RTÉ goes country
The Late Late Show Country Music Special goes out on RTÉ One on 20 April at 9.30pm. This is the third year of the popular series and aficionados can look forward to a night of music and chat as country comes to town.
The debut country show, which featured Big Tom and a host of younger singers from the circuit, attracted phenomenal viewing figures.
The response to the show took many in RTÉ by surprise and a follow-up show was broadcast on Good Friday in 2017. It is expected that the show on Friday night, hosted by Ryan Tubridy, will adopt an even more casual feel on this occasion, with a nice balance of music and banter. Many of the leading names from the Irish country scene will be in RTÉ for this special night.
The show also hopes to include some short contributions from music followers who have some special stories to tell about the role of country music in their lives.
Nellie at Midlands
Nellie Duncan has carved out her own niche on regional radio in Ireland. The Offaly woman is regarded by many as the best reader of death notices in the country. It is all in the voice and the ability to empathise with the nature of the occasion.
Nellie always delivers in style. Rural listeners throughout Offaly, Westmeath and Laois have an instant rapport with Nellie. Her accent is pure midlands, as if matured and distilled in the Slieve Blooms. They sing from the same hymn sheet. The lady from Rahan, a few miles from Tullamore, is now in her 23rd year with Midlands Radio. She is as much in love with radio now as the first day she entered the studios, which were then located in William Street in Tullamore.
“I love my job and meeting people,” says Nellie. “I think I have only missed three or four days in over 22 years here in reception and administration. It doesn’t take much to make me laugh. The only time I am serious is when I am reading the obituaries.
“All the undertakers know me. I ring them if I am ever in doubt about the pronunciation of some townland or village. The local pronunciation is always the correct one and it is nice to get it right. I read the death notices every weekend and bank holidays and the listeners know me well after all the years.”
Nellie is also one of the best-known radio receptionists among the country music fraternity and has worked on the country shows on Midlands Radio for many years. She is the person who takes all the calls on Joe Cooney’s country shows on Midlands Radio each night from Monday to Friday.
“I absolutely love country music and dancing. I remember when we started off, a guest presenter from the music scene would come in every Wednesday night and host the two-hour show. I got to meet so many of them during those times. I remember one special night when the American singer George Hamilton co-presented the show with Sandy Kelly. We all went out to dinner afterwards. He was so nice and a proper gentleman. We had a few scoops as well.
“Paddy O’Brien, Mike Denver, John Hogan and so many more, I’ve met them all and enjoy their music. Brendan Grace and Conal Gallen are among my favourite comedians.
“I am always in good humour. I can’t understand people being in bad humour. There is too much doom and gloom out there. I just laugh and they can like it or lump it, but that’s me and the way I am and I’m not going to change now.”
There’s only one Nellie Duncan, the pride of the midlands. CL
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