Radio Valleri was one of the long-running Irish shortwave pirates of the 1970s and 1980s. Founded by Mike Anderson and Derek Jones, it began testing in 1972 on 1525 kHz medium wave before moving to short wave. The station became a regular operator on Sunday mornings, one of many such pirates from Ireland in the 49 metre band. There’s a detailed history on the DX Archive pages. One of those involved at the beginning was Arno St Jude (Declan Meehan).
This recording from 1985 is of station jingles, voiced by Brian and Dónal Greene. The frequency announced is 6870 kHz.
Jack Byrne Concord / John Murphy BLB on Dateline Dublin, 337m / 890KHz, Concord Community Radio, 6pm 27 March 1983 – Conor Cullihy presenting.
A programme promoting the politics of community radio. At 30 minutes there is a recording credited to Bray station BLB. The 10 minute piece makes the case for locally owned community radio and explains the other versions of commercial local and state-run community radio that were being considered in Ireland in the early 1980s.
This recording is from the Skywave Tapes Collection. Skywave Radio International broadcast a shortwave station in the 1980s from Baldoyle in northeast Dublin.
890 kHz / 337 metres, Concord Community Radio (Artane/Coolock), 27/03/1983 from 7pm, Boppin’ Billy on air. Billy went on to be manager at North Dublin Community Radio (NDCR), was on Radio Caroline Dublin for 10 years in the 90s, also worked for Beaumont Hospital Radio and these days he is on Dublin City FM on Fridays from midnight to 2am. Still playing rockabilly!
Magic 103 (103.5 FM and 1521 kHz AM) was one of the many short-lived sister stations of Radio Nova, and was on air from Leeson Street in Dublin for a few months in 1985. The station began broadcasting on April 29th and promised ‘easy listening and information for Dublin’. Presenters were journalists, most of whom were in dispute with station owner Chris Cary, and ‘ABC Network News’ was shared between the two stations. Magic 103 was gone by September 22nd, as the Radio Nova empire began to unravel.
This recording is of Mark Weller (Mark Costigan) from 3.25pm on 19 June 1985, featuring a studio discussion about stock car racing, including a forthcoming competition between teams from Radio Nova and Sunshine Radio! There’s also a comedy extract featuring iconic Nova voices such as Bob Gallico, John Clarke and Tony Allan. The 4pm news bulletin shared by both stations features international, Irish and British news. When the simulcast ends there is additional Irish news on Magic 103, evidence that Nova catered to a much larger broadcast area than just Dublin. Mark Costigan went on to work as a journalist for national independent station Radio Ireland/Today FM in the 1990s and 2000s and was eventually appointed Head of Government Information Services.
This recording is from the Skywave Tapes Collection. Skywave Radio International broadcast a shortwave station in the 1980s from Baldoyle in northeast Dublin.
A photo of the studio courtesy of abcradio-dublin.com – location unknown.
ABC Radio was one of the smaller Dublin stations in the early 1980s, on air from November 1st 1981 until the end of May 1984. It was an offshoot of Radio Dublin Channel 2 and began broadcasting from the Ivy Rooms Hotel (now the Gate Hotel) on Parnell Street. The frequency was 1386 kHz (announced as 1385 or 217 metres) but there were problems with another pirate on the same frequency. In April 1982, ABC moved to 963 kHz (312 metres) but was again jammed by another pirate operator, causing a further move to 981 kHz although 963 continued to be announced. ABC was one of only two stations to remain on air following the raids on Radio Nova and Sunshine Radio in May 1983 when it began 24-hour broadcasting in response to listener demand. Anoraks UK reported that it was raided itself in June 1983 due to a harmonic signal in the marine band.
There was a tribute site at www.abcradio-dublin.com but it was offline in 2022. Recordings of the station are not widely available so we’re glad to bring you a selection of station IDs and promos from 1981-3. Sound quality isn’t great, reflecting poor AM transmitters and old cassettes, but the IDs feature the voice of Tony Allan and the aircheck includes Radio Nova’s news bulletin which was being rebroadcast by ABC for a while – a pirate pirating news from another pirate! ABC closed in May 1984 following an unsuccessful move to the disused State Cinema in Phibsboro. The station merged with another small station Westside Radio to become Radio Annabel, which also broadcast from the Ivy Rooms Hotel.
This recording is from the Skywave Tapes Collection. Skywave Radio International broadcast a shortwave station in the 1980s from Baldoyle in northeast Dublin.
