Panels Archives - Irish Pirate Radio Audio Archive

Panel discussion: Pirate.ie at conference on media archives

Pirate.ie took today took part in an international conference about media and audiovisual archives hosted by the International Federation of Television Archives and the International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives. Due to be held at Trinity College Dublin, the conference took place online due to Covid-19 restrictions.

John Walsh and Brian Greene of Pirate.ie took part in a panel discussion entitled ‘Crystals in the Transmitter: Pirate Radio Archives in Ireland’. Also participating was Sybil Fennell of the great Radio Nova of the 1980s who has written a book about her memories of that exciting time. The panel was convened by Jennifer Vaughn, Senior Digital Librarian at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Carolyn Birdsall, Associate Professor of Media Studies at the University of Amsterdam. There was strong interest in the session, with up to 70 people in attendance.

This is an audio version of the panel discussion.

30th December 201930th December 2019

Panel: Bray Local Broadcasting (BLB)

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Bray Local Broadcasting (BLB) was a pioneer in Irish community radio and spent almost ten years on air from 1979 to 1988. Based in the north Wicklow town, it focused on local speech content and specialist music in contrast with other stations broadcasting pop music. BLB’s innovative approach inspired other stations in Ireland and it also attracted interest in community radio circles abroad. The station broadcast on AM (837 kHz and later 657) and FM and could be heard well beyond Bray in its later years. You can read more about BLB here.

This fascinating panel discussion features three founding members of BLB: Mark Quinn, Michael Gray and Doug Bel-Maguire. The interviewer is Eolann Aitken.

7th January 201916th January 2019

Panel: Donation of pirate radio archive to DCU

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On October 2^nd 2018, it was announced that a large collection of press clippings and other documents and material from the pirate era would be donated to Dublin City University’s Media History Collection. The donation was announced at a press conference in Dublin, organised by broadcast historian Eddie Bohan and Brian Greene of this website. The press conference featured some well-known radio and media people who cut their teeth in pirate radio: Stuart Clarke of Hot Press, Declan Meehan of East Coast FM and Kevin Branigan of Radio Nova. This recording also includes Dr Mark O’Brien of DCU and Eddie Bohan. It was first broadcast on Wireless on Flirt FM.

23rd December 20185th January 2019

Panel: Terry and Dermot Leydon – Northwest Radio

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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. Terry and Dermot Leydon talk to John Walsh about Northwest Radio, a station in Drumshanbo in Co. Leitrim. Northwest broadcast on about 1602 kHz but as Terry and Dermot explain, their transmitter would drift up and down the band as the evening progressed!

23rd December 20187th August 2021

Panel: The Louth Pirates

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Co. Louth was an important county in Irish pirate radio history, with several successful commercial stations often beaming their signals across the border. In this panel discussion on the Louth pirates, Richard McCullen, Michael Hughes and Eddie Caffrey share their memories of the county’s lively pirate scene. Stations featured include Radio Dundalk, Radio Carousel and Boyneside Radio. The interviewer is John Walsh and the discussion was recorded on the 20th of October 2018 at a special event held in Dublin to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the closure of the pirates.