GaelPro Raidió spoke to Micheál Ó Gionnáin about 'Ó Chonamara go Crimea' and winning Radio Programme of the Year on Community Radio at the 2021 Oireachtas Media Awards

1. Introduce yourself.
I’m Micheál Ó Gionnáin from Renvyle in north Connemara. I’ve been working in radio for over 25 years on a voluntary basis. I’m a producer and a presenter. I’ve got a particular interest in the social and cultural history of my own area.

2. You won the award for radio programme of the year on community radio at the Oireachtas Media Awards last year. Tell us about the experience you had.
It was such a big honour for me to win the award. Firstly, it’s great that this award exists now - it encourages community radio stations to submit their Irish language work to the judges. I was delighted that other stations took an interest in my show as a result of winning the award and the show was broadcast on RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta and Phoenix FM. At the end of the day, what I need is an audience for my shows and the award definitely broadened and increased that audience. I hope An tOireachtas continue to help broadcasters to find an audience, whether that’s through awards or other initiatives.

3. How would you describe Ó Chonamara go Crimea?
It’s a story about a young man from Connemara, Pat Gannon, who was born a few years before The Great Hunger. He enlisted in the Connacht Rangers and fought in the Crimean War from 1854 to 1856. He was badly hurt but survived and returned to Connemara, married and lived until 1901. That was my great-great-grandfather, my grandad’s grandfather. So, it’s a personal story with a lot of our family’s history connected with it but it’s a national and international story as well. The Crimean War was a world war - Britain, France and Turkey against the Russian Empire. Unfortunately, today, we still see a terrible situation in the Crimean region, 170 years after the Crimean War.

4. What did you most enjoy about putting the programme together?
Definitely the stories about my own family. I’m really lucky that I recorded a conversation I had with my great-uncle back in 1996 where he described “Old Pat” as we called him. I started out with that same cassette in 2020 when I decided to make the programme. I did research in the British Army military archives after that and got great satisfaction every time the stories and the written history matched up. For example, my great-uncle’s account of the injury Pat Gannon got in the war and the report written in his military file were the same. Sometimes the two narratives didn’t match up though, for example my great-uncle told me that Pat fought in the Battle of Balaklava but the British Army didn’t give him any recognition if he did. Maybe the army forgot to include it, I’m still looking into it.

5. How was the broadcasting experience during the pandemic?
Our little station, Connemara Community Radio, pulled off an amazing achievement – we didn’t miss a single hour of broadcasting throughout the pandemic. A lot of voluntary workers learned how to produce a show from home. The station provided an incredibly important service of keeping people updated about coronavirus. Basic things like Mass were extremely important. A lot of material from the archive (which goes back to when the station was established in 1992) was re-broadcast and a lot of listeners enjoyed that.

6. What are the opportunities you’re most looking forward to regarding broadcasting now that the country has been re-opened after the Covid-19 restrictions?
A lot of broadcasting from live events – games, festivals, music sessions – as well as broadcasting from firesides as we’ll get to go and visit people again in their homes.

7. Are you working on any other programmes at the minute?
Three special programmes in honour of a Connemara legend, Pádraig Mac Giolla Phádraig, Paddy Fitz or “Fear an Hata” as he was known across the country and further afield. Paddy was an Irish speaker, a story teller, a singer, a boatman, a hill climber, a shore man, a footballer, a boxer, and a man of the community. He was well travelled, full of stories and always in good humour. People from all over the country got to know him and they learned a lot from him. He had a particular interest in music and singing and understood Irish music and culture because that tradition ran through his veins. Paddy died in November 2020 and because of Covid, his musician friends never got the chance to give him a proper goodbye and to show the respect they had for him. That’s going to be made right now in this series where 25 musicians and poets will be speaking to the community, describing Paddy and playing music in his memory.

8. What are the challenges associated with broadcasting an Irish language show on a station which mostly deals with programmes in English?
The same challenges exist with making a good programme in any language. I suppose there’s a particular challenge to face when making a bilingual programme, it’s more difficult than a bilingual programme on television.

9. What advice would you give to someone who wants to present an Irish language show on an English language station?
If it’s a show completely in Irish (natural Irish without any English and without slowing speech to make it easier for learners to understand), I’d give the same advice for a show in Irish and English: clarity and simplicity. Don’t expect anything in particular from any one programme, let the person tell their story naturally. Of course, the story might well go in a direction you weren’t expecting but don’t let that worry you.

10. What are your broadcasting highlights so far?
Meeting and talking with great people – Connemara people, my neighbours, my relations, people who’d never spoken on the radio before. The Connemara Community Radio station is in the old Letterfrack school. From 1895 to 1972 that’s where the Christian Brothers kept boys who were ‘out of control’. I was by myself in the big, cold building in Letterfrack on a horrible, rainy Sunday in 1997 when I saw a couple outside, strangers, looking around the place. It was a former pupil, Martin Bray, and his wife. It was such an honour for me to welcome them inside and to hear Martin’s story. 

11. What’s your biggest goal for this year?
To create a bilingual programme that could be enjoyed by learners and fluent speakers alike.