Sep 27 2011
‘This is Germany calling…’
I bought this old wireless a couple of weeks ago for 20 euro. When I plugged it in it took about twenty minutes to warm up. I had taken the back off it and watched in amazement as each little valve came to life. It was like sitting in the Cabra Grand watching Boris Karloff rising up out of the Mummies tomb. Some kind of sound came out of the speaker and a lot of crackling. But not much else happened. I was half expecting to hear The Kennedy’s of Castle Ross or Dear Frankie come out of it. I brought it to a Wireless Doctor in the Radio Museum in Howth to have it overhauled. This model is almost exactly the same as the one we had in our house in Cabra West. With any luck I might be able to tune into Radio Caroline and hear all the latest records or even hear the Angelus Bells ringing out at six o’clock. Wouldn’t it be gas all the same if Harry Toolier or the Walton’s Programme came on…’If you want to sing a song, sing an Irish song…’