1986 Archives - Page 10 of 16 - Irish Pirate Radio Audio Archive

30th October 20207th August 2021

Northeast series: Zee 103 (1986-1988)

Zee 103 was a high-powered FM ‘border blaster’ aiming its signal from Co. Louth into Northern Ireland. This station history has been written by Ian Biggar.

Kiss FM was set up to show that there was a need for local radio in the Craigavon area of Co. Armagh. It commenced daily transmissions on 102.7 MHz from a unit on an industrial estate in Lurgan on 13^th March 1985. The station proved popular with listeners, but not with the authorities. After only a couple of weeks the British Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) raided the station and effectively put it off the air.

Following the DTI raid, the team decided the only way to continue was by setting up across the border and aim the signal northwards. According to Anoraks UK, KISS FM was heard testing from Omeath on 103.5 MHz during November 1985, but then seemed to disappear. Meanwhile, a site was found near Omeath and work was carried out to renovate Ardaghy House, an old schoolhouse located just 3km from the border and some 600 feet above sea level. The location provided stunning views of Carlingford Lough and was of course an excellent site for radio transmission. Two studios were built and a mast erected at the side of the building with eight six-element yagis mounted to boost the signal. A 2.5 KW Italian transmitter was installed. You can hear a test transmission of KISS FM from Omeath here.

KISS FM test transmission on 23rd November 1985 (courtesy of Ian Biggar).

The station was then hit by what seemed to be a combination of political manoeuvrings and a burglary on site with the loss of much equipment. The internal politics caused some of the team to move on and begin planning an even bigger ‘border blaster’, namely 103.7 KISS FM in Monaghan town. All this caused delays in getting the Louth station on air. The late Frank McCarthy eventually succeeded in preparing the new station to go on air, with major financial backing from a Lurgan-based drinks company.

It was early October 1986 when Anoraks UK reported a big signal on 103.3 MHz with non-stop music tests. Output power was estimated in the region of 150 KW and indeed signals were being reported in Blackpool and Ayrshire in Scotland. At one point the frequency was adjusted to 103.25 MHz. Around 15^th October the station began to identify itself, not as KISS FM, but Zee 103.3. A number of long breaks were noted during the tests, believed to be caused by power cuts in the area. Reception reports were requested, firstly to a PO box number in Portadown and then to the station address in Omeath. Testing continued, with Anoraks UK noting that the audio sounded distorted at times.

The station commenced regular programming on 11^th November 1986 at 0700 with Donagh McKeown hosting the opening programme. A 24-hour schedule commenced from day one with a full team of presenters including Owen Barry (Larkin), Kenny Tosh and Andrew Gold. Later an hourly news bulletin was introduced during the daytime. The station provided a good stereo signal into mid-Ulster, easily covering Newry, Portadown, Lurgan, Armagh and the surrounding area. Unlike other border stations, Zee 103 programmed mainly contemporary hits, although there were specialist weekend programmes featuring oldies and a reggae programme hosted by Terri Hooley from Good Vibrations records in Belfast.

In the early days the power seemed to vary considerably and the station still suffered from over-modulation at times. However technical issues were soon resolved and the signal became consistent. During January 1987 the station adjusted its name slightly to Zee 103 and began using jingles produced by Henry Owens. In February a promotions team was on the streets of towns in the coverage area, giving away £5 notes to anyone who said they listened to Zee 103, ‘the sound of tomorrow today’. The station also had a £1,000 cash giveaway during the summer of 1987.

The recording above is of a test tranmission for Zee 103 on 4th November 1986 from 103.25 FM. It was made by Ian Biggar in Scotland. The recording below was made by Rodney Neil in Portadown and is of the station’s official launch on 11th November 1986. It runs from 0730-0900 and features the first breakfast show with Donagh McKeown.

Zee 103 built up a good, solid listening audience, mainly covering the younger demographic who were less likely to want country music as prominently heard on most stations in the area. It continued to broadcast 24 hours a day until finally closing at 2359 on December 31^st 1988, following the introduction of the Wireless Telegraphy Act. However, on seeing that the likes of Radio Star Country continued despite the new law, Zee 103 ventured back on air on 19^th January 1989 and started broadcasting around the clock once again. However following the first raid on Radio Dublin and the uncertainty it brought, station management decided to close and so Zee 103 left the air at 1200 on Tuesday 7^th February.

29th October 20206th June 2022

Northeast series: East Coast Radio (1986)

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East Coast Radio broadcast for a little over six months from the town of Ardee between Drogheda and Dundalk. According to the Anoraks UK Weekly Report of the 15^th of June 1986, an unidentified transmission with a strong signal on 1044 kHz AM was logged 75km away in Dungannon, Co. Tyrone. It was also said to be strong in Dundalk and was picked up without an aerial in Blackpool on the west coast of England. During the test period, RTÉ Radio 2 and BBC Radio 2 were relayed at different times. The station was to be called East Coast Radio and presenters were sought. The station was set up by local promoter Jim McQuillan in partnership with a local DJ. Jim is still promoting and currently manages the band Bagatelle. Former Boyneside Radio presenter Daire Nelson was among those involved. The studio was based in McCabe’s Motors, Main Street, Ardee.

In August 1986, Anoraks UK reported that East Coast was putting out an excellent signal on AM and that its studios were impressively laid out. It was also reported to be broadcasting on 97.7 MHz FM. The AM transmitter was located at a place called Hacklim Funshog just outside Ardee and had been used originally by Radio Meath in Trim and was also tried by Royal County Radio in Navan in 1982. It was on the air for just a week or two before being stolen but was later found in a yard in Kells, Co. Meath. Eddie Caffrey of Boyneside Radio built a 500-watt transmitter for East Coast at the time which ended up being used by a station in Carlow after East Coast’s short life. The AM site was high up which boosted the signal and was used for FM by Big M Radio from Monaghan at the end of the pirate era.

