Irish Pirate Radio Audio Archive

3rd February 202317th May 2023

Border series: ‘305, keeping the country music alive’

Radio Star Country has always been a champion of country music and during the heady days of early 1989, it used the tagline ‘305, keeping the country music alive’, a reference to its wavelength in metres, roughly equivalent to 981 kHz. On 3^rd March 1989, veteran country music artist Vernon Oxford, who hails from Arkansas, was featured in an edition of ‘Arena’ on BBC2, in which he travelled around Northern Ireland. Vernon Oxford also visited Radio Star Country in the Swan Lake Hotel in Monaghan, where station owner Gerry Byrne interviewed him and offered Vernon the opportunity to sing live on-air. It was at this time, in March 1989, that it was noted that Radio Star Country was enjoying a successful period, with an excellent (daytime) signal on 981 kHz, plenty of advertisements and strongly featured station promos. Around this time also, ex-Kiss FM (Monaghan) DJ John Friday (also known as Lawrence John) was heard voicing adverts on Radio Star Country.

On the morning of Friday 17^th March 1989, Radio Star Country was noted off-air, apparently as a result of a visit from officials from the Department of Communications. The station was warned that it would be raided and closed down if it did not cease transmissions. Radio Star Country did switch off its transmitter for a time, but returned later.

Ian Biggar, who donated many recordings for this series, shares his memories of Radio Star Country:

In late July 1988, myself and Ken Baird were on a flying visit to Monaghan Town but of course made time to visit the radio stations operating at that time. Radio Star Country was one of the four and was located in the Swan Lake Hotel. It was very much typical of the mid-range stations of the time with domestic equipment in the studio, but generally was a nice little set up.

To be honest, after that visit I probably didn’t listen to the station again as country music wasn’t really my thing and tended to tune to such stations just to check they were there. Radio Star Country had a decent signal at home in southwest Scotland initially on 927 kHz, then 891 and finally on 981 kHz where it remains to this day.

That all changed on January 1^st 1989 when the new broadcasting law was introduced in Ireland. I can clearly remember that Sunday morning and tuning across the now deserted medium wave. On 1188 kHz there was just a mess with a distorted relay of World Music Radio. Surprisingly, 846 kHz was silent as it was rumoured that of all the stations, Radio North from Carndonagh was most likely to defy the legislation. However, tuning to 891 kHz I was surprised and pleased to hear that Radio Star Country was on the air. I don’t think I had heard any rumblings about Star remaining on air, but there it was. It was around 10am and a taped programme was running and I can clearly remember one of the commercials wishing the station all the best for its continuation on air. From then on, I probably listened to the station most days whilst driving to work. I would tune between Star, Radio Dublin and Radio North which had returned to the air.

There were times when Radio Star Country was off air and I would always monitor the channel until they returned, which it always did! I remember one occasion in particular after a break that Gerry Byrne announced the station was now broadcasting from County Tyrone. This was for the benefit of the authorities and the station remained located in north Monaghan. I had now developed an affinity for the station. Yes, the music wasn’t to my taste, but the sheer determination to survive appealed to me.

In this recording from March 1989, Gerry Byrne is on air and the ‘305’ tagline is heard. The voice of popular Canadian country DJ Don Allen (RIP), who joined around this time, features on some of the many adverts from both sides of the border. Audio quality is poor on some commercials, possibly due to a dirty cassette deck. There are also community notices, a promo for ‘All-American Country’ coming up at 3pm and information about transport to a country music concert in Dublin.

The recording was made from 981 kHz on 1^st March 1989. Part 1 above runs from 1430-1517 and Part 2 below from 1518-1603.

The recording was made by Rodney Neill and is from the Anoraks Ireland Collection, donated to us by Paul Davidson. Thanks to Ian Biggar for the donation and to Sean Brady for assistance with the text.

1st February 20231st February 2023

Big D Automated – an idea ahead of its time

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Big D Automated was an experimental service established in 1982, after Big D itself ceased to be a commercial station with live DJs. Set up by station founder James Dillon, Big D Automated consisted only of continuous music interspersed with a modest amount of adverts and robotic sounding station idents. Broadcasting on AM and FM, Big D Automated had petered out by the end of 1982.

