The house where Phoenix was located at Kill Avenue, Foxrock, September 1986 (Anoraks Ireland Collection).
Phoenix Radio broadcast from Foxrock in south Co. Dublin for about a year from late 1986 to November 1987. With the strap line ‘your south Dublin station’, Phoenix emerged from various low powered hobby pirates set up by Locky Butler. Phoenix played mostly chart hits and despite a youthful staff, the station aimed for a professional sound. A November 1986 listing from Anoraks Ireland logged Phoenix on 1116 kHz AM and 99.14 FM in stereo with broadcasting hours from 0830-0030 daily. In July 1987, Anoraks Ireland logged it on 94.24 FM only with broadcasting hours of 0700-0100. Phoenix was ordered to close down by the Department of Communications in November 1987 but was relaunched as CAU FM a few hours later from a new transmission site.
This recording is from 107 FM on the 5th of April 1987 and begins shortly before 2pm with Stephen Davitt signing off and handing over to Derek Hansen. Audio quality is wobbly in places due to a degraded cassette and for that reason, the recording is partly edited.
This recording is from the Leon Tipler Tapes Collection, donated to us by Steve England.
Tony Walsh in the South Coast studio in Adelaide Place (courtesy Lillian O’Donoghue).
Tony Walsh presented the lunchtime show on the Cork Broadcasting Company (CBC) in the late 1970s and then left radio for a few years, returning to the scene when South Coast Radio went on air in the spring of 1982. This recording of his first show on South Coast on Saturday 24th April begins at about 2340 and is partially edited. The late night musical choice is laidback and includes some country. Tony spent only a few months at South Coast, leaving the station in June 1982.
He was known as Tony Allen on air, but is not to be confused with Tony Allan (RIP), the British ex-offshore DJ whose unique voice was heard on dozens of Irish pirates from the late 1970s on. That Tony Allan also did voiceovers for South Coast Radio and joined the station in August 1982. Thanks to Lillian O’Donoghue for the recording and photo.
Shannonside Community Radio was a short-lived pirate broadcasting to Limerick city in 1987. Information about the station is scant but it appears that it started around February of that year and broadcast on 97.5 FM with an address at 37 Catherine Street in the city centre.
The first recording above is a series of airchecks and is undated, but estimated to be from March 1987. DJs include Leonard Scott, Mark Young and Johnny Reggae (John Dronay), who had previously worked on popular Limerick pirate Big L. Aspiring DJs are asked to send a demo tape to the station. The second recording below is from 2nd March 1987 and begins with the Wonderworth sponsored programme, presented by Johnny Reggae. Other DJs are Mike Patton and Liz Dronay, who possibly had a connection with John.
Recording from 2nd March 1987
There was plenty of competition in the Limerick radio market in early 1987. The bigger stations were Sound Channel and City Centre Radio, both aimed at younger listeners, and Raidió Luimní which focused on speech content and music for older cohorts. Shannonside Community Radio does not feature in listings by Anoraks Ireland from July 1987 so it appears that it lasted only a few months. It is not to be confused with the similarly named Shannonside Local Radio, that broadcast from north Kerry from 1987-1988.
These recordings are from the Anoraks Ireland Tapes Collection, donated to us by Paul Davidson.
Nick Richards in studio (courtesy Lillian O’Donoghue).
Nick Richards, who had a background in British and offshore pirates, was heard on a number of Irish stations in the 1980s. This recording of Nick is from South Coast Radio in Cork not long after the station launched in spring 1982. At this time, Nick presented the Nightline programme in the early hours and in this recording, which starts around 2340, the musical choice is mellow. There’s a request for South Coast’s number one fan, Lillian McCarthy (O’Donoghue) who meticulously recorded programmes and took photos of the DJs and studios. Nick closes the station at 0100 and says that the next DJ will be Alan Reid (Henry Condon) with the breakfast show from 0700. There’s no date for this recording but we estimate it to be from late April 1982. It is partially edited and was made from 104 FM, although audio quality is fair as it seems the station wasn’t properly tuned in.
Micheál Ó hÉalaithe & Piaras Ó Gaora in the studio (source: ‘Raidió na Gaeltachta’ by R. Ó Glaisne).
