Boyneside QSL postcard from 1982 (courtesy Ian Biggar).
In July 1981, a split in Boyneside Radio led to the breakaway station Community Radio Drogheda and the town had two rival stations for the best part of a year. This recording was made in July 1982, shortly after the two stations merged once again. There was some variation in the name around this time: the cassette label refers to Boyneside Community Radio and ‘Boyneside/CRD’ was used on air until the late summer, when the station reverted to Boyneside. Read more about Community Radio Drogheda here.
Cassette label referring to ‘Boyneside Community Radio’.
The recording was made from 1500-1535 on 19th July 1982 from 99.5 FM in mono. The presenter is Boyneside stalwart Eddie Caffrey with the afternoon ‘teatime’ slot and a lost-and-found section. News is read by Gerry Malone, another well-known Boyneside voice. There is some wobble on the cassette due to deterioration over the decades.
1982 letter from Eddie Caffrey to a Swedish DXer (courtesy Ian Biggar).
This recording is from the Anoraks Ireland Tapes Collection, donated to us by Paul Davidson. Further material from this collection can be found on Radiowaves and the Irish Pirate Radio Archive.
Boyneside Radio and Television sticker from 1982 (courtesy DX Archive).
This is a recording of Sean Neilon presenting the popular country and Irish show The Green Scene on Boyneside Radio in Drogheda on Saturday 20th March 1982. The first hour is all Irish music and there are also a few words of Irish to coincide with St. Patrick’s Day. Sean mentions a few times that they are also broadcasting on Boyneside Television, a reference to the short-lived television service that mostly relayed the radio programmes. The Angelus at 12 midday is followed by Dermot Kierans (RIP) with a programme about disability, which was progressive for the time and an example of how the pirates were about more than the Top 40. Dermot was a well-known figure in Drogheda who worked for many good causes in the town.
Cassette label from the Anoraks Ireland Collection.
This recording was made from 99.2 FM in mono. The first part above runs from 1058-1145 and the second below from 1145-1231. More information about the background to Boyneside Television is available here. One of Boyneside’s founders, Eddie Caffrey, has been the main presenter of the Green Scene through the decades and is still heard every Saturday on local station LMFM. It is the longest running programme on Irish local radio. Thanks to Ian Biggar for additional information.
Side B of the recording.
These recordings are from the Anoraks Ireland Tapes Collection, donated by Paul Davidson. Other material from this collection is available on Radiowaves and the Irish Pirate Radio Archive.
Eddie Caffrey in Boyneside Radio in 1982 (courtesy of Eddie).
Returning to our Northeast Series, this is a recording of Eddie Caffrey (aka Heady Eddie) presenting his afternoon show on Boyneside Radio from Drogheda. It was made from 1420-1506 on 14th March 1980. Áine Ní Ghuidhir reads news at 3pm and there are plenty of Mother’s Day requests from listeners for the coming Sunday. The recording is in mono but is a studio copy, so there are no details of a frequency. An airchecked version was posted previously on our site here.
The cassette label giving details of the recording (courtesy Anoraks Ireland).
This recording is from the Anoraks Ireland Collection, donated to us by Paul Davidson. More material from this collection is available on Radiowaves and the Irish Pirate Radio Archive.
This is a recording of Cork’s Capital Radio from 3rd August 1979 featuring Pete Young’s Friday show, which is extended by half an hour because the next DJ is delayed. It was recorded from 1312 kHz, announced as 233 metres, and runs from 1918-2005. Thanks to John Breslin for the donation. One of those involved with Capital Radio, Pat Anderson (Pat Galvin) has jotted down his memories of the early Cork pirates, including Capital Radio and ABC, and we’re delighted to share them here.
My pirate days started with me unplugging my stereo in my flat in Montenotte and getting a blast of radio on that last surge. I realised there was a pirate radio nearby and on looking out my window I could see guys going in and out of the adjoining building. Being an occasional DJ, I became friends with them. They were ABC Radio, a breakaway from Cork Broadcasting Company (CBC). I joined them and ended up becoming the manager as well as doing a rock show after John Creedon (aka Eric Hanson) from midnight until I tired, usually about 4.00am. My DJing wasn’t great but I had the benefit of having a large LP collection (over 1,000) so was able to avoid the repetition that other DJs were stuck with.
ABC was in a bedsit and there was one classical LP. Every time it came on you knew the DJ’s girlfriend had arrived. As I lived next door and had a reel to reel tape recorder I could put on a tape and get 90 minutes before I had to swap sides. One night my girlfriend was not taking ‘no, I have to do a show’ for an answer, so I put on a tape of The Doors. As luck would have it, it was the anniversary of Jim Morrison’s death. Later when some DJ didn’t turn up, I put on a tape of an old show I had done and went off to work. My supervisor had been listening and was angry that I was not at work. Fortunately, the tape was still running so I was able to show him.
