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Interview: Jack Byrne – NDCR

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Interview: Jack Byrne - NDCR

North Dublin Community Radio (NDCR) broadcast from 1982 to 1988 from the north Dublin suburb of Coolock and had a strong community broadcasting ethos. It first aired as Concord Community Radio before changing its name to NDCR. It could be heard on 1008 kHz AM and on 100 FM, abandoning medium wave at a later stage in common with many other stations. In this interview with Wireless on Flirt FM from May 2017, NDCR founder Jack Byrne talks about the early years of the station, the philosophy of community radio and the establishment of NDCR’s licensed successor, NEAR FM. 

Interview: Jack Byrne - NDCR
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Interview: Joe Doyle (Moonlight Radio, NDCR, Ballymun Community Broadcasting, Radio Dublin)

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Interview: Joe Doyle (Moonlight Radio, NDCR, Ballymun Community Broadcasting, Radio Dublin)

This is an interview with Joe Rossa (aka Joe Doyle), a former manager of Radio Dublin for the later part of this station’s history. Joe also recalls his involvement in earlier pirates such as the hobby station Moonlight Radio, community station NDCR and Ballymun Community Broadcasting, which continued until July 1988. The interviewer is Walter Hegarty and the conversation took place at a meeting of radio anoraks in Ballsbridge in October 2018.

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Interview with Bryan Dobson (Southside Radio, Radio Nova)

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Interview with Bryan Dobson (Southside Radio, Radio Nova)
Bryan Dobson’s Nova ID card from 1982 (Pirate.ie collection).

On October 20th 2018 over 100 radio anoraks gathered in the Ballsbridge Hotel Dublin. The purpose was to meet and record oral history of the pirate radio era.  Here RTÉ journalist and broadcaster Bryan Dobson tells Leigh McGowran about his times in Southside Radio and Radio Nova in the early 1980s. Bryan Dobson retired from RTÉ on 3rd May 2024 after over 40 years in the industry.

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Interview: Ken Sheehan speaks about Radio Dublin

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Interview: Ken Sheehan speaks about Radio Dublin
Radio Dublin poster from 1983 (courtesy of DX Archive).

Radio Dublin was the longest running pirate station in Ireland, on air in various guises from 1966 until 2002. It was raided on numerous occasions and was one of a handful of stations to defy the deadline of New Year’s Eve 1988. In its earliest incarnation, it broadcast as ‘Radio Baile Átha Cliath’ every Sunday afternoon from the home of Ken Sheehan. In this interview from 1985, Mike Anderson of shortwave pirate Radio Valleri interviews Ken Sheehan about his involvement in the establishment of Radio Dublin, his views of the station in 1985 and of the pirate radio scene in general at that time. This is from our own collection.

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Interview: Brian Matthews (Community Radio Fingal)

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Interview: Brian Matthews (Community Radio Fingal)
CRF car sticker (courtesy of DX Archive).

Community Radio Fingal broadcast from Swords and then Skerries in north Co. Dublin from 1982 to 1988 and was an example of one of the many community-focused pirates in Ireland. It began with a 300 watt transmitter in Skerries and later moved to the nearby village of Loughshinney where it operated a 1kW rig on 1575 kHz and also broadcast on FM. In this fascinating interview from our own collection, station owner Brian Matthews talks about the history of CRF, its studio and transmitter facilities and provides some amusing anecdotes about presenters and listeners. The recording is undated but was made in 1988.