Irish Pirate Radio Audio Archive

22nd January 202412th January 2024

Sunday morning on Waterford Local Radio

By the mid-1980s, Waterford Local Radio (WLR) was well established as one of the most popular and successful local stations in Ireland. This recording gives a flavour of Sunday programming on the station from the summer of 1986. Of note is the large number of adverts, including one for Ryanair flights from Waterford Airport to London. The first part features the Sunday breakfast show with Paul Power between 0800-0848. He is followed by Tony Weldon from 1012-1100. Community notices are read by Tommy O’Keeffe.

The tape was made from 88.9 FM on 13^th July 1986 and is from the Anoraks Ireland Collection, donated to us by Paul Davidson. WLR also broadcast on 1197 kHz (252 metres) and stayed on air until the end of 1988.

19th January 20247th August 2024

Northeast series: Summer shows on Boyneside Radio

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This recording features excerpts from two shows on Boyneside Radio from Co. Louth in the summer of 1984. Boyneside was 6 years on the air at this stage and had grown into one of the largest regional radio stations in Ireland, with its main studios in Drogheda. The tape begins with an aircheck of Declan McGowan’s Saturday night show between 2000-2130 on 11^th August 1984. Requests are heard from both sides of the border along with plenty of adverts and a few clunky chopped-up jingles. Declan began presenting on Boyneside in 1982 when he was just 15 and he remained with the station until it closed at the end of 1988.

This is followed by an aircheck of Daire Nelson’s breakfast show from 0745-0930 on Monday 13^th August 1984. Some of the comments are a bit off by today’s standards but the recording also underlines Daire’s real talent as a broadcaster. News is read by Shane Harrison, who went off to work for BBC Northern Ireland. The tape was recorded from 98.1 FM by Kieran Murray and is part of the Anoraks Ireland Tapes Collection. Audio quality is generally very good but there is a buzz at the start, which may have been due to an issue with the recording device.

16th January 202415th January 2024

Northeast series: Radio Carousel Navan as heard in Donegal

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Radio Carousel Navan was one of four stations in the Carousel network at its height in the early 1980s. The original Dundalk operation was set up by the late Hugh Hardy in 1978 and later expanded to satellite stations for Drogheda (Co. Louth), Navan (Co. Meath) and Newry (Co. Armagh and Co. Down), with a short-lived experiment in Castleblayney (Co. Monaghan). The Navan station had a high-profile location in the middle of the town’s shopping centre. Hugh Hardy began winding down the Carousel network from late 1987 and the Navan station was the last to close in June 1988.

This recording of Radio Carousel Navan was made by from 1386 kHz by station manager Kieran Murray while on holidays in Carrick, Co. Donegal, about 170km to the northwest. As expected, the signal is weak but is nonetheless an interesting example of daytime groundwave reception on a busy pirate frequency, shared with Kilkenny Community Radio and North Cork Community Radio. The Carousel AM transmiter was situated in the Navan shopping centre and ran about 400 watts. On air is Tina Anderson (Christine Reilly) with a requests programme and the voices of Kieran Murray and another DJ Mike Ahern (Richard McCullen) are heard on adverts.

The tape was made from about 1100 on 3^rd July 1984 and is from the Anoraks Ireland Collection, donated to us by Paul Davidson.

15th January 202412th January 2024

Sunday night oldies on Waterford Local Radio

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Early WLR logo (courtesy Colin Kennedy).

This recording is of John O’Shea with a Sunday night oldies show on the popular southeast station Waterford Local Radio (WLR), which broadcast from 1978-1988. The programme includes requests from listeners, lost and found notices, a competition and a featured artist. Plenty of adverts are aired for businesses in Waterford and surrounding towns. Sound quality is generally good but there is some variation in audio levels, especially during commercial breaks. John O’Shea continues to broadcast on the licensed WLR FM today. In this recording, he is followed by Conor Halpin with the Guilty but Insane show.

Sunday night oldies on Waterford Local Radio — Original cassette label from Anoraks Ireland Collection.

The tape was recorded from 99.9 FM between 2044 and 2216 on 8^th August 1982. WLR also broadcast on 88.8 FM and 1197 kHz (252 metres). The recording is from the Anoraks Ireland Tapes Collection, donated to us by Paul Davidson.

12th January 20247th January 2024

CAU FM moves frequency

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CAU FM broadcast from the southside of Dublin for about 9 months between November 1987 and July 1988. Its origins were in a series of hobby stations in the Foxrock area set up by Locky Butler, which later became Phoenix FM. CAU was supposed to stand for ‘clutterfree and you’, reflecting the continuous music style pioneered by Radio Nova. Other Nova influences can be heard in this recording, including an echo on the DJ’s voice and a holiday giveaway virtually identical in style to a similar promotion used by Nova and KISS FM earlier in the decade. CAU had a professional signal across the city and used a slick jingle package. It was sold to the religious station Hope FM in the summer of 1988.

CAU FM moves frequency — Original cassette label from Anoraks Ireland Collection.

CAU began broadcasting on 103.5 FM but moved up to 104.2 during this recording. DJ Tom Browne announces the change, which is designed to improve the station’s signal. At about 15 minutes in, the transmitter leaves the air and another station, Liberty 104 is heard – it would take over the 103.5 FM slot. Competition for frequencies was fierce in the unregulated pirate scene of the 1980s and smaller stations often had to move position if bigger players claimed more advantageous slots on the dial.

The tape was made on 26^th March 1988 from 1149-1326 and is from the Anoraks Ireland Tapes Collection, donated to us by Paul Davidson.