OCTOBER 2009

Awards for Inishowen Community Radio

Three staff members, Susan Logue, Claire McDermott and Marie McDonald, of Inishowen Community Radio won awards at the National Community Radio Awards in Athlone last week, which was organised by Craol, the national forum representing over 20 community radio stations in Ireland.

The local station won awards in three categories for 'Thall is Abhus' (Alternative Scheduling), 'Local Election Coverage' (Social Gain), and 'Paying Peanuts' (Commissioned Programming). The main purpose behind the Craol awards, according to Jim Doherty, Station Manager, is to recognise programming that involves and contributes to the local community and that promotes the ethos of community development. "Anyone in the community can get involved in making radio programmes, there's no great mystery to it, it gives people satisfaction on many levels and everyone has their own reasons for getting involved. Community radio has a role to play in helping the community and we're delighted for this acknowledgment that we're doing it well."

Jim also said "This is great news, and shows what a talented, hard working and dedicated crew of people we have here at the station. I think it's important to point out that much of the credit here goes to the army of volunteers and contributors who worked on the programmes. This is the community making programmes for the community, a large part of what we're about. Thall is Abhus' is a bilingual show featuring traditional Irish music, song and stories and is presented and produced by Jimmy McBride. Jimmy, who has collected one of the most extensive and important archives of folksong and music in Ireland over many years, is a founding member of the station and has been doing the show for 9 years now. It's great to get a wee bit of recognition but the important thing for me is to continue sharing the wealth of musical and cultural heritage we have around here with the rest of the community. Said Jim.

The award for the 'Local Election Coverage' was shared jointly by ICR and The Inishowen Independent for the series of debates broadcast in the run-up of the election and the live coverage of the counts from the Inishowen Gateway.

'Paying peanuts' was a documentary presented and produced by sisters Claire and Emma McDermott who travelled to Malawi to examine the lives of peanut farmers and the positive impact that fair trade has had on their lives. This was commissioned under the Simon Cumbers Media Challenge Fund through Irish Aid. It is a grant scheme aimed at assisting and promoting more and better quality media coverage of development issues in the Irish media. You can check out the girls' blog on www.payingpeanuts.blogspot.com for more information on the project.

The station is justly proud of the achievements of its staff and volunteers and its doors are open to anyone in the community who might be interested in broadcasting or community issues. The station can be contacted on 074 9329105 or check out the website www.icrfm.ie. "This is a community station and anyone can become involved at whatever level they like. We're always on the lookout for new people, new ideas, and new challenges," Jim concluded.