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Programme 6: 17th May
This is the final programme in the series and this week it's all about cars. Bob Montgomery is the author of a number of books on the history of motoring in Ireland and he's also the curator of the Royal Irish Automobile Club Archive and he told me all about Ireland's motoring pioneers.
Ted Scanlon has been running his car audio business 'Scansounds' since 1976 and he told me about the changes in Car audio systems over the years.

Before a new car makes it onto the road, you can be sure that every single element has been 'sound tested' and Gerhard Thoma is Head of Sound Acoustics with BMW and he told me a little about those tests.

I also visited Airfield House in Dundrum, which was where the Overend sisters lived. They had three very beautiful cars and they are now on display in Airfield.

The extracts on motoring history were taken from 'An Irish Roadside Camera- the Years of Growth 1907-1918' by Bob Montgomery, which is published by Marino Books. They were read for us by Rory Keenan.

For further information about Airfield House in Dundrum you can visit their website at www.airfield.ie

Ted Scanlon's business is called 'Scansounds' and you can find further information at www.scansounds.ie

Programme 5: May 10th
Repeated 30th October 2007
This week on Soundexchange we look at the changing nature of cleaning devices, and in particular the hoover.
Anne Maguire and Ciaran Byrne from No 29, Dublin's Georgian Museum told me about some of pre electric cleaning machines.
Seán Daly runs a Domestic Appliance Service Shop in the Stillorgan Shopping Centre and he told me all about repairing hoovers and Michael Peace is an engineer with Dyson in the Uk and he told me about the Dyson and especially about one of their newest inventions, the hand held Dyson.
The 'hoover reflections' were by Michael Cronin.

Contact details-
Michael Cronin is the author of 'Time Tracks' which is published by New Island press.
Ciaran Byrne works in No 29, Dublin's Georgian Museum  www.esb.ie/main/about_esb/numbertwentynine
Sean Daly works in Unit 7A in the Stillogan Shopping Centre Dublin

For further information about the Dyson vacuum cleaner or about their call out repair service in Ireland, visit www.dyson.ie

Programme 4: 3rd May 2007
Repeated 23rd October 2007
This week on the programme we look at the changes in sound recording and reproduction machines from Edison's Cylinder recorder to the mp3 player. Contributors include Harry Bradshaw who has worked in the area of sound all his life and who has restored many old recordings to their former glory, Ríonach Uí Ógáin and Simon O'Leary from UCD department of folklore and music journalist Colm O'Hare. It also features short clips from the archives about the early days of mobile recording units.

Programme 3: 26th April 2007
Repeated 16th October 2007
This week's 'Soundexchange' looks at the story of the kettle.  Contributors to the programme include Clodagh Doyle from the Musuem of Country Life in Castlebar, Co Mayo and Ciaran Byrne from Dublin's Georgian Museum, No. 29.

Paddy Brennan, Anne Maguire and Peter O'Connor all have their own kettle stories and of course you can't talk about kettles without talking about tea so Patricia Lysaght from the department of folklore in UCD tells us all about the history of tea in Ireland.
Also featured are Seamus and Patrick Kelly who make 'Kelly Kettles' and they brew a cup of tea for us on the shores of Lough Conn in Co. Mayo.

Michael Cronin, author of 'Timetracks' (published by New Island) reads his own reflections on the kettle.

For further information on -
The Kelly Kettles- you can visit their website at www.kellykettle.com

The Museum of Country Life in Castlebar, Co. Mayo at www.museum.ie/countrylife

Dublin's Georgian Museum- www.esb.ie/numbertwentynine

Programme 2: 19th April 2007
Repeated 9th October 2007
This week on the programme we look at the changing sounds of clocks and watches.

The programme features interviews with Michael Kenny at the National Museum of Ireland, Collins Barracks and Kevin Chellar at Timepiece Antiques on Patrick Street in Dublin.

Gary McGuire, the ringing master at Christ Church Cathedral guided me around the ringing room in the Cathedral and Muireann de Barra explained some of the history of very early timepieces.

The 'Clock music' was written by Daragh Dukes.

'Why Clocks?' was written and read by poet Pat Boran.

The programme also features a short clip from the film 'The Third Man' from the British Lion Film Corporation.

For further information on -
The Christ Church Bell Ringers, you can visit their website at www.cccdub.ie

Kevin Chellar's shop is called 'Timepiece Antique Clocks' and you can find out more about it at www.timepieceantiqueclocks.com 

Michael Kenny works at the National Musuem of Ireland at Collins Barracks and you can find all of their details at www.museum.ie/decorative.

Programme 1: 12th April 2007
Repeated 2nd October 2007

The first telephone arrived in Ireland in 1878 but we might have had telephones about 80 years before then if Richard Lowell Edgeworth had his way. This programme looks at the changes in the sounds and uses of the telephone since those early days. Paddy Brennan worked for Telecom for many years and when he retired he gave his collection of old phones to the Millmount Museum in Drogheda. I met Paddy at the museum in Drogheda and he showed me around. The National Museum at Collins Barracks also has a huge collection of old telecommunications material, which was given to them by Eircom and by the curator of the Eircom musuem Tom Wall. Lar Joye from the musuem guided me around that collection as well.

Other contributors to the programme were former telephonists Mary Boland and Kathleen Kearney, writer Maeve Binchy and John Mulrane who explained some of the history of telephones.

Film clips were taken from 'Pillow Talk' (Universal Pictures) and 'Grand Hotel' (MGM).

The programme also featured an excerpt from 'Time Tracks' by Michael Cronin. (New Island books)