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Radio Phoenix was a small Limerick station broadcasting in 1984 and 1985 and linked to other later similar pirates in the city. In a report by Tony Donlon for Contact magazine from the World DX Club on 28th January 1985, Radio Phoenix is listed on 99.4 FM with broadcasting hours from 0730-0000. Tony wrote that the station had previously operated for around eight months as Radio Ormond in Nenagh, Co. Tipperary (November 1983 to end of September 1984). Radio Phoenix went through several name changes over the years including the Limerick Broadcasting Corporation (LBC), Munster Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) and Stereo Radio Munster. In his list of 18th April 1986 in Contact, Tony Donlon includes LBC on 95.5 and 98.5 FM with an address at Blackboy House, Mulgrave Street, Limerick. In a letter to Ian Biggar on 2nd August 1986, Tony wrote that the Munster Broadcasting Corporation had a notorious habit of changing name, previously calling themselves LBC, Nova Limerick and much earlier Radio Phoenix.
The man behind all of these stations was Bernard Rooney, who called himself Will Rogers on air. This recording of Radio Phoenix was made from 99.3 FM on Wednesday 12th December 1984 from 1310-1355 and features Will Rogers himself in his usual lunchtime slot. An AM frequency of 1560 kHz or 190 metres is also announced, but this was in fact the spot claimed by rival Limerick station Big L at the same time. There is no log of Radio Phoenix on anything other than FM so the claim to be on AM also may have been wishful thinking.
This recording is from the Anoraks Ireland Tapes Collection. Thanks to Ian Biggar for background information.