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Northeast series: Boyneside Radio (1981)

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Northeast series: Boyneside Radio (1981)
Eric Vaughan at Boyneside Radio in August 1981 (photo courtesy of Ken Baird, DX Archive).

Today we bring you two recordings of Boyneside Radio from spring 1981, not long before the station split. The first extract above is an aircheck of Daire Nelson, a well-known presenter on Boyneside and other stations in the northeast, on his overnight programme in May 1981. Although it sounds like a live show, the overnight tapes at Boyneside were pre-recorded. At the end, Daire hands over to Eric Vaughan on the breakfast show. Sound quality is excellent as this is the original studio copy on a C-120 tape. Daire cut his radio teeth at Midland Radio in Athlone in 1979 before moving to North East Radio in Dundalk. He also worked in Radio Carousel, East Coast Radio in Ardee, Radio West in Mullingar and was a familiar voice on the northeast’s licensed station LMFM after 1989.

Northeast series: Boyneside Radio (1981)
Boyneside Radio flyer from 1981 (courtesy of Ian Biggar).

The second recording below is an airchecked version of Eric Vaughan on an overnight show on Boyneside, also a studio copy and from May 1981.

Many thanks to Eddie Caffrey for donating these recordings and to Ian Biggar for additional information.

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Full recording: Radio Carousel (Dundalk)

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Full recording: Radio Carousel (Dundalk)
Radio Carousel letterhead courtesy of Ian Biggar/DX Archive.

This is another recording of Radio Carousel Dundalk made on two consecutive days, 30th and 31st May 1985 from 101 FM. First up is a segment from the evening show presented by Dave Scott (aka Joe Reilly, RIP) from 2240 to 2325 on the 30th. The classified ads at 2300 include Bruce Springsteen tickets for the forthcoming concert in Slane, various cars for sale, a JCB driver for hire, roofing services, Kerr’s pink potatoes for sale and a BBC colour television aerial!

This is followed by part of the next day’s breakfast programme presented by Mike Ahern (aka Richard McCullen) from 0815 to 0900 on the 31st. It sounds like a one-man show at times as Mike’s voice can be heard on several ads and he also reads news headlines at 0830. However there is no shortage of advertising and there are requests too, including for children on their way to school.

Full recording: Radio Carousel (Dundalk)
Radio Carousel’s aerial at Dundalk Shopping Centre published in Swedish magazine DX Gnisten (courtesy of Ian Biggar, DX Archive).

Richard McCullen went on to work in the local licensed station LMFM. Joe Reilly (using that name) went on to work at ERI in Cork and later licensed station Radio Kerry. We thank Gary Camblin for this recording.

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Full recording: Radio Carousel (Dundalk)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Full recording: Radio Carousel (Dundalk)
Mike Ahern (aka Richard McCullen) in the new Carousel studio in Dundalk Shopping Centre (photo courtesy of Ian Biggar).

This is another early recording from Radio Carousel made in Dundalk itself on 3rd January 1979 from 1330-1403. Mike Ahern (aka Richard McCullen) is finishing his lunchtime programme and hands over to Eric Vaughan (aka Eric Griffin) at 2pm. The station was announcing 265 metres (1134 kHz) at this time and had moved to a better studio in Dundalk Shopping Centre. There are adverts for the shopping centre voiced by Mike Ahern himself, an ad for a business in Warrenpoint in Co. Down and a request from a listener in Drumiskin south of Dundalk, giving a sense of Carousel’s core coverage area at the time. Both Mike and Eric worked in Carousel and Boyneside during the pirate era and continued in licensed stations afterwards as Richard McCullen (LMFM) and Eric Griffin (C103).

The tape is a bit wobbly in places but has withstood the passage of time relatively well and the signal is strong having been recorded locally. The recording was made by Kieran Murray and was donated to us by Ian Biggar.