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Interview: Ger Sweeney (Limerick and Galway stations)

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Interview: Ger Sweeney (Limerick and Galway stations)
Ger in Hits 954 in 1987 or 1988. Image courtesy of Ger Sweeney.

We’ve covered the Limerick pirate scene regularly in this archive and there’s no doubt that despite its size, Limerick punched above its weight in radio terms during the pirate era. We’re delighted to bring you an interview with Ger Sweeney who worked in many of the city’s stations from the early 1980s.

Interview: Ger Sweeney (Limerick and Galway stations)
Programme schedule from 1984 for Raidió Luimní. Image courtesy of Ger Sweeney.

Ger began broadcasting when only 13 years old on Raidió Luimní run by the popular character John ‘The Man’ Frawley from 1978 to 1988. Raidió Luimní was a community station with a difference featuring local characters, death notices and all sorts of eclectic programming.

Interview: Ger Sweeney (Limerick and Galway stations)
John ‘The Man’ Frawley of Raidió Luimní. Image courtesy of Eddie Bohan.

Ger moved to City Centre Radio (CCR) in 1985 where production standards were higher and the emphasis was on pop music. He switched to Hits 954 in 1987, a slicker station featuring many former Radio Caroline presenters. His final stint with pirate radio was with Coast 103 in Galway up to the closedown at the end of 1988. The interviewer is John Walsh.

Interview: Ger Sweeney (Limerick and Galway stations)
Ger Sweeney in CCR in 1985 or 1986. Image courtesy of Ger Sweeney.

Ger went on to work in licensed local stations Clare FM and Radio Limerick One. You can hear a documentary about the Limerick pirates here and another interview about Limerick pirate history here.

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Interview: Dave Reddy (Radio Sandymount)

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Interview: Dave Reddy (Radio Sandymount)
L-R Dave Reddy, Fergus Murray, David Baker and Charlie Sheehan at Radio Sandymount (courtesy Dave Reddy).

In this interview, Dave Reddy recalls his involvement in ARD (Alternative Radio Dublin) and Radio 257 at the end of the 1970s. Dave would go to to establish what would today be called ‘pop-up’ community stations, starting with Radio Sandymount in 1982.

Radio Sandymount went on air as part of a community festival in that area and Dave Reddy explains that the model was soon to be requested by community groups elsewhere, leading to similar short-term stations in Ringsend, Donnybrook and Wicklow. Dave was also founder of the first Christmas station Radio Snowflake, which is now run by David Baker who himself broadcast on the 1980s pop-up stations and many other pirates.

The interviewer is Eolann Aitken. You can listen to recordings of Radio Donnybrook here.

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Panel: Bray Local Broadcasting (BLB)

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Panel: Bray Local Broadcasting (BLB)
BLB car sticker (courtesy DX Archive)

Bray Local Broadcasting (BLB) was a pioneer in Irish community radio and spent almost ten years on air from 1979 to 1988. Based in the north Wicklow town, it focused on local speech content and specialist music in contrast with other stations broadcasting pop music. BLB’s innovative approach inspired other stations in Ireland and it also attracted interest in community radio circles abroad. The station broadcast on AM (837 kHz and later 657) and FM and could be heard well beyond Bray in its later years. You can read more about BLB here.

This fascinating panel discussion features three founding members of BLB: Mark Quinn, Michael Gray and Doug Bel-Maguire. The interviewer is Eolann Aitken.

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Interview: Kildare pirates

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Interview: Kildare pirates

Despite its proximity to Dublin, Kildare had its own pirate stations down the years, including Radio Cill Dara (Naas), Kildare Community Radio (Naas) and KLB Community Radio (Newbridge). In this interview, Liam Kett and Anthony McAllister reminisce about their involvement in Kildare stations as well as a stint spent at Radio Dublin. They recall that in the early years, there were fall-back transmitters and premises across the county in the case of raids and they remind us that high-profile RTÉ broadcasters Ray D’Arcy and Ronan Collins cut their teeth in the Kildare stations. Liam Kett is now a presenter on the local Kildare station KFM.

The interviewer is Eolann Aitken and the interview was recorded at a meet-up organised by Pirate.ie in Dublin in 2018 to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the closedowns.

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Aircheck: remix of Gay Byrne Show announcing legalisation of radio

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This recording is a remix of the Gay Byrne Show on RTÉ Radio 1 from 17 October 1988, the day that the newly-established Independent Radio and Television Commission published advertisements for the first independent radio licences designed to put the pirates off the air. Byrne seems dismissive of the initiative which would of course threaten his show’s dominance in the market, and appears to be imitating a folksy but clumsy pirate radio presenter. His kitsch portrayal of an amateur local pirate is part of Byrne’s theatre of the mind and evokes stereotypical illegal broadcasters of an earlier era. 

Gay Byrne’s voice, remixed by Brian Greene with Queen’s Radio Gaga, was broadcast on Centre Radio in Bayside, Dublin 13 at the end of 1988 up to the closedown.

RIP Gay. Your voice was part of the soundtrack of our youth during the pirate era.