Podcast
Athena Media - Radio Podcasts
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A selection of radio podcasts produced by Podcasting Ireland and Athena Media, from radio documentaries for NewsTalk, BBC radio 4 and RTE Lyric FM.
10episodes
Episodes
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Field of Dreams - Club Heroes
Mar 18, 201000:26:00Tap to summarizeThe clash of the ash and the pride of local clubs. It's been a golden age for Portumna GAA and its legendary hurlers, All Ireland Club Champions for the last two years and pushing for a third title in 2010. In Club Heroes we meet the champion hurlers of Portumna and find out why, for many players, a club victory is even more important than a county title. As team player Leo Smith puts it 'for a small town like Portumna theres a great buzz around the place. I mean you've grown up with these guys. You'd die for each other out there. It means so much to be out there and representing your club, your county, your province.' In this radio feature we hear the story of Portumna from the players themselves, a story of brothers, like the famous Canning brothers including team captain and corner back Ollie Canning. It's been a golden decade for the club which is now considered one of the most successful teams in the country. The senior hurlers have just celebrated their 3-in-a-row county victory and are aiming for another 3-in-a-row in the All-Ireland Finals. Given that the Club only gained senior status in 1992 its success has been phenomenal. In this special documentary we meet senior team manager, Johnny Kelly, captain Ollie canning and players Leo Smith and Eoin Lynch. For Ollie the bond between the team players is as close, if not closer, than brothers. 'I know if any of the lads where in trouble I'd stand up for them same as I'd stand up for the brothers'. The spirit that binds them together is, they say, more than sport, its about family, locality and belonging. The sense of pride when they bring home the cup is often better than All Ireland county titles. 'Its what we dream about since we were young lads' says Leo Smith 'hurling together in the under 10, under 12. Running out with your club mates that's what it's all about'.
Transcribe →Field of Dreams - Count Us In
Mar 18, 201000:26:00Tap to summarizeMarch 21st is International Day against Racism and this feature showcases how sport can unite and cross all boundaries that divide us. In Count Us In we hear the story of how a sports initiative in Dublin's inner city primary schools is not just introducing children to new sports but encouraging and promoting multi-racial play and integration. 'Count Us In' is run by Sport Against Racism in Ireland, SARI, with boys and girls in primary schools in Dublin's heartland, Dublin 8, the Liberties. This radio feature follows the project through its run across Spring 2009, and find out how sports unites and what the children think of it. As the project gets underway again this year we hear the voices of former Ireland manager, Brian Kerr who talks about his own deep commitment to SARI and we get the story from SARI's founders Frank Buckley and Ken McCue. One of the players who has come through SARI's soccer league Emecka Onwubiko shares his story, coming to Swords as a boy of 11 from Nigeria and his pride in playing for Ireland in the U19 team. For Brian Kerr the work SARI does in schools is even more essential in a recession when the concept of integration may become more challenging. But like many he's concerned about funding and state commitment; 'the big thing for SARI is survival because obviously funding and resources are very scarce these days. Without funding we can't sustain our efforts or continue to roll out events like the schools programme'. The real stars of 'Count Us In' are the children who share their stories and thoughts, who learn to take on new sports and make new friends.
Transcribe →Field of Dreams - Sister Act
Mar 18, 201000:26:00Tap to summarizeIn Sisters Act we meet two sets of competitive sisters; the Ffrench O'Carroll twins, Rebecca and Charlotte, in athletics and the Murphy sisters, Annalise and Claudine, in sailing. Two different sports but both sets of sisters have their eyes on one prize, the Olympic Games, but to get there may well mean having to beat their own sister. For athletic champions Rebecca and Charlotte Ffrench O'Carroll there's never any problem finding someone to train with or run against. They're identical twins who both compete in cross country, middle and long distance races and have grown up in their sport together. The girls, now 20, started running at school and were coached by Dundrum South Athletic Club coach Eddie McDonagh. For the twins it's never a case of sibling rivalry; 'its almost like you feel you're not racing for yourself, you're racing for your twin to win as well,' says Charlotte. For Ian O Riordan of the Irish Times the girls have the mark of champions and compared their track record to date with legendary stars like Sonia O Sullivan. In this radio special we hear the story of the girls, their coach and their decision to go stateside to advance their athletics. Sonia O'Sullivan says it's these coming years which will prove decisive while coach Eddie McDonagh says athletes like Sonia didn't reach their stride until their mid twenties so much can be expected from the twins and their hopes for the next two Olympic Games in 2012 and 2016. The challenge of sisterly competition in a completely difference sport is what we hear from the Murphy sisters whose mother Cathy McAleevy, competed for Ireland in the sport they now follow, the single handed women's laser. Claudine and Annalise know that if they are to make the Olympic Games for Ireland that theirs is a sport in which only one woman can be selected so it may well be they are competing against each other for that place. But that does not divide them. 'We'll push for each, we're both going to strive to be the best' says Annalise and they support each other in their efforts to win. We hear from their coach Rory Fitzgerald, their mum Cathy and from Ireland's Olympic competitor Ciara Peelo who carried the Irish flag at the Beijing Games.
