Full recordings Archives - Page 89 of 118 - Irish Pirate Radio Audio Archive

15th February 20216th August 2021

Short-lived Waterford pirate Laser 89

Laser 89 was a short-lived pirate that broadcast to Waterford City for a few weeks in January 1989 in defiance of the new broadcasting laws. According to the Anoraks UK Weekly Report, it carried out tests between 9^th and 11^th January and began with lived and recorded programmes on 12^th January on 88.6 FM. The station broadcast from above a pub in the Ballybricken area of the city. It was set up by former staff of ABC, an earlier Waterford pirate that closed down at the end of 1988, but DJs from another local station NCR/Crystal City Sound were also involved. Described by Anoraks UK as ‘very slick and professional’, Laser featured some familiar and some new voices and used some of the jingles of the British 1980s offshore pirate Laser 558. The music choice was pop and country with some 12-inches and Laser 89 broadcast from 8am to 8pm daily. Despite only putting out 40 watts of power, the signal covered the city well in stereo. On February 3^rd, local newspapers announced that Laser had ceased broadcasting after causing television interference. However, some of the ABC people were reportedly worried that having a pirate on air would sully their application for a licence and decided to pull the plug.

The first recording above is of Ron Lundy from 1316-1401 on Wednesday 18^th January 1989. The second below is from Friday 20^th January 1989 from 1639-1724 and is labelled Dan Ingram but in is mostly just non-stop music with a few time checks. Lundy and Ingram were popular DJs on New York station WABC in the 1970s and 1980s and must have inspired these Waterford pirate broadcasters.

Laser announces ‘commercial-free music’ for Waterford but no phone number is given out and there are no requests from listeners. We thank Ian Biggar for his donation of these recordings.

13th February 20213rd January 2022

‘Galway’s Super Q’: Quincentennial Radio

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This is the second of two recordings of Quincentennial Radio, the short-lived Galway pirate that returned to the air on 2^nd January 1989 in breach of the new Wireless Telegraphy Act. The law came into effect at midnight on New Year’s Eve and silenced most of the country’s pirates including Coast 103, one of the two big Galway stations. However, Quincentennial Radio was essentially a reincarnation of Coast involving many of the same people including engineer Keith York (RIP) and DJs Steve Marshall, Tony Allan (RIP) and Shane Martin. It was located behind the Gallows bar (now Paddy’s Bar) on Prospect Hill, just off Eyre Square in the city centre, where Coast had been located for its final few months.

The recording is of Shane Martin’s show from 1827-1912 on 13^th February 1989. It includes liners and promos voiced by Tony Allan, including one that cheekily compares Quincentennial to Millennium Radio in Dublin and Cork Local Radio, both local RTÉ services. There are also community announcements, a letter from a listener criticising another unnamed radio station and a crackly Valentine’s Day phone call from London.

We don’t have an exact date but it appears from Anoraks UK logs that Quincentennial Radio closed down sometime in March 1989 after a warning from the authorities. We thank Ian Biggar for his donation of this rare recording and Steve Marshall and Shane Martin for background information.

12th February 20216th August 2021

Galway’s Quincentennial Radio in 1989

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Quincentennial Radio was a shortlived Galway pirate that broadcast for about two months at the start of 1989. It consisted of ex-Coast 103 broadcasters Steve Marshall, Shane Martin and Tony Allan (RIP) as well as engineer Keith York (RIP). According to Steve Marshall, Quincentennial – named after the 500^th anniversary of Galway City in 1984 – started broadcasting on January 2^nd 1989, just a day after most of the country’s pirates left the airwaves. The studio gear was formerly used by Coast 103 and consisted of Gates B77 turntables with Gray Research tonearms, an Alice 828 mixer and a pair of Accessit compressor units for sound processing. Quincentennial Radio began by just playing music and liners by Tony Allan and the first live voice was Shane Martin. Shane remembers that it didn’t have the same feel as Coast 103 as there was no money, no paid ads and no competition: ‘It just felt very empty. The buzz was gone’. The studio was located at the back of the Gallows Bar (now Paddy’s Bar) in the courtyard of Prospect House near Eyre Square, where Coast 103 had been based.

The Anoraks UK Weekly Report of 18^th February 1989 mentioned Quincentennial Radio on 98.4 FM, a frequency chosen to match the city’s quincentennial year in 1984. It was on air 24 hours a day broadcasting a variety of music. The station was logged throughout February and into March but on 22^nd April, Anoraks UK reported that the authorities had ‘instructed Quincentennial to cease broadcasting some time ago which they duly did’. After the station closed, it became a training facility for DJs.

We bring you the first of two recordings of Quincentennial Radio from Monday 13^th February 1989. Today’s recording was made from 1738-1824 and features the end of Steve Marshall’s programme. Tony Allan’s voice is heard on liners and there is one ad just before 6pm when Shane Martin takes over. A phone number for requests is given out and the station is referred to a few times as ‘Galway’s Super Q’. We thank Ian Biggar for this rare recording of a short-lived station which defied the new laws in 1989. Thanks also to Steve Marshall and Shane Martin for background information.

3rd February 202131st May 2024

Northeast series: Royal County Radio from Navan

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Royal County Radio (RCR) broadcast from 1982 to 1984 from Navan in Co. Meath and was a rival to Radio Carousel, which was based in the town’s shopping centre. It was set up by Canadian ex-offshore DJ Don Allen (RIP) who was a familiar voice on the Irish pirates of the 1980s and had formerly worked with Carousel. RCR was launched on 8^th October 1982 and broadcast from a shopping arcade in Navan town centre. The station used the former Southside Radio transmitter from Dublin and moved around the AM band before settling on 846 kHz. Navan was probably too small to support two pirates and RCR closed around the middle of 1984.

This recording is of Oliver Callan on his lunchtime show from 1145-1235 on 28^th October 1982, only a few week’s after the station was launched. 305 metres is announced which is roughly equivalent to 981 kHz although the actual frequency may have been the slightly off-channel 1000 kHz where RCR was located for a time. The voice of Don Allen is heard on ads and promos and Peter reads news headlines at midday. We thank Ian Biggar for this donation.

1st February 202112th January 2024

Late night Waterford Local Radio

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WLR logo (courtesy of DX Archive).

Waterford Local Radio (WLR) was one of Ireland’s longest-running pirates, broadcasting from 1978 until the closedowns at the end of 1988. It was also one of the few to be granted a county licence under the new regime in 1989, and continues to broadcast to this day, using the same name.

In its pirate days, WLR broadcast on 1197 kHz AM (announced as 252 metres) and 88.8 FM. The origins of the station went back to 1972 when Rick Whelan and radio technician Egidio Giani managed to broadcast over a range of only a few hundred metres within Waterford City. The station began full-time broadcasting on 23^rd June 1978 from Rick Whelan’s garage in Butlerstown to the west of the city and soon boosted its signal to cover a 20-mile radius. In September 1979, WLR moved into the city and linked its signal by FM to the AM site in Butlerstown. Rick’s brother Des became manager in 1978 and closed down WLR ten years later on 31^st December 1988. The licensed WLR returned to the Waterford airwaves on 8^th September 1989 and Des Whelan is still the managing director.

This recording was made from 88.8 FM on 24^th March 1986 and is of part of a late night show presented by John O’Shea. It is from the Skywave Tapes Collection. Skywave Radio International was a shortwave station broadcasting from Baldoyle in northeast Dublin. Listen here to an interview with Eoin Ronayne about his memories of the pirate WLR.