At Easter 1970, Irish language pirate Saor-Raidio Chonamara (Free Radio Connemara) came on the air for the first time in Ros Muc in the Connemara Gaeltacht. Inspired by Radio Free Derry set up at the outbreak of the Troubles in 1969, a local radio service for the Gaeltacht was one of the demands of the Gaeltacht Civil Rights Campaign. One of those involved, Seosamh Ó Cuaig, wrote in the Connacht Tribune on 17th October 1969 that an all-Irish pirate station would be set up and that a transmitter could be bought for £50. With the assistance of an engineering student from UCC, Micheál Ó hÉalaithe, Saor-Raidió Chonamara began broadcasting on 1484 kHz (202 metres) on Saturday 28th March from a caravan in Ros Muc and stayed on the air until Sunday 5th April. It returned again in November that year for the Oireachtas na nGael festival, also held in Ros Muc.
Faoi Cháisc 1970, chuaigh an stáisiún bradach Saor-Raidió Chonamara ar an aer den chéad uair ó Ros Muc i nGaeltacht Chonamara. Spreagtha ag Radio Free Derry a bunaíodh ag tús na dTrioblóidí, bhí stáisiún raidió Gaeilge ar cheann d’éilimh Ghluaiseacht Chearta Sibhialta na Gaeltachta. Ina alt ar an Connacht Tribune ar 17 Deireadh Fómhair 1979, scríobh duine de na daoine a bhí páirteach, Seosamh Ó Cuaig, go mbunófaí a leithéid de stáisiún agus nach gcosnódh tarchuradóir ach £50. Le cúnamh ó mhac léinn innealtóireachta ó Chorcaigh, Micheál Ó hÉalaithe, thosaigh Saor-Raidió Chonamara ag craoladh ar 1484 kHz (202 méadar) Dé Sathairn 28 Márta ó charabhán i Ros Muc agus d’fhan ar an aer go dtí an Domhnach 5 Aibreán. Chraol sé den dara uair faoi Shamhain na bliana sin mar chuid d’Oireachtas na nGael i Ros Muc.
Within two years of Saor-Raidió Chonamara, Raidió na Gaeltachta was established under the auspices of RTÉ. It began broadcasting on Easter Sunday, 2nd April 1972. Many campaigners doubted RTÉ’s commitment to Irish and wanted Raidió na Gaeltachta to be under community control but the new station quickly gained listeners in the Irish-speaking areas. Initially only available on a part-time basis and on AM in each of the three main Gaeltacht areas (west Kerry, south Connemara and northwest Donegal), Raidió na Gaeltachta was extended nationwide on FM in 1973. It is now a full-time, national Irish language station.
Laistigh de dhá bhliain ó chraoltaí an tSaor-Raidió, bunaíodh Raidió na Gaeltachta faoi choimirce RTÉ ar Dhomhnach Cásca, 2 Aibreán 1972. Bhí amhras ar lucht an fheachtais faoi thacaíocht RTÉ don Ghaeilge agus theastaigh uathu an stáisiún a bheith faoi smacht an phobail ach níorbh fhada go raibh éisteacht mhaith ag an stáisiún nua sa Ghaeltacht. Ar fáil go páirtaimseartha agus ar an meántonn amháin i dtosach báire i gConamara, Corca Dhuibhne agus Tír Chonaill, leathnaíodh Raidió na Gaeltachta go náisiúnta ar an ardmhinicíocht in 1973. Is é an stáisiún lánaimseartha, náisiúnta Gaeilge anois é.
In 2020, RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta planned a commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Saor-Raidió Chonamara but this was cancelled due to the outbreak of the pandemic. The station broadcast special programmes from Ros Muc on Easter Monday, 28th April 2022, including interviews with those involved in Saor-Raidió Chonamara.
This short clip is of Piaras Ó Gaora from Easter Sunday, 29th March 1970 and translates as: ‘You are listening to Saor-Raidió Chonamara broadcasting on 202 metres medium wave and at two minutes past six on this glorious Easter evening, it’s time for the news’. The clip is from the television documentary Splanc Dheireadh na Gaeltachta (2005, subtitled). Other historical material about the history of Saor-Raidió Chonamara is available on the Irish language website Cartlann Ghaeltacht Chonamara (Connemara Gaeltacht Archive), hosted by NUI Galway.
