The Community Foundation for Ireland is supporting Dundalk FM’s Community Call Radio Series.

Open for streets/residents associations/community and voluntary organisations/sports groups to record a show as part of our Summer Community Call Series.

Community Call will be broadcast each Sunday at 5.00 pm. See the listing below for the series schedule.

Liz Carville has been in contact with over 100 local community groups, 30 of which have agreed to take part in the series. The recordings are underway and the series will be broadcast starting in December 2020 – times and dates will be announced shortly.

Community Group and Broadcast Date – all shows are on Sunday at 5pm.
Fatima Residents Association 13/12/20
Dundalk Musical Society 20/12/20
Tuites Lane 27/12/20
An Grupa na Leabharlanna 03/01/21
Family Addiction Support Network 10/01/20
Carlingford Lough Heritage Trust 17/01/21
Louth Mavericks American Football Club 24/01/21
Dundalk Railway Heritage Society 31/01/21
Carlingford Tidy Towns 07/02/20
Dundalk Muslim Community 14/02/20
Russian Bridge Club 21/02/20
Redemptorist Church 28/02/21
Dundalk Toastmasters 07/03/21
Dundalk Outcomers 14/03/21
Dundalk Youth Centre 21/03/21
disAbility Louth 28/03/21
Louth Film Makers Society 04/04/21

Here is the 1st programme in our Community Call series….Tuites Lane hosted by Daniel Deery, Sound Engineer John Englishby…

Fatima Community Call Programme

Carlingford Lough Heritage Trust

This programme was hosted by Seamus Murphy and Kieran McCourt and they chat to John Woods, Patricia Morrissey, Gerry McAlinden, Harry McCarthy, Lorena Rafferty and Linda Stevens about what it was like growing up in Carlingford and how the village has developed, the achievements of the Carlingford Lough Heritage Trust, the Thosel and Station House, what its like to be a tour guide, how the Carlingford Heritage Centre promotes arts, music, history, festivals and events and plans to engage more families to take a day trip or stay over.

Louth Mavericks American Football Club

This programme was hosted by Alex Simms Pro and Player and he chats to Declan Mulvihill – Club Secretary & Player,  Robbie Caldwell – Flag Football Coach & Player, Meg King – Flag football defensive captain and David Lynch – Player.

Carlingford Tidy Towns Committee

In this programme we hear from Joanne Redpath – Secretary, Stephen Callan – Treasurer, Gerry Mc Garitty- liaison with Louth County Council. member of Carlingford Community Forum and Denise Creggan-member of Carlingford Community Forum.

Dundalk Muslim Community

In this programme we heard from Imam Nuh, Saheed Yusuf and Amina Mayo from the Dundalk Muslim Community. We heard about the daily devotions, Ramadan, giving to charity, counselling others and helping member sin need, language interpretation, celebrations, cross border programmes, cultural and sports programmes cross community projects.

The plans for 2021 will be to continue to provide these services, collect donations to complete the Muslim Centre, to create a fund for people in need, improve the education facilities, strengthen the interactions with community and statutory agencies and to engage with Dundalk’s community radio station service for the development of their members.

Russian Bridge

Anastasia McCabe, Tatiana Zaiceva, Ina Vanickin and Andrey Soldatkin took part in this programme explaining how the community group was founded after a Round Table Discussion with Sarah Smith, a lecturer in Russian and Slavonic Studies from Trinity College Dublin in 2007.

They tell us about the Russian Film School and Summer Camps in Carlingford, their hiking club, the Pushkin Festival, Charity Ball, the International John Field Piano and Vocal Competition and the dramatisation of Blue Bird in a Táin Arts Centre Dundalk.

