Irish Pirate Radio Audio Archive

10th September 20256th September 2025

Early Cork series: Pat O’Rourke on Radio City

Pat O’Rourke (aka The Smurf) was a popular DJ on the early Cork pirate radio stations. This recording features his late-night show on Radio City and includes a preview of weekend programmes on the station. The first section is of the final half-hour of Pat’s romantic music slot from 2334-0000 on Friday 16^th January 1981, ending with the national anthem to close down Radio City for the night. This is followed by part of another late-night show presented by Pat, apparently from 18^th January.

The tape was made from 95.7 FM but there is distortion on the links possibly due to a microphone issue. Thanks to Lilian O’Donoghue for the donation.

8th September 20254th September 2025

Border series: Paul Barnett plays oldies on Radio North

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This recording of Donegal pirate Radio North features former station manager Paul Burbank (Paul Barnett, RIP) with an edition of his popular daily oldies show from 2005. Copious adverts for small businesses in Counties Antrim and Derry are voiced by Paul who also reads news at the top of the hour.

The tape was made from 1050-1135 on Tuesday 15^th February 2005 from 846 kHz AM and is donated by Ian Biggar.

5th September 20254th September 2025

Sunday afternoon on Community Radio Youghal

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Community Radio Youghal (in its unlicensed form on air from 1979-1988) was one of several pirate stations espousing a community radio ethos. This short airchecked recording features programming from a Sunday afternoon in 1983 and gives a sense of some of the variety on the station. It begins with the end of the the CRY On Tour slot, an example of the station travelling around east Cork to make programmes. This is followed by Programme Signpost and community notices for east Cork and west Waterford. There are also sung jingles and a bilingual station ident, following by John Roche with the Good News Programme.

The recording was made from 1485 kHz, announcing 202 metres, from around 1300 on Sunday 20^th March 1983. It is from the Leon Tipler Collection, donated to us by Steve England. Community Radio Youghal returned as a licensed station in 1995 and continues to broadcast to east Cork on FM and online.

3rd September 20254th September 2025

Early Cork series: Saturday shows on Radio City

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This recording of Cork pirate Radio City was made on a Saturday in the winter of 1980 and gives a flavour of weekend programmes at the station. Kicking off is Ed Harris with the end of his Saturday breakfast show, who is followed by John Ashford (John Buckley, RIP) with Morning Beat. Next up are Pete Andrews (O’Neill) and Karl Johnson (Dan Noonan) with horoscopes to wind up Saturday Club at 1300, followed by Noel Evans (Welch) with the Saturday Sports Report. The last section is of an unidentified DJ presenting disco music.

The recording was made from 1512 kHz, announcing 199 metres on 1^st November 1980 and is courtesy of Lilian O’Donoghue.

1st September 20251st September 2025

Border series: Radio North at the end of 2002

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This recording of long-running Donegal pirate Radio North was made at the end of 2002. On air is Caroline McDermott with country and Irish music and some oldies. She also shares information about local music and gigs for New Year’s Eve. Adverts are for Northern businesses only. There’s a technical problem with the news at the top of the hour, presumably due to an issue with the link to a syndicated service. A listeners’ quiz with a £500 prize is sponsored by a car business in Derry and Tyrone.

The tape was made in Scotland from 846 kHz AM on 30^th December 2002 between 1345-1515 and is courtesy of Ian Biggar.