Full recordings Archives - Page 33 of 99 - Irish Pirate Radio Audio Archive

4th November 20224th November 2022

Breakfast on Galway’s Coast 103

Coast 103 was a popular Galway station broadcasting from the middle of 1987 until the end of 1988. Run by Keith York and Steve Marshall who had been involved with previous Galway stations Atlantic Sound and WLS, Coast later merged with Limerick station Hits 954 and eventually claimed to cover a large area from Galway to the outskirts of Cork City. This recording was made towards the end of Coast’s run and features Ger Sweeney’s upbeat breakfast show, sponsored by the Happy Spud. A promo refers to Coast being heard in Limerick, Tipperary, Kerry and Cork but all of the adverts are from Galway. Ger must have been in a rush to leave as there is continuous music at the end of his show before Shane Martin takes over.

The recording was made from 102.95 FM on 8th November 1988 from 0836-0924. It is from the Anoraks Ireland Tapes Collection, donated to us by Paul Davidson.

2nd November 202230th October 2022

Big Tree Radio from Swords

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Big Tree Radio was a shortlived station broadcasting from above a pub in Swords in north Co. Dublin in 1983. Called after the Big Tree pub (now the Estuary Bar) on North Main Street, some of the station’s DJs sounded very young and inexperienced, a reminder that everyone had access to the airwaves during the freewheeling pirate era. In this recording, Angie plays an easy listening format until 10pm and is followed by ‘Jeremy James’ until midnight who probably borrowed the name of the Voice of Peace DJ. Audio quality is fair with crackly vinyl and a bad hum on the microphone and there are no adverts to be heard. An address care of the pub is given for listeners to write in and request songs.

Big Tree Radio from Swords — Original cassette label from Anoraks Ireland Collection.

The tape was made from 94 FM on 4^th March 1983. Part 1 above runs from 2137 and part 2 below from 2229.

Part 2 from 2229.

This recording is from the Anoraks Ireland Collection, donated to us by Paul Davidson.

31st October 202230th October 2022

Top 100 love songs on South Coast Radio

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On the October bank holiday 1982, South Coast Radio broadcast the Top 100 love songs of all time for seven hours from 12 noon. Presented by Pete O’Neill and Keith York, the programme was produced by Hugh Browne. This recording is of the final hour of the show from 1800 on Monday 25^th October and includes the full countdown from 100 to 1, read by Hugh and Keith. There are some edits and although recorded from 104 FM, audio quality is only fair in places due to either issues with recording or cassette degradation.

Both Hugh and Keith went on to work in many other pirate and licensed stations. Keith died in 2010 and Hugh in 2013. Thanks for Lillian O’Donoghue for the recording and photo.

28th October 202223rd October 2022

South Coast Top 40 with Siobhán Walls

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This is Siobhán Walls presenting the South Coast Top 40 on Saturday 9^th October 1982. The recording begins at 1400 and is partially edited. It was recorded from 104 FM in mono and audio quality is fair with some distortion in places.

Siobhán’s radio career spanned both pirates and legal stations. She was involved in the early days of Sunshine Radio in Dublin, reading her first news bulletin on 25^th November 1980. She was appointed Head of News in Sunshine in November 1981 and also did a late-night show at weekends. In August 1982, she moved to South Coast Radio and would later work in another big Cork station, ERI. In the licensed era, Siobhán presented a late night show on the doomed national independent station Century Radio (1989-1991) and worked in television production in the 1990s. She is now a celebrant with the Humanist Association of Ireland. Thanks to Lillian O’Donoghue for background information and the recording.

26th October 202226th October 2022

Evening show on WLS from Galway

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This recording of Galway pirate WLS dates from summer 1986, when the station was well established as the city’s main local broadcaster. Paul Vincent (aka Brendan Mee) presents a late-night show and adverts feature a mixture of local businesses and national companies. There’a also a promo for fellow DJ Richie O’Shea doing a local disco. The station identification at the top of the hour claims that the ‘West’s local station’ is growing with Galway.

The recording was made from 102.7 FM on 5^th July 1986 from 2217-2303. There is some wobble in places due to the age of the cassette. Thanks to Brendan Mee for the donation.