Denis Brennan talks to his friends about half a century of variety and comedy on radio. They had to put Val Vousden in the title, for was he not the begetter of it all? When his first programme went on the air, three days after the opening of 2RN, he was already a veteran of the fit-ups in every corner of the country. Not surprisingly, indeed, the stage contributed the bulk of the early radio talent. Names like Jimmy O'Dea, Harry O'Donovan, Cathal McGarvey, Fay Sargent, Pay Hayden, Eva Brennan, Tom Madden, John McDonagh, Tony Reddin, Jacko Sheehan were among those who emerged in the first five years. 

Also in the earliest years, the stage was contributing in an even more direct way to radio variety. Shows from the old Capitol were relayed, and from the Queens and the Olympia came the pantomimes of the rising young team of O'Dea/O'Donovan - they should have called themselves 2OD. (The child star of those shows was to become Mrs Noel Purcell who recalls some memories in this programme). 

From the Royal in the thirties came Eric Bodens quiz which began radios ageless 'Question Time'. Pretty soon it was to become the province of one Joe Linnane. Other names and teams were beginning to emerge: Barney McCool of Coolaghy, the Black Jesters, Al Thomas and the Antlers, Albert Healy and the Thunder Brothers. 

With the forties, the list of familiar names grows. There was the late Mike Nolans 'Fungalore; Round the Fire', with Joe Lynch and Martin Dempsey; from the Cork Studios, 'Lively is the Lee; Lanigans Holiday Inn' with Jack Cruise. But the programme with the most nameable names was undoubtedly 'Beginners Please' which started life compered by Roy Croft in 1949. In four years it introduced to the public people such as Val Doonican, Austin Gaffney, Paddy Crosbie, Rose Brennan, Rose Tynan, Shane Redmond, Willie Brady....

An indispensable element of variety throughout, yet one we can easily overlook, had been the Light Orchestra, conducted for much of this period by Dermot O'Hara. Perhaps 'Variety Rollcall' was its chance to star in its own show. That was compered by Joe Lynch whose place in radio variety was so central that he eventually got a show of his own. 

Produced by PJ O'Connor

First Broadcast 21st March 1976