Community Call Radio Promo Script Have you ever been on Dundalk FM? What was it for? – to promote your community group, or a fundraiser, a sports event on behalf of your school or maybe it was to record a music programme. Have you ever called us on nine three, nine five, one hundred or texted us on oh eight seven, zero nine, zero nine, seven nine one to send in a request or dedication for a favourite song. We are here for you when you need us. Your radio is so powerful that a song can bring back memories of a person, or of a place or of a time. The thing is right now, during this time, we need you to help us with a new programme – Community Call. A one off show for every street and estate in the town. Join us on a Video Chat, like Zoom, to remember the old times, growing up on the street and in the fields behind the streets! It will be pre- recorded during June and aired in July and August. And it is dedicated to raising the spirits of our friends and neighbours. We need to get back to sharing the treasures of life. To join in the video chat for your street phone nine three, nine five, one hundred email talk@dundalkfm.com or look at the notice on our Facebook Page. This is a Community Foundation for Ireland Covid19 Response Project in support of Dundalk FM. C’mon Dundalk FM listeners – we want you to do the talking!

Community Call will be a twice weekly programme dedicated to raising the spirits of our friends and neighbours in Dundalk. We need to get back to sharing the treasures of life.

The aim is to ask old friends and neighbours to reminisce for the listening pleasure of our mainly middle aged and elderly audience. Residents from twenty four streets/estates will be part of this historic series.

We will collaborate with local singers, musicians, historians and storytellers to enhance each show which will feature four to five residents from a street/estate in an hour long programme.

The participants will be able to counter the prevailing news of illness and death and talk in ordinary language about how they are adapting to the restrictions on travel and visitors, their day to day routine, missing meeting their friends, family and neighbours and acquaintances. The richness of the shows will be brought out when they start talking about the old days and bring to our listener’s minds, memories of life, fadó, fadó.

On any given day in Dundalk you would normally see older people in pairs stopped at random corners, in the middle of the footpath, outside the post office, butchers or bakery chatting, smiling and sharing news.

The programmes will be pre recorded and presented by a variety of similarly aged presenters. Programmes will be broadcast at the same time each week in mid afternoon.

A Researcher will invite our volunteers to take part in the series and give out the jobs needed to be done. He/She will contact the Residents Associations. He/she will make time to coach the participants on how to use video conferencing if needs be. We will put the call out on air for people to take part.

3 main outcomes

1. Find out about the neighbourhood support needs and opportunities to help one another by sharing experiences with the wider community through a ‘workers playtime’ type show. Seeing friendly faces on a video conference call decreases the loneliness and sense of confusion and loss felt among people who are self isolating and cocooning. To spend a fun couple of hours telling stories, taking part in a local history quiz, playing music that means a lot to them through the medium of radio is an empowering and unforgettable experience. This is a unique chance for neighbours who are cocooning to talk each other, for children and grandchildren to see another side to their grandparents and to play music that is full of meaning for people. People who have moved abroad could come onto the conference call and see their old neighbours.

2. Increased and technical skills for our listeners and volunteers.

Community Call Example Question’s Depending on the street/estate or Community Group we get for the programme, these are just sample questions as research in to that area will mean different questions to be asked. Q.1 Can you tell me when did you move in to this street/ Estate? Q.2 How many people were living here when you moved in? Q.3 What are you’re earliest memories of the area? Q.4 What was it like growing up here? Q.5 When were the houses built and who built them? Q.6 Was there a good community spirit among the residents? Q.7 Are there many of the original residents/families still living in the area? Q.8 Who has been living in the street the longest? Q.9 How much has the area changed since you first moved in? Q.9 Is there an active residents association for the area and how many people are involved in running it? Q.10 Are there any annual events/street parties/celebrations held in the area? Q.11 Was there any local celebrities/politicians/characters who grew up or came from the street/area? Q.12 Is there a local sporting teams/clubs for the area? Q.13 Is there a local school for the area? Q.14 Is there a local community centre or youth group for the area? Q.15 What kind of activities/games did you play growing up and are they still played today? Q.16 What kind of support services are available to the residents? Eg Cuidigh Linn/Neighbourhood Watch etc Q.17 Are there or was there any local family run corner-shops or business’s in the area and are they still in operation today? Q.18 Do you remember the days of the milk man, bread man, vegetable man, shop on wheels, coal man, video man…..and would you like to see them return? Q.19 How has Covid-19 effected the street? Q.20 How have people been coping with the effects of the virus in the street and how do they keep in touch with their vulnerable neighbours if any, to make sure they are safe and well and being looked after? Q.21 How would you describe you’re street and the neighbours who live in it? Q.22 Why have you stayed so long in the area and would you ever like to move? Sample Questions continued Where did you grow up? When / why did you move here? Were there many houses here already? Any particular memories / stories from your time living here? Do you have family members living here or nearby? What are the biggest changes you’ve seen? What has life been like here during the Covid 19 crisis? Any other observations?

