Manager Kieran Murray in the Boyneside studio in Kells (photo courtesy of Kieran).
In its ten years on air, Boyneside Radio expanded from a local station for Drogheda in Co. Louth to a large regional service that could be heard across the northeast of Ireland. It also had various relay transmitters and opt-out services focusing on local audiences. One such service was based in the town of Kells, covering Co. Meath and south Co. Cavan.
Today we bring you two recordings of Boyneside Radio Kells from early 1986. The first one above is an airchecked version of Tony Johnson’s show made from about 1340 on Sunday 12th January. There are promos for the new service, which is aimed at Meath and south Cavan, and plenty of local advertisements. Monaghan’s Sport Centre, Kells is given as an address and there is also a local phone number. The second recording below is also airchecked and begins just before 1700 on Monday 13th January. It features Eddie Caffrey signing off on his Afternoon Delight show from Drogheda, followed by news with Áine Ní Ghuidhir and a local programme from Kells with Ian Scott. Both were recorded from 100.3 FM in mono. Boyneside Radio Kells also broadcast on 1323 kHz AM.
Aircheck from just before 1700.
Cassette label from Anoraks Ireland Collection.
These recordings were made by Kieran Murray, who managed the Boyneside Kells service. They are part of the Anoraks Ireland Tapes Collection, donated to us by Paul Davidson. Listen to Kieran’s memories of moving to Boyneside in this interview. Further material from the Anoraks Ireland collection is available on Radiowaves and the Irish Pirate Radio Archive.
This is a selection of clips from morning programmes on Boyneside Radio in 1985, recorded from its Drogheda FM transmitter on 98.1 MHz in stereo. First up is the 7am bulletin, seemingly pre-recorded and featuring news from Northern Ireland. This is followed by the Dara Nelson breakfast show, which includes an interesting promo covering all Boyneside’s frequencies, a Pause for Thought, news headlines at 8am with Áine Ní Ghuidhir and the Top 30 countdown. Next up is the mid-morning show presented by Dave C., including news at 10am, which reports a car bomb blast in Newry just a short time before.
Cassette label from Anoraks Ireland Collection.
This airchecked recording was made on 6th March 1985 between 0700 and 1000. It is from the Anoraks Ireland Tapes Collection, donated to us by Paul Davidson. It was recorded originally by Kieran Murray. Further material from this collection can be found on Radiowaves and the Irish Pirate Radio Archive.
This is an airchecked recording of daytime and evening programming on Boyneside Radio from Drogheda on Good Friday, 3rd April 1983. It includes excerpts from the breakfast show with Dara Nelson, Dave C.’s Golden Oldies Show, sports news at 6.30pm, Country Convoy with Seán Neilon and Nightbeat with Neil O’Brien. The voices of Eddie Caffrey, Dave C., Dermot Finglas, Daire Nelson and Áine Ní Ghuidhir are heard on adverts. One spot for the Augustinian religious order stands out from the more familiar ads for local businesses! The selection from different times of the day gives a good flavour of the variety heard on Boyneside at the time.
Anoraks Ireland cassette label (the correct date is 3rd April).
The recording was made from 98.1 FM in mono and is from the Anoraks Ireland Tapes Collection, donated to us by Paul Davidson. It was recorded originally by Kieran Murray. Further material from this collection can be found on Radiowaves and the Irish Pirate Radio Archive.
Ken Regis in the Capital Radio studio c. 1982 (courtesy Ken O’Sullivan).
Cork’s Capital Radio began broadcasting in February 1979. The station was a breakaway from ABC which was starting to fragment and eventually closed. According to the Capital Radio magazine issued at Christmas 1980, Peter James, Dave Stewart, Con McParland and Pat Anderson decided that Cork needed a local station that would inform people about what was happening in the city. Con had operated his own small stations in Cork in the early 1970s and had previously been engineer for CBC, Cork’s first full-time pirate station.
The original plan was to locate Capital in Oliver Plunkett Street, but a change of plan meant that the studio was built over a chip shop next to the city library. The aerial was a long wire suspended between two poles around 50 feet apart on the roof of the building. The frequency initially used was around 1323 kHz, announced as 233 metres. Capital broadcast daily from 0800-2000 with a variety of music, although at one point it changed to a strict Top 40 format which caused some dissent amongst the station staff, so the format reverted to the original.
Capital veterans at a reunion in 2015. L-R: Dave Stewart (Jim Collins), Chris Edwards (Matt McAuliffe), Ken Regis (Ken O’Sullivan) and Tony ‘T. C.’ Clarke (Tony Whitnell) (courtesy Ken O’Sullivan).
A team from Free Radio Campaign Ireland visited Capital on 2nd September 1979 and reported that the station was now broadcasting from Tuckey Street in the city centre, above a shop. The studio and transmitter were located on the top floor of the building. The equipment consisted of a pair of disco decks and a transmitter using 813 valves and a power output of about 75 watts. The aerial was a long wire supported by two five foot poles. The sound quality was reported as ‘a little below average, but not bad by any standard’. By this time Capital was on the air from 0800-0200 and non-stop at weekends.
The frequency used varied, for example in August 1979 they were noted as 1312 kHz, in June 1980 on 1336 kHz and in December 1980 on 1308 kHz. When DX Archive visited in August 1981, Capital were on 1305 kHz and in January 1982 they were heard in Scotland during the early hours on 1314 kHz.
Ian Biggar remembers: ‘I visited Cork in March 1982 and Capital Radio was still on the air, but there had been a split which resulted in Leeside Community Radio starting transmissions on 102.3 MHz. Pat Anderson, ex-Capital was the driving force behind that. When I arrived in Cork to work on ERI in July 1982, Capital Radio was still on, but nearing its end. As far as I know, it along with Radio City, it had gone by the end of the summer’.
We bring you two short recordings of Capital, both featuring evening request shows. The first recording above is an undated clip from 1980 featured some of the Teatime Express with Tony Clarke (Tony Whitnell). The clip below is of Seán Murphy and is undated but probably also from 1980.
Thanks to Ian Biggar and Pat Galvin (Pat Anderson) for background and to Pat for the recordings.
This short recording of Big Brother Radio was made sometime early in 1981 near the beginning of the station’s short run. Big Brother began broadcasting on 88.6 FM but in this recording ‘Philip G’ (presumably founder Philip O’Connor) announces that the station is to add 220 metres medium wave (approximately 1359 kHz) the following Monday. FM broadcasting was still underdeveloped so obviously Big Brother felt that it needed to be AM also. On the same day, the station was to would introduce all-day programming and required additional DJs. The AM transmitter was located at the snooker club in Blackpool but didn’t last long due to a weak signal. Thanks to Pat Galvin for the donation.
