On March 23, 1996, Damien O’Reilly, a budding young sports journalist with Shannonside Northern Sound FM, was in South Africa, covering one of the biggest events of his early career – the International Association of Athletics Federations World Cross Country Championships.

Just minutes away from going live on the popular Joe Finnegan Show, Nelson Mandela – the then president of South Africa – walked into the room.

‘Jaysus, would you be able to get an interview with him?’ asked his presenter back in studio in Longford.

The audacious, eager and energetic reporter didn’t need to think twice.

He grabbed his mic; meandered through the crowd; got up close and said: “Hello, I’m from Irish radio”.

With that, Mandela let him ask three questions – including one on his recent Freedom of the City of Dublin award.

That afternoon, Damien fondly remembers how the Roscommon, Longford and south-Leitrim broadcaster led the news with what he calls the “immortal bulletin” – ‘Nelson Mandela looking forward to visiting Ireland soon – speaking exclusively to Shannonside FM’.

Sitting down with AgriLand, the top-class presenter pinpoints this brief encounter as a pivotal moment that affirmed his ambitions for airwaves domination.

Damien O'Reilly

But how did a sports-mad young lad – born and bred in Castleknock, Co. Dublin – end up fronting CountryWide, the nation’s leading agricultural show on RTE Radio 1?

“My father is from a beef and sheep farm in Ballyjamesduff, Co. Cavan. From the age of eight I spent all my summer holidays and Christmases there with my grandmother, Margaret, and my uncle, Philip.

It was mad. I loved going down the country and I got to know rural life. I became a naturalised Cavan person.

“I was always going around with all the farmers; I grew up with them, older farmers in particular. I’d be out making silage and hay with my uncles and all the neighbours every summer,” he said.

Back in the big smoke, his Dublin pals even gave him a special nickname.

“They used to call me ‘Fifty’ because they reckoned I was an aul fella; while they were more like real teens,” he laughed.

At the time, GAA dynamo Eugene McGee – revered for dramatically ending Kerry’s pursuit of five-in-a-row during the 1982 All-Ireland Football Final when he was Offaly manager – was over the Cavan senior football side.

“When Eugene took over as manager of Cavan he also set up the Cavan Leader newspaper; he was the owner of the Longford Leader too.

“One summer in the late 80s, I wrote him a letter asking if I could visit the premises. He invited me down for the summer in ’89; I was 16.

Damien landed a junior reporter position covering matches and going to council meetings.

While he was there, a colleague, who also worked as a DJ, brought him to visit the Shannonside Northern Sound studios.

It was like going into Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory; the whole radio thing had a really big impact on me.

That radio buzz stayed with Damien, and after a year’s stint at the Hogan Stand magazine, a position opened up at Shannonside FM and he landed it. He was just 19.

“My plan would have been to go away; do a degree and get a proper education after studying media in Ballyfermot; but in 1992, if you got offered a job – you took it,” he said.

He covered sport; current affairs and farm news. He admits covering agricultural news wasn’t easy in the early days.

“It was hard to get into the farming news. The phraseology; simple things like ‘double punch bullocks’; there was a lot of EU jargon knocking around; the breeds of cattle; when a weanling is not a weanling. I had to learn all that from the beginning.

While I had grown up on the farm, I just had a basic knowledge. I knew how it operates; but, I didn’t have the seasonal knowledge you need in terms being street-wise on the politics side; the farm organisations; lobbying.

However, by the time RTE came knocking, Damien was very much at home with agriculture.

“We had a big agri department; RTE pioneered the whole farming news concept. It’s funny that RTE doesn’t have farm news anymore.

“I started off doing Farm Week; which metamorphosed into CountryWide in 2009. It was great to have my own show and that took up all my time.

Sporting ambitions

Damien O'Reilly Countrywide

Damien interviewing Olympic silver medallist Annalise Murphy after she had won silver in sailing in 2016

“I thought when I got in there that I would eventually be able to move into sport – the sports desk was right beside the farming section – but I loved the agri so I never veered into sport-full time,” he said.

However, Damien still managed to help with additional reporting at two Olympic Games in Beijing (2008) and Rio (2016).