The continuous music format was a concept ahead of its time, especially when considered in the light of widespread audio automation today. However, it was no match for the new large commercial operators that were well established in Dublin by 1982. This recording was made on 21^st February 1982 from 102 FM. Part 1 above runs from 1420 and Part 2 below from 1508.

Part 2 from 1508.

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

30th January 202329th January 2023

Drivetime on Big D

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This is a recording of the evening drivetime show on Dublin pirate Big D as it began to decline towards the end of 1981. Aidan Cooney is on air from the studios in South Richmond Street in the city centre and takes calls from listeners entering a quiz. The voice of the late Tony Allan is heard on some of the adverts, but commercials are relatively thin on the ground given the time of day. By this time, the Dublin radio market had been shaken up by the arrival of the larger and more professional Sunshine Radio and Radio Nova and the days of pioneering 1970s stations such as Big D were numbered. The station would be relaunched as Big D Automated in 1982, playing continuous music only, but it was gone by the end of the year.

The recording was made on 21^st September 1981 from 1116 kHz, announced as 273 metres. Part 1 above runs from 1747-1832 and Part 2 below from 1840-1925.

Part 2 from 1840.

Audio quality is fair with variable levels and increasing co-channel interference as darkness falls. Our tape is from the Anoraks Ireland Collection, donated to us by Paul Davidson.

29th January 202317th May 2023

Border series: Radio Star Country claims coverage of 15 counties

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On Monday 6^th February 1989, Radio Star Country left the air on 981 kHz as a result of stormy weather and torrential rain causing the mast to fall down. The station returned to the air on the evening of Tuesday 7^th February. On the morning of Wednesday 8^th February, the station claimed that it was broadcasting from County Tyrone, although by the afternoon, the Swan Lake Hotel in Monaghan Town was mentioned. The reference to Tyrone was no doubt to give the impression that the station was not in breach of the Republic’s new broadcasting laws but Radio Star Country was never in fact located in the North. The previous week it had said that it was broadcasting from its AM transmitter site in Emyvale, Co. Monaghan, close to the border. It was also noted at this time that Radio Star Country’s signal on 981 kHz was reaching into the north-west of the UK much better than its previous efforts on 891 kHz.

This recording was made on 9^th February 1989 from 981 kHz and features station founder Gerry Byrne with small ads, a birthday file and star signs. Plenty of adverts are aired for local businesses on both sides of the border, some of them voiced by Don Allen who is to present a show later. There are references to both the Swan Lake Hotel and Tyrone as the station’s locations. Another promo claims that Radio Star Country is broadcasting to 15 counties including all of Northern Ireland and a population of three million people.

We thank Sean Brady for his assistance with the text and Ian Biggar for the donation of the recording. Part 1 above runs from 0819 and Part 2 below from 0905.

Part 2 from 0905.

The tape was recorded in Scotland and features daytime groundwave reception with some electrical interference.

23rd January 202319th January 2023

Launch of new Dublin super-pirate Q102

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These recordings are of the launch of the new Dublin super-pirate Q102, that began broadcasting on Wednesday 23^rd January 1985. The station shook up the competitive Dublin radio market, offering another professional music-based station for listeners and introducing innovative features such as Eye in the Sky, traffic news reported from a helicopter flying over the city. The first recording above starts at 1613 and is of the countdown to the launch, featuring continuous music and promos. The second part below is from 1701.

Part 2 from 1701.

The next recordings begin at 1850 and include the official launch at 1900 with a Cold War-style promo voiced by Lawrence John, one of the original station founders. He is followed by Jason Maine until 2000 and then John Kenny with the night-time show. There are some comedy-style commercials but no actual advertisements.

Part 3 from 1850 including launch.

Part 4 from 1935.

The next recording begins at 2018 and includes more of John Kenny’s programme. The cassette was damaged and only the first 40 minutes has been digitised.

Part 5 from 2018.

The final recording begins at 2302 and features John Kenny with a more relaxed late night sound.

Part 6 from 2302.

These recordings were all made from 102 FM and are from the Anoraks Ireland Collection, donated to us by Paul Davidson. The first 90 minutes of Q102, including the launch, were recorded originally by Kieran Murray. Q102 closed down on 30^th December 1988 at 1800.