A Xmas Gift of three 16-inch discs which includes a previously unheard IRC recording of Tommie Potts dated 1949

I recently received the most wonderful anonymous gift of three 16-inch recordings. Two of these were of Bill Stapleton’s IRC Dublin recording company, both dated 1949 and the third had an Air-Tone record label of Chestnut St. Philadelphia. Up until I received this gift, I was unaware of the existence of a 16-inch disc, which literally looks like an over-sized LP. 

However, I learned from Harry Bradshaw and Peter Browne that they were used primarily in the 1930s & 1940s for radio music shows and in early cinema to provide accompanying music or commentary to silent film.

The first IRC recording:

Side A: “Interview with John Kelly” (time 7’-00)
Side B: “Interview with Matt Muldoon” (4’-53”)
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The second IRC recording:
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Side A: “Interview with Michael Conroy” (4’- 53”)
           “Interview with Paddy O’Sullivan” (4’- 05”) 
Side B: Label was illegible.

​All interviews were carried out by Terry O’ Sullivan, both recordings were labelled “Interviews for Will Regan W.D.A.S” (a Philadelphia-based Irish music radio show) and both were dated 23/2/1949.

Terry O'Sullivan (1911–80), journalist and broadcaster, was born 7 November 1911 at 25 Addison Road, Fairview, north-east Dublin, as Thomas Phelan, son of William Phelan, bookkeeper, and Mary Phelan (née Joyce). Later forms of his name were ‘Tomás O Phaloin’ (signature at marriage) and ‘Tomás Ó Faoláin’ (during army service). From the late 1940s he embarked on a career as a journalist and was invited to join the Irish Press group by its then general manager, Sean Lemass. He wrote first for the Irish Press and the Sunday Press until he moved (September 1954) to the newly launched Evening Press, writing a fledgling column called ‘The night reporter’. Ultimately this column evolved into the hugely popular ‘Dubliner's diary’, which ran for more than twenty years. While working in the newspapers he made numerous programs for Radio Éireann. His first radio broadcast had been in 1942, when he was chosen to do the commentary on the Arbour Hill 1916 commemoration; he began broadcasting regularly in 1947, adopting the pseudonym ‘Terry O'Sullivan’, from his father-in-law's name. He later worked with Eamonn Andrews on ‘Microphone parade’ and was then given his own program, ‘Musical quiz’. He continued to broadcast on RTE for several decades. He married (3 January 1938) Kathleen (Katherine, Catherine) O'Sullivan, of 122 Clonliffe Road, daughter of Terence O'Sullivan, a post office official; they had six daughters and three sons. One of his daughters, Nuala O'Faolain, became a well-known journalist, writing extensively for Irish and British newspapers, including the Irish Times and Sunday Tribune. In 1996 she wrote a best-selling memoir of her life, “Are you somebody?” (DOI: https://doi.org/10.3318/dib.007073.v1).

Wilfred Michael (‘Will’) Regan (1908-1995) was born to Irish immigrant parents in Philadelphia on 12 October 1908, the youngest of three children. His father, Michael Joseph Regan, was from Co. Mayo and his mother, Rose Anne Harrington, was from Co. Offaly; they had married in Philadelphia in 1896. He attended West Catholic High School in Philadelphia, during which time he got a job as an errand boy for a local radio station, WHBW. He soon talked his way into being the sports announcer for the station and played live one hour a week with a jazz band he formed with friends from school. In 1938, Regan’s musical talents were put to work with the six-piece Emerald Isle Orchestra, for which he played violin. After WW2, he joined the station WDAS in Philadelphia as a radio announcer. It was at WDAS that Regan hosted the Irish Dances at the Crystal Ballroom, in Upper Darby, which were often broadcast live with Regan as the emcee. He was with WDAS announcing Will Regan’s Irish Hours program until 1967, when he joined WVCH in Philadelphia. He retired in the early 1990s. Following Will’s death in 1995, his long running ‘Irish Hours’ radio program was taken over by Michael Concannon, another presenter with Mayo roots. (Michael Kelly, Co. Mayo)

Both IRC recordings looked in poor condition as I could clearly see the black vinyl was coming away from the metal base and breaking up badly. I therefore decided to have them digitized in Chicago in case they deteriorated further on a journey to Ireland. Unfortunately, my worst fears were realized as we were only able to rescue a single track from the IRCrecordings but happily almost the entire “Guinness” recording was digitized successfully. However, much to my delight, the single IRC track (almost complete), turned out to be Tommie Potts playing the Bunch of Keys. I shared the recording with Sean Potts, who just recently published a wonderful biography of his granduncle, Tommie Potts The Sorrowful and The Great, who was very happy to hear it, as this particular recording was unknown to him and is one of the “lost” recordings which Tommie laid down for IRC in 1949.

