At the Irish Festival on Penns Landing, radio host Vince Gallagher, flanked by Carmel and Barney Boyce, collected donations.
There have been Irish radio shows in Philadelphia since there’s been radio. Today, there are at least five reaching to all parts of the Delaware Valley. But two of the oldest shows have been experiencing financial trouble in recent years. Along with hosting their shows—choosing the songs, inviting the guests, reading the announcements—WTMR hosts Vince Gallagher (The Vince Gallagher Irish Music Hour, Sunday at 11 AM) and Marianne MacDonald (Come West Along the Road, Sunday at noon) have had to sell their own ads to pay for the studio time.
“In the two years that I’ve had the show, I’ve spend thousands of dollars of my own money to keep it on the air. Vince is in the same boat,” says MacDonald. “We have advertisers that don’t pay, we have too few ads to meet the costs, and we are both shelling out money at an alarming rate to keep the shows going. The previous hosts (Tommy Moffit and Mary O’Kane) went through the exact same thing. We have both spoken of giving the shows up, but we don’t want to.”
And they’re hoping that their many fans don’t want that either. Starting on Sunday, June 29, and running through August 17, between your favorite songs, you’ll hear the hosts and their special guests asking for pledges a la PBS. This Sunday, St. Patrick’s Day Parade Director Michael Bradley (whom we like to think of as “he who must be obeyed”) will appear on both shows to encourage listeners to contribute. Members of the Shantys, a local Irish band, will be taking phone pledges. On July 6, members of the Philadelphia Donegal Association will man the phones. On July 13, local musician Tommy Moffit will be back at the mike with members of the Ancient Order of Hibernians from around the city collecting donations.
In August, a number of local musicians will be holding a benefit to raise money for the shows. “We’ve had promises from people like John Boyce (of Blackthorn), John McGillian (of Five Quid and Pat the Budgie), Round Tower and lots of trad musicians to play at the benefit,” says MacDonald.
If you want to make a donation, you can send a check made out to “WTMR Radio,” with “Sunday Irish Radio Shows” in the memo line and a note inside the envelope indicating that you’re making a donation to the shows. Send it to:
WTMR Radio
C/o Vince Gallagher and Marianne MacDonald
2775 Mt. Ephraim Ave.
Camden, NJ 08104
We’ll be keeping you updated on the progress of this campaign. And we encourage you to contribute—supporting your peeps is one of the best ways we know of to be Irish in Philadelphia.
