An ad for Capitol Radio in Hot Press magazine, Christmas 1984 (Alan MacSimoin collection).
Capital or Capitol Radio was a common name for Irish pirates in the late 1970s and 1980s but the Dublin station specialising first in album and later in indie music was one of the best known. On air from 1983 to the end of 1988 it went through a number of format changes, including launching a night-time specialist sister station Nitesky 96 on 1st July 1986. From then on Capitol-Nitesky established a reputation as a leading promoter of the lively Dublin alternative and indie music scene. It also ran the ‘Alternative Night’ every Thursday at McGonagle’s nightclub on South Anne Street.
This recording was made from 1035 kHz AM from 1335-1420 on 28th April 1984. This was the period when Capitol was marketing itself as an ‘album station’ but in fact a variety of styles can be heard. The presenter is Dave Kelly who worked previously in ARD and KELO and would go on to the super-pirate Q102 after its launch in 1985. News is read by Miriam Fitzsimons and one of Capitol’s owners, Stephen Ryan, can be heard voicing the Sunday World ad.
This recording is from the Skywave Tapes Collection. Skywave Radio International broadcast a shortwave station in the 1980s from Baldoyle in northeast Dublin.
Heartland Pirates publicity image (courtesy of Irena Djak Cvetkovic, Athlone Community Radio).
We are delighted to host a documentary about the 1980s pirates in and around Athlone, Co. Westmeath with the kind permission of Athlone Community Radio.
‘Heartland Pirates’ was originally broadcast on 2nd November 2020 from 1700-1755 and features stations such as Signal 102, Midland Radio and Radio Carol Ann. Among those taking part are many of those involved in the original Athlone pirates including Pete Casey, TR Dallas, Noel Lackey, Roy Jennings, Peter Mooney, Geraldine O’Sullivan, Barry Flynn, Val Beaumont and Gerry O’Reilly. Our own interview with Gerry is available here.
‘Heartland Pirates’ was edited and produced by Athlone Community Radio manager Irena Djak Cvetkovic. The documentary was supported by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland with the television licence fee. For further information, click here.
ABC was one of the big stations of the southwest and broadcast from 1982 to 1988 first from Tramore and later Waterford City. It expanded to cover the entire southeast on both AM and FM, the main frequencies being 1026 kHz and 101 MHz. This recording was made from 101 FM from 1303-1348 on 9th November 1985 and features Dave Windsor on air from Monte Carlo in Monaco. The show identifies both ABC and Monte Carlo station Riviera 104 but carries only ads for businesses in Monaco which must have sounded strange to listeners in the southeast of Ireland. The programme also plugs the World Tax Free Exhibition in Nice extensively so would appear to be sponsored. As well as working on ABC, Dave Windsor also did stints on other Irish stations Sunshine Radio and Cork City Local Radio. We thank Ian Biggar for additional information.
This recording is from the Skywave Tapes Collection. Skywave Radio International broadcast a shortwave station in the 1980s from Baldoyle in northeast Dublin.
We’re delighted to announce the first episode of our new series of the Pirate.ie podcast. In this series, John Walsh and Brian Greene will discuss various aspects of Irish pirate radio history. We’ll have interviews with those who were involved in pirate radio and also bring you commentary on different types of stations from around the country.
Episode #1 is a discussion of the significance of the Irish pirate radio era of 1978-1988 which we are currently featuring in depth on Pirate.ie. The analysis is based on our recent article in the Journal of Radio and Audio Media which examined the political, economic, social, cultural and technological importance of the pirates for the Irish radio sector.
Advert for Rainbow Radio from August 1987, reproduced from the Sunday World by Anoraks UK Weekly Report.
Rainbow Radio was one of several Co. Louth stations which placed transmitters beside the border in order to beam their signals into the North. It was set up by former Boyneside Radio North staff ‘Big O’, aka Oliver McMahon and the late Eugene Markey, onetime Chairman of Newry Council. Rainbow began broadcasting on 2nd of August 1987 from a disused pigsty beside a furniture warehouse in Carrickcarnon right on the border. The musical style was country and Irish as was common on many rural pirate stations at the time. Rainbow’s AM frequency was 1152 kHz with about 500 watts of power, using a rig built by Eddie Caffrey of Boyneside Radio. For approximately a year, 96.1 FM was also used.
An advert for Rainbow in the Sunday World Northern Ireland edition in August 1987 (see above) used the slogan ‘the station of the stars’ and listed presenters Big O, Eugene Markey, Tommy Ballance, Leon and Danny Doran and Jeff T. Telephone numbers for Warrenpoint and Newry were given, reflecting the fact that Rainbow was aiming at the south Armagh and south Down market.
Editions of the Anoraks UK Weekly Report from the time mention confusion between Rainbow Radio and another Louth station, Radio Rainbow International, a hobby shortwave operation set up by Eddie Caffrey near Drogheda. Attempts were made to get the new Rainbow to change its name but this was said to be impossible as they had already printed promotional material.
Due to the proximity of the transmitter sites of Radio Carousel, Boyneside North and Rainbow in Carrickcarnon, there were frequent reports of mixing of signals. In December 1987, Weekly Report reported fierce competition between the three stations when new FM transmitters were installed. In July 1988, Rainbow Radio was reported as being audible in Belfast on 96.1 FM, but the station was forced to move frequencies in November when BBC Radio 1 installed a new FM transmitter for Belfast on 96.0. Rainbow moved to 98.5, blocking out the signal of easy listening station CLASS which could be heard from Dublin.
In its final months of existence, Rainbow ran regular outside broadcasts on Saturday and Sunday evenings which were said by Anoraks UK to be very popular. They closed shortly after 3pm on the 31st of December 1988 with the presenters signing Auld Lang Syne.
The recording above is the of the launch of Rainbow Radio on 2nd August 1987 and features Big O and Eugene Markey on air. It was made in Portadown about 45 km from Carrickcarnon and the signal is fairly weak with variable audio levels. The second recording below is of Big O near the end of Rainbow’s existence on 29th December 1988 from 0918-1000. It was recorded from 98.5 FM.
Many thanks to Rodney Neil and Ian Biggar for these recordings.