At the time the Arcadia Downtown Campus was running. Four bands from Dublin played there one night with U2 and the Virgin Prunes the warm-up acts. After the gig I told Bono that in my opinion they were the best of the lot and asked for their demo. At 20 minutes long I would play it each night while I made coffee or whatever. To Bono’s surprise, the next time people were asking for certain songs. When he asked them where they heard them, I was pointed out and he thanked me profusely.
We were raided several times and the people raiding us would ask us for requests knowing we would be back on within 24 hours. Some DJs would panic and run out the back and over the wall into the neighbouring property, but one time we sat tight as we realised the cops and Post Office were hitting the wrong flat, only for one idiot DJ told them ‘ah we’re not there anymore, we’re down here’. Interestingly the PO guy said that in Dublin the pirates were doing their job for them by cutting down each other’s antennas and other bad deeds to stop the competition. In Cork we got on OK and DJs would often move from one station to the other.
Capital Radio magazine from Christmas 1980 (courtesy DX Archive).
Eventually in ABC the more senior DJs started missing shows without warning. Perhaps the novelty was wearing off. Finally, Jim Gibbons, Jim Collins and myself had enough and decided to break away and start Capital Radio, taking nearly all the DJs with us. I was under fierce pressure to return to ABC but I felt it was all about saving face in front of CBC. We initially planned to set up in Oliver Plunkett Street, but the owner changed their mind so we ended up in the attic over the chipper next door to the City Library. In these days before FM became the norm we had to have a long aerial wire tied between two poles mounted on chimney stacks about 50 feet apart. We never asked for permission and usually got away with it but once, one of the lads slipped and the pole lifted him up into the air. He managed to hold on to the pole and get back to safety. The only problem was a slate had been dislodged and was slowly sliding down the roof on the street side. To my alarm I could see an old couple walking right in the line of the drop. I figured if I tried to warn them they would stop and look up so I said nothing and started to pray. Luckily the slate fell far enough behind that they did not notice and we got out of there in a hurry.
When we started Capital, some station in the USA had shot up in the ratings by only playing the Top 20 all day. There was a lot of support for this but I hated the idea and I also felt some vibes that my work as station manager was not appreciated. So when I was asked to set up Radio Sligo I went there for a few months. Meanwhile all hell broke loose in Capital and half the DJs left, so when I returned there was a much warmer welcome. The next move for the station was just a few doors away to 7 Tuckey Street to two attic rooms in a very old building. On one visit to Crowley’s music shop, the owner presented me with a bill for repairs to equipment for £800 which we did not have as we were always scraping by. Fortunately, a general election had been called so we approached Fianna Fáil and said in the interest of balance we felt obliged to tell them that Fine Gael had given us £400 for advertising and asked them to match it. They gave us the cheque for £400 and we then went to Fine Gael and showed it to them so they also coughed up and Michael Crowley got paid.
The first thing I always brought with me to a station was an electric kettle. I developed a trick of bringing it nearly to the boil and then moving it under the DJ’s table as he was about to speak and let the water steam. The DJ would freak out thinking there was a fire. It was weird going to a night club as the girl you danced with would recognise your voice and know quite a bit about you. I found it very disconcerting as I knew nothing of them. The upside was that every gig was free as promoters wanted your good will, and there was a certain amount of free LPs and singles coming our way. I still have some of the press releases inside the record sleeves. Eventually we had to find a new home and rented a house in a red brick terrace at one of the highest points in the city. I can’t remember how that finished but the next variation was Leeside Radio with much of the same crew. It was FM only because by that stage MW was fading out. We sometimes claimed it was stereo but it split mono to fool the receiver. Unlike medium wave, it never gave us any problems. My last foray was as manager only of CCLR. We had a good run with the owner too generous for his own good and paying out more than the station was making.
Alan Edwards in his CBC days in 1978 (courtesy Lillian O’Donoghue).
Long before the reality television series of the same name, Cork had its very own Big Brother Radio. This Cork station lasted for about 3-4 months at the start of 1981 and was operated from a garage on the Blarney Road. Experimenting with an American style, Big Brother Radio was owned by Philip O’Connor who had worked previously with the Cork Broadcasting Company (CBC). The FM signal on 88.6 MHz was in mono only but the signal was good in the city because of where the studio and dipole were located. An AM transmitter at the snooker club in Blackpool relayed the signal but was weak and didn’t last long. The studio was impressive and was nicely fitted out with professional record decks, cart machines and carpet tiles.
This recording of Big Brother Radio was made from 88.6 FM from 1729-1900 on 3rd February 1981. It begins with a sign-off from Captain Peacock who is followed by Alan Edwards. Alan, who had been a regular DJ previously on CBC, announces a competition for a £10 note. Thanks to Lillian O’Donoghue for the donation of the tape and to Rob Allen for background information.
