Éist: Cork’s new radio station has its ears to the ground

“Ar scáth a chéile a mhaireann na daoine,” goes the old Irish seanfhocal — literally informing us of living in each other’s shadows, but evoking a sense of community and camaraderie that is arguably the natural instinct of the Irish people and their friends around the world. 

It’s this same spirit of community, camaraderie and endeavour — ár meitheal —that animates the team of volunteer music-lovers behind the city centre’s newest online radio station, fittingly monikered Éist (‘ey-sh-t’, Irish for ‘listen’).

“I suppose for me, Éist is born out of community, having a place to congregate,” says station co-founder and socially-engaged architect Ailbhe Cunningham, also involved in Coal Quay-based outdoor arts venue TEST SITE.

It all began last year with the debut of Radio Solstice, a twice-annual pop-up station that marks the turning of the seasons, whose first edition, hosted at TEST SITE in the summer, formed part of Cork Midsummer Festival 2024. 

Its success would prove to be the catalyst for conversations about what a full-time community radio project by and for Cork’s music lovers, artists and other creative types, might look like.

“It just meant that people had a place to come together, and actually sit with the type of medium that was on offer with radio,” she continues. “Holding that space, [Radio Solstice co-founder] Elinor O’Donovan just began reaching out to people and saying, ‘right, we know that there’s a desire for this, but let’s actually figure out on a practical level, who has capacity.’ It just turned out that enough people had the interest and capacity to come together, and give something to bring this to life.”

“They just really hit on something there,” says volunteer and show host Sinéad Gallagher, “and then they posted on their Instagram that they were hosting a meeting. I just thought it’d be an interesting thing to go to, whatever came of it. Twenty people, I think, met at TEST SITE, and we all chatted, and then very quickly, it gained momentum. I think, seeing the effect of Radio Solstice, the way that people engaged with it, and how excited people were about it, I kind-of was like, ‘okay, well, clearly there’s a need for this, a real desire for this in Cork,’ which has proven to be true.”

Meetings began happening among interested parties throughout the second half of last year, with the station announcing its existence in earnest with a fundraising launch party at PLUGD Records, another Coal Quay venue, in December, alongside a public call-out for ideas for new shows. 

The station’s crew continues to build out its operation on a shared, non-hierarchical basis, sharing a headquarters with the iconic vinyl-and-coffee emporium, as it broadcasts its debut season, kicking off last weekend.

“Oh, I think it’s come together quite seamlessly. Like all projects, it’s gonna go through moments, where it needs to change or shift, but from the get-go, everyone who’s come with an open and willing mind, to listen to other people’s experiences and skill sets and knowledge, to find a common ground, to bring it all together, to allow an organisation to take shape or take form,” says Cunningham.

“Yeah, I think when you were going to go down [the road of a ‘top-down’ structure], it just wouldn’t feel right to me, wouldn’t feel like a team effort,” says communications volunteer and newly-elected chair Úna Hennessy, herself a longtime arts marketer working in the city. 

“It feels like everyone has equal input. It doesn’t feel like there’s any kind of power dynamic. We’re really lucky. Everyone is very much a team player, and very encouraging to each other. There’s no bulls**t happening.”

Said call-out for new and original shows has resulted in the submission of nearly 100 proposals, most of which will premiere or pilot on a monthly, pre-recorded basis during the season, with a view to transitioning to live in-studio broadcast by the end of spring for those who wish to do so, as well as overseeing home and possible on-location options.

“I think that even the willingness, across the board, of people who have experience, or those who don’t have experience, to learn. Like, ‘what do we want this organisation to look like, or what do we want it to feel like?’, that’s really rare to see people in such strong numbers, coming together like that,” says Cunningham. “Usually you have a core group of a few people who see the potential in the thing, but straight off, we had 60 people on the Discord [online chat/messaging app] server — now we have 125 as of the weekend. Y’know, it’s just, time and time again, people willingly showing up to figure this out together.”

“From the get-go, the Discord was a huge part of that, just having a platform that allowed everyone to splinter off into different groups, and discuss things in detail, that you could pick and choose to be part of”, adds Gallagher, speaking about the distributed process of station sub-committees banding together as the need arose, from technical volunteers and programming aficionados, to event organisers, communications operatives, and treasury.

“You can be involved, even if, as in my case, you don’t know anything about the tech stuff, you can still muck in and help out, and then if you want to read up on the tech end of things, you can read up on it. I think that was a huge help.”

