The Evening Echo Newspaper Boys of Cork City, Ireland 1977

Máire Ni Mhurchú meets the Echo Boys, who sell ‘The Evening Echo’ in Cork City every day with a distinctive sales pitch.

There have been Echo Boys ever since the newspaper was first published on 14 July 1892 and sold for a halfpenny a copy. Máire Ní Mhurchú meets some of them. They tell her about their tradition and the best spots to sell the paper around the city.

The report includes a clip of Cathal Dunne playing the keyboard as the boys sing along to ‘The Boys of Fairhill’  in the ‘Echo Boys Club’ on Fr Matthew Quay.

Also featured is editor Declan Hassett, who explains how ‘The Evening Echo’ is put together.  Circulation manager Richard (Dick) Caverly describes the Echo Boys as vital to distribution: they are responsible for selling about 12,000 copies of the newspaper each day. Newspaper dealer Donal O’Mahony discusses the selection process for hiring Echo Boys, their age and reliability.

John Kelleher, an adult paper seller, talks about his work and about setting up the News Vendors Association to protect newspaper sellers and the Echo Boys. There is an interview with one of the only female newspaper vendors, Katherine Heaphey, who started selling papers at the age of four.

This report by Máire Ní Mhurchú was broadcast on 19 January 1977 as part of the ‘Next Stop’ series. The filming took place from 13 -17 December 1976.

‘Next Stop’ was a weekly series from and about the provinces, highlighting items of general interest or concern. It was presented by John O’Donoghue, Áine O’Connor and Nicholas Coffey.