Full recording: Nitesky 96 (Dublin)

Full recording: Nitesky 96 (Dublin)
Nitesky advert in the Sunday World, April 1986 (courtesy Alan MacSimoin collection).

On the 1st of July 1986 Dublin’s Capitol Radio launched a night-time service from 6.00pm called Nitesky 96 which aimed to offer more specialist music shows and talk programmes. For some years previous to this Capitol had specialised in album tracks rather than the latest hits and it moved more and more into the alternative/indie realm with the launch of Nitesky 96. In its later years Capitol/Nitesky ran a popular ‘Alternative Night’ every week at McGonagle’s nightclub in Dublin and it was known for supporting the lively Irish rock and indie scene throughout the 1980s.

This recording from 1755-1840 on the 16th of July 1986 features the switchover from Capitol to Nitesky with Dave Carney (aka Alan Cantwell who would go on to work in licensed local radio and TV3). News at 6.00pm is followed by the evening Magazine Show presented by the station owners Conor Brooks and Stephen Ryan. The music is more MOR rock than indie but Nitesky had plenty of programming showcasing the less mainstream material. The recording was made from 95.8 FM and the audio is distinctive because it lacks processing or compression and gives the full dynamic range of sound including crackle on vinyl records. You can hear Capitol/Nitesky jingles here.

Full recording: Nitesky 96 (Dublin)
Capitol Radio sticker from when the station was still on AM before 1986. Courtesy Alan MacSimoin collection.

This recording is from the Skywave Tapes Collection. Skywave Radio International broadcast a shortwave station in the 1980s from Baldoyle in northeast Dublin.  

Dublin hobby station KFM

Dublin hobby station KFM

KFM was a part-time hobby station broadcasting from Sandyford in south Dublin in 1986. It was run by well-known anorak Gerard Roe who had previously hosted a popular Free Radio Show (FRC) on Radio Annabel and Radio Dublin Channel 2. This recording is from 13th April 1986 from 1420-1505 and features Gerard on air. There is an advert for Anoraks UK and KFM jingles. Frequencies announced are 106 FM and there’s a reference to a test transmission on shortwave on 6240 kHz in the 48 metre band. Gerard shares his memories of KFM:

I had a studio set up in my house that I used for recording and some production – mainly for my own amusement. At one stage I connected it up to a 25 watt FM TX, just for a bit of experimentation at weekends.  A friend living nearby had build an experimental shortwave transmitter and we linked to it for a few weekends (Shamrock Radio International).  This was at the time when I had been off air after Radio Annabel closed and also around the time when I did a few programmes for David Baker at Kiss FM in Foley Street.

The signal from KFM was very local (just around Sandyford/Dundrum), but because of the location height, it also fell down into Bayside where Brian and Dónal Greene were probably the only other two listeners to the station [Brian is co-founder of Pirate.ie]. It didn’t last long, as even I got fed up of having a radio station in the family home. I remember one Sunday morning, after a very late Saturday night before, being woken up to be told that there was a phone call for me, from Brian and Dónal, asking if KFM was coming on air that day. I probably decided then that operating a station from the house wasn’t going to work out in the long run.

That studio was also used in 1988 to record the first programmes for test transmissions from Dublin South Community Radio.  I was involved in the early days of the first management committee and I trained up some of the presenters to go on air for a short pirate run, just before the closure deadline of December 31st.  I did some early weekend mornings programmes on the station for the first very low powered live tests, from a temporary studio assembled in a courtyard off Dundrum Main Street (opposite the original Dundrum shopping center). The station eventually was licensed in 1995 as Dublin’s first community station (now known as Dublin South FM).  By that time, I had started the Anorak  Hour with Simon Maher at Coast FM and was back on air with an FRC format, for the first time in about 11 years (since the closure of Annabel).

That’s about all that can be said for KFM …. and a lesson learnt that there was always someone out there, tuned in with a tape recorder, back in the olden days!

This recording is from the Skywave Tapes Collection. Skywave Radio International broadcast a shortwave station in the 1980s from Baldoyle in northeast Dublin.  

