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Radio West broadcast from 1982 to 1988 and grew from a local station serving the midlands to a regional station with national aspirations. It re-launched as ‘West National Radio 3’ in 1987 and claimed coverage of 22 counties but in fact the signal was poor or non-existant in many parts of country away from the main transmission site near Mullingar.
This recording was made on a Friday night a fortnight before Radio West closed down at the end of 1988. It consists of continuous music interspersed with station idents and jingles. There are occasional interruptions suggesting that this may be a pre-recorded tape, although it would be surprising that a live DJ would not be on air at that time of the day. Of particular interest is the opening song, ‘Leave the stations on the airwaves’ by Chuck, June and the Gamblers which complained about the impending closedown of the pirates.
The tape is from the Anoraks Ireland Collection and was made from Radio West’s Dublin relay on 97.3 FM between 2010-2056 on Friday 16th December 1988. The station also broadcast on 702 kHz AM and various low-power FM relays. The final show was hosted by country music veteran DJ Don Allen (RIP) on 30th December 1988.