Easy listening on KLAS 98

Easy listening on KLAS 98
KLAS car sticker (Alan MacSiomoin Collection)

KLAS 98 (later Class Radio) was an easy-listening music station serving Dublin from November 1986 until the end of 1988. Set up by Hugh Hardy, founder of the popular Dublin station Radio Carousel, KLAS stood out in a market dominated by chart music pirates vying for the youth audience. Aimed more at poaching listeners from RTÉ Radio 1 than Radio 2, KLAS broadcast a range of middle-of-the-road music and also featured jazz and classical. It was was first based in a garage behind Hugh Hardy’s home in the northeastern suburb of Sutton, before moving to the city centre in 1987.

Easy listening on KLAS 98
Car sticker from 1988 (Anoraks Ireland Collection)

KLAS was later sold to businessman John May and rebranded as Class Radio. Many high-profile presenters passed through its doors including David Baker, Pat Courtenay, Bryan Lambert, Chris Barry and Suzanne Duffy. Co-founder of Pirate.ie John Walsh was also a presenter and newsreader. In 1989, Class Radio was involved in an unsuccessful application for one of the Dublin licences.

Easy listening on KLAS 98
Original cassette label from Anoraks Ireland Collection.

Our recording is of the early days of KLAS when the station was based in Sutton. It was made from 98.54 FM on Tuesday, 28th November 1986 and features Nick Adams presenting his lunchtime show and reading news. Nick would later be heard on RTÉ. Part 1 above runs from 1117-1205 and part 2 below from 1301-1349. There are plenty of agency advertisements, a sign of the promise of KLAS in its early days.

Part 2 from 1301

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

Peter Madison and Alan Reid on South Coast Radio

Peter Madison and Alan Reid on South Coast Radio
Alan Reid (Henry Condon) at South Coast in 1982 (courtesy Lillian O’Dononghue).

This is a recording of the very early days of South Coast Radio, the Cork super-pirate that broadcast from 1982-1984. It begins with the late Peter Madison with the final minutes of his Saturday oldies breakfast show on 6th March 1982 from 1050 to 1100. Peter is followed by the late Alan Reid (Hendy Condon, known later on other stations as Henry Owens) from 1100-1135. South Coast was only on air for three days at this stage, having launched officially on 3rd March 1982. This tape was made from 102.15 FM stereo, announcing 104. South Coast also broadcast on 1557 kHz AM, announcing 194 metres.

Peter Madison and Alan Reid on South Coast Radio
Original label from Anoraks Ireland cassette.

The recording is from the Anoraks Ireland Tapes Collection, donated by Paul Davidson. Thanks to Lillian O’Donoghue for the photo.

Test broadcast of Radio Free Ulster

Test broadcast of Radio Free Ulster
Front page image from The Irish Press, March 3rd 1986 (courtesy Eddie Bohan).

Radio Free Ulster was a paramilitary pirate station operated during the Loyalist general strike called for Monday March 3rd 1986. The strike was in opposition to the signing of the Anglo-Irish Agreement. The station carried out test transmissions from above an illegal drinking den between Woodvale and the Shankill Road in West Belfast on Sunday March 2nd on 101 MHz FM. Radio Free Ulster broadcast throughout Monday and Tuesday afternoon before the transmitter was turned off.

The Irish government was aware of the broadcasts, which occurred at a time of high tension in Northern Ireland. The broadcasts attracted national and international attention and a chilling photo of Radio Free Ulster was featured on the front page of The Irish Press and in The Schenectady Gazette, a newspaper in upstate New York. The station was also covered in The Belfast Telegraph.

This recording is of a test broadcast and is presumably from Sunday March 2nd. Audio quality is terrible with a faint voice breaking through the crackle and hum and eventually announcing Radio Free Ulster. Loyalist marching band music is heard in the background. Thanks to Paul Buckle for the recording and to Eddie Bohan for background information and the image. For more information about stations run by paramilitary groups during the early days of the Troubles, listen here to a podcast featuring Eddie Bohan.

Dublin religious station Hope FM

Dublin religious station Hope FM
Sunday World advert reprinted by Anoraks UK in November 1988

Hope FM was a nominally religious station that broadcast to Dublin for the last few months of the pirate era at the end of 1988. It launched on Monday 12th September 1988 on 104.2 FM and soon moved to 104.4.

Hope FM came about when its owners bought another station CAU FM that had broadcast from November 1987 until July 1988, aiming mostly at the southside of the city. Some of the DJs on CAU FM were also heard on Hope FM and the same equipment was used. Using the strapline ‘the newest voice of Dublin’, the AOR music format was interspersed with various short reflections about life, although not overtly religious.

This recording was made on Monday 21st November and is an aircheck of morning and evening programming. It begins with Greg Edwards (aka Locky Butler, former owner of CAU FM and previous southside stations) on breakfast from before 9am and includes a competition, adverts and a promo for a daily job spot. The drivetime show from about 5.30pm is presented by an unidentified DJ and includes traffic news sponsored by a taxi company and a Christmas children’s toy appeal. News is read on the half-hour.

Dublin religious station Hope FM
Original cassette label from the Anoraks Ireland Collection.

This recording was made originally by Kieran Murray and is from the Anoraks Ireland Tapes Collection, donated by Paul Davidson.

Phoenix Radio from south Dublin

Phoenix Radio from south Dublin
The house where Phoenix was located at Kill Avenue, Foxrock, September 1986 (Anoraks Ireland Collection).

Phoenix Radio broadcast from Foxrock in south Co. Dublin for about a year from late 1986 to November 1987. With the strap line ‘your south Dublin station’, Phoenix emerged from various low powered hobby pirates set up by Locky Butler. Phoenix played mostly chart hits and despite a youthful staff, the station aimed for a professional sound. A November 1986 listing from Anoraks Ireland logged Phoenix on 1116 kHz AM and 99.14 FM in stereo with broadcasting hours from 0830-0030 daily. In July 1987, Anoraks Ireland logged it on 94.24 FM only with broadcasting hours of 0700-0100. Phoenix was ordered to close down by the Department of Communications in November 1987 but was relaunched as CAU FM a few hours later from a new transmission site.

This recording is from 107 FM on the 5th of April 1987 and begins shortly before 2pm with Stephen Davitt signing off and handing over to Derek Hansen. Audio quality is wobbly in places due to a degraded cassette and for that reason, the recording is partly edited.

This recording is from the Leon Tipler Tapes Collection, donated to us by Steve England.