Open Free Radio Archive
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Walter Hegarty talks to Ralph McGarry about his memories of visiting Wonderland Radio/Tallaght Community Radio as a teenager in the 1980s. Ralph then describes how he worked in the 1990s pirates before becoming involved in the licensed community station Tallaght FM which went on the air in 1999.
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Centre Radio (94.2 FM from Bayside in northeast Dublin) was one of the few stations to remain on air until the final deadline of midnight on the 31 st of December. In this recording Bobby Gibbson (Brian Greene) and Dave Evans (Eamonn Roe) discuss who is still on air in the early hours of the morning of the 31st . We then hear another bandscan from just before 0800 and a very optimistic prediction about the availability of new licences in 1989. You can read about the history of Centre here.
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On October 20th 2018 over 100 radio anoraks gathered in the Ballsbridge Hotel Dublin. The purpose was to meet and record oral history of the pirate radio era. In this interview, Walter Hegarty talks to Paul Downes about his time as DJ at Radio City on Capel Street. Radio City went on the air in late 1979 and broadcast on 1145, 1161 and 1165 kHz.
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The engineers who kept radio stations on air are sometimes overlooked in the history of the pirate era from 1978-1988. In this interview, Gerry Reilly, a radio engineer from Co. Cavan, talks about the many engineering jobs that he did for pirates throughout Ireland. Gerry worked on transmitters for almost 50 stations including Kandy Radio, Galway District Radio (GDR), Hometown Radio, Big M, Erneside, NWCR, CCR, Breffni Radio, Midwest Radio. East Coast Radio (Louth), Melvin Radio, Radio North, Riverside Radio, Boyneside Radio, DCR Letterkenny, Radio West, Rainbow Radio, Star Radio, North Star, KISS FM, KITS, North Atlantic Radio and many more.
The interview was conducted by Walter Hegarty on October 20th 2018, when over 100 radio anoraks gathered in the Ballsbridge Hotel in Dublin. The purpose was to meet and record oral history of the pirate radio era.
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Heartbeat FM was a popular love song station in Dublin broadcasting from 1986 until the end of 1988 on 95.5 FM. The station changed its name to Cara 95 for a few months in 1987 but reverted to Heartbeat. It was an example of one of the niche stations of the era and featured a format that would be copied in later years by Radio Dublin. Heartbeat returned as a pirate in the 1990s and was awarded a temporary licence in the 1990s.
These recordings of Heartbeat from the Pirate.ie collection from 30th August 1988 include links by John Keogh and Maurice Nevin (RIP), adverts, jingles and news.