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Promo: ‘Shout to the Top’ on Bray Local Broadcasting

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Promo: ‘Shout to the Top’ on Bray Local Broadcasting
BLB car sticker (courtesy of DX Archive).

Bray Local Broadcasting (BLB) was one of the leading community broadcasters of the 1980s and put out a strong signal on 657 kHz AM from Bray in Co. Wicklow. In this promo from 1987 which includes the voice of Minister for Communications Jim Mitchell, BLB extols the virtues of community radio in anticipation of the new licences. Although many of those involved in BLB were behind the licensed Horizon Radio in 1989, that station was to merge with another more commercially-focused broadcaster in Wicklow and community radio proper was not licensed until the mid 1990s. You can read more about Horizon Radio on the Wireless Flirt blog.

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Interview: Brian Matthews (Community Radio Fingal)

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Interview: Brian Matthews (Community Radio Fingal)
CRF car sticker (courtesy of DX Archive).

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.

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Aircheck: Radio Annabel FRC

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Aircheck: Radio Annabel FRC
Radio Annabel ad from the Sunday World, 6 January 1985 (Alan MacSimoin collection).

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.

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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.

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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.