1984 Archives - Page 7 of 14 - Irish Pirate Radio Audio Archive

1st January 202231st December 2023

Radio Snowflake on New Year’s Day 1984

Ireland’s original Christmas station was Radio Snowflake, which broadcast every festive season from 1982 to 1988 and in later years online. It was set up by Dave Reddy of the Community Broadcasting Co-operative (CBC) who also ran pop-up stations such as Radio Sandymount and Radio Donnybrook.

This recording of Radio Snowflake was made in the early hours of 1^st January 1984 from 0330-0430 (with some airchecks) and features well-known presenters on the CBC stations, Charlie Sheehan and David Baker. Listeners phone in with requests and dedications, an unpredictable venture given the time of night and year. The recording was made from 99.9 FM and is donated kindly by David Baker.

20th September 202122nd September 2021

Fossett’s Circus on Galway’s Atlantic Sound

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In the first half of 1984, Galway pirate Atlantic Sound broadcast a varied schedule of music and original speech programming. This is a clip from station founder Alan Russell’s magazine programme from May or June 1984. Seán Costello interviews Annie, a South African trapeze artist with Fossett’s Circus at Fairgreen in Galway city centre during a visit by the circus to town. It was recorded on a Marantz Superscope machine. Below is a longer interview by Seán with the late Teddy Fossett who provides a brief history of the circus before taking the opportunity to share some grievances about the circus industry. Seán attempts to wrap up the interview after 15 minutes but Teddy is in full flight about the competition with Circus Hoffmans from the UK.

Atlantic Sound interview with Teddy Fossett, 1984.

The photos were taken in the Atlantic Sound studio at the end of 1983 when the station had begun testing. A full schedule began in 1984. Pictured are a Canary 12- channel mixer, Technics decks, a JVC cassette deck, Sennheiser headphones, a Shure mic and the news reader’s desk. We thank Alan Russell for the donation. In the second half of 1984 after his departure, the station was re-launched as a ‘hot hits’ format.

16th September 202116th September 2021

Time World News Service on Atlantic Sound

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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 16^th 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.

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.

15th September 202115th September 2021

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

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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 29^th 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.

3rd September 20218th September 2021

Robbie Robinson on the Sunshine charity auction

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The annual auction for the Central Remedial Clinic (CRC) in Dublin was a staple in the Sunshine Radio calender, raising over £100,000 for the charity in the station’s first five years from 1980-1985. In this recording, station boss Robbie Robinson (RIP) directs proceedings with the help of Greg Merriman and other studio guests. Items for auction include teddy bears, tickets to see Emmylou Harris, a home alarm system, an IBM computer and an Opel Kadett car. Listeners are also invited to bid to attend the Sunshine Extravaganza, an annual meal and show that followed the auction. News is ready by Patsy McGarry.

This recording was made from 101 FM from 1220-1305 on 28th April 1984. It is from the Skywave Tapes Collection. Skywave Radio International was a shortwave station broadcasting from Baldoyle in northeast Dublin.