Irish Pirate Radio Audio Archive

30th December 20187th August 2021

Interview: Brian Matthews (Community Radio Fingal)

Community Radio Fingal broadcast from Swords and then Skerries in north Co. Dublin from 1982 to 1988 and was an example of one of the many community-focused pirates in Ireland. It began with a 300 watt transmitter in Skerries and later moved to the nearby village of Loughshinney where it operated a 1kW rig on 1575 kHz and also broadcast on FM. In this fascinating interview from our own collection, station owner Brian Matthews talks about the history of CRF, its studio and transmitter facilities and provides some amusing anecdotes about presenters and listeners. The recording is undated but was made in 1988.

30th December 201818th September 2022

Aircheck: Radio Annabel FRC

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Dublin station Radio Annabel featured a popular weekly Free Radio Campaign programme presented by Gerard Roe. This recording from 1985 features an interview with Chris Cary taken from Radio Nova in which he criticises the notion of community radio. It is followed by a reference to a newspaper article about one of the failed attempts to introduce legislation to regulate the radio sector during the 1980s.

30th December 20185th January 2019

Interview: Patricia Loughlan (DXer)

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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. We hear a lot from the broadcasters but it is rare to hear from the listeners of the era. The hardcore listeners were DXers (listening in to faint distant signals or as Patricia puts it, trainspotting for radio). Here Patricia Loughlan from Raheny tells you her story and listening to covert stations from Santry to behind the Iron Curtain to Australia.

30th December 20185th January 2019

Interview: Brian Kelly – Southside / DLR / Energy AM

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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, Brian Kelly tells Leigh McGowran about his pirate radio past in Dublin and Wicklow and explains the reasons why he is keeping AM radio alive.

30th December 201813th March 2022

Interview: Ken O’Sullivan (WKLR, Capitol Nitesky)

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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. Ken O’Sullivan worked at pirates in Cork (WKLR and Capital Radio) in the 1980s and is still working in radio today with LMFM. Here is his story.