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Listeners force Beeb into radio show u-turn
 By
Elaine Sheridan
Britain’s longest-running Irish radio show The Parlour has been
rebranded as Citizen Manchester Irish and given an hour-long slot.
With an army of loyal listeners already on board, producers are confident
the show will be even more popular than its predecessor.
Locals in the Manchester area responded with fury when the BBC said they
planned to axe the long-running Parlour show.
Along with many shops, pubs and cafés, scores of Irish Post readers
signed petitions in an attempt to reverse the decision.
And after the heavy backlash bosses at the BBC decided to rebrand the
show but reduced the running time to just 30 minutes each week.
Now one year on and with a new presenter in place of veteran Alan Keegan,
the newly-named Citizen Manchester Irish has secured a full hour of airtime.
Evelyn Grealy who was part of the Parlour team is at the helm of the
new show.
Evelyn who hails from Ballyhaunis in Co. Mayo couldn’t contain
her delight at fronting the new show for the Irish in Manchester.
She said: “I am absolutely thrilled that we are back to full strength
again. We’ve been inundated with good wishes from listeners and
everyone seems to be delighted with the decision. The BBC has been fantastic
in implementing these new changes and I’m thrilled to be here. ”
The original Parlour show interviewed the great and the good in the
Irish community over its 22-year lifespan including President of Ireland
Mary McAleese and singer Daniel O’Donnell.
And it seems Citizen Manchester Irish is following in good stead having
secured one of the only radio interviews with Lord Of The Dance star Michael
Flatley.
On the style of the new show Evelyn said: “We are urging listeners
to tell us what they want to hear on air. We’re changing the format
so that there’s more audience participation and more phone-ins.
We play everything from traditional to U2 everything with an Irish theme.
A lot of our listeners aren’t even Irish but there’s something
for everyone on our show. We’d like to hear from you, the listeners.”
n Citizen Manchester Irish is available on 95.1fm dab & digital radio
from 9-10pm every Monday. Evelyn can be contacted at eve.grealy@bbc.co.uk
The team consists of Evelyn, Josephine Power, Simon Greene and Lennie
Connell. |
