BY AMY ROSE HARTE

"People call us up asking what time it is, or when their water is going to be put back on. Then you have a few people who call us almost everyday of the week for one reason or another – just die-hard fans of the show", says Ciara Mackey, while cradling a phone in her neck.

The red lights on the big digital handset are flashing quickly, meaning that four other callers are waiting to get through, but despite there being three people working behind the scenes on the Shaun Doherty Show today, there still isn't enough hands to deal with the volume of incoming calls.

Caroline Orr, another producer, is busy printing out text messages and emails, while programme assistant Ann Marie McDonagh is talking a caller round to speaking live on air.

"It's a very good point that you're making," she assures them, "Other people mightn't have heard that side of the story, so why don't you go on and talk to Shaun about it. We'll give you a different name, let's call you Sinead will we?"

The busy scene in Highland Radio typifies an average morning at The Shaun Doherty Show, the station's flagship programme. Behind the scenes, a quartet of women are busy running the show – answering phones, setting up interviews, and scouring the daily papers for interesting snippets and stories. A big part of the job is re-scheduling items in case something else takes over, "We have a schedule for the show and everything is planned a day in advance," says Caroline, "Then sometimes an item gets a good reaction from the public, so we run with it. It might only be a text message that sparks it, but it invariably means that other things get left aside", says Caroline, who, along with Ciara, begins her day at 8 am.

The live talk show relies heavily on local issues, something which Caroline says is the reason the for the show's success.

"People say to us all the time that we have no competition to deal with, but we do. There's the four national stations and our Northern listeners have six BBC channels they can tune into if they want to, but I think people still prefer local news and local angles," she said.

An unmissable factor in the winning formula is the show's presenter, Shaun Doherty, who also self-engineers the programme. Over the last decade, Shaun has proved himself to be a shrewd broadcaster, combining intelligence with empathy, a rare characteristic in the Irish media. His clipped-cum-chirpy English accent can seamlessly shift from thought-provoking current affairs issues to softer, human interest items. Shaun's unfaltering presence on the airwaves over the last 17 years means that few would argue the show has become a long-time lynchpin of Letterkenny and it's surrounding areas. The show also has huge listenership on the other side of the border.

"Listeners feel comfortable with him, he relates to them," says Caroline, "He has no airs and graces, and we're amazed when people ring us wanting to share their life stories with him. They just seem to trust him and he has this knack of getting things out of you, to the point that people often say to us, oh God what have I done I said too much!"

It is this sense of close-knitedness that keeps the programme at the top of the media melee, with JNLR (Joint National Listenership Research) figures consistently voting it the most listened to local radio show in Ireland. Seven out of ten people who can tune in every day, do. "Every year we think this is the year we'll go down in listenership and we'll get the blame. But we've been blessed with a great public who really keep us going. They have a great love of Shaun and that's probably half our battle won", says Caroline.

Shaun, however, is unfazed by the attention, and by the fact that every day, 40,000 quarter-hourly listeners chose him over Pat Kenny.

"You can't think of it in terms of that, you have to be grounded because every single show is important. I guess I'm just interested in people and hearing about their lives. Everyone is interesting because they each have a story to tell," he said.

Since it's conception on the September 1990, The Shaun Doherty Show has clocked up 4,509 programmes on air and was originally presented from nine to eleven by Danny Kelly. Several producers such as Lisa Burkitt, Maureen Gibbons and Mary Garvan worked hard to establish the show over the years. Shaun had been presenting the drivetime show for two years before getting the gig.

"I remember my very first time on air in 1990, and because it was Highland Radio's first day of transmission, it was a bit chaotic, with loads of people huddled around the building," he recalled.

Nowadays, Shaun arrives at the station at 9.30 am, opens his mail and grabs a quick cuppa before saddling himself into the studio chair. "I love the on air listeners and the way when you come in not knowing which way it's going to go".

Many avid listeners will recall the time a frustrated Alison Bell rang into the show, with nowhere else to turn. Bell's tale of hardship ignited so many hearts that an unprecedented gesture of public kindness followed, and by lunchtime the show had raised ¤40,000 for her.

"I will never forget that day," says Caroline, "Or the time that Peter Mandelson, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, popped in for a chat with Shaun, when he was holidaying in Donegal".

Meanwhile, the show is gearing up for one of the most fascinating general elections in years and Caroline looks forward to poking the public consciousness about local issues, "In the same way that many people think the national channels are too Dublin-based, some people think we're too Letterkenny-based. But Letterkenny is the focus of Donegal, people work here and socialise here so of course we cover a lot in the area. But I hope that we would give a fair shout to surrounding areas as well," she says. It's obvious that the public aren't the only ones who adore Shaun, "He has the greatest ability I have ever seen," says Caroline, "I could just hand him a book, and he might never have laid eyes on it before, but straightaway he just knows it. He doesn't need pages and pages of stuff to explain something to him, he just knows it". Similarly, Shaun is well aware he has a loyal team of women behind him, "I love the people I work with, and couldn't be without them", he says.

It is arguable that The Shaun Doherty show has done for the North West what The Late Late Show did for Ireland. It holds the proverbial mirror up to the community, unafraid to confront topics that are conventionally saved for the confession box. The introduction of text messaging as a means to contact the show has also helped the growth of the show, by giving more access to people who would normally have been reticent to call in. There is little doubt that a healthy dose of girl power exists behind-the-scenes at the Shaun Doherty Show.

"The programme is very much a five part thing," says Caroline, "There's me, Shaun, Ciara, Ann Marie and Marion and we each have a role to play. We do have a great relationship with Shaun, and he is very good to us in fairness. If we do get narky with one another about something you just have to remember it's about the issue, it's never about you".

Letterkenny may have changed phenomenally over the last ten years, but the presence of the Shaun Doherty Show on the local airwaves has been a comforting constant in the midst of the remarkable boom. However, the cast and crew of this ensemble, absent from ego or arrogance, are adamant that audience interaction is the key.

"People were ringing us up last week asking when their electricity would be back on, so it's like we're their access point. I think they see us as a family friend and that's fantastic. It's great fun because the public really are in the driving seat of the show," Shaun said.