Irish Pirate Radio Audio Archive

23rd March 202317th May 2023

Border series: Country Girl Claire on Radio Star Country

There is relatively little coverage of Radio Star Country in local press in Co. Monaghan after the initial warnings and raids in the early 1990s. One bone of contention locally was the relationship between the small number of pirates that remained on the air and the new licensed local station. The licence for Counties Cavan and Monaghan was awarded to Northern Sound Radio, and there are occasional reports about the perceived threat posed by the pirates to the new independent station. The Northern Standard on 7^th January 1993 reported a claim that the pirates were damaging Northern Sound’s revenue. On 28^th January, the paper carried a report that a meeting of the County Council was told that there were still two pirates on air in Co. Monaghan. However, the Standard itself carried an advertisement for Radio Star Country’s religious programme, ‘Showers of Blessings’, on 6^th May 1993, the first of many over the years.

There have been sporadic references over the years in local press to Radio Star Country, often in relation to the station’s involvement in local events, awards or concerts or in the form of advertisements for the growing number of religious programmes. On 17^th July 1997, the Anglo-Celt newspaper in Co. Cavan reported that Radio Star Country was presenting the Ulster Line Dancing Championships, reflecting a popular musical trend at the time. In March 1998, the Northern Standard reported that Radio Star DJs appeared at heats of the Blackwater Talent Contest in northern Monaghan. On 13^th May 1999, the Standard carried an advert for another Christian programme on Radio Star Country and exactly a year later on 13^th May 2000, another advert referred to station DJs at the Cookstown Gala Night in Co. Armagh. Similarly, the Standard of 13^th March 2003 reported that Radio Star Country would provide live coverage of a Special Olympics World Games benefit night from the Lakeside Hotel, Monaghan. On 7^th February 2008, there was a report in the Standard that the Radio Star Music Award would be presented to local musician Tony Cannon at a concert in the Kelly’s Inn Hotel in Omagh. From 2014, the Northern Standard reported an annual live broadcast by Radio Star Country from a vintage rally in Clontibret, Co. Monaghan. On 10^th September 2015, the newspaper reported that Monaghan Vintage Club thanked Radio Star Country, Northern Sound and the Standard for promoting their event – the ironic equivalence between the different types of local media apparently unnoticed!

This recording of Radio Star Country was made on 11^th May 1999, more than a decade after the Monaghan station first defied the new broadcasting laws that were supposed to silence the pirates. On air is Country Girl Claire, who continues to broadcast on the station to this day. News on the hour is from INN in Britain and the recording also includes a Radio Star Country noticeboard. Part 1 of the tape above runs from 1003 and Part 2 below from 1048.

Part 2 from 1048.

The tape was made by Rodney Neill from 981 kHz AM. Many thanks to Ian Biggar for the donation.

18th March 202310th March 2024

Rolling Stones special on Q102

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This recording of Dublin super-pirate Q102 was made on the St. Patrick’s bank holiday in 1985, less than two months after the station went on air. It begins with popular DJ Jason Maine who is wrapping up his morning show. This is followed by a syndicated Spotlight special from the US featuring the Rolling Stones. News on the hour is read by Gary Hamill (Seán McCarthy). Part 1 above runs from 1153 and Part 2 below from 1241.

Part 2 from 1241.

The recording was made from 102 FM on Monday, 18^th March 1985 and is from the Anoraks Ireland Tapes Collection, donated to us by Paul Davidson.

16th March 202313th March 2023

Fergal Owens on the CBC Night Shift

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This recording is of part of the Night Shift programme on CBC (Clonmel Broadcasting Corporation), toward the end of the popular Tipperary station’s seven years on air. DJ Fergal Owens is in flying form despite the late hour and has plenty of chat and music. The day’s broadcasting ends with the national anthem at midnight, which is played at the wrong speed for the first few bars.

The tape was made on 1^st and 2^nd November 1988 from 102.7 FM in mono. CBC also broadcast on 828 kHz AM. It closed down at midnight on New Year’s Eve 1988. This recording is from the Anoraks Ireland Tapes Collection, donated to us by Paul Davidson.

14th March 202317th May 2023

Border series: Radio Star Country’s use of FM

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Although Radio Star Country has long been associated with medium wave only – and remains one of the few stations in Ireland to rely on this band today – the station used both FM link transmitters and higher powered FM rigs in the past. In a letter to Ian Biggar on 15^th July 1991, Sean Brady – who would soon become a presenter on the station – wrote that he believed that Radio Star Country was relaying its 981 AM service on 103.7 MHz FM. A friend of his in Craigavon, Co. Armagh could receive the transmission but Sean could not hear it in Oldcastle, Co. Meath, so he presumed that the signal was being directed northwards. On 22^nd July 1992, Sean wrote to Ian Biggar to say that Radio Star Country was broadcasting from a caravan at Aughagaw, Smithboro, which is situated some ten miles from Monaghan. The link transmitter was on 106.55 MHz with the AM transmitter located about seven miles away. Sean was unsure where exactly the AM transmitter was situated, but thought it was somewhere near the border with Fermanagh.

