Most hosts of the WFUV show Ceol na nGael can trace their first encounter with the long-running Irish music program back to childhood. For current hosts Matt Cuzzi, a Gabelli School senior, and his sister Tara Cuzzi, a 2014 Fordham grad, it was their mom who turned them onto the Sunday afternoon show.
“Our mom grew up listening to it,” said Tara. “Our grandparents, who immigrated from Ireland, had it on a tiny radio in the kitchen while our mom was growing up, and she passed that tradition down to us. I learned my first few steps of Irish step dancing to the show when I was a young girl with my grandmother. So it is a very special family tradition.”
Matt’s original co-host recently left the show after transferring this semester; the opening offered an opportunity to team up with his sister—a former host and current co-producer, as well as a VP of digital marketing at Wells Fargo.
“It’s been so much fun getting to host each week alongside my sister,” said Matt, who remembers first hearing Tara on the air when he was 9. Given his family’s history with Ceol na nGael, it was almost inevitable that he would follow in her footsteps when he came to Fordham. “I felt like it was something I had to do,” he said.
The program—one of two student-scripted and hosted shows on the station—dates back to 1974. Then-students Gerry Murphy ’76 and Mary Maguire ’77 experimented with an hour of Irish music during a fundraising drive. The response was so enthusiastic, they stayed on the air for three hours more—and came back the next Sunday for the same extended block of traditional Irish music and modern riffs. The format stuck, with very few modifications over the years.
Today the show runs from noon to 4 p.m. on Sundays, with help from multiple students and two producers behind the scenes. Sprinkled throughout the melancholic and foot-stomping mix of songs are announcements of local Irish concerts and events, song dedications, and Irish news and sports briefings from Dublin-based journalists. (For a taste of the selection, Maguire and the current hosts and producers shared their favorite Irish songs for this St. Patrick’s Day playlist.)
Maguire, who once worked as an editor of Inside Fordham and most recently led the global editorial team at Abt Global—grew up “enveloped in Irish culture.” Her father actually coined the show’s Irish name (pronounced Kyol nahGale), which translates to “music of the Irish.”
She still tunes in, and she still runs into fans. Recently a listener told her how prevalent the show was when he was growing up in the Bronx. On a nice Sunday, he told her, you could walk down the street and hear the show wafting through the open windows.
Now that the show can be streamed online, the hosts and producers hear from fans around the world. “This year, we got an email from someone in Antarctica who was listening,” said Maura Monahan Grunner, an alumna and former host who co-produces Ceol na nGael with Tara.
On-the-Job Training
For student hosts, the gig comes with tangible perks and exposure. Touring musicians often offer them free tickets to their concerts. And Grunner said that the program always gets a callout on the NBC broadcast of New York City’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade. “Every single year, the announcers talk about Ceol na nGael, which is fun,” she said.
For Matt, who will be joining global insurance and asset management firm Allianz after graduating, the job has given him confidence that he’ll take into his new role. “I’ve done many interviews with bands, and being able to listen to their stories and ask them questions back is a valuable skill for any job.”
As the pair train Ceol na nGael’s future student hosts, Matt has already imagined what life will be like when he’s not on the air.
“I definitely look forward to watching football games again on Sunday,” Matt said of stepping down. “But it’ll be bittersweet leaving the program.”
