Border series: Breakfast show on Radio North

Border series: Breakfast show on Radio North
Radio North poster from 1991 (courtesy DX Archive).

Donegal station Radio North continued to broadcast into 1990 along with other pirates that risked the stiffer penalties associated with the new broadcasting legislation introduced a year previously. Although stations crept back onto the airwaves in various parts of the country, the border region was a hotspot for pirate activity due to the availability of plentiful advertising revenue from the North.

This recording of Radio North features a Monday breakfast show with Rockin’ Raymond from early 1990. The tape begans at the start of the day’s broadcasting with the station jingle and a popular country song about Radio North itself. Raymond plays a mixture of chart hits, oldies and country. Surprisingly there are no adverts in the first hour despite it being a peak listening period but a long commercial break is heard at 0900 featuring businesses across the border in Derry and Antrim.

The recording was made from 98.7 FM from 0800-0933 on Monday 29th January 1990 and is from the Anoraks Ireland Collection. Radio North also broadcast on 97.7 FM and 846 kHz AM.