Full recording: LLCR (Dublin)

Full recording: LLCR (Dublin)
LLCR sticker courtesy of DX Archive

Liberties Local Community Radio (LLCR) was launched on the 4th of April 1986 from Weaver’s Square in the heart of the Liberties area of inner-city Dublin. This recording is from 96.7 FM on the 15th of April and is of Des Hogan on the breakfast show from 0852 to 0937. There are jingles and a few commercials including a professionally-made advert for local self-defence and one for Sam’s shop next door to LLCR voiced by the ubiquitous Tony Allan (Sammy Prendergast was the station owner). Des Hogan announces that the next show Workers’ Playtime will be presented by Gerry Ryan (no relation to the RTÉ broadcaster) but slips up and gives his real name, Gerry Marsden, at a later stage. At 0930 there is a half-hour insert of The Fureys and Davie Arthur while ‘technicians work in the studio’.

This recording is from the Skywave Tapes Collection. Skywave Radio International broadcast a shortwave station in the 1980s from Baldoyle in northeast Dublin.  Other LLCR recordings are available here.

Full recording: Q107 (Dublin)

Full recording: Q107 (Dublin)

Q107 was one of many small weekend hobby pirates broadcasting in Dublin in the 1980s. In this undated recording it describes itself as a 24-hour weekend station but then refers to test transmissions on Saturday from midnight to midday. It seems the recording was made on a Thursday morning from 3am until the end of broadcasting. There are generic jingles but no links apart from the sign-off which is followed by the famous pirate theme tune ‘Man of Action’ by Les Reed. Q107 may have been based in Ballyfermot in west Dublin and we estimate this recording to be from 1984 as it is the other side of a tape of Radio Zodiac from that year.

The Anoraks Ireland catalogue includes a recording of Q107 from 1988 and the following account: ‘Ray Brennan, boss at Q107 was reported to be a nephew of the famous Doctor Don. We understand Don provided young Ray with the studio gear which was very basic with Realistic turntables and a Phonic 5 channel mixer. Pity young Ray didn’t make much use of the equipment and the transmitter again courtesy of Uncle Don. Q107 spent most of its 6 weeks off the air and when broadcasting programming it was terrible’. We do not know if this was the same Q107 or another station entirely. Thanks to Ian Biggar for research.

This recording is from the Skywave Tapes Collection. Skywave Radio International broadcast a shortwave station in the 1980s from Baldoyle in northeast Dublin. 

Wonderland Radio from Tallaght in Dublin

Wonderland Radio from Tallaght in Dublin
Flyer for Wonderland Radio courtesy of Ian Biggar, DX Archive.

Wonderland Radio was a community station broadcasting to the suburb of Tallaght in southwest Dublin from 1984 to 1988. According to local newspaper The Tallaght Echo, it was launched on the 12th of May 1984. One of those involved in setting up the station was the late Fr. Joe Cullen, a Dominican priest from Tallaght and Wonderland is yet another example of a community pirate established after the departure of RTÉ’s local radio experiment from the area. The address for most of Wonderland’s existence was a cottage at 3 Greenhills Road but it famously broadcast from the back of an ambulance at one stage. Wonderland was first noted by Anoraks UK on their Ireland tour in October 1984 and is logged a few times on 1359 kHz/220 metres over the following year although the signal on the west coast of England suffered from splatter from Manx Radio on 1368 kHz.

Wonderland’s promotional material used the strapline ‘Tallaght Community Broadcasting’ and changed its name to Tallaght Community Radio in the summer of 1986. The station continued until the end of 1988 on both AM and FM (91.8 MHz) and as the advert below illustrates, shared the ethos of other community broadcasters such as BLB and NDCR. ‘TCR’ was not supposed to be used on air because the full title emphasised the station’s community credentials. Wonderland and Tallaght Community Radio were also popular with radio anoraks because of the Friday night Free Radio Show hosted by Bernard Evans from late 1986. Many of those involved in the station went on to set up the licensed Tallaght FM which was on air from 1999 to 2008. Thanks to Ralph McGarry and Bernard Evans for assistance with research.

Wonderland Radio from Tallaght in Dublin
Advert for Wonderland Radio in the Sunday World, 8th December 1985. Courtesy Alan MacSimoin collection.

This recording from 1206-1252 on 11th December 1985 features the American-sounding presenter John Gummin (possibly an on-air name) with a mixed contemporary and 1960s music style. The recording is from the Skywave Tapes Collection. Skywave Radio International broadcast a shortwave station in the 1980s from Baldoyle in northeast Dublin.