1984 Archives - Page 6 of 14 - Irish Pirate Radio Audio Archive

15th September 202218th September 2022

Gerard Roe on Radio Annabel (10 June 1984)

Radio Annabel began broadcasting in September 1983 and soon became the new home for Gerard Roe’s popular Free Radio Campaign (FRC) show. Facilities and coverage were better than at Radio Dublin Channel 2 and the FRC moved to a Sunday afternoon slot. In this recording from summer 1984, Gerard begins with a recap of news from the same week the previous year, which included the renowned £6,000 giveaway by Radio Nova. There’s also a recording of Andromeda Independent Radio from Manchester and a feature about the use of pirate radio for political reasons. Radio Sinn Féin is reported to be on air in advance of the European elections and Gerard notes previous radio activity by Republicans, including disruption to existing pirates. The show also covers the 20th anniversary of Manx Radio.

Our recording was made from 98.3 FM from 1405-1507 on Sunday, 10^th June 1984. It is from the Anoraks Ireland Tapes Collection, donated to us by Paul Davidson. Listen here to Pirate.ie Podcast #10 featuring our interview with Gerard Roe about his memories of pirate radio, including the move from Radio Dublin to Radio Annabel.

17th June 202216th June 2022

Afternoon show on Radio Carlow

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Radio Carlow broadcast on AM and later also on FM between 1981 and 1984. Local anorak John Dowling logged its first location as Ballyhide, which is just on the Laois side of the border with Carlow but it later moved into Carlow Town. A frequency listing from summer 1984 listed Radio Carlow on 1413 kHz AM (212 metres) and 103.8 FM. The station continued into 1986 but discontinued AM towards the end.

This is a short recording of Radio Carlow from Sunday 17th June 1984. Pat Scully is on air with an afternoon requests show. The tape runs from 1715-1800 and is airchecked. There is some wobble due to the degradation of the cassette after almost 40 years. The recording was made originally by Kieran Murray and is from the Anoraks Ireland Tapes Collection, donated to us by Paul Davidson.

17th June 202216th June 2022

Afternoon show on Wicklow Community Radio

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Wicklow Community Radio (WCR) began broadcasting in the second half of 1982 on 1512 kHz AM (198 metres). Its origins were in temporary festival stations based in Wicklow Town, the first of which was set up by RTÉ in 1980. WCR was renamed WLCB (Wicklow Local Community Broadcasting) in the summer of 1985 and changed its name again to Viking 105 in 1987. The station closed down as the end of 1988 in line with the vast majority of pirates.

This recording is of Willie Naughton’s Sunday afternoon show on 17^th June 1984 and is from 97.15 FM. It runs from 1820-1910 and is airchecked. There’s praise for Bruce Springsteen’s new album Born in the USA and a promo for the Chrissie Hynde and the Pretenders gig in the SFX Centre in Dublin that night.

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

17th June 202216th June 2022

Late night on Radio Dublin

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This recording of Radio Dublin was made on the evening of Sunday 17^th June 1984 from about 2250. It’s not clear who the first presenter is because although the cassette label mentions Gerry Jones, James Redmond thanks ‘John’ for his show when he kicks off at 2300. There are plenty of letters requesting love songs on ‘The Smooch’ and James reminds listeners that they become ‘smoochers’ if they write in six times. There’s also a mention of a Radio Dublin meet-up in St. Stephen’s Green the previous Sunday and a programme for prisoners on Saturday nights. It’s all evidence of the loyal listenership that Radio Dublin built up during its many years on air.

Audio quality on Radio Dublin often left a lot to be desired and there is interference from another source throughout this recording, apparently related to the transmission. This recording was made originally by Kieran Murray and 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.