Adverts Archives - Irish Pirate Radio Audio Archive

26th September 202226th September 2022

Big D jingles and adverts

This is a selection of jingles and adverts from popular Dublin station Big D in 1980. The jingles are mostly generic but include some with the Big D name and others for the James Dillon show. Tony Allan voices an advert for Air Florida and there’s mention of a Big D trip to Florida itself. Simon Young is heard on a promo for Sloopy’s nightclub and other late night venues and an advert for the Red Corner shop refers to the inflation of the 1980s. A Big D promo is voiced by Bryan Lambert and there’s a advert for Tamango’s nightclub in Portmarnock, which would later be associated with Sunshine Radio based in the same hotel. Strangely, the adverts include one for the Nightmoves programme on RTÉ.

Big D began broadcasting on April 10^th 1978 following a split from Radio Dublin. It was founded by former Radio Dublin DJ James Dillon and backed by businessman Noel Kirwan. Big D closed in December 1981 in the context of increased competition and professionalism in the Dublin radio market. There is some audio distortion and bleedthrough from another source, due either to an issue when recorded or to the deterioration of the cassette. Below is a a better quality but short recording of additional Big D jingles, made by Kieran Murray.

Additional Big D jingles

These recordings are from the Anoraks Ireland Tapes Collection, donated to us by Paul Davidson.

21st June 202122nd June 2021

Promos and jingles from WLR

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WLR logo (courtesy of DX Archive).

Waterford Local Radio (WLR) began broadcasting in 1978 and continued until the pirate shutdowns of 1988. It was one of the few countywide pirates to be licensed in 1989 and continues to hold the Co. Waterford franchise, still using the WLR name. Here is a selection of promos, adverts and jingles from 1982 and 1983. There is also a snippet of news read by Elinor O’Brien and a clip of Tony Weldon introducing Teatime Special. The jingles are from an Alfasound package and the voice of Bill Mitchell is hear on sweepers.

WLR broadcast on 1197 kHz AM (announcing 252 metres) and 88.8 FM. It was a professional station with a more community-focused approach than its main rival, ABC. We thank former WLR DJ Colin Kennedy for this donation.

13th October 20207th August 2021

Northeast series: Balbriggan Festival Breakaway Radio (1982)

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Balbriggan Festival Breakaway Away was a temporary annual station set up by Boyneside Radio in the north Dublin town of Balbriggan. Broadcasting for a week in early June from 1981 to 1985 to coincide with the local festival, it was based in the Balbriggan Shopping Centre and came on air daily from 12 noon. In this promo from 1982, 225 metres is announced, the same as Boyneside in Drogheda but the pop-up station actually used 1323 kHz, two channels away from 1305. Output was about 500 watts from two 813 valves, given it a decent coverage area. Balbriggan Festival Breakaway Radio broadcast for a week in early June every year. The station was logged by Anoraks UK in June 1985 on 1494 kHz.

We thank Eddie Caffrey for sharing this recording of a little-known satellite station of Boyneside.

10th October 20207th August 2021

Northeast series: Boyneside Radio (1982)

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By 1983, the split in pirate radio in Drogheda was resolved, the short-lived television experiment was over and Boyneside was united again. This allowed it to focus on the core business of doing local radio at which it was best. Here are two short recordings giving a flavour of the station around that time.

The first recording is of an ad break during the popular traditional Irish ‘Green Scene’ show with Eddie Caffrey recorded on 30^th October 1983. The ‘Green Scene’ is still presented by Eddie on LMFM and is the longest-running programme on Irish commercial radio. The second recording is from 30^th November 1983 and counts down the weekly Boyneside Top 40.

Thanks to Eddie Caffrey for sharing these recordings.

27th June 20206th August 2021

Aircheck: Radio Renmore

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Radio Renmore was one of a number of short-lived low-powered Galway pirates in the early 1980s. It broadcast from August 1983 until early 1985 from a converted garage in the eastern suburb of Renmore with a power of 5 watts on 101 FM. Set up by three teenagers, Gary Hardiman, Tom Breen and Brendan Mee, Radio Renmore broadcast from Brendan’s garage during the school holidays. It was known as Radio Snowflake when it returned at Christmas 1983. The station moved to the house of Brian Walsh in the summer of 1984 and changed its name to Renmore Local Radio. The better site next to Lough Atalia boosted its signal into the city. These undated recordings are from 1983 and 1984 and include station promos, news and adverts for local businesses.

We thanks Brendan Mee for background information and for the recording and Gary Hardiman for photos. Tomorrow we bring you an interview with Tom Breen about his memories of this and other small Galway hobby stations.