Posted on

Aircheck: Dusty’s Trail on Radio Dublin

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Aircheck: Dusty’s Trail on Radio Dublin
Radio Dublin car sticker (courtesy of DX Archive).

Dusty’s Trail was a popular programme on Radio Dublin presented by Gerry Jones aimed at teenage listeners. Trailers, as they were called, wrote into the programme requesting music and even met up at organised gatherings every weekend at the band stand at Stephens Green (it wouldnt be allowed nowadays with GDPR and all the regulations of safety). In this recording from 1985, a listener sends in a copy of a response she received from Minister of State for Broadcasting Ted Nealon to her letter expressing concern that stations such as Radio Dublin would be shut down. Audio quality was never great on Radio Dublin but is worse on this recording due to a loud heterodyne. This is from our own collection.

Posted on

Jingles and promo: Sunshine Radio Review

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Jingles and promo: Sunshine Radio Review
Cover of the Sunshine Review from 1985 (courtesy of DX Archive).

The Dublin super-pirate Sunshine Radio published several editions of a magazine to keep in touch with its listeners. A form of multimedia in the pre-internet age, the first Sunshine Radio Review was published after it was raided and closed down temporarily in 1983, as a way of keeping in touch with its listeners. Here is a promo for another edition of the Review from 1985 to mark the station’s 5th birthday.

Jingles and promo: Sunshine Radio Review
The original Sunshine Review from May 1983 (Alan MacSimoin collection).
Posted on

Interview: Ken Sheehan speaks about Radio Dublin

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Interview: Ken Sheehan speaks about Radio Dublin
Radio Dublin poster from 1983 (courtesy of DX Archive).

Radio Dublin was the longest running pirate station in Ireland, on air in various guises from 1966 until 2002. It was raided on numerous occasions and was one of a handful of stations to defy the deadline of New Year’s Eve 1988. In its earliest incarnation, it broadcast as ‘Radio Baile Átha Cliath’ every Sunday afternoon from the home of Ken Sheehan. In this interview from 1985, Mike Anderson of shortwave pirate Radio Valleri interviews Ken Sheehan about his involvement in the establishment of Radio Dublin, his views of the station in 1985 and of the pirate radio scene in general at that time. This is from our own collection.

Posted on

Aircheck: Radio Annabel FRC

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Aircheck: Radio Annabel FRC
Radio Annabel ad from the Sunday World, 6 January 1985 (Alan MacSimoin collection).

Dublin station Radio Annabel featured a popular weekly Free Radio Campaign programme presented by Gerard Roe. This recording from 1985 features an interview with Chris Cary taken from Radio Nova in which he criticises the notion of community radio. It is followed by a reference to a newspaper article about one of the failed attempts to introduce legislation to regulate the radio sector during the 1980s.