Irish Pirate Radio Audio Archive

8th June 20228th June 2022

Capitol Radio featured on the BBC

This is a recording of a BBC report on Irish pirate radio, featuring the specialist station Capitol Radio in Dublin (1975 and 1978-1981). It was broadcast on the BBC Radio 1 Newsbeat programme on 26^th November 1981 and on BBC World Service on shortwave around the world. One of Capitol’s founders Alan Russell is interviewed and speculates about the establishment of legalised commercial radio in Ireland. The report also includes a clip from Capitol DJ Chris Barry.

The interview was conducted in Dublin in February 1981 but not broadcast until November. Capitol had in fact closed the previous March and Alan speculates that the delay in airing the interview could have been because the BBC did not want to unduly antagonise RTÉ by featuring a pirate currently on air. Similarly, they may not have wanted to publicise Robbie Robinson of Sunshine Radio or Chris Cary of Radio Nova, both of whom had a history in UK offshore pirate radio. Capitol Radio had been known to the UK radio industry as a specialist station following a 1980 article in a British trade magazine Radio Month (see below). Alan believes that Capitol was one of the few Irish pirates, if not the only one, to get worldwide airtime on the BBC.

Thanks to Alan Russell for the donation of this recording and images.

6th June 20225th June 2022

Radio Dublin on June bank holiday 1977

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In September 1977, Radio Dublin broke the mould of pirate broadcasting in Dublin by broadcasting non-stop for 36 hours. It was a change that spurred the professionalisation of the scene and encouraged round-the-clock broadcasting. Before then, the pirates were part-time operations, coming on the air for short periods at night or during the weekend.

This recording is from bank holiday Monday, 6^th June 1977, when the station called itself ‘the new Radio Dublin’ and announced a line-up of four DJs, no doubt in preparation for longer broadcasting hours later in the year. In this airchecked recording from that afternoon, Jimmy St. Leger, DJ Sylvie, Johnny Day and Alistair Mac take plenty of requests from listeners by phone and promote Radio Dublin t-shirts and a march in favour of local radio the following weekend. An address in Crumlin, Dublin 12 is given.

The cassette label says that the wavelength was 251 metres (somewhere around 1196 kHz before the frequency changes of 1978) but most of the links refer to 253 metres (1187 kHz), where Radio Dublin would remain until the 1990s. Radio Dublin closed down permanently in 2002 following the conviction of its owner Eamonn Cooke for sexually abusing children. He was jailed in 2003 and again in 2007 and died in 2016 while on temporary release. If you require support with this issue, you can contact the organisation One in Four.

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

3rd June 202211th June 2022

Irish ballads and country on Radio na nGael

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Radio na nGael (meaning literally ‘radio of Irish speakers’) broadcast from 1984 to 1986 from the village of Montgorry near Swords in north Co. Dublin and specialised in Irish music including ballads, traditional and country. Some of the output was in Irish. The station was launched on 92.2 FM on 2^nd February 1984 and soon added 1350 kHz AM and 6340 kHz shortwave. Radio na nGael claimed to be the only Irish station broadcasting on shortwave 24 hours a day and boasted of serving the Irish diaspora but the frequency suffered from a lot of interference. A station leaflet from 1984 gave the FM output as just 10 watts, with 200 watts on medium wave and 500 watts on shortwave.

As in the sticker above, the station sometimes misspelt its name as ‘Radio na Gael’. Broadcast historian Eddie Bohan was written that it was closed down in 1986 after RTÉ took out an injunction, objecting to the similarity with the name of the national Irish language station Raidió na Gaeltachta. The only medium wave frequency logged was 1350 kHz, but the cassette label accompanying this recording notes 217 metres, which is closer to 1377 kHz. In any case, splatter from an adjacent station can be heard in this recording, which is most likely BBC Radio Ulster on 1341 kHz. It was made from 1300-1345 on 7^th June 1984.

The recording consists of continuous music only with no station identification but gives a good flavour of the Radio na nGael musical style. It is from the Skywave Tapes Collection. Skywave Radio International was a shortwave station broadcasting from Baldoyle in northeast Dublin in the 1980s.

1st June 20221st June 2022

Mid-morning with Pete O’Neill on South Coast Radio

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Pete O’Neill was a popular DJ on various Cork pirates in the late 1970s and 1980s, including one of the city’s big stations, South Coast Radio. This is a recording of his mid-morning show beginning at 1000 on Tuesday 4^th May 1982. Pete thanks Alan Reid (aka the late Henry Condon/Henry Owens) for the breakfast show and presents his usual mix of music, chat and information. There are promos for Wheelchair Awareness Week and local concerts, daily horoscopes and birthdays, an adult education diary, what’s on file and lost and stolen section. A studio guest from the Tony Quinn Yoga Club talks about relaxation. The listener’s Top 5 just after 12 noon features the choice of loyal South Coast fan Lillian McCarthy (O’Donoghue). News on the hour is read by Mark Lawrence but is cut.

Part 1 above runs from 1000-1135 and part 2 below from 1150-1250.

Part 2 from 1150

Audio quality is mixed as the recording switches between 104 FM and 1557 kHz AM. Thanks to Lillian O’Donoghue for the donation and photo.

30th May 202229th May 2022

News bulletin on Capitol Radio

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Capitol Radio (220 and later 226 metres) was a mixed-format station broadcasting from Dublin in 1975 and then from 1978-1981. The station had many specialist music programmes as well as news and current affairs and provided evidence, from the beginning of the pirate era, that not all stations played chart hits only.

This news bulletin from 9^th March 1979 is read by one of Capitol’s founders, Alan Russell. Stories include a Supreme Court judgement in favour of former Garda Commissioner Ned Garvey who was dismissed by the government in 1978.

It also includes a defence by RTÉ presenter Bunny Carr of the television quiz show Quicksilver, then under fire from critics.

Alan Russell went on to set up stations in Galway in the 1980s. We thank him for donating this recording and the photo.