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Tony Murrell on ABC Radio from Waterford

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Tony Murrell on ABC Radio from Waterford
Tony Murrell at ABC in 1986 (courtesy Andy Carter).

ABC Radio broadcast from 1982 to 1988 from Waterford and was one of the southeast’s most popular pirates. From humble beginnings in a caravan in the seaside town of Tramore, it later moved into Waterford City and became one of the most successful local stations outside Dublin. ABC began broadcasting on 729 kHz and later moved to 1026 kHz, using a 1 kW transmitter. This recording was made from 1715-1749 on 26th March 1986 and recorded from AM. The presenter is Tony Murrell and the segment includes news, ad breaks and weather.

Tony Murrell on ABC Radio from Waterford
Image courtesy of DX Archive

This recording is from the Skywave Tapes Collection. Skywave Radio International broadcast a shortwave station in the 1980s from Baldoyle in northeast Dublin.  

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Full recording: ABC Radio (Waterford)

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Full recording: ABC Radio (Waterford)
ABC logo courtesy of DX Archive.

This recording of ABC Radio in Waterford was made from 0702-0735 on 26th March 1986. The frequency was 1026 kHz AM and overnight presenter Neil Butler hands over to Clive Derek for the breakfast show.

This recording is from the Skywave Tapes Collection. Skywave Radio International broadcast a shortwave station in the 1980s from Baldoyle in northeast Dublin.  

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Full recording: ERI (Cork)

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Full recording: ERI (Cork)
Emer Lucey (aka Lucy Potter-Cogan) in the ERI newsroom c. 1983 (photo courtesy of Ian Biggar).

This full-length recording of ERI in Cork is from 96.9 MHz FM and begins at 2130 on 24th March 1986. The presenter is Ian Andrews and the segment includes news at the top of the hour with Emer Lucey (aka Lucy Potter-Cogan).

Full recording: ERI (Cork)
ERI car sticker courtesy of DX Archive.

This recording is from the Skywave Tapes Collection. Skywave Radio International was a shortwave station broadcasting from Baldoyle in northeast Dublin. 

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Jingles: Liberties Local Community Radio

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Jingles: Liberties Local Community Radio
Image courtesy of DX Archive

Liberties Local Community Radio (LLCR) began broadcasting in April 1986 from Weaver Square in Dublin 8. It was run by Sammy Prendergast who was well known for installing aerials for pirate stations. LLCR broadcast on 1035 kHz AM using the old Capitol Radio rig which had been on 1017 kHz until shortly before then. It was also heard on 104 FM at a later stage.

Although LLCR began by emphasising its community roots in the Liberties, it never sounded like long-standing community stations such as BLB and NDCR. There was a lot of chopping and changing in Weaver Square during its two years on air but the station had its followers nonetheless. One of its most popular programmes was a hip-hop show presented by Tony Christie.

There was a lot of variation in the station’s name as these jingles and idents indicate, from LLCR to Liberties Radio to Liberty Radio. The station also announced Liberty 104 for a while and was known as Gold 104 in the second half of 1988. The poor-quality jingles for ‘Super Rock 104’ seem to be from that period.

Various LLCR jingles from 1986
Top of the hour ident (1987) announcing Liberties Radio
Top of the hour ident (1988) announcing Liberty Radio

You can hear an aircheck of Teena Gates reading news on Liberty 104 here.

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Jingles – Capitol Radio/Nitesky 96

Jingles - Capitol Radio/Nitesky 96
Image courtesy of DX Archive

There were several stations calling themselves Capital or Capitol Radio at various times during the pirate era but one favourite of ours was Capitol Radio/Nitesky 96 which evolved from playing album tracks to indie and alternative music. Nitesky 96 was launched as a ‘sister station’ to Capitol on 1st July 1986 and initially featured specialist programmes before settling into its own style of niche music drawing on the lively Dublin band scene. Its ‘Alternative Night’ at McGonagle’s nightclub in South Anne Street was highly popular towards the end of the station’s existence in 1988.

Capitol broadcast on 1017 kHz until early 1986 before selling its AM TX to the new Liberties Local Community Radio which took up position on 1035 kHz. For the remainder of its existence Capitol/Nitesky broadcast on 94.1 and 95.8 FM. Capitol’s jingle package was from the station of the same name in South Africa. Here’s a selection of those jingles from our own collection along with some idents featuring Tony Allan and a Bill Mitchell ident for Nitesky.

Here is Capitol’s news sting. Like many others, Capitol downgraded its news service in later years and read a weather forecast at the top of the hour, using this sting. Other stations using this sting also included CBC in Clonmel and City Centre Radio in Limerick.

You can listen to an aircheck of Capitol here.