Airchecks Archives - Page 34 of 41 - Irish Pirate Radio Audio Archive

6th June 20206th August 2021

Aircheck: Twiggs FM (Galway)

Twiggs FM was a short-lived radio station broadcasting from the Galway suburb of Salthill for about six months in 1987 and 1988. It was set up in August 1987 in the Eglinton Hotel on Salthill promenade, which had been leased by two returned emigrant Galway businessmen. According to an Anoraks UK Weekly Report from October 1987, Mike Richardson, formerly of Big L Radio in Limerick and Horizon Radio in Killorglin, Co. Kerry, was also involved.

The hotel was a busy entertainment venue with a large 1,500-capacity nightclub called Twiggs and a popular student venue in the basement. The businessmen were persuaded by local man Shane Martin, who was a DJ at the club and had worked in other Galway pirates, to create a professional radio station to advertise their business interests as well as other services. Twiggs FM was set up by Martin and Dublin man Alan Russell, who was behind an earlier Galway station Atlantic Sound, and sound engineer Roland Burke (RIP) was also hired from Dublin. A professional studio was installed on the first floor overlooking Galway Bay. The station regularly broadcast gigs from the nightclub and DJs were paid for radio shift work and topped up their income with gigs at the Twiggs venue and other clubs run by the owners. Presenters included Roland Burke, Alan Russell, Ciaran Wilson (Brannelly), Robert Ashley, Shane Martin and Daragh Murphy as well as student DJs and guest DJs from Dublin. In January 1988 it was taken over by Mike Richardson and renamed West Coast Radio but the station closed by March because of the backers’ impatience with poor advertising revenue.

Twiggs FM broadcast on 98.5 from Salthill and later added an additional relay on 100.1 in the city. This recording is an undated aircheck of two shows by Ciaran Wilson (Brannelly) in the autumn/winter of 1987. The first is from a Thursday at about 1645 and the second from Friday at 1515. There was a definite student vibe to the station, with notices from the Law Society at University College Galway (now the National University of Ireland, Galway) and reference to a programme by the Regional Technical College (now Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology). There’s also a competition to win a bale of briquettes so the Galway winter must have been approaching! Thanks to Ciaran for this recording and additional background information.

30th May 202018th January 2025

Closedown of KISS FM (102.7)

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KISS FM was one of the many sister stations to Radio Nova, broadcasting from September 1982 to January 1984. Chris Cary set up the station to absorb additional advertising revenue from Nova and experiment with local radio for Dublin. The station was closed down along with Nova on the 18th of May 1983 and did not return until the 30th of September. In January 1984 RTÉ jammed the signals of both Nova and KISS when it was granted permission by Minister Ted Nealon to test broadcast on 88.2 and 102.7 FM and 819 kHz AM. Cary closed KISS at midnight on the 15th of January 1984 as the jamming worsened and laid off staff, some of whom were members of the National Union of Journalists. This sparked a bitter and extended industrial relations dispute which eventually contributed to the demise of Nova in 1986.

KISS FM was known for its lavish competitions, offering listeners prizes ranging from £102.70 to £5,000 in cash for correctly identifying three songs played in a row. One such competition occurred on the 29th of March 1983 when the station gave away £5,000. The giveaway would be repeated by Nova on the 31st of August 1983, when a prize of £6,000 was offered, putting enormous pressure on the Dublin telephone system. There were even bigger problems with the network when Nova gave away another £5,000 over a year later, on the 29th of September 1984.

This recording was made mostly on the final day, 15th of January 1984, is airchecked and not in linear order. It begins with Denis Murray presenting his final rock show and chatting with fellow presenters Chris Barry and Stephanie McAllister. News at midnight is read by David Malone and the Radio Nova news jingle is heard as KISS passes into the history books and Nova is broadcast on 102.7. Mike Moran is then heard on the Nova overnight and then the tape stops and picks up with Chris Barry signing off and handing over to Denis Murray earlier in the evening. The recording continues with airchecks of Denis Murray apparently from the 14th of January on his second last show. We also hear idents for KISS FM Weekend, part of Al Dunne’s final show, Bernie Jameson on news and Geraldine Nugent reading community news. Community news is not something associated with the Nova network, but KISS FM was an experimental station.

