1982 Archives - Page 20 of 23 - Irish Pirate Radio Audio Archive

13th December 20206th August 2021

Radio Leinster: wooing listeners from RTÉ Radio 1

Radio Leinster stood out from the other Dublin pirates of the early 1980s because of its diet of easy listening music and chat as opposed to the pop played by most stations. In his documentary ‘The Irish Pirates’, British radio enthusiast Leon Tipler commented that while the majority of the Dublin stations were in direct competition with RTÉ Radio 2, Radio Leinster seemed intent on attracting listeners from Radio 1.

Radio Leinster began broadcasting in late April or early May 1981 from the city centre before moving to an elevated site in Sandyford overlooking Dublin. A professional 1 kW transmitter on 738 kHz (406 metres) travelled well by day but was subject to interference at night. The station closed suddenly on 19^th May 1983 as panic spread following the raids on Sunshine Radio and Radio Nova and never returned.

Tipler was particularly interested in the niche offering of Radio Leinster and made several recordings of it during his visit in September 1982. The recording above was made from 738 kHz and is an aircheck of part of Daphne Mitchell’s afternoon programme beginning at 1556 on Friday 10^th September. It includes a letter from a listener and a lengthy community notice board. The voices of Richard Crowley and Anna Chisnell, both of whom would go on to work in RTÉ, can be heard on ads. Daphne Mitchell was also heard on BLB in Bray in the 1980s.

The recording below is from 93 FM on Monday 13^th September 1982 and features a young David Baker reading the sports bulletin on his breakfast programme. David’s breakfast shift from 0700-0900 meant that he arrived late for school each morning!

These recordings are from the Leon Tipler Tapes Collection, donated to us by Steve England.

13th October 20207th August 2021

Northeast series: Balbriggan Festival Breakaway Radio (1982)

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Balbriggan Festival Breakaway Away was a temporary annual station set up by Boyneside Radio in the north Dublin town of Balbriggan. Broadcasting for a week in early June from 1981 to 1985 to coincide with the local festival, it was based in the Balbriggan Shopping Centre and came on air daily from 12 noon. In this promo from 1982, 225 metres is announced, the same as Boyneside in Drogheda but the pop-up station actually used 1323 kHz, two channels away from 1305. Output was about 500 watts from two 813 valves, given it a decent coverage area. Balbriggan Festival Breakaway Radio broadcast for a week in early June every year. The station was logged by Anoraks UK in June 1985 on 1494 kHz.

We thank Eddie Caffrey for sharing this recording of a little-known satellite station of Boyneside.

12th October 20207th August 2021

Northeast series: Boyneside Radio North (1982)

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Over the years Boyneside Radio operated services in Dundalk, Kells and Navan with local programming at certain times of the day. These had varying levels of success, but the most successful ‘satellite’ station must have been Boyneside Radio North. The station opened to serve the North of Ireland in the late summer of 1982, capitalising on the growing listenership to the Irish pirates north of the border.

Transmissions were on 1233 kHz AM, announced as 244 metres, from a studio located at Killeen, Co. Louth, just south of the border. Boyneside North had live programmes from 0800-1400, after which there was a relay of the Heady Eddie programme from Drogheda, more local output from 5pm and then a Drogheda relay in the evening and overnight.

The station employed several DJs from Northern Radio, which had closed earlier in the year. In 1986 a new mast was erected at Edentubber from which a high power FM signal was broadcast. At one point the power output was estimated at 20 Kw which reached Belfast, although there were reports of patchy reception around the city centre. Ironically, this mast remained in use by pirate radio until 2020, when it was illegally and dangerously felled by the Department of Communications following a raid.

Despite strong competition from other stations around the border, Boyneside North operated successfully until the final closedown on Saturday December 31^st 1988 when it closed at 3pm.

This recording is of Marty Donnan on Boyneside North from 1000-1100 on 6^th December 1982. Marty later worked for Downtown Radio and BBC Radio Ulster. We thank Ian Biggar for the text and recording.

10th October 20207th August 2021

Northeast series: Boyneside Radio (1982)

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By 1983, the split in pirate radio in Drogheda was resolved, the short-lived television experiment was over and Boyneside was united again. This allowed it to focus on the core business of doing local radio at which it was best. Here are two short recordings giving a flavour of the station around that time.

The first recording is of an ad break during the popular traditional Irish ‘Green Scene’ show with Eddie Caffrey recorded on 30^th October 1983. The ‘Green Scene’ is still presented by Eddie on LMFM and is the longest-running programme on Irish commercial radio. The second recording is from 30^th November 1983 and counts down the weekly Boyneside Top 40.

Thanks to Eddie Caffrey for sharing these recordings.

9th October 20207th August 2021

Northeast series: Boyneside Radio/CRD (1982)

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After breaking away from Boyneside Radio in July 1981, Community Radio Drogheda went its own way until May 1982 when the two stations merged once again. The economic reality of two pirate radio stations in the one town had hit home and given that Boyneside had more financial backing, it was unsurprising that it won out in the end.

According to Eddie Caffrey, Gavin Duffy had had enough of the final nine months of CRD and announced that he was moving on and that anyone who wished to return to Boyneside was welcome to do so. Eddie and Richard Crowley (pictured above) met Boyneside owner Eobain McDonnell and brokered a merger involving every second presenter from both stations. Some Boyneside staff were not happy about the return of the prodigal sons but Eobain persisted. Around the same time, a meeting was also arranged with Radio Carousel in Dundalk which was trying desperately trying to break into the Drogheda market. That came to nothing as Carousel owner Hugh Hardy’s offer was too weak.

The merged station was known as Boyneside Community Radio but the name Boyneside/CRD was also used for a time before references to CRD were dropped entirely by the late summer.

Other DJs such as Mike Cluskey, Neil O’Brien and Seán Neilon were regulars on Boyneside following the merger doing weekend and holiday cover. This recording was made from 1540-1639 on 19^th June 1982 and begins with a reference to the forthcoming Rolling Stones concert at Slane Castle in Co. Meath. Mike Cluskey is the presenter and uses Boyneside/CRD on air. We thank Ian Biggar for the donation of this recording.