THOSE that know me are well aware of my addiction - radio. The radio upstairs is never turned off and if the power went during the night and the bedside radio went off then I’d wake as if in a panic. Don’t get me wrong I’m not against television and absolutely love the TG4 channel but I’ve no problem admitting that I’m addicted to what we called in days gone by ‘the wireless’.

Back in the 1930’s when my father had a wet and dry battery he inserted two wooden pegs into the outside wall of what is now our kitchen. On these was placed a wooden board and on top sat the wireless. That set is long gone and down the years several others have replaced the first one but the original pegs and board remain. We grew up with the sponsored programmes like Waltons, Glen Abbey and others and Eamonn Kelly, Ciarain Mac Mathuna and Donncha O Dulaing were voices I was enthralled by – I was honoured and humbled to have met Eamonn and Donncha in later years. So even though we got a telly in the mid 60’s and The Riordans, Tolka Row, The Virginian, Murphy Agus a Chairde and The Fugitive were beamed into ‘the room’ I never fell out of love with the radio. Perhaps because I have poor eyesight in one eye long hours in front of ‘the box’ always caused me headaches. Then again I found that you could be writing a letter or a poem, reading ‘de paper’ or a book and listening away to the radio. I would never claim to be a great multitasker but with the radio on you could work away with your hands. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t as if I was at home every night with the wireless, or indeed the gramophone my father made, no, but I found especially in the winter when the Gaelic games season was quiet I became an avid listener.

When I started farming in 1974 we had an old Fordson Major tractor and back then radios in tractors were unheard of bar you bought a span new top of the range model. About five years later we changed and got a smaller David Brown which had a kind of a canvas cab on it. Being no way technical, electrical or mechanical in any shape or form I enquired if an old car radio could be ‘fitted’ to the tractor - opinions were varied but eventually the job was done and two wire clothes hangers, twisted together, were screwed onto the top of the rollbar on the cab. To say........

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