My life is different, challenging and exciting!
When Galway Bay FM was bought by the Connacht Tribune Group in 2006, it looked as though Managing Director, Gerry Rabbitte, was stepping out of the media industry for good. That was until he stepped right back in again by purchasing Donegal’s Highland Radio for €10 million. It was a milestone for the former publican, owner of both oil and waste companies in the city, and the son of a farmer from Cartymore.
“I knew that if I walked down the street, whether in Athenry, Tuam, or the city and someone came up to me and said ‘Gerry, that’s a great radio station’ then we had made it,” explains Mr Rabbitte.
“When that finally happened, I knew Galway Bay FM was a success.”
The success of the local radio station was a far cry from its tenuous beginnings, when thousands of hard-earned pounds had to be pumped back into the ailing venture just to keep it afloat. At times, staff and management went unpaid, as the then named Radio West limped along. It was eventually sold in the early ‘90s to Denis O’Brien. However, due to problems with licensing, it was swiftly handed back like a cold spud and the station was forced to sink or swim. Gerry took the reigns of the flailing project and, with the support of the other board members, steered it through the rough and transformed it into a multi-million euro business.
“I was putting £600 a week into the station and I wasn’t the only one,” he says.
“I remember when the bank manager called me back after a meeting and asked me whether my heart was ruling my head. At the very worst stage, the radio station was sold for €100,000 for a majority share. It was taken over by Denis O’Brien’s company, but they were refused a license. It was an extraordinary situation. It had to be handed back to the previous owners who were already drained of money. If that sale had gone through, I would have been out of the business. Although Denis was annoyed, he said if there was one person who could do it, it was me, but warned me that I had better run it myself. It was the best bit of advice I ever had. No matter what you are doing, don’t do it from a distance,” he says.
Gerry already had broadcasting experience before he became part of the original start-up team as a founding, and later major, shareholder. Not many were aware that he had worked for a radio station while living in the US. Like many before him, Gerry emigrated to the States to earn a crust and, during that time, had an opportunity to work with a Boston station. It wasn’t long before he was invited to present his own show, but he declined, always preferring to stay away from the mic and work behind the scenes. In fact, his stint in America wasn’t his first step into the world of radio.
Gerry was bitten by the broadcasting bug while growing up at the family farmhouse in Cartymore. The home was packed to capacity – with eight children, two parents, two grandparents and an aunt and uncle living under the one roof. As a teenager, he heard the scratchy broadcasts of a pirate radio station transmitting into Galway from Ballyvaughan. The ambitious Gerry found someone to drive him out to the place where the weak signal was coming from. He discovered a shed at the back of a house where the broadcaster had rigged up a mast “like a goalpost with a hanger at the top”. Gerry says he had to “see how the thing worked” and was fascinated with the ingenuity of it all.
There were few rows in the household and Gerry credits his mother, Mary from Claregalway, for his harmonious upbringing, describing her as “a magnificent woman”. Times were tough and, after securing his first job in Connacht Laundry, Gerry knew he had to look abroad for work. He spent some time in the UK before returning to a position in McDonaghs. However, he decided to follow his sister to the US and landed in America in the 1960s.
The trip opened up many opportunities for him – both personally and professionally. He met a young Teresa from New Road in the city, who had come to the States on holidays. They “met in November, were engaged in December and married in July”. The couple had four children and eventually returned to Ireland with “the all-American family”. Gerry jokes that “somehow we ended up with three Irish children as well – a total of five girls and two boys - in keeping with the Cartymore tradition!”
They arrived back armed with enough money for a deposit on a house and to buy a pub in Oranmore. The first port of call was to change the name from the Fox and Hound to The Boston Arms. Gerry says it was “a magnificent business” and they were the first to sell good home-made pub grub to their clientele. It was a break away from the “atrocious” microwaveable meals being served at the time. At its height, they were dishing out up to 90 lunches per day, but were hit hard by the recession in 1981. In one fell swoop, the numbers dwindled to 15 meals per day, a change which came about in “just one week”.
Gerry always believed in diversifying and was fortunate to receive the license to deliver oil in Galway, with the help of his brother Sean. Rabbitte Oil was later amalgamated with Sweeney Oil. He also had his sights set on the waste industry and acquired the Galway Waste Disposal Company. It was amidst this already hectic schedule that he was invited to become the tenth founding member of the local radio station.
As he moved into the Managing Director role, he identified the need for a local person in management and found what he was looking for in Keith Finnegan. Keith already had a radio show entitled ‘Finnegan on the Wireless’ and Gerry knew he would fit the bill. Gerry acknowledges that he “needed someone who could walk down town and be identified with the radio station” and he called upon “the young married man from Galway”.
Without doubt, Gerry pinpoints the modernisation of the Galway Bay FM building into what it is today as a highlight of his career and says it was “a fantastic achievement”. The original building was a boiler house for the cotton factory which, ironically, had a strong tie to the Finnegan family.
“The opening of the new building was a proud day,” says Gerry.
“The building was originally a boiler house where Keith’s father used to work. It was owned by the corporation and, when we stripped it, we put in a concrete floor in place of the roof in case we ever decided to extend. We did up the whole building without closing down. We never lost an hour although we lost a lot of sweat! We opened it on the 18th of May 2000 and Bertie Ahern did the honours. I knew musician Phil Coulter had released a CD and was doing the rounds. However, he said he could only play on a grand piano. I don’t know where Keith got it but he found a beautiful white grand piano. I know it cost £300 to rent!” he says.
Gerry believes it was “one of the most memorable days” and he knew they had built up “one of the finest radio station buildings in Ireland”. It was designed as “a big ship coming towards you when you stand back from it” in keeping with Galway Bay. Now at the helm of a new venture with Highland radio, Gerry has big plans for the already successful station.
He has maintained his links with the US through the Spirit of Galway initiative, which culminates in the annual trip to the Irish Festival in Milwaukee. He also plans to uphold his commitment to the Alan Kerins African Project where he has adopted a hands-on approach by volunteering for the charity in Zambia. In his rare time off, he enjoys a spot of golf, the horses and walking on the prom. Gerry has kept his belief in his businesses, through the good and the bad and says he “is always an optimist”.
“When I told my solicitor, who is a good friend of mine, that I was buying another business, he told me that my life is challenging, different and exciting. I never thought of it that way,” he says.
This is an interview I conducted with former Galway Bay FM owner, Gerry Rabbitte, shortly after he purchased Highland Radio in Donegal. It appeared in the Connacht Tribune as part of the City Lives section.
