Martin Beirne was one of the last North American “radio pipers,” that is, uilleann pipers who appeared regularly on the radio in the 1930s, an era when radio was king. Beirne was born in County Roscommon, Ireland and his family emigrated to New Jersey when he was an infant. As a young man he was an expert and prize winning dancer. Beirne was a protege of Brooklyn piper Michael Carney, and appeared with the County Roscommon Boys, an “Irish Orchestra” by 1931 and by 1933 he was leader of his Irish Blackbirds Orchestra. In the 1930s he had a long relationship with the Innisfail Ballrooms, 220 East 56th Street, Manhattan and the band played there regularly for seven years. The tunes were Irish traditional for the most part, the arrangements were “modern,” peppy, and Beirne doubled on pipes and saxophone. A career highlight was a coast-to-coast national broadcast on the NBC radio network, St. Patrick’s Day 1936. Later promotional material claimed he participated in “over 220 American broadcasts….”. His career as full time musician was apparently over by 1942. Beirne maintained his interest in Irish music and history for the rest of his life. He died in Arizona in 1976.