Even Mary Wilson lightened up

AS CONOR O'CLERY watched Barack Obama's 747 touch down at Dublin airport on Monday morning, he shared a morbid piece of trivia with his fellow guests on the John Murray Show(RTÉ Radio 1, weekdays). While working as the American correspondent for The Irish Timesin the early 1990s, O'Clery followed presidential trips in a press plane that would take off after Air Force One's departure and touch down before its arrival, the better for the journalists to witness the US leader's entrance and exit.

“It used to be called the deathwatch,” O’Clery said, chuckling, “so that if the president crashed on take off or landing, at least the reporters could see it.” It was a rare flash of black humour amid Murray’s otherwise bright coverage of Obama’s arrival.

As Air Force One approached, a celebratory, even giddy, mood enveloped the studio. O'Clery swapped anecdotes with New York Timescolumnist Maureen Dowd, Kathryn Thomas delivered excited updates from an audibly windswept Dublin airport and Murray fired out jocular asides. "It would be a tragedy if the sun was shining," the presenter said. "It might give [Obama] the wrong impression." It all captured the sense of occasion and air of anticipation surrounding the president's Irish stopover. Murray even let the studio lapse into silence – normally a cardinal sin on radio – as Obama's jet taxied along and, later, when his helicopter took off, creating a vivid audio sketch of the event for the listener.

It was a good example of Murray at his best, approaching topical events with a light but imaginative touch. The show set the tone for the day, as a carnival atmosphere enveloped the nation’s radio, as though breathing a sigh of relief after the historical baggage and earnest symbolism of the Queen’s visit.

Even Mary Wilson exhibited something akin to levity. Opening Monday evening's Drivetime(RTÉ Radio 1, weekdays), she described Obama as "the skinny kid with the funny name who grew up to become president". Not usually given to cheerleading, Wilson primed the listener for Obama's keynote Dublin speech with a collage of clips that neatly caught the flavour of the visit up to that point.

The presenter still had her school-marm moments: “A little bit of housekeeping: we’ve just been told that College Green is full,” she advised at one stage. It seemed appropriate that Wilson should have been the broadcaster to sound the day’s one mildly deflating note: informing listeners that Obama was departing early to beat the volcanic ash. But for the most part she went along with the prevailing mood. As she parsed the presidential address with Dr Sandra Scanlon and journalist Margaret E Ward, Wilson sounded refreshed by it all.

As the week wore on, the Ray D'Arcy Show(Today FM, weekdays) sought to keep the good feeling alive, with D'Arcy applauding the notion that Obama's catchphrase of "is féidir linn" should be the new national motto. But his intentions were thwarted. On Wednesday he spoke to Diarmuid Gavin, who, despite winning gold at the Chelsea Flower Show with his Irish Sky Garden, cut an oddly downbeat figure.

D’Arcy said his guest’s victory had lifted national spirits but Gavin was indifferent, going Awol on the day of the prize-giving. Fame does not seem to suit the celebrity gardener, who found the media pressure too much: he had apparently taken an impromptu daytrip to Brighton to escape the attention.

What positivity Gavin displayed came from the achievement of completing his ambitious project, which he hoped would attract visitors when it relocated to Cork. It may not have been the morale-boosting interview D’Arcy intended, but in his own idiosyncratic way Gavin embodied the spirit of possibility invoked by Obama.

Following one’s dream can be a dangerous business, however. D’Arcy later interviewed adventurer Pat Falvey about the death of the mountaineer John Delaney, near the summit of Everest. Falvey attempted to explain the mindset that drives people to risk their lives, speaking of the thrill of going where few dare to tread. “John had the bravery to follow his passion, but sadly it didn’t happen,” he said.

D’Arcy was sceptical, wondering what consolation Delaney’s family could glean from his death. Falvey conceded that adventuring was a selfish pursuit, which had in the past caused him difficulties in his relationships. It was a melancholy but compelling item, during which D’Arcy, to his credit, did not attempt to gild the lily with platitudes about the tragedy. The show’s early buoyant air evaporated.

For some, there had been little to celebrate in the first place. Tuesday's Drivetimefeatured a report by Della Kilroy on how the authorities treated Dublin's homeless population during the two State visits, arbitrarily shunting them around the city. One man said when he sat down or even stopped to talk, he was told by gardaí that he'd be charged with loitering. "There were no homeless allowed to be seen in street," the man said. Others, including one man on crutches, told similar tales.

Kilroy’s item – short, stark and telling – was an uncomfortable reminder that in contemporary Ireland even an event as seemingly joyous and stirring as Obama’s trip has a downside. Every silver lining comes with a cloud.

Radio moment of the week

Once seen as a counter-cultural figure, Luke "Ming" Flanagan, independent TD for Roscommon and south Leitrim, has gradually become an old-fashioned parish pump populist, if Wednesday's appearance on The Last Word (Today FM, weekdays) is anything to go by. Incensed by a government threat to prosecute those who cut turf on protected bogs in contravention of EU regulations, he laid into Jimmy Deenihan, Minister for Heritage.

Flanagan had an impressive array of facts at his disposal as he complained that it would now be near-impossible to cut turf in his constituency. But it was his strident argot that stood out.

"Stop bowing your head and stand up to Europe. Show a bit of balls, please."