According to Rodney Neill in a contribution to issue 2 of Playback magazine, Radio Star Country in 1994 turned on a new FM transmitter aimed at Fermanagh and Armagh. It was first noted on 17^th March and was said to be putting out quite a strong signal across the border. This was the first time that Radio Star Country broadcast a high power signal into Northern Ireland since its 103.7 transmitter was removed by a Department of Communications raiding party in the spring of 1991. Between March 1994 and March 1996, Radio Star Country’s studio link was logged by Playback on 106.6 FM and from April 1996 to November 1999, on 105.4. The power on occasion was reported to be 150 watts. In an email to Ian Biggar on 5^th March 2001, Sean Brady reported that Radio Star Country was now broadcasting from a site close to its AM transmitter and used links on 101.2 MHz and 103.7 MHz. They had been heard on air announcing these two frequencies but Sean presumed it must have been very low power as he could not hear the station on FM in Oldcastle, Co. Meath.

On 13^th January 2002, Sean Brady told Ian Biggar that Radio Star Country was now using the world’s first self-contained 100 percent solid state transmitter which produced a 1 kilowatt carrier at any designated frequency in the range 520-1610 kHz, with full redundancy built into a single unit. Some designs have a degree of redundancy built into the power amplifier stage, but the Eddystone B6038E has 100 percent redundancy from the supply to the RF output. Sean wrote that the transmitter was an ex-IBA unit. It was used on 828 kHz medium wave as the main transmitter for Townland Radio (later Gold Beat) in Cookstown, County Tyrone. It apparently took months of long nights and hard work to get the transmitter up and running again and then ages to get it working on 981 kHz. In relation to the Radio Star Country FM transmitters, Sean added that they were both ex-IBA Norsk Marconi transmitters designed by the BBC and licensed to Marconi. 101.2 MHz was the link frequency to the main transmitter on 103.7 MHz. However, after the raids and visits, it was thought best to abandon the transmissions on FM and concentrate on medium wave.

Today’s recording is from 1997 and features DJ Gerry Martin with an afternoon show. Eight years after the pirates were supposedly silenced for good, the station is still carrying a large number of adverts, including a promotion for the Radio Star Country Club in Armagh, a country sports fair in Armagh and linedancing classes in a nightclub in Belfast. There are giveaways of concert tickets and an event sponsored by Radio Star Country in Tyrone. The tape was made on 10^th May 1997 from 981 kHz in Scotland. Part 1 above runs from 1357 and Part 2 below from 1445.

Part 2 from 1445.

Thanks to Ian Biggar for the donation and for assistance with the text.

12th March 202313th March 2023

Pirate.ie proudly supports An Cailín Ciúin

In February 2021, the director and writer of an Irish language film to be known as Fanacht contacted Pirate.ie about using clips from our archive as ‘radio filler’. Colm Bairéad told us that the film was based on Claire Keegan’s novel Foster and set in Louth and Waterford over the summer of 1981. In order to give a flavour of local radio from that era, he said that they would like to use audio of DJs and adverts on Radio Carousel and ABC Radio from the early 1980s. We were more than happy to support this and wrote back to Colm in Irish and English with information about using or adapting the clips.

Two years later and what is now known as An Cailín Ciúin (The Quiet Girl) has become a huge hit in Ireland and across the world and is the most successful Irish language film ever. It received numerous awards and was nominated for the 95^th Academy Awards in the ‘International Feature Film’ category of the Oscars. An Cailín Ciúin is supported by TG4’s Cine4 scheme, an exciting initiative that has boosted several new films in Irish in recent years. Screen Ireland and the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland also provided assistance. Pirate.is is proud to have contributed to the film’s success in a small way and we are delighted that Irish pirate radio audio from our archive has been heard at film festivals and cinemas throughout the world as an authentic representation of the cultural and audio history of Ireland in the 1980s.

To mark the occasion, we have adapted a 1985 poster by the then new Dublin pirate station Q102, which used the tagline ‘the Quiet Storm’ in its early months on air. Q102 was the newest ‘super-pirate’ in the city, a large and professional operation that went on to enjoy commercial success until it closed down at the end of 1988 in line with new broadcasting legislation. An Cailín Ciúin is also ‘an stoirm chiúin’ – the quiet storm – that has taken the cinema world by storm and made (radio) waves in Ireland and abroad.

Déanaimid comhghairdeas ó chroí le Colm Bairéad, an léiritheoir Cleona Ní Chrualaoich agus aisteoirí agus criú uile an tsárscannáin An Cailín Ciúin. Tá ‘stoirm chiúin’ spreagtha agaibh i saol na scannánaíochta agus na Gaeilge in Éirinn agus ar fud na cruinne agus táimid fíorbhródúil asaibh.