By Mattie Lennon.

If you go to irelandsownradio.com, you will hear the voice of Ballinasloe man, Martin Costello, introducing jigs, reels ballads and all things Irish from New Jersey. When I recently spoke to him by phone at his home in Holmdel, he told me, "I was introduced to music at the age of 16 by Josie O'Halloran, a music teacher. He taught me to play the fiddle. In a short time, I could play 12 tunes." He tells me — in a Ballinasloe accent (only slightly Americanized despite the fact that he owned a travel agency in downtown Newark for a number of years ) — "Music is one of the purest forms of communication."

He departed for America, "with the fiddle and 12 tunes," put down the fiddle and became a drummer. He soon formed The Martin Costello Band. His first gig was playing for the New York City's Police Department Annual Communion Breakfast at the Astor Hotel in Times Square. The band went on to be very popular in New York and New Jersey, as well as Boston and Philadelphia. 

"I saw the need for an Irish radio program, and established the Irish Road Show. A local radio station agreed to carry the Irish Road Show, which was heard on a weekly basis." 

Costello traveled back to Ireland, spending three weeks recording Irish performers all over the country. He brought back the result to his listeners in the States and it went down so well that the Irish Road Show became the most listened to Irish program in America. 

An American Army general heard the program, contacted Costello and asked him to consider putting an Irish program together for St. Patrick's Day, 2005, to be broadcast on U.S. Armed Forces Radio and TV Network. It was the first Irish program to be broadcast over AFN radio, based in Baghdad, Iraq. The show was popular and Costello received many compliments from the U.S. servicemen and women in the Middle East. 

Armed Forces Officials said that they received more than 17,000 emails praising the show in the days after the broadcast. "Mr. Costello, I wanted to take a moment to personally thank you for the great saint (sic) Patrick's Day program," wrote Army Capt. Doyle Sewell from Iraq. 

Costello said, "There is a great need for a world-wide communication system for lovers of Irish music and history, now more than ever. This can be accomplished with Web broadcasting on Ireland's Own Radio.com." 

Ireland's Own Radio webcasts live at 10 a.m. Irish time every Saturday. If you are working or having a sleep-on (or both) on Saturday mornings don't worry. All Costello's programs are archived and you can tune in anytime. 

They say that the best pictures are on radio. Well, if you go to Costello's ever-growing picture gallery you'll find that to be the case. Avoca, Adare Manor, Carrowkenny, The Cliffs of Moher. You name it, it's there.

So, when you hear the Galway accent with "...greetings and a hearty cead mile failte to you wherever you may be on land, sea, above or beyond...." you'll know you're in the right place.

If you are listening in Belmullet, Barcelona, Dubai or Duhallow the songs and music on The Irish Road Show will bring you back.

Tune in to www.irelandsownradio.com
 
 

Mattie Lennon can be reached at lennonaspect@iol.ie.