1961 was the year that Telefís Éireann was launched – 31 December live from the Gresham Hotel. John Doyle, a veteran of Near FM was in O’Connell Street that night and remembers walking home and hearing the Number One Army Band. Ann Brophy, the eldest of eleven children, remembers getting a very special bear for Christmas that year. ‘Sukiyaki’ was a global hit and made history by being the first song beamed by radio into space by NASA.