Dave, tuned in to all things Oldham...

Dave McGealy: a man of many talents, from volunteering to broadcasting

Martn Meets... Dave McGealy of Oldham Community Radio
RADIO Free Oldham doesn’t exist — except perhaps in my imagination. But I have this vision of Dave McGealy sitting behind the mike, his ears covered by cavernous cans, telling the world that Oldham is still “fighting for our independence”.

From what? I hear you ask. From the economic dark side, the shackles that have seen our glorious borough almost stall in the 10 years since the riots.

If ever such a radio station is needed, then dear old Dave is admirably suited for this role.

He has been a pioneering voice in his adopted home town for almost all of his adult life and now, in his early 60s, continues to hold the reins of Oldham Community Radio.

He’s the overworked, underpaid — those are my adjectives and are not endorsed by Dave, who will doubtless be shocked at my temerity — station manager of the Failsworth-based station which broadcasts 24-7, seven days a week, 365 days a year on 99.7fm.

Yet how many of us tune in? I’ll be perfectly frank and admit I am not a regular listener. And any stick that comes my way as a result of that confession is thoroughly deserved. For I should listen, I should tune in. I should be a statistic. And so should all of us.

We need listen for only five minutes in any given seven-day period to be counted as a listener. And before anyone starts kicking off and poo-pooing the inertia of such a miserly listening period, these are the stats that are applied to every radio station in the land, from Radio One to Five Live, from TalkSport to the BBC World Service.

Oldham Community Radio first broadcast on St Patrick’s Day in 2007 and is licensed to capture the boundaries of Oldham, but the hills that separate the vast swathe of Saddleworth from the rest of the borough mean that the pearls of wisdom are rarely picked up in the Independent Republic.

Which is shame, because I can just imagine the good burghers of Diggle and Dobcross, Delph and Denshaw, Duppermill and Dreemfield, actually having a Radio Free Saddleworth. I digress.

For an average of seven and a half hours a day, volunteers put out live content on the station’s 25 watt signal and the facts are that the audience is mostly 65 plus.

That is probably due to the sheer pace of life that most of us live these days.

Our retired colleagues and friends have the time to settle and listen to The Wireless Programme, the station’s most popular show, which features music from that bygone era when songs predominantly had melodies and harmonies at their core.

The playlist is determinedly, relentlessly pre-pop and pre hip-hop rock. And the listeners love it as they also embrace the Vintage Melodies show, which broadcasts music from the pre-war era.

“Our public respond to these programmes in a really positive way,” Dave tells me over a mug of home-made coffee in the Chronicle canteen, adding: “We had one letter which told us that they love our station because ‘we’re not slick’ and we took that as a huge compliment.

“Because our raison d’etre is to be different, to be ultra local. And we are.

“One couple called in with a request for our Vintage slot and then told us they were dancing to the tune in their front room to celebrate an 80th birthday.

“Another couple wrote to us and said they had a little weep when they listened to a tune they had requested. It took them back to listening to the radio over breakfast with their dad before they went to school.

“That’s what we are all about, really, that’s the essence of Oldham Community Radio.”

If content and 50 volunteers are the lifeblood of the station that costs £40,000 a year to run, then Dave is the beating heart.

He has been involved in community radio for most of his adult life, having started as a volunteer at Radio Cavell, the Oldham hospital radio service to which he had an affiliation for more than 30 years. Until last month, when he was voted off the board.

There was no rancour in that statement, no sense of grievance. Dave has such a balanced sense of sangfroid I suspect nothing can derail him...

A Manchester man, born in Fallowfield of strong Irish stock — “although my father always insisted he was English as he was born here” — he came to Oldham on leaving teacher training college in Warrington.

Dave inherited his Irish grandfather’s sense of social justice and was treasurer of the Students’ Union, having sat ‘O’ level bookkeeping, and these traits he has kept to this day.

He candidly admits Oldham was his second choice, having applied for a job in home city — “more out of a sense of loyalty, as they had paid for my course” — than anticipation.

“There were 20,000 applications for 200 jobs — I was never going to get one,” he recalled.

Having visited a friend who had taken a flat on the new development at Sholver, and being charmed by the view of hills at every turn rather that the front and back of rows of terrace houses, Dave applied for a job at Littlemoor Primary School in Huddersfield Road.

And so began his love affair with all things Oldham. He met his wife Jean, also a primary school teacher, in the corridors of Littlemoor Primary.

The school head was a visionary called John Whyman — whom Dave describes as “fantastic” man — and when the school introduced the first learning computers, from the BBC, the console was placed alongside Dave’s desk in his classroom.

“It had to be, I had the only three-pin plug socket.”

He was charmed, delighted and inspired by the way his young charges embraced the challenges set by the technological world and was hooked. His interest persuaded the education authority to send Dave to Lancaster where he gained a Diploma in Advanced Studies in Education.

The authority “cobbled together a job” whereby Dave passed on his newly acquired computing skills to schools across the borough.

He was an integral part of the Oldham School Information Management System which pioneered the delivery of examination results by electronic means and the pilot was so successful the Oldham team was nationalised . . .

Except for one man, who was told he would get the job if it went to interview. “But it never did go to interview,” he recalled.

At this point in our chat Dave wiped away an involuntary tear, an act I noticed but made no comment upon. And I do not apologise for raising it now. Dave was reluctant to divulge what exactly went on.

It’s arguably an intrusion into a private affair, but indicative of those times and these circumstances led directly to Dave becoming the man he is today, a professional broadcaster with time for everyone.

It is not an exaggeration to say he is loved by everyone, his face is etched with the lines of a constant smile, a chuckle accompanying his every word.

Around the time the pilot was going national Dave and his wife Jean were embroiled in discussions with the local authority over funding for their son Ian who developed cerebral palsy, autism and severe learning difficulties.

Ian ended up going to a special school in Manchester, found by his loving parents, but which had to be funded by Oldham. I’ll leave youto make the connection.

A union representative suggested Dave seek early retirement on the grounds of stress. “I remember asking ‘What’s stress?’” said Dave — and so it came to pass.

With time of his hands Dave went along with a colleague to volunteer his time at the Radio Cavell, the broadcast service for the Oldham District Hospital, and the rest, as they say is history.

His wife Jean has been a constant and positive supporter all these years while having her own life as Brownie leader and an enthusiastic member of the congregation at East Oldham Methodist Church in Ripponden Road, close to their home in Moorside.

Those distant memories of Sholver, when the estate was a modern-day masterpiece, still hold thrall for the McGealys who haven’t moved far from their new spiritual home.

Oldham Community Radio, and its constant battle for ratings and revenue — underpinned by a a grant of £25,000 from the council — is also home to a saved soul who has discovered his true calling almost by default.

And we can all be thankful for that. We just need to tune in - 99.7fm.