(from the Portora magazine 1979)
In October, 1978, the school got a new colour television and so the pupils were for the first time able to choose their viewing carefully, where formerly the only set available picked up BBC 1 only. Over the past year I have kept a record of what boarders watch on TV and listen to on their radios.
The most popular programme on TV, although necessarily with a small audience, was “Top of the Pops,” with an average of 20 viewers. “The Two Ronnies” was very popular in the spring and had up to 40 people watching it. A small audience of about 10 would, every Sunday, watch “World About Us” and “Face the Misic,” and favourite programmes, with about 20 viewers, were “Match of the Day,” “Scene Around Six,” “Grandstand,” “That’s Life” and “The Old Grey Whistle Test.”
Radio programmes are much more popular than television. But you may be surprised to note that Radio 4 has more listeners than Radio 1, with “Week-ending” and “World Tonight” having an audience of about 20. The most popular programme is the “Top 40” on Sunday evenings, with an average audience of 70. Before school, radios were turned to either Radio 1 or Radio 2 until May, when RTE opened up a new pop station which has now become the most popular listening in Portora.
It has been a most enjoyable year’s broadcasting and I look forward to another good year.
