107:. The Fry-Cadbury Ireland Sales and Marketing Director Raymond Sellers (later Chairman & MD) was aware of the success and quality of the serial drama The Archers on the BBC Home Service in his native UK from its launch in 1951 and had commissioned the Arks advertising agency to devise, develop and produce a similar popular rural radio serial, set in Ireland and tailored for an Irish audience, which could fit in two weekly 15 minute sponsored programme slots on Raidió Éireann. The first
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When Fry-Cadbury withdrew its sponsorship and funding in the early 1960s, transferring their advertising budget to producing & placing commercials on the new television service
Telefis Éireann, Raidió Éireann bowed to popular demand and sought to acquire the rights to the serial, which
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had reached the end of its natural life and would be cancelled. As a measure of how much the long-running soap opera's popularity had declined since its heyday, Radio Éireann received only one letter of protest following the announcement.
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Fry-Cadbury agreed to sell for one pound, thus enabling Raidió Éireann to retain the serial as part of its regular programming. However, after an almost 18-year unbroken run, the station announced in
January 1973 that
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Each fifteen-minute episode was transmitted at lunchtime on
Tuesdays and Thursdays. The programme's signature tune was the second movement of
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For the final episode, Raidió Éireann broke with convention and broadcast a special one-hour edition on
Saturday 24 February 1973.
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were Mark
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The serial was devised by Arks advertising agency on behalf of its client,
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During its long run, various other scriptwriters worked on
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In the early 1960s, the series was also broadcast on
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