Transcribe →Urban Beauty, Urban Blight - Cork
Apr 9, 200900:42:02Tap to summarizeCork people tend to see their city as the 'real' capital and Ireland's second city is seen by architects and urban planners as being one of the best in the country. Cork is getting more things right than wrong says planning expert Conor Skehan while architect Joan O'Connor says it has managed its modern development with more ease than others. But what do Cork's famous sons and daughters make of it?
Transcribe →Urban Beauty, Urban Blight - Limerick
Apr 9, 200900:39:24Tap to summarizeLimerick still tends to attract headlines for all the wrong reasons. In this programme we look at how it can overcome its 'Stab City' reputation. Developer Ger Clohessy talks about trying to get economic movement back into the city, comedian Jon Kenny shares his take on his home town, while local arts journalist Mary Coll talks about the city's strong arts and warm heart.
Transcribe →Urban Beauty, Urban Blight - Galway
Apr 9, 200900:41:53Tap to summarize'A cheeky city' is how one developer describes Galway in the final part of our Urban Beauty, Urban Blight cities series. One of our smaller cities, Galway remains charming and cultural but like Dublin it suffers from an expanding waistline with apartment blocks stretching out the coast road. Leo Moran of the Saw Doctors bemoans the loss of identity in Galway while former Minister Michael D Higgins waxes lyrical about his native town.
Transcribe →Urban Beauty, Urban Blight - Dublin
Apr 9, 200900:42:56Tap to summarizeCities should be a celebration of the human spirit according to leading Irish architect Sean O'Laoire. But are they? This four part series takes the lid off our leading cities and finds out what makes them work, or fail. The first programme in the series focuses on Dublin where 40% of the country's population lives. Builder and developer Mick Wallace, city planner Dick Gleeson, Docklands born singer Shaz Oye and Dublin footballer Collie Moran explain what they love and hate about the city.
Transcribe →The Last Wake
Mar 9, 200900:45:04Tap to summarizeThe Last Wake is a radio documentary produced by Athena Media for Newstalk 106. It explores the fading tradition of waking the dead in Ireland and hears stories from the north, south, west, east and Dublin's inner city. It is produced by Helen Shaw with the support of the BCI Sound and Vision funding scheme. Narrated by Coilin O Scolai and researched by Andrew Clancy, the documentary was first broadcast on May 25th 2008.
Transcribe →Women and Words - Anne Enright
Feb 25, 200900:27:59Tap to summarizeEpisode 1 of Women and Words - Anne Enright. The 2008 Booker Prize winner Anne Enright has become an internationally recognised author through the success of her last novel 'The Gathering' but Anne Enright's voice has been emerging since 1991 and the publication of her piece 'The Portable Virgin'. Enright's voice is often darkly funny, capturing moments of life with the sharpness of a cinema director.
Transcribe →Women and Words - Nuala Ni Dhomhnaill
Feb 25, 200900:28:00Tap to summarizeEpisode 4 of Women and Words - Nuala Ni Dhomhnaill. Like Eavan Boland, Nuala Ni Dhomhaill has been a radical voice in Irish poetry - ensuring that women, their words and world are captured in the poetic form. Nuala has chosen to write in the Irish language because as she says it's where her voice comes from, but her work has been translated into English by some of the finest contemporary poets including Paul Muldoon and Derek Mahon.
Transcribe →