East Coast Radio closed down on the 24^th of January 1987. A lack of advertising revenue was suggested but one of its main competitors, Radio Carousel in Dundalk, had gone off the air earlier that month after a complaint of interference by the Department of Communications. This recording was made by Gary Hogg in Blackpool from 1044 kHz from 1125-1225 on 7^th July 1986 and some splatter from neighbouring channels can be heard. Chris Clarke is on air with Daire reading news on the half-hour. Thanks to Ian Biggar for sharing this with us and to Eddie Caffrey for additional background information.

26th October 20207th August 2021

Northeast series: Radio Rainbow International (1985-1986)

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Radio Rainbow International was a high-powered shortwave pirate operated by Boyneside Radio DJ and engineer Eddie Caffrey from the summer of 1985 until the end of 1988. It was first logged by Anoraks UK in the west midlands on 21^st July 1985 on 6240 kHz with a strong signal and continued to be heard regularly on Sunday mornings from 1000-1300 for the next three and a half years. In contrast with other shortwave pirates from Ireland operating on low power, Radio Rainbow International put on a transmitter of more than 1 kW with plenty of compression and modulation. Reception reports were received from all over Europe and from as far away as Russia. As well as Eddie Caffrey, other Boyneside DJs Jim Agnew and Kieran Murray were also involved, with Kieran presenting a popular weekly FRC show giving the latest news about the Irish radio scene. In an interview with Pirate.ie, Kieran described Radio Rainbow as the ‘Radio Nova of shortwave’, such was its large coverage area.

Radio Rainbow logo as seen on a QSL from 1986 (courtesy of Ian Biggar).

As well as shortwave, Radio Rainbow broadcast on 1521 kHz AM with up to 1 kW output and there were also local FM broadcasts. From 1987 onwards, the station relayed the output of other pirates such as WLR in Scotland and Radio Sovereign in London. In 1988, Eddie Caffrey also relayed another UK station, Radio Fax, on 6220 kHz by day and 1611 kHz by night from another transmitter in the Drogheda area. You can hear an interview with Eddie about his involvement with shortwave stations here.

The recording above is part of Kieran Murray’s FRC show from 6^th April 1986. Below is a recording of Jim Agnew from August 1985 reading out a reception report from West Berlin.

The second clip below is of a Radio Rainbow jingle and multilingual station idents in French and German.

We thank Eddie Caffrey for sharing these recordings.

17th October 20207th August 2021

Northeast series: The Green Scene on Boyneside Radio (1986)

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The traditional Irish music show the Green Scene is the longest-running programme on commercial radio in Ireland and dates from the Boyneside Radio era. Presented by Eddie Caffrey, it was popular across the northeast of Ireland and further afield. This recording is from 1020-1105 on Saturday 27^th September 1986 and features a huge number of requests from Louth, Meath, Armagh, Down, Dublin and even Blackpool. There’s also an ad for a céilí in Rochdale, Lancashire, evidence of how well the Boyneside signal travelled on AM across the Irish Sea. The show also includes the regular radio bingo slot with Dermot Finglas and news is read by Gerry Malone.

The Green Scene is still presented every Saturday by Eddie Caffrey on LMFM. This recording is from the Skywave Tapes Collection. Skywave Radio International broadcast a shortwave station in the 1980s from Baldoyle in northeast Dublin.

24th August 20207th August 2021

Full recording: Radio Skywave International

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We are processing hundreds of hours of recordings made by Radio Skywave International on an ongoing basis, and the Skywave Tapes Collection is one of the largest donations made to Pirate.ie.

Today we feature Radio Skywave International itself, as part of a mini-series this week on shortwave pirates of the 1980s. Like the many Irish shortwave pirates, Skywave was a part-time operation, usually on air on Sunday mornings. the first broadcast on was 28^th July 1985 on 6260 kHz and they were first logged by Anoraks UK on August 11^th. The address was 58 Seagrange Road, Baldoyle, Dublin 13 and later and later PO Box 1686, Dublin 1.

Skywave broadcast almost every Sunday for the rest on 1985 on 6260 kHz and into 1986. There were occasional forays onto other shortwave frequencies. On 12^th October 1986 the station was noticed relaying the religious programme Good News Radio on 6261 kHz which appeared to become part of their regular Sunday schedule from then on. Skywave seemed to take a break for a few weeks around April 1987 and was not logged until 17^th May 1987 when noted on a new frequency of 6850 kHz.

An Anoraks UK report of 31^st May 1987 included a letter from station operator Michael Caine (Hegarty) stating that shortwave was being suspended in order to concentrate on an FM station called Downtown Radio. It had a 50-watt transmitter operating on 88 MHz and aimed to be a community station serving Dublin’s north inner city. There was another operation called the Irish Radio Relay Service that carried mostly an English pirate called Falcon Radio (which also used the PO Box in Dublin). This mainly used 6850 kHz, but Skywave appeared there on 23^rd August 1987 and became regular towards the end of the year. The station continued into 1988 but was not logged every week. The final logging was on 6850 kHz on 12^th June 1988. We thank Ian Biggar from compiling this station history.

This recording is from 6260 kHz from 1045-1200 on 2^nd November 1986 and features Dominic Dillon on air, who beings his programme with the Radio Dublin theme song. For more information about the shortwave pirates see the DX Archive and Pirate Memories websites.