Jingles Archives - Page 9 of 10 - Irish Pirate Radio Audio Archive

31st December 20184th December 2022

Signal 106 from south Dublin

Signal 106 was a hobby station from the southside of Dublin which broadcast at the end of the pirate era. It was set up at Christmas 1978 by the youthful Kevin Branigan and Mike Ormonde and broadcast from Rathfarnham then and during the following summer holidays, returning for a final run at Christmas 1988. Because its antenna was on a height, Signal got out well despite its low power on 106 FM, as indicated by the good reception across the city in Bayside where these recordings were made.

In the first clip we hear Graham Turner (aka Justin Leonard) and Dave Adams (aka Andrew Mangan). The top of the hour jingle is by Seán Ashmore who did many station idents in the late 1980s. The second and third clips feature Graham Turner. The date is 29^th December 1988, the day before Signal closed down. These recordings are from the Pirate.ie collection.

Clip 1

Clips 2 and 3

30th December 20187th August 2021

Jingles and promo: Sunshine Radio Review

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The Dublin super-pirate Sunshine Radio published several editions of a magazine to keep in touch with its listeners. A form of multimedia in the pre-internet age, the first Sunshine Radio Review was published after it was raided and closed down temporarily in 1983, as a way of keeping in touch with its listeners. Here is a promo for another edition of the Review from 1985 to mark the station’s 5^th birthday.

30th December 20187th August 2021

Jingles: KLAS 98

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The Dublin pirates were not all about pop and some stations served niche audiences or specific demographics. One station playing easy listening and classical music was KLAS which broadcast on 98.5 FM from late 1986 until the end of 1988. The station was established by Radio Carousel boss Hugh Hardy from his home in the suburb of Sutton but after a change in management it changed its name slightly to Class Radio and moved to the city centre.

This recording features the initial set of KLAS jingles. More information about KLAS is available here.

30th December 20187th August 2021

Promo: ‘Shout to the Top’ on Bray Local Broadcasting

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Bray Local Broadcasting (BLB) was one of the leading community broadcasters of the 1980s and put out a strong signal on 657 kHz AM from Bray in Co. Wicklow. In this promo from 1987 which includes the voice of Minister for Communications Jim Mitchell, BLB extols the virtues of community radio in anticipation of the new licences. Although many of those involved in BLB were behind the licensed Horizon Radio in 1989, that station was to merge with another more commercially-focused broadcaster in Wicklow and community radio proper was not licensed until the mid 1990s. You can read more about Horizon Radio on the Wireless Flirt blog.

22nd December 201814th June 2022

Jingles: Radio Dublin

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Radio Dublin was Ireland’s longest running pirate radio station. It broadcast from 1966 until 2002 and was at its peak in the early to mid 1980s on 253m/1188KHz and 6910 kHz shortwave. Here are a number of station idents and jingles from our collection, beginning above with two iconic 253 jingles from the late 1970s.

The clip below is a top-of-the-hour jingle from 1988. The FM transmitter had moved to 105 but Radio Dublin was still announcing 98.8.

Radio Dublin relayed other stations frequently during its long existence including World Music Radio. After midnight on 1st January 1989 when it defied the new law, it relied on WMR tapes for the first few days before resuming live programming. Here’s a WMR promo from 1987.