Tommie Potts on a 1932 500cc Rudge Special (photo courtesy of Sean Reid)

​"Tommie told me a story about he going to a session with Sean (senior) and having to check if Sean was still awake. Two adults plus two fiddles on that motorcycle cannot have been easy for a nervous pillion passenger!" – Sean Reid

The third recording had an Air-Tone record label of 1527 Chestnut St. Philadelphia. The label was not dated* but had “Made in Ireland for Guiness” typed on both sides. We managed to successfully digitize this recording, which turned out to be of Will Regan’s Irish Hour program on the Philadelphia radio station W.D.A.S.

​* One ad states “making Guinness since 1759” and later “190 years ago”, This dates the radio show recording to 1949, the same year as both IRC recordings.

I was aware of the sad story of Bill Stapleton’s unsuccessful attempt to have his Irish traditional music released in the USA because of unauthorized release of his recordings in this country, however, I was not aware there were recordings (music & interviews) made by the IRC in Dublin to be specifically broadcast on US radio shows. Looking a little deeper into this, I discovered that IRC recordings were sent for radio broadcasting of Irish shows not only to the US but also further afield including Australia and South Africa. An extract from an article in the Evening Herald of March 17th, 1949, states a fifteen-minute program, hosted by Terry O’Sullivan, was recorded by the IRC and sent to Philadelphia, Boston, Australia and South Africa, for Irish radio listeners on St Patrick’s Day. The article was written by radio correspondent Owen G. Deale, who often used the initials O.G.D. in his radio review column. His contributions included "Radio News and Views", a regular feature where he reviewed Radio Éireann broadcasts and international radio programming. Terry O’Sullivan’s fifteen-minute program included interviews with “Rosie” of Moore Street and Michael O'Hehir in Croke Park and music by Kathleen Harrington (fiddle) and Michael Conroy (whistle).

Extract from the Evening Herald, 17th March, 1949, page 4

Transcription: You will forgive me if I spend a little space this week paying a well-deserved tribute to a radio program which I am afraid you will not hear.
       At least, you will not hear it from Radio Eireann, nor from the B.B.C.; in fact, unless your set is vastly superior to my own, you will not, as I say, hear it at all.

It is a fifteen-minute show, titled “Saint Patrick’s Day in Ireland,” and it will be broadcast over the station W.D.A.S. of Philadelphia, from Boston, from South Africa, and from Australia on March 17th.
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It is, I am glad to say, not an outsider’s view of this country, but a twenty-two-carat, genuine production, and it is good to know that at least some of our people will be getting a bit of “the real thing” this year. The show, which I heard at a preview before the records were flown to their various destinations was produced and recorded in Moore Street by the Irish Recording Company. From the opening words of compere Terry O’Sullivan “This is Dublin….we present a Radio Review of Saint Patrick’s Day in Ireland” one feels a glow of pride at the great step which the I.R.C. has made in Irish radio and Irish recording.

Into this recording has been packed so much material that it is hard to believe it only takes fifteen minutes to play.
           In all, there are eleven parts to it, the opening being provided by the magnificent choir-work of the O’Connell Schoolboys. This is followed by an interview with “Rosie” of Moore Street whose confidence and aplomb at the mike would put many older broadcasters to shame; the march past of the Defence Forces at the College Green Saluting Base; and a visit to Croke Park, where Michael O’hEithir’s voice renews acquaintance with his American friends.
           Singing, ceili music, Michael Conroy of Roscommon and his whistle, a party in Foley’s Hotel, Cavan, the Band of the Nine McCusker Brothers in Armagh and Kathleen Harrington (a “fiddler….by the Atlantic seashore”), help to complete the picture, before the O’Connell Schoolboys sing the program out, and Terry O’Sullivan sends our love and best wishes to all our exiles… “wherever you may be.”
           Personally, I wouldn’t mind being in America for long enough to hear this program again. As I said, I’m sorry you won’t hear it but at least it is good to know that our artistes and our technicians are now being shown off to the world on home-made recordings that even American experts cannot beat.
            What you can hear this evening from the home station is a program as full of promise as a politician before an election.