Some months changed history. 30 DAYS is a series of radio programmes that re-creates specific months in a sound. Blending together historical, cultural and social elements, it gives the listeners a sense of time and place, as if they were actually present.
Archive elements are complemented by music, film soundtracks, news bulletins, theatrical productions, radio and TV excerpts, advertisements and the authentic sounds of Ireland and the World. They are blended together to capture the echoes of humanity, its foibles and triumphs.
30 DAYS is produced and presented by Brendan Balfe. ‘The series was inspired by October 1962, a month when popular culture changed’, he says. ‘The Beatles made their first record, the first James Bond film was released, The Vatican Council was opened, Ireland’s first Top Ten was broadcast and the Cuban Missile Crisis terrified the world’. So, Brendan considered other pivotal months when the world changed and came up with a 10-part series of fascinating and entertaining radio documentary programmes, starting on Saturday 26 July on RTE Radio 1 at 1.00pm. The production is supported by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland.
Taking a particular month in each decade, the series starts in January 1907, the month James Larkin arrived in Belfast to organise the shipyard workers, the Land War continued, The Montessori teaching method was invented, riots occurred in The Abbey Theatre and George M Cohan was at his height on Broadway.
06.09.14: OCTOBER 1962
The month that gave birth to modern culture- The Beatles first record, James Bond makes his first appearance on film, Pope John XXIII calls 2nd Vatican council, satirical British revue Beyond the Fringe opens on Broadway, The Cuban Missile Crisis scares the world