then to remember what we owe you, to say thank you for your marvellous contribution to so many aspects of life on this island and to so many lives. There will be new times to be faced into in the 75 years ahead. They will build on a stunning legacy - a job consummately well done. I wish you every success in the next 75 years and beyond. I would also like to thank the wonderfully talented, Cór na nÓg with choirmaster, Norma O’Connor who have entertained us so beautifully this afternoon and our MC this afternoon and a legend in his own right, Mr. Jimmy McGee.
Go raibh maith agaibh go léir.