Irish Pirate Radio Audio Archive - Page 18 of 160

25th July 202314th July 2023

Summer breakfast show on Dublin’s Q102

Scott Williams was one of the leading DJs on Dublin super-pirate Q102 (1985-1988) and opened Ireland’s first licensed independent station Capital Radio in July 1989. In this recording from four years earlier, he is heard presenting the Q breakfast with a mix of chart music, the ‘Bits and pieces’ competition and headlines and the newspaper review by Anne Cassin. There are also promos for a £10 giveaway to listeners on the streets of Dublin and for the hospital requests slot each afternoon. Commercial breaks feature the usual mixture of well-known Dublin businesses and agency adverts.

The recording was made from 102 FM from 0726-0811 on Thursday 25^th July 1985. It is from the Anoraks Ireland Tapes Collection donated by Paul Davidson.

15th July 202315th July 2023

Ringo Starr special on Dublin’s Q102

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The Irish-owned Dublin station Q102 was quick to make an impact on the capital’s competitive radio market after its launch in January 1985. As well as a core offering of chart music, the station also had a credible news service, did outside broadcasts and occasionally ran feature programmes. This recording is of one such programme, Ringo’s Yellow Submarine, a US syndicated show presented by Ringo Starr of the Beatles.

Plenty of agency adverts are heard, reflecting Q102’s commercial success, as well as the iconic early jingle package. The recording was made from 102 FM between 1405-1451 on Sunday 14^th July 1985. It is from the Anoraks Ireland Collection, donated by Paul Davidson.

13th July 202314th August 2023

Border series: breakfast on Radio Star Country as heard in Norway

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Today we feature another recording of Monaghan station Radio Star Country made on the western coast of Norway. It features continuous music at breakfast time, including a promo is heard for “your own 24-hour a day country music station from Monaghan to wherever you are” but with no commercial breaks. The fact that there was no live DJ in a peak listening slot underlines how Radio Star Country sometimes failed to provide a core schedule in the post-1989 period.

Audio quality is fair at the beginning but deep fading occurs after about 20 minutes. There is some wobble but it is not clear if this was on the station’s side or is due to the degradation of the tape over time. The receiver is retuned to an unidentified UK AM station at the very end. The recording was made in Solsvik, Norway from 981 kHz between 0755 and 0840 on 29^th October 1994. The receiver used was a Drake SPR-4 with a 200-metre antenna facing southwest. Thanks to Svenn Martinsen for the donation.

4th July 202314th August 2023

Border series: continuous music on Radio Star Country as heard in Norway

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In 1994, Radio Star Country marked six years on air, five of them since the strict new broadcasting regime that was supposed to silence the pirates came into effect. This recording from that year features continuous country music interspersed with station idents. One promo describes Radio Star Country as ‘Your own 24 hour a day country music station from Monaghan to wherever you are’ and indeed thanks to the properties of AM radio propagation, the signal at times travelled well beyond the core listening area along the border and Northern Ireland.

Our recording was made at an unknown time on 14^th February 1994 from 981 kHz in Solsvik on the coast of western Norway. The receiver was a Drake SPR-4 with a 200-metre antenna facing southwest. Audio quality is fair at first with fading and co-channel interference later. The recording is kindly donated by Svenn Martinsen.

3rd July 20233rd July 2023

‘Dance Radio’ on South Coast Radio

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The fluid nature of pirate radio gave breaks to sometimes very young DJs, many of whom went on to carve out careers in broadcasting. John Ashford (real name John Buckley, RIP) was one of the younger part-time presenters on Cork station South Coast Radio, which came on air in spring 1982. Joining South Coast in the summer when he was aged only 19, John presented weekend shows including a Sunday afternoon request programme called ‘Dance Radio’.

In this recording, there are plenty of requests and commercial breaks include local businesses and larger companies. The voices of Siobhán Walls and Hugh Browne (RIP), both of whom went on to have careers in radio, are heard on adverts. Before joining South Coast, John worked in smaller stations Cork City Local Radio and Radio City.

The tape was made from 102.7 FM (announcing 104) on 22nd August 1982. Part 1 above runs from 1614 and Part 2 below from 1700.

Part 2 from 1700.

The recording is from the Anoraks Ireland Tapes Collection, donated to us by Paul Davidson.