The radio programme became imbedded in the national consciousness
Waltons became best known for its songsters, threepenny or sixpenny English-language booklets with titles such as 'Sing an Irish Song' and 'Fireside Songs', which were printed in their thousands and found in every corner of Ireland.
As the North Frederick Street shop became more established it became a meca for visiting emigrants who would buy all the new music publications and carry them to areas of Irish settlement throughout the world, especially Britain and the United States.
From the late 1940s the little songsters were amalgamated into larger anthologies such as 'Waltons 132 Best Irish Songs and Ballads', which contained a range of songs that catered to the needs of singers in the home and concert platform.
In 1952 in order to publicise the song publications and especially the sheet music, Martin Walton branched out into the world of broadcasting and record manufacture.
He was allocated a sponsored programme by Radio Eireann and immediately began recording singers on his new Glenside label to fill the 15-minute Saturday afternoon time slot.
The radio programme, the records and the voice of their presenter Leo Maguire, soon became a fixed part of the week in pre-television Ireland and became imbedded in the national consciousnes.
Ironically, the hayday of sheet music was already passing and during the course of the 1950s the publication of Glenside records themselves would replace the sheet music they were intended to advertise in commercial importance.
The Walton radio programme came to an end in January 1981, along with all the other sponsored programmes on Radio Eireann, now renamed as RTE.
The recordings first appeared in 1952 on 78 rpm 10 inch discs, which ran into about 150 releases.
In the late 1950's the songs were issued on 45 rpm 7 inch discs of which over 200 were released. From the 1960s some 20 releases were issued on 12 inch discs, at 33.3 rpms. Finally in the 1970s there was a selected reissuing of titles on cassette tapes.
