Time World News Service on Atlantic Sound

Time World News Service on Atlantic Sound
Atlantic Sounds complements slip (courtesy of Ian Biggar).

The Time World News Service (TWNS) was set up in early 1984 in order to bring the work of Time Magazine to radio stations around the world. A letter from the publisher of Time on April 16th that year said that TNWS was ‘a new entry in radio journalism that will draw its material from the pages of TIME and its 87 correspondents and 32 news bureaus around the world’. TWNS was recorded in New York and broadcast in more than 100 US cities and 20 other countries including Ireland, where it was organised by the late Robbie Robinson of Sunshine Radio.

Time World News Service on Atlantic Sound
Atlantic Sound poster from 1984 (courtesy Alan Russell).

One Irish pirate station to broadcast TWNS was Atlantic Sound in Galway, whose founder Alan Russell recalls that they received a special delivery each month with the news features on cassettes.

‘From memory it cost £40 per month – a pint of Guinness was £1.37 back then and £40 would have been an average weekly rent on a good flat or small house’, he said.

It seems that the service was less popular than expected and was phased out from the summer of 1984.

The recording above is an edition of TWNS about the arms race and below is another edition about film releases. Both date from March or April 1984, were broadcast on Atlantic Sound and are donated kindly by Alan Russell.

‘Never more than a minute from music’: Galway’s Atlantic Sound

'Never more than a minute from music': Galway's Atlantic Sound
An Atlantic flyer from early 1984 when the station was still on 1107 kHz (courtesy of Ian Biggar).

Atlantic Sound began testing at the end of 1983 and launched a full schedule at the start of 1984. A report in the Galway Advertiser on 29th December 1983 said that the station aimed to be ‘a fusion of RTÉ Radio One, Community Radio and Radio Nova’. Presumably the reference to ‘community radio’ was to the temporary local RTÉ stations on air at the time. Atlantic Sound’s founder journalist Alan Russell was quoted as saying that the station would buy equipment from the BBC and comply with the specifications required by the proposed radio authority. He added that it would not be a pop music station.

In mid-1984, after the arrival from Cork of two DJs with an offshore radio background, the late Keith York and Don Stevens, Alan Russell left Atlantic Sound and the broad schedule was changed to a ‘hot hits’ format. In this recording from the August bank holiday weekend of 1984, Seán Costello plays requests for mostly chart music and generic jingles are heard. He says that Atlantic Sound is ‘never more than a minute away from music’ and there’s a reference to a £1,000 giveaway but the thin commercial breaks suggest that the station was not making much money.

The recording was made from 99 FM and runs from 1858-1945 but is undated. Atlantic had moved from 1107 to 1026 kHz AM by this stage and had added FM. Thanks to Shay Geoghegan for the donation and to Alan Russell for background information.

The Pirate.ie Podcast #8: Our audio tribute to Robbie Robinson

The Pirate.ie Podcast #8: Our audio tribute to Robbie Robinson
Robbie Dale in the Radio Caroline days (photo courtesy of Sunshine Review 1985).

We’ve compiled an audio tribute to the radio legend Robbie Robinson who died on August 31st 2021 at the age of 81 in Lanzarote in the Canary Islands. In episode #8 of the Pirate.ie podcast, colleagues, friends and listeners share their memories of Robbie and his station, Sunshine Radio, which transformed the Irish radio scene when it hit the airwaves in 1980.

Many thanks to everyone for taking the time to remember Robbie and honour his legacy in this way: Cathy Cregan, Aidan Cooney, David Baker, Lawrence John, Eddie Bohan, Cathy Dunne, John Fleming, Lillian O’Donoghue, Paul Allen, Simon Maher, Kevin Branigan, Pat Courtenay and Andy Preston.

Robbie Robinson closes 3rd Sunshine charity auction

Robbie Robinson closes 3rd Sunshine charity auction
Letter from Valerie Goulding of the CRC in the 1985 Sunshine Review (courtesy DX Archive).

This is the final section of the 3rd annual Sunshine Radio charity auction in aid of the Central Remedial Clinic (CRC). Station owner Robbie Robinson (RIP) auctions one of that year’s big prizes, a holiday to Portugal donated by Joe Walsh Tours. He then calls the founder of the CRC Lady Valerie Goulding to tell her that Sunshine has raised over £22,000 that year. As the letter above indicates, by 1985 the auction had brought in over £100,000 for the CRC, a considerable amount for the time and evidence of Sunshine’s commitment to charitable causes.

Another item of interest in this recording is a advert placed by the Association of Independent Broadcasters in Ireland, a group formed by some of the commercial pirate stations to represent the sector. News at 9pm is read by Caroline Callaghan.

This recording was made from 2054-2132 on 11th April 1983. It is from the Leon Tipler Tapes Collection, donated by Steve England.

Live on-air bidding at Sunshine’s 3rd charity auction

Live on-air bidding at Sunshine's 3rd charity auction
Sunshine Radio CRC badge (courtesy DX Archive).

The third Sunshine Radio charity auction for the Central Remedial Clinic (CRC) was held in 1983 and continued to build on the success of earlier years. This is the final part of the first day’s 12-hour auction programme, presented by the late Robbie Robinson. There is live on-air bidding for the Sunshine Extravaganza, an evening gala concert with music, food and drink, all profits from which went to the CRC. News is read by Emer Dolan (Woodfull). Within a month, Sunshine would be put off the air when the station was raided by the authorities in a crackdown on pirate radio.

The recording was made from 2053-2139 on 9th April 1983. It is from the Leon Tipler Tapes Collection, donated to us by Steve England.