James Morrissey and Pat Egan recall their time as reporters with Spotlight magazine, which became the bible of Ireland’s burgeoning showband and entertainment scene and contributed to the emergence of a new social and pop culture around the country

 

Spotlight magazine made a very significant contribution to the emergence of Ireland’s pop culture and to social life in the 1960s and 1970s.

Across Europe the previous decades were ‘grey’ as countries emerged from the Second World War. Ireland depended largely on agriculture and emigration saw tens of thousands of young men and women leave for England and the United States.

The pioneering approach to economic development of Seán Lemass, the setting up of the IDA and the introduction of free secondary education set Ireland on a new path growth of economic and social development.
The global music industry was changing. Rock ’n’ roll had taken root in the United States and spread rapidly around the world.
The ‘60s spawned colour television, The Beatles, The Beach Boys and ballrooms across Ireland.
And showbands.

Like so many ‘children of the 60s’ I was carried along on a tide of ever-increasing curiosity about the new pop culture. Radio Éireann and Radio Luxembourg introduced us to new singers and new groups, Larry Gogan, Radio Éireann’s array of sponsored programmes and Radio Luxembourg.
In my hometown of Kiltimagh there was a jukebox in Carroll’s, a shop on the main street. I can still remember hearing songs there for the first time. Mrs. Carroll also provided accommodation for overnighting showbands performing in The Diamond Ballroom. Owned and managed by Leo Diamond, it was an excellent facility and its stage hosted most of the country’s leading showbands.

Far too young to attend the dances, a few of us would hang around to see the bands arriving and do some autograph hunting. And when Jim Reeves and Adam Faith came to The Diamond, we were even more enthusiastic.

One of the autograph hunters was Louis Walsh. His parents, Frank and Maureen, had a record player and so Louis was ahead of the rest on the pop scene. He soon progressed to managing the fan club for Doc Carroll & The Royal Blues, a band formed in nearby Claremorris.

Mayo was well served with ballrooms – The Royal Ballroom in Castlebar was a major venue, owned and still managed by the Jennings family. There were also large venues in Tooreen, Claremorris, Ballyhaunis, Westport and Pontoon.

Spotlight magazine (which later became New Spotlight) was founded by John Coughlan in his native Cork in 1963. His vision was built on a belief that the new trends in music and fashion could support a weekly publication – and was he right.
Copies of Spotlight made their way into the study hall at Garbally College in Ballinasloe each week where I was a boarder in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

While not permitted by the school authorities, an essential item was a transistor radio. This device was secreted away underneath one’s pillow and ‘activated’ after ‘lights out’ in the dormitory. This was my parallel education.

We all had our favourite showbands and groups – The Drifters, The Royal, The Dixies, The Mainliners, The Plattermen, The Miami. After Garbally I became a student at UCD. I was a rather unenthusiastic undergraduate. While there I needed an income source to lessen the guilt associated with the chronic burden I had become to my ever-patient parents.

How did I get a job at Spotlight? A result of my constant pestering of owner-editor John Coughlan.
John was both generous and gregarious, albeit somewhat shy. Spotlight thrived on a cohesive chaos which ensured the work was done each and every week. His vision had taken Spotlight to becoming one of the best-selling publications in Ireland, selling tens of thousands of copies per week with revenues bolstered by advertising sales.
The offices were located on Botanic Road in Glasnevin in the same building that published Business & Finance, Woman’s Way and later The Sunday World.

When I started in Spotlight my writing skills were minimal and my typing non-existent. John managed a small but loyal team and I benefitted from his direction and wise words.
The drudgery of student life at UCD was in sharp contrast to the role of a very junior reporter dispatched to interview the showband stars, the groups and the international artists performing at the National Stadium. New records were launched by Release Records, EMI, CBS and others in several venues, including Madigans in Donnybrook, because of its proximity to RTÉ and the various presenters who were so important for airplays – Larry Gogan, Gay Byrne, Val Joyce, Ken Stewart, Brendan Balfe and Mike Murphy.

Continue reading in this week’s Ireland’s Own