Music programmes will range from mixes by veteran Leeside DJs like Jean-Luc Razza and Gilbert Steele on their continued adventures on the ones and twos, to monthly missives from denizens of the DOSE collective, the Not Another Disco! label, and even the Rory Gallagher Music Library. 

Anoraks like your writer and his Downtown colleague Ronan Leonard, as well as curators like Japhet Santana and Éamon Ivri, under his ‘Drift Ritual’ moniker, are also tacked-on for monthly music hours — while young musicians like Cormac O’Donovan-Neill and Emily Dollery are set to curate the best in new Irish output.

Shows from the likes of Cork Shakespearean Theatre and queer open-mic night Litreacha are set to head up the spoken-word and performance end of matters, alongside interviews from comedy/politics podcast Celtic Ligers, and once-off documentaries, like musician Elaine Malone’s ‘Speictram: Flora Hibernica’, an audio piece on environmental preservation. 

To say nothing, of course, of the impeccably-titled ‘Shagatha Christie: Uncovering the Sensual Mysteries’, a monthly dose of craic and advice from Cork-based sex therapist Olivia Teahan.

“I think it’ll be interesting to broadcast what’s going on in Cork, because I think people will be surprised by just the sheer amount of variety and creativity, things just being made here,” opines Gallagher. 

“I’m from Dublin, and I moved here three years ago, so I would have been aware of DDR [Dublin Digital Radio, community radio station], as we all were, their incredible impact and the things that they make. I think people probably thought that things like that just weren’t happening in Cork because we weren’t broadcasting it.

“I do find that Cork, culturally, can be kind-of insular sometimes, and we just like to keep our fun things to ourselves, people don’t know. I’d bring friends down, or friends would come down from Dublin and be like, ‘what the hell, there’s so much happening here!’ So it’ll be really interesting to put all of that on a map of local radio.”

The station sits with a second-floor view of the Coal Quay, now something of a unique cultural area in post-covid Cork city, sharing premises with PLUGD Records by day and Brian’s Wines by night, itself situated across the pedestrianised area from TEST SITE’s wooden outdoor stage, and within shouting distance of the area’s Saturday-morning markets.

TEST SITE has been home to outdoor gigs and events of various persuasions, including the involvement of PLUGD, while before Christmas, it played host to a small but meaningful evening of sharing, writing and committing to memory various mission statements from , later compiled into a physical zine that was subsequently sold at the station’s launch.

“To borrow a well-known phrase, it’s social ecology, right?,” posits Cunningham. “It’s looking at this constellation of creative entities [in Cork] and seeing what we all share in common, seeing strength in our differences, and really coming together to collaborate.

“What’s gorgeous about the whole of this, is that everyone is willing to show up and give some time to figure out what we can bring to each other. I suppose that’s where the collaboration ongoing between PLUGD and TEST SITE comes from. And it’s what fuels us, this idea that we can strengthen, by merging our skillsets, our resources, and just share something new with our community.”

With broadcasting now underway, a rapidly-developing listenership among the city’s music heads, and an eclectic selection of new shows on the horizon, the signs are good for Éist, not only as a going community-radio concern, but as an important part of a hub that’s growing on the city’s quay for musicians, writers, DJs, producers, artists and other assorted stragglers.

“My hope, which I think aligns very much with those that have kept coming up to all of the weeks of meetings, is that, while it is a digital radio station, that’s the glue that binds us, and it will be a space that will create moments for community growth and capacity-building,” muses Cunningham. 

“Y’know, that it’s a place to share our knowledge, our experiences, our emotional desires, whatever form it takes. A place that people can come together, and just find and build, or embed into communities.”

Adds Hennessy: ”I hope that it can grow roots, like, very deep roots. With all of these ventures, these DIY things, you hope that they will continue as well — I just hope that it will continue to inspire people the way that it has, that we continue to put emphasis on diversity and inclusivity, and really encourage people to get involved.

“Just to put their toe in the water, make a show… It’s just so wonderful to have that opportunity, to have people just be so open and encourage you to try something new. If that continues, I would be a happy person.”

• Éist is broadcasting now out of PLUGD Records on the Coal Quay. You can listen to Éist on your internet browser at eist.radio, where you can also the station as a member for as little as €5 a month, and the station’s Discord server for live chats.
• You can also listen via the RadioCult app on iPhone and Android, and follow Éist on Instagram at @eist.radio for daily schedules and other updates.