This is another recording of Galway pirate WLS Music Radio from 1985. Tony Henry is on air with laid-back music until midnight and is followed by Richie O’Shea with a more upbeat offering. There are few adverts given the time of night but one business featured is Supermac’s, now a successful west of Ireland fast-food company. The weather forecast contains a reference to ‘the bay area’, which was clearly based on the style of Radio Nova in Dublin.
Tape label from Anoraks ireland Collection.
The recording was made from 102.7 FM on 17th September 1985 and audio quality is fair with some distortion and hiss, so it is possible that the receiver was slightly off channel. Part 1 above runs from 2325-0011 and part 2 below from 0011-0057.
Part 2 from 0011
This recording is from the Anoraks Ireland Tapes Collection, donated to us by Paul Davidson.
WLS Music Radio was a commercial pirate station broadcasting from Galway City from March 1985 to June 1987. It was set up by former offshore DJs Keith York (RIP) and Don Stevens who moved from South Coast Radio in Cork after it closed down in the summer of 1984. They joined existing Galway station Atlantic Sound and were later followed by fellow ex-offshore DJ Steve Marshall. The three took over Atlantic Sound and changed its format to chart music and giveaways, but by St. Patrick’s Day 1985 had set up WLS from across the road on Forster Street in the city centre. WLS was supposed to stand for the clumsy ‘West Local Station’ but was in fact based on a jingle package from a longstanding Chicago station of the same name that continues to broadcast today.
WLS broadcast on 846 kHz AM and initially 104 FM and later added shortwave on 6240 kHz. WLS switched to 102.7 in May 1985 in advance of a court case involving RTÉ. The national broadcaster alleged that WLS was interfering with television reception in Galway and had taken advertising revenue. When it moved to new premises on Prospect Hill in December 1986, WLS was praised for its high technical standards by Anoraks UK, who described it as on a par with licensed local stations in Britain. A station newsletter from late 1986/early 1987 (see below) said that its AM signal was designed to cover south Co. Galway and north Co. Clare both day and night, while its ‘superior FM stereo signal’ was aimed at the city. It also claimed to be the first pirate to broadcast in stereo to Galway.
WLS went off the air in mysterious circumstances around June 15th 1987. The City Tribune of 3rd July reported that the station had been off the air for the previous two weeks and its offices at Prospect Hill deserted. Equipment had been removed, the lock broken and the door left open. Attempts to contact manager Don Stevens were unsuccessful and he had vacated his rented accommodation in the city. An edition of the Radio West Anoraks’ Show in July 1987 reported that WLS had gone off the air after an irate investor dismantled equipment because he was unhappy with his return. In the same month, Steve Marshall and Keith York set up another successful Galway station, Coast 103, which broadcast until the end of 1988.
This recording of WLS was made on 23rd and 24th July 1985 and comprises airchecks of various programmes. The voice of Steve Marshall is heard on adverts for businesses in Galway and Castlebar. There are also agency adverts for larger national companies, a sign of the relative success of WLS just a few months after it started broadcasting. Presenters on the tape include Sarah Miles, Richie O’Shea and Brian Walsh. The 8am news is read by David Pollard and there’s also a promo for a Live Aid benefit concert to be held in Galway.
The recording was made from 101 FM in stereo and is from the Anoraks Ireland Tapes Collection, donated to us by Paul Davidson.
Page 1 of 1986/7 newsletter (courtesy Ian Biggar).Page 2Page 3Page 4Page 5
Radio na nGael flyer from 1984 (courtesy DX Archive).
Radio na nGael was a specialist station broadcasting mostly ballads and traditional Irish music from a village near Swords in north Co. Dublin between 1984 and 1986. It broadcast on 1350 kHz AM and on low power on 92 MHz FM, presumably to link to the AM transmitter. The station was also heard on 6340 kHz shortwave but the frequency suffered from interference. Radio na nGael broadcast some problems in Irish but was closed down after RTÉ sought an injunction due to the similarity of the name with that of the national Irish language station Raidió na Gaeltachta.
This recording was made from the AM frequency and dates from the end of January 1985. The cassette label refers to 30th January but the 31st is announced on air. Beginning at 1335, we first hear Mairéad with housewives’ requests and she is followed at 1400 by Danny Tobin. Community news for Fingal is also broadcast.
The signal sounds over-modulated, particularly near the end but we do not know if this was due to a transmission issue at the time or is related to the age of the cassette. The recording is from the Skywave Tapes Collection. Skywave Radio International was a 1980s shortwave station broadcasting from Baldoyle in northeast Dublin.
Q102 was one of the largest and most successful 1980s ‘super-pirates’ in Dublin. Priding itself as Irish-owned in contrast with other big stations Radio Nova and Sunshine Radio, it launched on January 23rd 1985 and quickly established a foothold in the Dublin market. In March 1988, Q102 took over the transmitters and equipment of Energy 103 after its sudden closure, given it a range of AM and FM frequencies in the capital. It was relaunched as ‘Super Q 102’ in summer 1988 and closed down on December 30th in line with new broadcasting legislation.
Original cassette label from Anoraks Ireland Collection.
This recording was made on Easter Monday, 8th April 1985 and features Dublin’s Favourite 50 with Scott Williams, still a familiar name on the Dublin radio scene. News on the hour is read by Gary Hamill. Part 1 above runs from 1238-1326 and Part 2 below from 1326-1414.
Part 2 from 1326
The recording is from the Anoraks Ireland Tapes Collection, donated to us by Paul Davidson.
This is a selection of clips from morning programmes on Boyneside Radio in 1985, recorded from its Drogheda FM transmitter on 98.1 MHz in stereo. First up is the 7am bulletin, seemingly pre-recorded and featuring news from Northern Ireland. This is followed by the Dara Nelson breakfast show, which includes an interesting promo covering all Boyneside’s frequencies, a Pause for Thought, news headlines at 8am with Áine Ní Ghuidhir and the Top 30 countdown. Next up is the mid-morning show presented by Dave C., including news at 10am, which reports a car bomb blast in Newry just a short time before.
Cassette label from Anoraks Ireland Collection.
This airchecked recording was made on 6th March 1985 between 0700 and 1000. It is from the Anoraks Ireland Tapes Collection, donated to us by Paul Davidson. It was recorded originally by Kieran Murray. Further material from this collection can be found on Radiowaves and the Irish Pirate Radio Archive.
