Maria Murphy – Volunteering with Liffey Sound FM
Today we bring you the second of our amazing stories of volunteers who helped keep our country connected during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
Maria Murphy is a volunteer presenter with Liffey Sound FM and in the face of lockdown restrictions she relocated from the studio to her home to continue broadcasting to her listeners.
My name is Maria Murphy and I’m a presenter with Liffey Sound FM. Liffey Sound is a Community Radio Station and I and my fellow presenters are all volunteers.
Volunteering as a Radio presenter with Liffey Sound during Covid 19 has meant mastering Zoom and working from home, the back bedroom to be precise. Radio studios are intimate, enclosed conversation hubs and not conducive to 2 metre distancing or mask wearing when faced with a Mic. The Mic’s aim is to amplify your voice so that it’s tone is clear for broadcast.
On 13 March 2020 we received this message from the Liffey Sound Board: There will be no access to the Liffey Sound Studio for Volunteers until Covid-19 restrictions are lifted. I, like my colleagues, had to re-imagine how to present our radio programmes. The outcome was, we entered the 21st century of Zoom to enable our radio station to remain on air and fulfil our obligations.
The clear decisive instruction from our Board, though understandable, was a blow to the core nature and value of Community Radio; that is its cohort of volunteers. Liffey Sound’s licence is to provide a radio service for each day of the year. So hence the Zoom Boom took on a whole new meaning for me. I became a 2020 Zoom Recruit to answer Liffey Sound’s call.
I’m a member of the cocooning set by virtue of age, I learn on a need to know basis, my motto KISM Keep it Simple Maria. To date I have presented 2 weekly Lucan Live programmes (Monday & Wednesday) since March, in my reckoning that amounts to 54 hours of broadcasting.
What a pleasure it has been, my log book records over 150 guests from all walks of life each with a story to tell. I’ve laughed and I’ve cried, I’ve been educated and entertained, I’ve brought the stories of, among others, Jigsaw, GROW Mental Health Services, Cancer Support Service providers, Cycle against Suicide, the HOPE foundation, Pavee Point, World Vision Ireland to Liffey Sound Listeners, not forgetting Bird Watch Ireland’s request for listeners to record the sighting of Swifts in the south Dublin area. I virtually visited Austria, Sardinia, England, Cork, Mayo, Roscommon and Wexford. However the majority of my guests were resident in the hinterland of SDCC.
I was inspired by all my guests, if I may mention the following:
- My youngest guest was Eva Norton who sang to the accompaniment of her mum Frances, it was blissful listening to Eva’s soulful rendition of Somewhere over the Rainbow.
- Sea of Change Choir: a group of cancer survivors who got together to sing and raise awareness of cancer, they visited the European parliament and received a standing ovation from the floor of the Parliament.
- Generation-Tech: Volunteers who are there to help older people in our communities with free over the phone help to resolve any IT or technical issues they have. www.generationtech.ie
Covid 19 has been a difficult time for all of us, however I have gained positivity and strength from the inspiring work of my guests, their selfless attitude and actions in helping their communities on a daily basis.
