Interviews Archives - Irish Pirate Radio Audio Archive

23rd March 202423rd March 2024

Mark O’Toole RIP

it is with sadness that on 22/03/2024 we learned of the death of Mark O’Toole – Mark was the founder of Charity Radio and his lifetime was filled with radio experience from Wonderland Radio to Chairperson of Tallaght Community Radio to popular All 80s radio – Mark was active on MW, SW and FM over the decades. His friends at Charity Radio are shocked by the news which filtered in on Friday evening.

Mark was very generous with his time and was a great fixer in the radio business. He was active outside of broadcasting with Community Centres, Food Banks and the work he did with the Irish Heart Foundation. Our condolences to his Family, Friends and the wider radio community who knew Mark. 73’s and respect to his vision and actions which are all around us.

In 2015 I sat down with Mark for a college project where he got to explain the reasons he set up Radioactive now Charity Radio.

Having previously been founder & chairperson of Tallaght Community Radio back in the 1990s Mark knew about the power of radio in audience reach and advocacy. For Mark this was a light bulb moment. Radio could help the Irish Heart Foundation. Advertising is very effective but it’s also very expensive, what if there were a platform where charities could advertise for free? From humble beginnings on a laptop in a bedroom Charity Radio was born in Walkinstown.

full written article is here Charity begins at home in Walkinstown

and a 15 minute interview with Mark is here

briangreene · CHARITY RADIO – Interview with Mark O’Toole

8th March 20243rd March 2024

Anoraks Ireland featured on Radio Caroline Cork

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Many of our recordings are from the Anoraks Ireland Tapes Collection, donated to us by Paul Davidson (Tony Donlon, RIP). Tony travelled Ireland throughout the 1980s visiting pirate stations big and small, making recordings and taking photographs. In this recording, he is interviewed on Radio Caroline Cork during a visit just before Christmas 1984.

In the interview, Tony tells station boss Dave Hammond that the aim of Anoraks Ireland is to promote free and independent radio in Ireland. He opposes plans to allow RTÉ control local radio and speculates that if passed, the radio bill will establish just two stations in Dublin and one each in the other cities including Cork. The proposed broadcasting legislation of the time ultimately failed due to ideological differences between the coalition partners and it was not until 1988 that laws were adopted to licence independent radio.

This recording was made from around 1245 on Thursday 13^th December 1984 and is from the Anoraks Ireland Collection. No frequency is given.

4th March 20243rd March 2024

Interview with pirate radio pioneer Tony Boylan

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Tony Boylan (RIP) was one of the pioneers of free radio in Ireland, operating one of the country’s first pirate stations in 1945. Set up in his bedroom in Rathmines in Dublin, the Killeen Home Service broadcast on Sunday mornings on 196 metres with a 4-mile radius. The weekly broadcasts continued until 1951 when the family moved to Ballymun, where the station was renamed as Radio 200. There was another move to Santry in 1955, where the station was renamed as Radio Galaxy and a stronger power output and better aerial gave coverage of most of the city. Radio Galaxy continued until 1965 but following pressure from the Department of Posts and Telegraphs, the station changed to Saturdays, moved frequency and was renamed Radio Laxey. Radio Galaxy resumed from the late 1960s until 1986, when Tony retired to the Isle of Man. A feature across Tony’s long broadcasting career was his love of 78s vinyl, making his programmes a unique offering in the pirate era. He died in 2010 in the Isle of Man.

This recording features an interview with Tony on Alternative Radio Dublin (ARD) in 1980, where he was presenting a 78s show at the time. The first part of the interview covers his early involvement in pirate radio up to Radio Galaxy and ARD. The second part deals with his extensive 78s collection – then about 6,500 vinyl records – and his love of the popular music of the first part of the 20^th Century. The interviewer is Eric Peters and the recording was made at the Crofton Hotel on 15^th March 1980. No times or frequency are given but it appears the tape was made from medium wave due to the heterodyne whistle. Audio quality is fair at best and there are a number of edits in the recording, which is from the Anoraks Ireland Collection.

26th February 202425th February 2024

Tony Allan interviewed at Sunshine Radio

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Tony Allan (RIP) was one of the most iconic voices of Irish pirate radio in the 1970s and 1980s. He presented on many larger stations and was heard doing voiceovers on countless other pirates throughout the country. In this recording, he is interviewed by Kieran Murray of the Free Radio Campaign Ireland outside the Sands Hotel in Portmarnock in north Co. Dublin, where Sunshine Radio was located. The station had started broadcasting less than two months previously on 29^th September 1980, its launch delayed by the sabotaging of its aerial, allegedly by a rival Dublin pirate. Tony refuses to speculate about the incident and instead emphasises the professionalism of Sunshine in contrast to existing Dublin stations. He also talks about his background in the offshore station Radio Caroline.

The interview was conducted on 16^th November 1980 and is from the Anoraks Ireland Tapes Collection, donated to us by Paul Davidson.

27th February 20232nd March 2023

Pirate.ie interviewed for podcast about pirate border signals

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In 2022, Pirate.ie collaborated with an exhibition at the Centre for Contemporary Art in Derry about how analogue radio and television signals spilled across the Irish border in the past. The exhibition, Ballads of Rhinestones and Newcomers, covered differing experiences of the border at a time when the implications of Brexit are being felt. As part of the exhibition, the film 2 Channel Land illustrated how pirate radio and television deflector signals could be heard on both sides of the border in times past. Created by artists Frank Sweeney and Tom O’Dea, the exhibition was presented as a radio sculpture and visitors could move through the gallery with handheld radios and learn about the technology and culture of signal overspill.

As part of the project, Frank and Tom interviewed John Walsh of Pirate.ie for a podcast about the background to our archive, with particular attention to recordings of border stations. The podcast was first published in February 2023.