Irish Pirate Radio Audio Archive

27th October 202627th October 2026

Saturday evening on Galway’s Quincentennial Radio

Quincentennial Radio was a short-lived Galway station that came on air in early 1989 in defiance of the New Year’s Eve deadline for the pirates to leave the airwaves. It broadcast from 2^nd January until sometime in April, when it closed following a warning from the authorities. This recording is of a Saturday evening programme presented by Shane Martin and Brian Walsh, two DJs previously heard on former Galway pirate Coast 103. Station idents are voiced by the late Tony Allan.

The tape was made from 98.4 FM between 1751-1936 on Saturday 28^th January 1989 and is from the Anoraks Ireland Collection. Audio quality is generally good but there is slight wobble in places due to the age of the cassette.

26th October 202624th October 2026

Hallowe’en on The Sound Channel

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Sound Channel logo from the Anoraks Ireland Collection.

The Sound Channel was a professional Limerick pirate station broadcasting from 1986-1988. This recording was made on its final Hallowe’en in 1988, two months before the station closed down in line with new broadcasting legislation. On air is Stuart Clark, formerly of ABC in Waterford, with the Afternoon Plus show. Syndicated bulletins from the UK service Independent Radio News (IRN) are broadcast every hour.

The recording was made from 98.7 FM between 1345-1515 on Bank Holiday Monday 31^st October 1988 and is from the Anoraks Ireland Collection.

21st October 202621st October 2026

Radio West Anoraks’ Show (15th June 1986)

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This edition of the Radio West Anoraks’ Show was recorded in June 1986, a few months after the show first occupied its weekly slot on the midlands pirate. On air in this show are Phil Hilton and station boss Shaun Coyne, who reports on the pirate scene in London following a recent visit. There is a phone call from ABC Radio in Waterford and other stations featured include new Galway station Emerald FM, new Louth pirate East Coast Radio and the large Cork station ERI, which is temporarily off the air. Commercial breaks include a promo for Anoraks UK voiced by the legendary Bob Gallico (RIP) and the programme is relayed by shortwave pirate Radio Rainbow International.

The recording was made from 765 kHz AM between 1111-1159 on Sunday 15^th June 1986 and is from the Anoraks Ireland Collection.

19th October 202618th October 2026

Northeast series: Mid-morning show on Boyneside Radio

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By 1984, the Drogheda station Boyneside Radio was 6 years on air and had grown into a large regional station with offshoot services across the northeast. This recording features the end of Daire Nelson’s breakfast show followed by the mid-morning programme presented by Don (Donagh) McKeown. Donagh would go on to present the first show on border station Zee 103 in 1986 and later worked for Downtown Radio in Belfast. News is read by Shane Harrison, who later had a career with the BBC in Belfast and Dublin.

The airchecked recording was made by Kieran Murray from 98.1 FM between 0930-1103 on Monday 13^th August 1984 and is from the Anoraks Ireland Collection.

16th October 202615th October 2026

Sunday morning oldies on Quincentennial Radio

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Quincentennial Radio was a short-lived Galway pirate that came on air just after the deadline for the unlicensed stations to leave the airwaves at the end of 1988. Named after the city’s 500^th anniversary celebrations in 1984, Quincentennial began broadcasting continuous music on 2^nd January 1989. It was run by ex-Coast 103 people such as Shane Martin, Steve Marshall and Tony Allan (RIP) and promoted itself as the city’s only local station filling the vacuum left by the closure of the pirates. Quincentennial was warned by the authorities in April 1989 and closed down around that time.

This recording features a Sunday morning oldies show presented by Carl Turner (John Steele, RIP), who had broadcast previously on Coast 103 and on his own hobby pirate station, Swinging Radio Impulse. It also includes station liners voiced by Tony Allan, including one stating that Quincentennial Radio was ‘owned and operated by local radio people who prefer not to be unemployed’.

The tape is from the Anoraks Ireland Collection and was made from 98.4 FM on the morning of Sunday, 5^th January 1989. No times are given in the recording.