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IT BROUGHT A SMILE TO YOUR EAR – DOWNTOWN RADIO 50 YEARS ON.

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50 YEARS AGO ON 16 MARCH 1976 DOWNTOWN RADIO HIT THE AIRWAVES OF NORTHERN IRELAND. IT PROVED TO BE A WATERSHED MOMENT DROP KICKING RADIO HERE TOWARDS THE 21ST CENTURY AND BEYOND.
IT’S POTENT MIX OF MUSIC, NEWS AND INFORMATION WAS AN INSTANT HIT WITH LOCAL AUDIENCES WHO RELISHED HEARING CHEERFUL LOCAL VOICES ON A RADIO STATION BASED IN THE HEART OF THEIR COMMUNITY.
THE FIRST PRESENTER TO GREET AN AUDIENCE EAGER FOR SOMETHING NEW WAS JOHN PAUL. THEN THERE WAS HENDI, BIG T AND EVERYONE’S FAVOURITE AUNTIE CANDY DEVINE WHO HAD LONG SINCE FORESAKEN BRISBANE FOR EAST BELFAST.
OTHERS LIKE IVAN MARTIN & RICHARD YOUNG, LYNDA-JAYNE, JOHN DALY, RONAN KELLY, JOHNNY HERO AND FRANK MITCHELL FOLLOWED AND QUICKLY BECAME FIRM FAVOURITES WITH LOCAL LISTENERS.
THIS BOOK ‘IT BROUGHT A SMILE TO YOUR EAR’ IS THE STORY OF DOWNTOWN RADIO. HOW DID IT COME TO EXIST.

WHO WERE THE PEOPLE BEHIND IT.

HOW DID THEY GET THE LICENCE TO BRING INDEPENDENT LOCAL RADIO TO NORTHERN IRELAND.
IT ALSO TAKES READERS BEHIND THE SCENES AT THE STATION’S NEWTOWNARDS HQ AND GETS UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL TO SOME OF THE BROADCASTERS WHO MADE DOWNTOWN THE RUNAWAY SUCCESS IT BECAME.
THERE IS NO DOUBT THE STATION HOLDS A SPECIAL PLACE IN THE HEARTS OF MANY RADIO FANS HERE .

THIS BOOK COMES OUT AS THE STATION NOT ONLY CELEBRATES IT’S 50TH BIRTHDAY BUT ALSO MOVES TO A NEW HOME IN CENTRAL BELFAST.

“ ONLY IN IRELAND WOULD YOU FIND A RADIO STATION SITUATED IN THE MIDDLE OF THE COUNTRY CALLED DOWNTOWN RADIO”.    BILLY CONNOLLY
BUT THAT WAS DOWNTOWN SURPRISING PEOPLE FROM DAY ONE AND STILL MAKING THEM SMILE HALF A CENTURY LATER!.