Byrnes at the Weekend
"BRITISH and American papers please copy." That simple phrase tells a lot about Ireland of decades ago.
One of my earliest recollections is of a man from our street coming into our shop and asking my father to write the words of a death notice for publication because he himself was unlettered. This was by no means an unusual request and we had the formula off by heart.
"And we'll say 'British and American papers please copy' at the end," said father. "It'll cost a few pence more for the six extra words but it might be worth it if someone gets in touch."
And so it was, having been telegraphed by the undertaker, that the notice appeared in the following day's paper with the final line of "British and American papers please copy." A forlorn cry from the heart.
The reasoning was, of course, that such had been the continuing flood of emigration since the Famine that generations of Irish had grown up abroad with ever diminishing contacts with their roots.
That papers abroad might reprint the death notice might inform some vague relative or descendant of a neighbour and that information might in turn prompt a letter. Maybe not even consciously, it was also hoped that some tangible benefit might be derived from any such contact.
"British and American papers please copy" was a truly sad little phrase. It meant much more than it seemed. It proudly proclaimed that the family was widespread across the globe, but also that members had probably had to leave and were at unknown addresses in unheard of towns and cities.
It meant too that a family was anxious to let as many people as possible know of their bereavement because it was very much in the Irish psyche that grieving was best achieved when supported by neighbours and friends. Messages from abroad, even arriving weeks or months later, aided the process. If we could not remain in personal proximity, at least we could vicariously share in the grief.
I haven't seen any entreaty to British and American papers in recent years. Technology has shrunk the world and nowhere is more than a few seconds away any more. But it is technology which, by coincidence, has come to our aid in spreading the news of family loss in a most special way.
Here in Ireland we are, so far as I know, unique in the world in having deaths and funeral arrangements broadcast daily on local radio. And it all started here in Limerick.
John the Man Frawley, showband singer, raconteur and repository of the lore of Limerick life, began a new career as a breakfast-time pirate broadcaster in 1978 on the short-lived RLWE and soon moved on to open his own station Raidio Luimni.
The programming was a bit haphazard, but John knew that the whole operation was centred around himself and used that fact well. His banter with his audience was, I felt at the time, modelled on Terry Wogan, with plenty of catchwords. "Sammy sunshine" greeted the day after John had arrived at the studio in his car called "the galloping maggot".
In his own station, John was owner, commercial manager, chief broadcaster, and controller of programmes. He ran a tight ship and seemed to make a comfortable living, even though the hours which he had to put in were daunting.
Not long after he had set up, he decided to read the day's Limerick deaths over the airwaves. He didn't telephone the undertakers; instead he just allowed the undertakers to compile the facts for him in an indirect way.
He simply bought a copy of a daily paper on his way to work each morning and circled the death notices which were pertinent to the Limerick area. And soon the reading of the deaths became an established and very popular feature of each day's programming and repeat slots were provided to suit the wider audience.
Eventually, I am told, he began to make a small charge, and the death announcements brought in a little revenue.
By the time licensed local radio came about, the reading of death notices had become an expected feature across the country.
"Radio X regrets to announce ..." was the usual introduction. In reality, of course, by that time the deaths had also become a profitable commercial feature, so the expressed regret on the part of the station was tempered more than a little by the tinkling of the till.
Some people find that the broadcasting of death notices is either in bad taste or else could pose hidden dangers. Personally, I don't find them in any way distasteful and consider them to be a valuable service. But I do see the danger which might arise from broadcasting the address of the deceased and detailed funeral arrangements.
Sad though it is to say, there are opportunistic burglars who take advantage of grieving families while the funeral is in progress. But the printed notice in the newspapers would contain the same information, so the broadcast notice shouldn't be singled out as being in any way detrimental in itself.
I have been reliably told that the times of the day on which the deaths are read out are prime listening periods. Survey after survey would appear to have established this. And, of course, radio stations do not have deadlines as newspapers do. A daily paper cannot take a death notice, phoned over by an undertaker, after a certain time on the night before.
A radio station can take copy right up to the time of broadcast. If a person were to die at midnight or even in the early morning, the information can be on the air as the people of the area rise for breakfast.
I said that I believe that radio announcements of deaths are unique to Ireland. If that is so it confirms me in the belief that one of our national characteristics, that of family and community, is still alive, even if seldom expressed in this busy age. Listening to the deaths each day may seem to outsiders to be a prurient activity. I believe to the contrary that it is a passive form of community engagement. Long may it continue.
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Monday 21 May 2012
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