Frank Galligan to present his last Unchained Melodies on Saturday

Frank Galligan is set to hang up the mic this weekend at Highland Radio.

This Saturday’s Unchained Melodies with Frank Galligan from 6pm to 8pm will be his last with the Letterkenny-based station. The music programme features hits from the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s, with some good old country and bluegrass thrown in, plus requests and dedication.

“I’ve been presenting Unchained Melodies for almost 20 years and during that time, I’ve had precious few weekends off,” Galligan wrote in his Donegal Democrat column, It Occurs to Me.

“From next week, I will reclaim them and do some more writing, as well as completing a few outstanding projects. I’ve enjoyed playing music from my favourite eras, 50s, 60s and 70s as well as Bluegrass and old authentic country.

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“I want to sincerely thank my colleagues and friends in Highland and just to say I’ve had a blast! I particularly want to thank a very loyal audience in Donegal, Derry and Tyrone, and thanks to the internet, Scotland and the USA, to name but a few.

“One lovely lady in Gweedore loved to remind me during broadcasts what she was having for the dinner…and me salivating in the studio! It got to the stage that my taste and smell were so sensitive, that the stews, chicken, chops and spuds seemed to waft through the soundproof doors at The Mountain Top. I was once asked by The Derry Journal what the difference was between radio and TV. My answer was (and is) ‘There are better pictures on radio!’”

Galligan is a writer, broadcaster and journalist. He is a columnist with the Tyrone Herald, Derry Journal, Belfast Telegraph and Donegal Democrat and a long-time creative writing facilitator with The Pushkin Trust.

His publications include a collection of short stories - 'Out of the Blue', and poems - 'A Strong Weakness'. He is a former N.I. Chairman of the UK National Year of Reading and has researched extensively on the historical links between Ireland and the birth of bluegrass music in the U.S.

To that end he organises and comperes the Bluegrass on The Walls Festival in Derry and is the resident MC for the annual Appalachian and Bluegrass Music Festival in the Ulster- American Folk Park in Omagh and the Johnny Keenan International Banjo Festival in Longford.