Our archive also includes interviews with Tom Hardy and Denis Murray about their involvement in KISS FM and other stations. This recording is from the Skywave Tapes Collection. Skywave Radio International broadcast a shortwave station in the 1980s from Baldoyle in northeast Dublin.

29th May 202015th June 2024

Border series: Radio Sligo

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A Radio Sligo t-shirt courtesy of Ian Biggar/DX Archive.

This is a rare recording of Radio Sligo from 1981, made during one of DX Archive’s tours of Ireland. It is partially airchecked, but gives a great sense of the variety of Sunday programming spanning country, traditional Irish and heavy metal. Audio levels are up and down and there are plenty of technical glitches including a break in transmission after which the presenter says that the problem was fixed with a screwdriver! The recording was made from 1260 kHz (237 metres) on the 16th of August 1981 and is courtesy of Ian Biggar. A station ident refers to 250 metres (1197 kHz) so Radio Sligo must have been on that frequency previously.

The line-up on this recording is Mervyn Hamiton from 1120-1130, Céilí House from 1130-1200, a comedy show called Crazy Corner presented by Mike Marchini from 1200-1230 and a mixed show including heavy metal, country and pop with David Hamilton from 1230-1308. There’s also a message from Paul Martell about the station’s forthcoming marathon in aid of the Irish Wheelchair Association, an early example of the pirates supporting charitable causes. It’s not clear how long Radio Sligo lasted but in 1984 the Sligo Champion reported on a court case which heard that a former DJ had allegedly wrecked the station, causing £1,500 worth of damage. Another station, Radio Northwest called itself Radio Sligo on occasion in late 1984 and 1985 but was a separate outfit. In 1987 and 1988 Anoraks Ireland lists a Sligo Radio and a Westside Radio on FM only in Sligo but these are not thought to be connected to the original Radio Sligo either.

This is a unique recording of a little-known rural station showing how much variety there could be on Irish pirate radio. You can read more on DX Archive.

27th May 20207th August 2021

Full recording: ICBS (Dublin)

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The Irish Christian Broadcasting Service (ICBS) was one of a number of Christian/Catholic pirate stations operating in the 1980s. We’ve featured Christian Community Radio here before but ICBS operated for a longer period and continued until 1988. This recording is historically interesting because it was made four days before the 1983 referendum known as the ‘8th amendment’ to the Irish Constitution. The referendum, held on the 7th of September, proposed to recognise the equal right to life of the pregnant woman and the unborn, prohibiting abortion in almost all cases. It was passed by a large majority and led to decades of bitter campaigning by pro-choice and pro-life advocates. It was repealed, also by a large majority, on the 25th of May 2018 in a referendum on the 36th amendment to the Constitution. ICBS covered the 1983 referendum extensively and this recording refers to interviews to be broadcast on the eve of the poll.

The recording was made from 1020-1105 on the 3rd of September 1983 from 1070 kHz/280 metres. By 1985 ICBS had moved to 981 kHz/306 metres as in the flyer. This recording is from the Skywave Tapes Collection. Skywave Radio International broadcast a shortwave station in the 1980s from Baldoyle in northeast Dublin. The second short recording below from 1985 seeks listeners’ financial support for the station in order to get a licence.

23rd May 20206th August 2021

Aircheck: Capitol Radio (Dublin)

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Here’s a short aircheck of Capitol Radio from sometime in 1988. Capitol was a strong supporter of the alternative Irish music scene and the bands A-House and Cypress Mine are featured in this recording. The weather sting doesn’t fire at 3pm so the presenter carries on and reads the forecast. The request for ‘Brian and Pat listening in the Centre in Bayside’ is a reference to Centre Radio, the station ran by Brian Greene from Dublin 13 in 1988. Brian and fellow Centre presenter Pat Kenny phoned in the request – one station listening to another!