West Clare schools take to the air

FIVE primary schools from South-West Clare are preparing to take to the airwaves as part of a new series with the area’s community radio station Raidió Corca Baiscinn. Each week, one of the participating schools will produce and present a 10-minute radio programme focusing on various activities taking place in the schools.
The series entitled Schools on Air commenced on Tuesday and runs for 15 consecutive Tuesdays (2.20pm weekly) until the middle of June. Repeats will be aired each Friday at 2.20pm. Each school involved in the project has its own recording and editing equipment provided by Raidió Corca Baiscinn and received broadcasting training from the station’s trainer, Conan Brophy. After a number of brainstorming sessions, the students set about collecting content for the programmes and preparing their scripts for their radio debuts.
The first programme featured Cross National School and items covered in the show included their recent school concert, an interview with the Clare County Board’s John Enright, who coaches football in Cross and a discussion amongst the students about their take on the 2011 General Election. The budding broadcasters from Cross also recorded the school band as part of their first programme and will be responsible for producing two more programmes for the series.
The other four schools partaking in the project are Querrin, Knockerra, Clohanes and Kilmihil. Each school will produce three programmes each between now and June. All the programmes will be broadcast on Raidió Corca Baiscinn on 92.5fm and 94.8fm.
This series is produced with the support of Sound and Vision, the Broadcasting Funding Scheme that was established to provide funding in support of high-quality programmes on Irish culture, heritage and experience.