To mark 100 years of BBC Services in Northern Ireland, BBC Radio Ulster/Foyle is celebrating with a day of programmes across the schedule on Sunday 15 September, including a specially recorded concert from St Anne’s Cathedral, Belfast. The Living Air is a fun celebration of the arts and creativity and the BBC’s role in connecting people and places. It will feature performances by the Ulster Orchestra and Codetta and a new musical commission from Neil Martin.
The concert will be presented by John Toal, Tara Mills and Declan Harvey. It will include a fast-paced mix of music, much of it with a local theme, and readings from writers whose work has brought magic to the BBC’s airwaves over the last 100 years. There’ll also be newspaper reports about the start of BBC services in Northern Ireland, a special Fantasia on Ulster Airs by Paul Campbell and a brand new arrangement of a piece by Public Service Broadcasting, which has been created for this BBC centenary event by JF Abrahams.
The Living Air is a showcase for artistic talent and a tribute to everything that broadcasting has made possible – seeking to bring the best of everything, to everyone, everywhere.
The concert will be broadcast on BBC Radio Ulster/Foyle and BBC Sounds at 7pm on Sunday 15 September, coinciding with the centenary of the actual moment when BBC services began in Northern Ireland in 1924.
BBC Radio Ulster/Foyle programming – Sunday 15 September
7am - Kerry McLean
Kerry McLean will celebrate the stand out songs of the last century, sharing music created between 1924 and 2024, as chosen by the audience.
8.30am Sunday Sequence
Reporting on religion across 100 years of BBC religious broadcasting and how hymns have changed in this time.
10am Morning Service
An edited version of a programme originally broadcast on Radio 4 earlier this year from Belfast’s Fisherwick Presbyterian Church reflecting 100 years of BBC religious broadcasting. Led by the congregation’s Minister, the Rev Andrew Galbraith, with a sermon and reflection by former BBC NI Head of Religion Rev Dr Bert Tosh.
11am Sunday with Steven Rainey
At 7am on the 15 September 1924, radio receivers in the greater Belfast area crackled into life as local BBC services began from 2BE. 100 years later, Sunday with Steven Rainey will be taking a look back at the excitement and impact of that first broadcast, and the possibilities that broadcasting unlocked for writers, musicians, actors, technicians and engineers – and the BBC’s growing audience.
12.30pm Broadcast Icons
A look back at the career of Cicely Mathews, a pioneer in children’s broadcasting. Children’s Hour ran on BBC Radio from 1924 to 1964 with Cicely at the helm in Belfast for 20 years. Presenter Steven Rainey chats with some of the people she influenced and looks at the contribution Cicely made to children’s programming.
1pm Sunday with Brian D’Arcy
100 years of the best from Woody Guthrie to Taylor Swift all brought to you in Brian’s inimitable mix of music, chat and reflections.
2pm Countryside
Voices, views, stories, news and chat from Northern Ireland’s rural community on a special day for BBC Radio Ulster, hosted by Nicola Weir.
3pm The Culture Café
Marie-Louise Kerr introduces a recording first broadcast in 1980 of 'The Leveret', a play written by the late BBC NI presenter Larry McCoubrey. Marie-Louise is joined in studio by guests to discuss the significance of writing for the BBC today and across radio, television and new digital platforms.
5pm Sounds Sacred
This episode of Sounds Sacred will include favourite hymns and church music with links to 1924 - such as Dear Lord and Father of Mankind (written in 1924), the seasonal classic Ding Dong Merrily on High (first published in 1924) and Sanctus from Faure’s Requiem (sung at his funeral in 1924).
6pm Kintra
Kintra will be taking a look at how BBC Radio Ulster has reflected the people and places which make up the many vibrant Ulster-Scots communities in this part of the world.
6.30pm Irish Football Icons
From Cookstown to Barcelona’s Camp Nou, Aaron Hughes’ first senior appearance for Newcastle United was against the giants of European Football. From here he went on to play over 200 games with The Magpies, almost 200 with Fulham and was capped 112 for Northern Ireland, proudly leading the team as captain for many of those years.
7pm Classical Connections with John Toal
Featuring The Living Air concert recorded on Friday 13 September at St Anne’s Cathedral, Belfast with readings from writers including Ciaran Carson, Seamus Heaney, Wendy Cope and Paul Muldoon and music by Joan Trimble, John Williams, Neil Martin and Norman Hay. A fun celebration of the arts and creativity and the BBC’s role in connecting people and places. The rest of the programme will include some of the orchestral music that formed part of the BBC’s first broadcasts from Belfast in 1924.
9pm John Kerr Country
John puts a centenary-related twist on his usual mix of modern country music featuring music from 1924 and artists born in that year.
10pm Sunday Club with John Bennett
Ralph McLean marks BBC Northern Ireland's centenary with a soothing mix of music from the last 100 years.
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