Songs to Learn and Sing: 20th Anniversary
A few words on 20 years of Songs to Learn and Sing taking in: Dublin City FM, community radio, commercial radio, Irish music quotas, Little Steven and Bruce Springsteen, and John Porter producing ‘How Soon is Now?’.
“It was 20 years ago today.”
It wasn’t, I missed my own radio programme’s 20th anniversary!
Typical.
Episode 1 of Songs to Learn and Sing was broadcast on 103.2 Dublin City FM on 14 September 2004. A few years ago I found Episode 1 on a MiniDisc and rebroadcast it to mark reaching Episode 750 of the show.
Looking back at the playlist it’s a nice mix of new and old tunes. The first episode also had an interview with Christopher Tolle from the great Lawrence, Kansas band The Belles whose debut album Omertá was released in 2003 on Eat Sleep Records. Omertá remains a favourite of mine - I’ve no doubt that my love for the album is wrapped up in the fact that they were the first band I interviewed for the show. It’s my record. They’re my band, my secret.
In the early days of the show my old friend Cillian Donnelly co-presented the programme with me. I can see Cillian’s taste in music infiltrating the playlists of all those early shows. He introduced me to so much brilliant music. On the first programme songs by Emmy-Lou Harris and XTC were definitely Cillian’s choice. Cillian also contributed great features in the early days of the programme. For Episode 1 he did a Guy Clark/Townes Van Zandt/Hank Williams feature. Cillian co-presented for about a year before emigrating to Belgium.
I kept going and now I’m into the 21st year of broadcasting the weekly show. I’ve missed some weeks, I’ve had to repeat a few shows but I’ve presented over 980 episodes. It’s a labour of love.
But then all community radio in Ireland is a labour of love.
I’ve been involved with community radio for almost 30 years. First on Cork Campus Radio (now UCC 98.3FM) and then West Dublin Access Radio before eventually finding a home with Dublin City FM in 2003. Songs to Learn and Sing is named after Echo & the Bunnymen’s 1985 singles compilation and started life as an afternoon programme that went on air at 2pm on Wednesdays.
Episode 126, broadcast on 01 February 2007, was the first late night programme in the midnight to 2am slot on Thursday nights. The two hour programme lasted a number of years before other more important priorities took precedence. I dropped back to a 60 minute show and the programme has been in its current timeslot - Wednesdays at 11pm - for over ten years.
I did a lot of interviews on the programme in the early years but these days I turn down most interview requests, unless it’s something I’m particularly interested in.
Why do I continue to do it?
I suppose on one level it’s a passion for music. I love playing music on the radio that - for the most part - doesn’t get played elsewhere. I’m very aware that people’s listening habits have changed in recent years, that people find music in completely different ways and that radio doesn’t have the power it once had. I’m very cognisant that it’s ultimately a fairly niche programme on a small special interest community radio station in a fairly over-crowded landscape that is broadcast at an ungodly hour. I also teach media production so I know firsthand that radio is a complete irrelevance to most young people.
I’m trying to keep things in perspective: if Songs to Learn and Sing wasn’t on air it would be replaced with another show from another presenter who would no doubt be equally as passionate about the songs that they play. It is what it is.
Yet, unbelievably, people still get in touch, send emails and ask questions about some of the tunes I play. That always amazes me.
In the last 20 years the broadcasting landscape has changed. The regulator has changed three times in that time: the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI) became the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) and more recently became Coimisiún na Meán (CnaM).
In that time Dublin City FM changed too. The station was originally called Anna Livia FM; by the time I joined it had changed its name to Dublin City Anna Livia to reflect its partnership with Dublin City Council and the production of LiveDrive (Dublin City Council’s dedicated live traffic update service, broadcasting Monday to Friday six hours per day). Later again the name was shortened to 103.2 Dublin City FM.
The station’s license with the regulator also changed. Originally the station was an anomaly - the only “special interest” radio station in the country. This served us well for a long time. We were in a gang of one. We were an outlier.
