Radio Annabel advert from the Sunday World, 06.01.85 (Alan MacSimoin collection).
Radio Annabel was one of the smaller Dublin pirates of the early 1980s, broadcasting from the north inner-city from 1983 to 1985. It began testing in September 1983 after the merger of two smaller stations, Westside Radio and ABC. After first using 1035 kHz and then 981, Radio Annabel eventually settled on 1323. The station was heard around 98 FM in the early days but later added 91.8 MHz. Radio Annabel was well-known among anoraks because of the weekly Free Radio Show presented by Gerard Roe. It closed down in March 1985 due to financial problems.
This recording was made from FM from 2134-2220 on 20th September 1983, shortly after the station’s launch. Steve Jones finishes his show and hands over to Paul McCafferty at 10pm with ‘Annabel After Dark’. The frequencies announced are 290 metres (roughly 1035 kHz) and 98.1 FM. Thanks to Shay Geoghegan for the donation.
A home-made Centre Radio flyer from the days on 92.5 FM.
Centre Radio was a small FM-only youth station broadcasting from Baldoyle and Bayside in northeast Dublin from 1986-1988. It is especially important for us because it played a big part in our teenage lives: Brian Greene was one of the founders and a regular DJ and John Walsh had his own show also. Centre began broadcasting on 19th December 1986 and was heard during school holidays only. From February 1988, it moved to Bayside and broadcast every weekday evening and all day long at the weekends. It was one of the last stations in Dublin to close at midnight on 31st December 1988.
Prince Terry (Roger Lloyd) on Westside Radio International c. 1987.
This recording was made from 94.2 FM on Sunday 13th March 1988 from 1630-1800. It begins with pirate veteran Prince Terry (Roger Lloyd) presenting a once-off show. Prince Terry was the operator of Westside Radio International, a long-running shortwave pirate and indeed this show was recorded to be broadcast on shortwave the following Sunday. The music begins with oldies but later changes to heavy metal in line with Roger’s taste!
Dave Evans (Eamonn Roe) in Centre Radio on 31 December 1988.
Dave Evans (Eamonn Roe) takes over at about 1740 with more music and community news. The recording was made by Roger Lloyd and is courtesy of DX Archive.
Capitol Radio on 98 FM was a short-lived radio experiment launched in the summer of 1982, aiming to provide an adult-oriented rock service to the greater Dublin area. Although some big names were involved including Tony Allan, Peter Madison, Steve Marshall, Scott Williams, Paul Allen, Eddie West and Lawrence John, Capitol ran into financial difficulties after a few months and closed down in September. Although Capitol proposed to also broadcast on 999 kHz AM, it was an FM-only station, a relatively rare choice in the early 1980s when medium wave was still an important platform.
This recording begins with a link from the late Peter Madison and is followed by non-stop music. There is no date but we estimate it to be from July 1982. Thanks to Shay Geoghegan for the donation.
Nova sticker from 1981-2 (courtesy of Ian Biggar).
This is a recording of the late Eddie West on the overnight shift on Radio Nova sometime in July 1982. The music ranges from mellow and rock and there is minimal talk in line with the ‘clutter-free’ format. Nova was broadcasting on 846 kHz AM at this time but still used ‘the mighty 890’ jingle from its brief period on 891 kHz in late 1981. The inconsistency didn’t matter to most listeners who didn’t have digital read-outs on their radios!
The recording was made from 88 FM and runs from 0010-0042 but is undated, although we could estimate a date because of references to the forthcoming Rolling Stones concert. Thanks to Shay Geoghegan for the donation.
L-R: Alan Edwards, Pete Andrews and Tony Allen at CBC, January 1979 (courtesy Lillian O’Donoghue).
Our final recording of CBC is of Alan Edwards on 21st August 1979. It is a partial aircheck of his show from 1930-2130 and begins with Alan thanking Noel Evans (aka Welch) who was on air before him. Of interest are the live-read and pre-recorded adverts for various businesses including Greg Anthony Fashions, Adam and Eve’s Restaurant and Cork Joinery. Requests include one ‘for the girl in the green blouse from the dancer’ at the Ballyphehane disco and another for ‘Miss Ballinacurra’, a village near Cork. People from Blackrock are asked to ring in requests and they duly do so, followed by listeners in Douglas and then Farranree. The next DJ Conor O’Sullivan can’t make it because he has no transport so Alan announces that CBC is to close down at 2130. At the end of the recording is an advert for the ‘Alan Edwards disco roadshow’, a sign of how pirate DJs relied on gigging around town to make ends meet. There’s also a request for Lillian McCarthy (O’Donoghue) and the recording is followed by two personal messages recorded for Lillian by Alan and Noel. The music is fantastic and Alan is an enthusiastic DJ who clearly has many loyal listeners.
As often happens in the world of pirate radio, there was a split in the CBC ranks which led to Stevie Bolger and Con McParland starting Alternative Broadcasting Cork (ABC) from the same building that originally housed CBC in Montenotte. ABC began testing in July 1978 on an announced 233 metres. This station continued into 1979, but again a split from ABC led to the formation of Capital Radio which was on air until 1982. Stevie went on to work with RTÉ Cork Local Radio. Thanks as ever to Lillian O’Donoghue for the photo and recording and to Gearóid Quill and Ian Biggar for background information.
