Mary Owens
Mary Owens
Indreabhán,
Co. na Gaillimhe
Type of Programming
Features and Documentaries.
THE LATEST FROM WELL SAID PRODUCTIONS:
Picking Up The Pieces (IN PRODUCTION)
A 6 part series for RTÉ Radio One exploring the valuable but challenging process of cross-community reconciliation in different settings in Northern Ireland and along the border areas. Presenter: Barbara Walshe. Producer: Mary Owens. Made with the support of the BAI.
RECENT WELL SAID PRODUCTIONS:
The Sea in Song
An award winning 3 part series on Ireland’s maritime song tradition for RTÉ Lyric FM in ‘The Lyric Feature’ slot on December 29th, 30th and 31st 2010.
Part one Hard Men to Shave traces the Irish involvement in the international sea shanty tradition and asks why these worksongs were not collected in Ireland. It also explores key narratives in our 19th century maritime ballads and taps into some hair-raising accounts of life at sea for Ireland’s seamen in the age of sail (December 29th)
Part two The Tumbling Wave trawls the coast of Ireland for songs that illustrate different aspects of our local maritime heritage – shipwrecks, smugglers, drowning tragedies and heroic rescues (December 30th).
Some of our most powerful laments and romantic ballads were inspired by events at sea. Part three Love is Tempestuous pursues themes of love and loss in Ireland’s maritime songbook – the maid on the shore, the female sailor, the drowned lover, the mermaid. (December 31st).
The series features a wide range of material from both the English and Gaelic traditions in Ireland and includes songs and stories from Séan Corcoran (Drogheda), Jimmy Crowley (Cork), John Faulkner (Galway), Aine Uí Cheallaigh (Waterford), Paddy and Phil Berry (Wexford), Tim Dennehy (Kerry), Dan and Bonnie Milner (USA) and many more. The series was produced with the assistance of the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland and won a silver medal at the 2011 New York Festivals Awards in June 2011 [ http://www.newyorkfestivals.com/worldsbestradio/ ]. You can listen back to the programmes by going to the 2010 archive for The Lyric Feature on [http://www.rte.ie/lyricfm/features/]
Mad About Ned
Shortlisted for Best Radio Documentary at the 2011 Celtic Media Festival.
A lesson in how to love life, despite the knocks that are sent your way. An uplifting character profile of one of Ireland’s oldest Traveller men, Ned Mc Donagh. Produced and presented by Mary Owens. Sound engineer, Grainne O Malley. Produced with the assistance of the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland. Broadcast on RTE Radio One on June 19th 2010 on the Documentary on One slot.
http://www.rte.ie/radio1/podcast/podcast_documentaryonone.xml.
Witness at Checkpoint 300: My time in Bethlehem
The journey of one Galway woman, Barbara Walshe who left a comfortable home to volunteer as an international human rights observer in the West Bank. She was posted to Checkpoint 300 between Bethlehem and Jerusalem to monitor the movements of Palestinians through this busy Israeli checkpoint. Barbara interviews ordinary men and women from Palestine and Israel in the vicinity of the checkpoint and reflects on the value of peace building between divided communities in this conflict zone. Broadcast on April 5th 2010 on the RTE Radio One, Documentary on One slot.
http://www.rte.ie/radio1/podcast/podcast_documentaryonone.xml.
Overview
Mary’s work has been broadcast on RTÉ Radio One, Galway Bay FM, Clare FM, Connemara Community Radio, Inishowen Community Radio etc.
Remembering Hanna Greally: Winner of Best Radio Documentary Award at Celtic Media Festival, April 2008.
Her documentary about a Filipino nanny recorded in the Philippines and in Galway was nominated for the MAMA Multicultural Broadcast Media award in 2005.
In 2001, another one of Mary’s documentaries featured in an award winning series produced at Connemara Community Radio under the BCI’s New Adventures in Broadcasting scheme.
As well as producing radio for local, national and community stations, Mary works as a trainer/evaluator with community radio stations around the country. She is also a former Chairperson of AIRPI, the Association of Independent Radio Producers of Ireland.