Eventually this was changed to a “special interest community radio” station. We could now come in from the cold. In recent years the station has also moved from our old home in East Wall to a brand new state-of-the-art facility in Smithfield. “The voice of the city” is now in the heart of the city.
For me community radio has always been a really vibrant sector of the broadcasting landscape and genuinely offers “a voice to the voiceless”. Dublin City FM is just one of over 20 full-time community stations around the country. A healthy broadcasting mix certainly needs public service and commercial radio services, but for me, community radio has always offered a true alternative. Look at the daily schedule of Dublin City FM, or any community radio station in this country, and you won’t get a better characterisation of pluralism.
So, I think it’s very important that programmes like mine exist on the traditional bandwidth. Community radio isn’t about listenership figures. The JNLR data simply allows the commercial sector of broadcasting to set a price for advertising based on audience share. That’s it.
I’ve never considered the commercial radio industry in Ireland as having anything to do with the “music industry” or “music business”. Now and again the commercial sector will programme something like “Irish artist month”. Usually these initiatives are funded by Coimisiún na Meán and ultimately, because of narrow playlisting and tightly formatted daytime radio programmes, are of absolutely zero benefit for Irish musicians. Commercial radio, in spite of what it projects, doesn’t really care about Irish music. Music just so happens to be the vehicle through which independent commercial broadcasters sell advertising. And that’s absolutely fine.
I’m 100% in favour of quotas for Irish music on daytime commercial radio. But because commercial radio is ultimately a business that’ll never happen.
It’s a topic that myself and Steve Wall chatted about on To Here Knows When - Great Irish Albums Revisited (Episode 32: Paradise in the Picturehouse by The Stunning). Wall has been very vocal about the lack of Irish music on commercial radio in Ireland.
Pat Lydon succinctly sums up the problem with commercial radio in his response to Wall: “3 or 4 years ago Today FM had a 10 min section of how brilliant it was that an indie Irish artist (Fontaines DC) were challenging Taylor Swift for No. 1 in the UK charts (they ended up at no 2) the DJ then played a TS track but no sign of an FDC track!”
That says it all really!
There’s been loads of highlights over the last 20 years of Songs to Learn and Sing: radio sessions with Richmond Fontaine’s Willy Vlautin; interviews with some of my favourite artists including 16 Horsepower’s David Eugene Edwards, The National’s Matt Berninger, The Zombies’ Colin Blunstone, Damien Jurado, Jenny Lewis, St. Vincent, Sufjan Stevens and loads of others. And the absolute joy of hearing and playing so much amazing Irish music.
One of the most surreal moments was when Mick Hanley, Dublin City FM’s then CEO, and myself had lunch with Steven Van Zandt in the Merrion Hotel. We were there to discuss Dublin City FM syndicating his Little Steven’s Underground Garage radio show. We were chatting away when suddenly someone was standing over us.
Bruce Springsteen apologied for interrupting and told Little Steven the time of their pick-up from the hotel for the spin to the RDS. Little Steven introduced us and told Springtsteen about Dublin City FM and community radio. Springsteen nodded in approval and walked away. I turned to Mick in disbelief suppressing a giddy laugh.
Afterwards over a pint in O’Donoghue’s, surrounded by Springsteen fans, we couldn’t stop laughing and kept asking eachother: “Did that just happen?”
One of the most memorable night’s was spending time chatting with producer John Porter about recording The Smiths.
Jesse Malin was supporting Ryan Adams in the Olympia. I had interviewed Malin twice for the show and after the gig I was invited back to the Morrison Hotel to have a few drinks with the band.
Porter was in town to meet Adams with a view to producing a record for him. In the resident’s bar everyone was hanging off every word Adams uttered. I spotted Porter sitting alone at the bar looking as bored as myself. I took my chance.
I politely introduced myself and just went for it.
“John, how did ye do ‘How Soon is Now?’”
He looked at me and smiled.
“Now, that’s a story.”
He was off, I pulled up a bar stool and settled in.
A brilliant night.