Damien O'Reilly Countrywide

Damien with Gary and Paul O’Donovan just hours after they won their rowing silver medal in Rio 2016

The father of two – Deirbhile and Patrick – and author of new book also titled ‘Countrywide’, has relished in the growing interest in agri-affairs.

Today, CountryWide is listed in the ‘top 15 most listened to programmes’ in the country.

Although, he admits that at times it has been a battle to keep country affairs mainstream.

“During the boom farming stories disappeared off the front pages; it was the sunset industry.

“But in rural areas the tractors were still going; the cows were still being milked; but sadly there was a natural decline in our coverage too.

“I can’t disagree with the idea that RTE got rid of a dedicated five-minute farming news bulletin every day; over time it just disappeared. It was a changing time; our listeners were changing,” he said.

However, he soon noticed that the tide was starting to turn.

“Although 90% of our listeners are not farmers, people feel a huge connection to the land. During the recession it helped people escape the bad news; to switch on and hear about lambing time; or sitting on a combine harvester.

“There is a natural inquisitiveness now, more so than before, about where food comes from. How is it produced? Is it safe? Is it environmentally friendly? I think people have woken up to the idea of where their food is actually coming from.”

He says there is not as much antipathy towards farming as there was previously.

It’s not all about farmers getting subsidies; I think people understand it a bit more now. Farmers are price takers, not price makers.

The great CAP debate is one of his favourite topics to discuss in studio.

“Justifying CAP’s share of the budget is a debate I love having. Climate change and the environment can be a very thorny subject – some people give out that we do it too much – but I think it is an important subject,” he said.

“The foot-and-mouth crisis; the BSE; the IFA scandal; the horse meat scandal – from a journalistic point of view you love when it’s over your head and stuff is breaking,” he said.

Damien O'Reilly Countrywide

Damien moderating an EU conference with then EU Agricultural Commissioner Dacian Ciolos in Brussels in 2012

Although, Damien has interviewed a vast array of interesting people over the years, a conversation with two bachelor farmers from Kilkenny made a lasting impression on him.

“The Stauntons were two elderly farmers, brothers, that I met in the mart in Kilkenny. I found them so interesting that I went to their farm and interviewed them.

“They were so natural; so genuine; so funny. They just spoke about life and they had a great way of telling stories. Funny enough of all the things that I’ve done, that stands out as my favourite,” said Damien, who intends to visit their farm again this year.

When it comes to his work, Damien is a perfectionist.

“The day I do my perfect show, will be the day I do my last one. I’m never happy. It’s about getting the right mix, a bit of light and shade; and to reflect what’s going on in ‘ag’ but not bore people with hard news on a Saturday morning either.

He is also very mindful of gender balance and strives to bring more women involved in rural enterprise and farming on air.

“I like to think we have played a role in the increased coverage of rural issues in RTE because we do get a great reaction to it.

“I think rural Ireland has so much to offer outside of farming, the Wild Atlantic Ways, the greenways; it’s not just about farming and agriculture,” he said.

‘Listeners take ownership’

As for the future of CountryWide – which currently has a listenership of around 200,000 – Damien is eager to expand.

“I wish we had more time. It is a very busy hour between 8:00am and 9:00am; we always want to keep improving it and be as reflective as we can.

“I would also like to develop the programme into a platform for good debate. I’ve always said about the programme that we enlighten, entertain and educate – that’s what we try to do.

The Irish have a very unique relationship with radio; 85% of Irish adults listen to the radio everyday, and that is great considering the competition.

“Listeners take ownership – particularly of presenters – but that is the nature of the beast,” he jests.

Away from the studio, Damien is still very passionate about sports, spending his weekends going to his kids’ matches. His son, Patrick, is also showing a keen interest in radio, having already done some interviews for RTE Junior.

Having visited over 40 countries in the last 25 years for work – including 17 countries last year alone – Damien has no regrets about not pursuing a full-time career in sports journalism.

“Sports people are so managed now; if I was sent to a GAA press night I’d wonder what I’d done so wrong to get that kind of punishment.

Interviews now with managers and players is an insult to the poor divils that have to ask them the questions.

“You know if you are interviewing a farmer that you are getting real stuff,” he said.

Damien O’Reilly’s book ‘Countrywide’ based on his popular agricultural columns – is currently available at all major book shops and at www.ballpointpress.ie