Our recent Esso-sponsored free cover-mount album Those Petrol Emotions seems destined to follow previous exclusive cover-mounts into the Collectors’ Item Charts. Featuring exclusive tracks from top Irish and international acts, it was comprised entirely of recordings by Jon Richards and his team on Galway Bay FM, ample evidence of what local radio can achieve when creative people are at the helm.

While some radio stations make a big deal of including a local act on their playlist, Richards and his cohorts have gone several steps beyond, committing considerable personal time, energy, station resources and airtime to interviewing, recording, broadcasting and releasing commercial compilations of these recordings for charity.

Within any given year it is not uncommon for Richards to record over eighty sessions for his daily Drivetime programme. Earlier this year he released, on Origin Records, the station’s latest compilation UnderCurrents, a handsome mix of international, local and national favourites, from Damien Rice to Don Baker, Juliet Turner, Bela Fleck and Ron Sexsmith. A noteworthy aspect of that compilation was the DVD-style packaging and it followed other compilations, including the excellent New Horizons. That artists of this calibre are willing to allow their work to be used on commercial releases, speaks volumes.

Having cut his chops on pirate radio, Richards copped a job as a DJ with Galway Bay FM in 1989. Over the years there he’s done time in various departments and won a hotpress local radio award in 1991 and a Fairplay For Airplay Award this year.

But as Richards recalls, the in-studio sessions began by accident. “One Saturday night I wandered into the Roisin Dubh to hear Elaine K and invited her for an interview. The next day she arrived at the station with full band asking where to set up. Wires had been crossed, but later I realised that interviews would be taking second place from then on, having discovered an innovative way to promote original music through radio.”

His next hurdle was to convince Keith Finnegan, Galway Bay FM’s Chief Executive, that there was a place in primetime radio for live original music rather than consigning it to late evening, and to Keith’s credit he acquiesced to Jon’s persuasive arguments.

Galway Bay FM is a commercial radio station, so committing resources to a project like this was a brave step, but it sent out the right signals and soon Jon was doing sessions every week and listeners began to appreciate the wealth of talent waiting to be explored.

According to Richards: “There are a lot of elements that make the sessions work. The artists get free studio time without the pressure of the clock, and the sessions sometimes even capture a spark often lost in the pressure cooker of a full recording. They also help young bands to understand the complexities of getting and sustaining airplay.”

Richards passionately believes in nurturing new heroes to replace current ones. He sees the releases as chronicles of what passes through the studios, and as tools for bands to generate exposure. They enable well-known names to re-interpret their classics in a distinctly different environment, and to test new material.

The success of the sessions as part of the programme may even reflect a significant, if subtle, shift across the independent radio sector as they realise that listeners like to be challenged.

The recordings have produced many stories. When Sinead Lohan performed with her new born son present Jon persuaded some construction workers to down tools to avoid background noise. He also fondly remembers sessions with Kristin Hersh and Eleanor McEvoy and has admitted to suggesting that Juliet Turner take off her leather pants as they creaked with every movement. He watched the rain rolling down from Colin Devlin’s hair and splashing onto his guitar while wondering when it would shortout the already cannibalised mixing desk.

He pays heartfelt tribute to the people in record companies, publishing, management and publicity whose support has been invaluable in securing clearances for tracks to be used.

Finally, Richards is also grateful that the Esso/hotpress project linked him to his all-time hero in Irish radio. As he explains, “I used to go home from school everyday for the sole reason of listening to Jim O’Neill on the radio. I would not attend sports or any classes outside of school hours for fear I would miss Jim’s show. That he recorded the intro to my work, makes me feel honoured. His involvement in introducing the Esso CD fulfils a lifetime ambition for me.”