Pete Andrews with Lilian McCarthy (O’Donoghue) in 1980 (courtesy of Lilian).
A new Cork pirate, Radio City, was launched on 31st August 1980. This recording is of the first full day of the station and begins with station co-founder Pete Andrews (O’Neill) with his Spinning Disc lunchtime show. The show includes a repeat of part of the launch the previous day. News headlines are delayed by technical problems but it is clear that Radio City had big plans, including daily sponsored programmes. Pete is followed by Karl Johnson (Dan Noonan) with Afternoon Delight, including various features such as a quiz and entertainment diary. Next up is Noel Evans (Welch) with Home Run, including traffic news and racing reports. Co-author of the history of the Cork Pirates, The Jolly Roger, Noel had a day job with the Evening Echo newspaper but worked in the pirates on the side, first CBC and then Radio City. He also played music in several nightclubs like many pirate DJs. The final DJ is Paul Cassidy with part of an evening show.
Noel Evans (Welch) at Radio City in September 1980 (courtesy Lilian O’Donoghue).
This airchecked recording of Radio City was made from around 1200 on 1st September 1980 from 1512 kHz AM, announcing 199 metres. Only one advert is heard but the commercial breaks may have been edited out. Audio quality is fair to poor as the recording was made by placing a tape recorder beside a radio, rather than using a cassette recorder. Thanks to Lilian O’Donoghue for the donation.
Radio City was an early pioneering Cork station founded in the summer of 1980 by two young radio anoraks in the city, Pete O’Neill (Pete Andrews on air) and Dan Noonan (Carl Johnston on air). The station broadcast on 1512 kHz AM and soon added FM, an innovation at the time. It lasted until 1982, by which time the larger and more professional stations ERI and South Coast Radio were making inroads in Cork city and county.
Pete O’Neill at Radio City in 1980 (courtesy Lillian O’Donoghue).
Pete O’Neill recalls the background to the establishment of Radio City:
I had just collected my Leaving Certificate Examination results and Dan was waiting outside in his Hiace van ready to look for a suitable premises. I had worked with Dan at CBC and did many regular discos for him. The premises were located at 27 Parnell Place and consisted of three floors above a sweet shop, which we called Broadcasting House. The station originally broadcast on 199 metres medium wave with the horizontal aerial running over several nearby buildings. The transmitter was supplied and installed by Con McParland who had previously done work for another early Cork pirate CBC.
Radio City was the first pirate in cork to broadcast on FM stereo on 95.5 MHz. The transmitter was built by Waterford engineer Egidio Giani and was in a biscuit tin! The Radio City logo, featuring two cathedrals, City Hall and the Shandon bells, was designed by the late Henry Condon (Alan Reid, later known as Henry Owens on air). Henry was also resident voice-over artist for commercials and I used to have to bribe him with a few pints each time before he would agree to voice them!
The station had many DJs, some from the previous stations CBC, CCLR and others. Apart from ourselves, these included Noel Evans, Tony Allan (a Cork guy, not the other Tony Allan of Radio Nova etc), Susan James, Pat O’Rourke (Smurf), Alan Reid, Paul Cassidy, Derry O’Callaghan, Mark Malone and a host of weekend presenters including John Ashford, Luke Ward and Steve Douglas. The station broadcast news every hour and had a strong local flavour, popular with a Cork audience.
I also remember donating my entire record collection to create a music library for the station and running through the city on a Friday with sales rep Peter Maher to collect advertising checks. These needed to be lodged by 3pm in order to pay the DJs their weekly wage! I also purchased a giant helium balloon and attached an earth wire, filled it and let it go out the rooftop Velux window with Chris Tyler, our then engineer! I thought it would increase our medium wave signal and it did but the following morning I arrived to find the balloon hanging off the roof tiles and earth wire all over Parnell Place. We also brought out a calendar with a group photograph of the DJs and each month displayed a local advertiser’s name – I’m not sure if a copy still exists! The Arcadia on the Lower Road used to run monthly Ska Nights at the time and Luke Ward interviewed many of the visiting bands. I remember meeting members of The Beat and Selector at the studios. The station was briefly taken over one Sunday afternoon by Ógra Shinn Féin members and a recording was played on air before they left peacefully!
L-R: Eric Hansen (John Creedon) and Alan Reid (Henry Condon) at Radio City (courtesy Lillian O’Donoghue).
RTÉ broadcaster John Creedon was among the Radio City DJs, where he was known as Eric Hansen. In the history of Cork pirates, The Jolly Roger, another local DJ Ken Tobin said his first engagement with pirate radio was when he wrote to Eric Hansen in Radio City at the age of 15, saying that he was interested and would love to get involved. ‘I was invited in to the radio station and one of the first records I ever introduced on air – I was only at the station for about an hour – was The Nick Straker Band’s “A Walk in the Park”. It must have been around 1980. I knew then that it was all I wanted to do. Nothing else – I wanted to be part of radio. That guy Eric Hansen, funny enough, people might know him today as John Creedon’.
