Irish Pirate Radio Audio Archive - Open Free Radio Archive

1st May 202430th April 2024

Community station Radio Ringsend from 1986

Radio Ringsend was an annual temporary station broadcasting during the Ringsend and District Festival in southeast Dublin during the 1980s. It was one of several pop-up stations under the umbrella of the Community Broadcasting Co-operative (CBC) set up during local community festivals in Dublin and surrounding counties. Radio Ringsend began broadcasting in 1982 and broadcast for the last time in the summer of 1988 before the legalisation of independent radio.

The CBC stations gave a fascinating insight into the popularity of hyper-local radio complete with small corner stores and competition results from the festival. In 1986, Radio Ringsend was based in a fruit and vegetable shop in Irishtown and this recording contains plenty of adverts for similar small businesses and copious amounts of requests and dedications. There is also a phone-in quiz, listeners’ competitions and karate results from the festival. The presenter is CBC founder Dave Reddy and voices on the adverts include David Baker and Bryan Lambert, familiar names on the CBC stations and indeed other 1980s pirates.

The recording is from the Anoraks Ireland Collection and was made from 98.4 FM from 1248-1425 on Saturday 26^th July 1986. Radio Ringsend also broadcast that year on 1530 kHz / 196 metres.

29th April 202428th April 2024

August bank holiday 1985 on Radio Nova

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

This recording of pirate giant Radio Nova was made on the August bank holiday weekend 1985 and features two well-known voices on the station, DJ Colm Hayes and newsreader Bob Gallico (RIP). There is a listeners’ competition, celebrity birthday spot, sports news and mixture of chart music and oldies for the day that’s in it. The usual high-level agency adverts are heard, including ones for big brands Lucozade and Coca-Cola, reflecting Nova’s dominance in the radio market.

An interesting aspect of this recording is information about technical aspects of Nova’s broadcasts. A promo mentions the high-quality FM signal and powerful 50 kW AM transmitter, which is said to cover hundreds of square miles of coverage in Ireland, England and Wales. There is also mention of Nova’s offshoot station Magic 103 broadcasting on 1521 kHz AM, a frequency not normally announced.

The tape was made from 102.7 FM on Monday 5^th August 1985 from 0700-0745 and is from the Anoraks Ireland Collection.

12th April 20242nd April 2024

Northeast series: Telstar Community Radio in the evening

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Early Telstar Community Radio letterhead (courtesy Ian Biggar).

Telstar Community Radio was a long-running station broadcasting from in or around Dundalk between 1980 and 1988. Although Radio Carousel dominated the local market for most of that time, Telstar built up its own audience and advertisers in the north Louth area. This recording features a flavour of evening shows during the period that the station was based in the village of Blackrock south of Dundalk. First up is Eamon Doyle with a mix of tunes, including the Top 3 from the Telstar Top 40. He is followed by Owen Barry (Larkin) with the Night Flight show, including an hour of love songs. There are adverts for businesses in Dundalk and surrounding towns.

The recording was made from 88.5 FM on Monday 26^th July 1982 from 1943-2118. Telstar Community Radio also broadcast on 1197 kHz AM, announcing 250 metres. Audio quality is generally good although there is some cassette degradation. The tape is from the Anoraks Ireland Collection.

10th April 202430th April 2024

Sonic Independent Radio relayed on shortwave

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Sonic Independent Radio was one of many short-lived south Dublin stations during the early 1980s. Based in Shankill on the southside, it was first logged in the winter of 1980/1981 on 1314 kHz (announcing 228 metres) and was noted on that frequency several times during 1981. Sonic was run by Joe Jackson, who provided many AM transmitters for pirate radio around that time. According to an entry on DX Archive, the same transmitter was used for later short-term stations such as East Coast Radio, ABC (Dún Laoghaire) and South City Radio. Sonic features in a log of stations received in Lancashire in summer 1981 and was said to have a very good signal at the time. However reception of the station outside Ireland was soon to be hampered by the expansion of Norwegian station NRK of its broadcasts on 1314 kHz.

This recording of Sonic Independent Radio is of the weekly FRC (Free Radio Campaign) Ireland show, presented by Rick Davenport and Steve Johnston. The FRC show covers radio news, both licensed and pirate, and includes listeners’ letters and reception reports. The presenters announce that Sonic is to be relaunched the following day, with a new format and name. This edition of the FRC Ireland show was a relay by Capital Radio International on 6268 kHz. It was made on 8^th November 1981 from 1200-1245 and begins with the voice of Capital Radio operator, Aidan Hughes. Capital Radio began broadcasting in 1981 and continued as a regular Sunday morning shortwave pirate throughout the 1980s. It returned in the early 1990s but ceased to broadcast after Aidan Hughes died prematurely.

Audio quality on this recording ranges from fair to poor, reflecting the fact that it is of a shortwave relay of an original medium wave broadcast. There is also some wobble due to degradation of the cassette, which is from the Anoraks Ireland Collection.

8th April 202424th March 2024

Afternoon shows on Kildare Local Broadcasting

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Kildare Local Broadcasting, known on air as KLB Community Radio, broadcast from Newbridge for approximately two years from 1986-1988. It was launched in October 1986 and claimed that it would be a community service for the town of Newbridge and surrounding areas. An Anoraks Ireland listing from November 1986 noted its broadcasting hours as 1000-2400. KLB was based in Eyre Street in Newbridge and broadcast on 1224 kHz AM and 102.4 FM. A listing from April 1988 noted that it had moved to 103.5 FM and had extended broadcasting hours to 0900-2400. In the Anoraks UK Weekly Report of 24^th July 1988, it was noted that the AM transmitter had been off air for approximately two months. It was also reported that the station had changed its name slightly to Kildare Community Broadcasting and was the only pirate operating in the county following the closure of Kildare Community Radio in April 1988.

The Weekly Report of 8^th October 1988 carried a report that a new pirate called County Sound came on air on 12^th September from Naas, Co. Kildare. It was set up with the aim of applying for a licence and consisted of DJs from former Kildare pirates KLB (Newbridge), KCR (Naas) and Zee 104 (Naas). County Sound was said to have fully equipped on-air and production studios. It broadcast for only four months, closing down at midnight on 30^th December 1988 before the deadline for the pirates to leave the airwaves.

In this recording of KLB from the run-up to Christmas 1986, Tony Lumsden is first up with a mixture of oldies and ballads. He is followed by Paddy Jones with chart hits. The tape was made from 102.4 FM from 1430-1607 on Saturday 6^th December 1986 and is from the Anoraks Ireland Collection, donated to us by Paul Davidson.