On the air in America ©Tony Fallon11118
It’s 40 years now since I first stared at a microphone
And started on a journey I had previously unknown
Little did I realize growing up as I watched the Shannon
flow
That I’d wind up in America with my own radio show
For the Roscommon Champion I had been writing
And some of my poems people were already reciting
Writing I guess could also be classified as entertaining
But in the radio business I had absolutely no training
It was some time in February nineteen seventy eight
I’m sure of the month but I’m not sure of the date
The feelings I felt that day had never been surpassed
You probably weren’t born on my first radio broadcast
My show was a big hit with the Irish population
Soon I was being heard in Mullingar on a pirate station
The reception even in Roscommon came in first class
The neighbors listened Sunday before going to mass
I had a show Saturdays and more on Sunday afternoons
They loved the songs of Ireland and the traditional tunes
There was a charge for the All Irelands in football and
hurling
We had to pay for it in dollars because we had no sterling
For two whole hours there was no music I did not spin any
vinyl
People say they cried that day it was their first All
Ireland final
Years have come and gone I’ve been on twenty different
stations
I’ve introduced Irish music to people from many other
nations
I’ve often filled in to do announcements and the evening news
And often I am chosen one to do the political interviews
I’ve also done country shows, disco, week end dance and pop
The studio is just up the mountain four miles from my shop
I haven’t changed much since I left Roscommon I’m still a
pioneer
If you’re not Irish that means even on my
birthday I don’t drink beer
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