This is a recording of the launch of Radio City in 1980. It begins with continuous music for 17 minutes interspersed with short links announcing the 199 metres wavelength (1512 kHz). Singer Tony Stevens opens the station (and a bottle of celebratory champagne) and comments that it is up to RTÉ standards both in terms of premises and presenters. He is then interviewed by Pete Andrews, who says that Radio City aims to promote a lot of Irish music and more specialist tastes, rather than just contemporary chart hits. Recorded messages of support from other Irish singers are also aired and Pete is joined in studio later by other DJs including Karl Johnson (Dan Noonan), who was also Radio City’s managing director, and breakfast presenter Mike Cagney. Listeners are invited to write to the station at 27 Parnell Place in Cork.
The untimed recording was made on Sunday 31st August 1980 from 1512 kHz. Despite the passage of time and possible issues with transmission and recording equipment, audio quality is listenable. Thanks to Lilian O’Donoghue for the donation and to Ian Biggar for assistance with research.
Don Allen at ERI in 1983 (courtesy Svenn Martinsen).
The Canadian radio presenter Don Allen (RIP) was a familiar voice on Irish pirate radio in the 1980s and 1990s, where he shared his love of country music with appreciative audiences in various parts of the country stretching from Monaghan to Cork. After leaving Canada, Don worked on the offshore station Radio Caroline from 1965-1968 and later with Manx Radio and the BBC, before coming to Ireland and its growing pirate scene. He continued to broadcast on licensed station Midlands Radio 3 until his untimely death in 1995.
This recording of Don’s trademark country show on Cork station ERI in 1983 underlines his natural genius as a presenter. It was made during an outside broadcast from Kinsale before an event later that evening featuring ERI DJs. Reflecting the station’s growing popularity after its expansion earlier that year, several adverts are heard from businesses in the city and all around the county. The airchecked tape was made by Kieran Murray on Sunday 17th July 1983 from 105.8 FM between 1713-1800 and is from the Anoraks Ireland Collection. ERI also broadcast on 1305 kHz AM, announcing 225 metres.
Handwritten NCLR banner from 1983 (courtesy DX Archive).
North Cork Local Radio (NCLR) went on air in mid-May 1981 from the north Cork town of Mallow at weekends only. The station directors were Pat O’Brien, Maurice Brosnan and Noel O’Connor, two of whom had presented previously on the RTÉ temporary station Mallow Community Radio, which broadcast in 1980. Initially NCLR had a modest coverage of a 5-mile radius of Mallow but eventually expanded to all of north Cork. The station played pop music but also had a community ethos in programmes and formed a co-operative to rally support for a licence.
NCLR changed its name slightly to North Cork Community Radio (NCCR) in July 1986 and continued to broadcast until the end of 1988. In a letter to Ian Biggar in 1986, general manager Barry O’Mahony wrote that NCCR broadcast from 1100-1800 on weekends and 1000-1800 at weekends with a variety of shows including outside broadcasts, chat, hospital requests, farming programmes, sport etc. He added that the AM transmitter ‘isn’t great but is adequate for present time’, probably a reference to the fact that two other pirates in close proximity were using the same frequency of 1386 kHz, WBEN in Cork and Kilkenny Community Radio. The AM band was crowded and there were few free channels and as a result, co-channel interference between all three stations was severe in parts of Cork.
This recording of NCLR begins with the end of the Saturday Scene show with Pat O’Connor and is followed by Ken Regis (O’Sullivan), who had broadcast previously on other Cork pirates. News is read by Clare O’Sullivan. The airchecked recording was made by Kieran Murray from 95.3 FM on Saturday 16th July 1983 between 1410-1510. It is from the Anoraks Ireland Collection.
ERI rate card from 1983 (courtesy Anoraks Ireland Collection).
By 1983, ERI had become Cork’s leading pirate station following the transfer of studios from the village of Ballycotton to the edge of Cork city and the installation of a powerful new AM transmitter giving coverage of Munster. These airchecked recordings of the Daybreak breakfast show were made around St. Patrick’s Day 1983 and give a sense of the station during this expansion phase.
First up is former offshore presenter Andy Archer between 0823-0900 on 18th March 1983. News is read by Andrew Hewkin, who is on his final day with ERI. This is followed by Steve Marshall between 0845-0930 on 21st March 1983 with news read by Seán O’Sullivan. Adverts feature businesses around Cork city and county and there is a promo for a syndicated show, Soundtrack of the Sixties.
Andrew Hewkin at ERI in 1982/3 (courtesy Ian Biggar).
ERI broadcast on 102 and 105.8 FM at the time as well as 1305 kHz AM. This recording was made from AM by Kieran Murray and is part of the Anoraks Ireland Collection.