3. A Dedicated Running Order

		COMMUNITY CALL 2020
		Programme
		Contributors
		Topics			School days, family life, dances and hobbies, working life, sports, raising a family, brothers and sisters – where are they now, musical interests and other sweet memories.
		Presenter
		Sound Engineer/Editor
		Recording Dates(s)
		(PLEASE PUT TOTAL NO. OF IRISH ARTISTS PLAYED AT END OF RUNNING ORDER)
		Broadcast Time and Date
Part 1
Irish	Other	Item	Time	Length	Artist / Song Title
		Intro Sting	0:00:00	0:00:15	Intro Music and sponsor sting- Community Call is brought to you by the Community Foundation for Ireland- celebrating 20 years.
		1 Talk	0:00:15	0:06:00	The presenter introduces the street/ area and the panel of people lined up for the show. He/She will start by asking the guests to talk about when they moved into the estate/street.
		Track 1	0:06:15	0:03:15
		Show Sting (dry over music)	0:09:30	0:00:00	You’re listening to Community Call brought to you by the Community Foundation for Ireland celebrating 20 years. Our programme today features “ “ from “ “.
		2 Talk	0:09:30	0:06:00
		Track 2	0:15:30	0:03:15
		Show Sting (dry over music)	0:18:45	0:00:00	You’re listening to Community Call brought to you by the Community Foundation for Ireland celebrating 20 years. Our programme today features “ “ from “ “.
		3 Talk	0:18:45	0:05:45
		Local History Quiz Question	0:24:30	0:00:15
		Before Break Sting	0:24:45	0:00:15
			0:25:00	0:00:00
Part 2
Irish	Other	Item	Time	Length	Artist Song Title
		After Break Sting	0:25:00	0:00:15
		Local History Quiz Answer	0:25:15	0:00:15
		4 Talk	0:25:30	0:06:00
		Track – 3	0:31:30	0:03:15
		Show Sting (dry over music)	0:34:45	0:00:00	You’re listening to Community Call brought to you by the Community Foundation for Ireland celebrating 20 years. Our programme today features “ “ from “ “.
		5 Talk	0:34:45	0:06:00
		Track -4	0:40:45	0:03:15
		Show Sting (dry over music)	0:44:00	0:00:00	You’re listening to Community Call brought to you by the Community Foundation for Ireland celebrating 20 years. Our programme today features “ “ from “ “.
		6 Talk	0:44:00	0:05:45
		Outro Sting	0:49:45	0:00:15
			0:50:00	0:00:00
		Total Tracks		0
		Total Irish Tracks		0
		I have played a minimum of 30% Irish Music on this show.				 Yes  No
		Signed_________________________________________________________.

The People

Four or more residents per show.

We envisage a lot of our volunteers will get involved because they live all over Dundalk and will help to organise the show from their area.

There will be a competition between streets so there will be bonus points for live music/sing along performances!

We will be able to document the outcomes through the responses that we get at the station through phone calls, emails and social media.

The Programmes

We will air 24 one hour Resident’s Associations programmes during a 12 week period.

The show content will feature nostalgia, funny stories and shared memories.

The programmes will be uploaded to a podcast site so people can listen again.

The Process

Each programme will have a production team of a researcher, sound engineer/editor and presenter along with stringers or local community journalists drawn from our volunteer network.

Each show will require:

1/2 day – research time each week completing the running order, script links, sourcing music, testing audio and video settings with the participants (this may or may not require several contacts), recording a radio promo, promoting the series on social media and cross promoting throughout our schedule.

1/2 day – recording and editing. Listening back and uploading the programme via podcast.

The series is being recorded and edited by Alan Byrne, Philip O’Brien, David Bellew, John Englishby, Marissa Lucchesi and Padraig Quigley.