1986 Archives - Page 3 of 16 - Irish Pirate Radio Audio Archive

6th November 20236th November 2023

Radio Nova broadcasting on longwave

One of the characteristics of the super-pirate Radio Nova was its high-powered broadcasts on medium wave aimed at listeners in Britain. By 1985, the station was broadcasting 50kW of power on 738 kHz AM and reaching cities such as Liverpool and Manchester but the frequency was prone to interference at night. Longwave – capable of covering larger distances and using a less crowded band – seemed like an option to reach Britain more effectively and was tested by Radio Nova in late 1985 and early 1986.

Nova began broadcasting on 254 kHz on 6^th December 1985, relaying the main service on 738 kHz. The audacious move was noted by the Media Network programme on Radio Netherlands International but the initial broadcasts were intermittent and on low power. Signal strength improved in the first fortnight in January 1986 but no mention of longwave was made on air and it is likely that few listeners were aware of the broadcasts. Separate longwave broadcasts did not begin until 28^th January, when Nova was relayed until 1400, followed by a programme presented by Chris Barry until 1800. The same schedule continued for the following two days until the transmitter was switched off on Thursday 30^th January at around 2215. It is estimated that power output was in the region of 15 kW at the time. The reason for the switch-off of longwave is not known but Nova was by this time in deep trouble and would close down completely on March 19th.

254 kHz (later 252) was the longwave frequency allocated to Ireland by the International Telecommunication Union and would later be used by the joint RTÉ and Radio Luxembourg venture, Atlantic 252 (1989-2002). Atlantic 252 broadcast from Co. Meath but was aimed at the UK market and covered most of the British landmass with its 500 kW of power. From 2004 to 2023, RTÉ used the frequency to broadcast Radio 1 into Britain, but power was reduced significantly in later years and there were problems with co-channel interference from an Algerian station.

This recording of Radio Nova on longwave was made in the English midlands on 22^nd January 1986 from 254 kHz between 1254-1326 and is a relay of the main service. It features the usual high-level adverts from agencies and for large businesses and the ABC Network News is presented by Bob Gallico and Sybil Fennell. After the news, Electric Lunchtime is hosted by Tony McKenzie. The recording is from the Leon Tipler Tapes Collection, donated to us by Steve England, and background information is courtesy of DX Archive.

16th June 202312th June 2023

Summer sounds on Munster Broadcasting Corporation

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The Munster Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) was one of the smaller Limerick pirates, broadcasting in 1986. Despite the gradiose name, the station was situated in a tiny loft room on Catherine Street in the city centre. It claimed coverage of counties Limerick, Clare and Tipperary on various FM frequencies, but most of the advertisements were from Limerick City itself. This recording from July 1986 features the lunchtime show with current pop hits presented by Will Rogers, who had one of the stranger mid-Atlantic accents of the pirate era. He also features on many of the adverts. MBC was relaunched as Stereo Radio Munster in 1987.

The tape may have been recorded from one of the Limerick City frequencies, 95.9 or 98.6 FM. There is no date but Part 1 above runs from 1304-1349 and Part 2 below from 1351-1437.

Part 2 from 1351.

The tape is from the Anoraks Ireland Collection, donated to us by Paul Davidson.

26th May 202324th March 2024

Easter Sunday on Westside Radio International

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Westside Radio International broadcast on shortwave from Dublin on Sunday mornings between 1975 and 1989, returning in the 1990s under different names. It was one of several shortwave hobby pirates operating during that period and was steeped in the free radio spirit.

This recording from Easter Sunday 1986 features one of the station founders Roger Lloyd (Prince Terry on air) with his trademark musical mix of rock and oldies. The other founder of Westside, Don Moore (Dr Don) died in 2021. There are generic jingles and promos for free radio, including a long advert for Anoraks Ireland. The weekly DX Programe follows, with plenty of news about the pirate scene and following Westside’s closedown, the station is to hold a QSO with fellow shortwave pirate Radio Valleri. No times are noted and there are some edits in the tape. Part 1 above begins after 1100 and Part 2 below finishes after 1300.

Part 2 of Westside recording

The recording was made from 6280 kHz on Sunday 30^th March 1986 and is from the Anoraks Ireland Tapes Collection, donated to us by Paul Davidson.

15th May 202314th May 2023

Summer 1986 on Cork’s WBEN

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WBEN was a Cork station that broadcast under different names between October 1985 and December 1988. It was launched on the Cork Jazz Festival long weekend by Pete O’Neill and Romano Macari, both of who were involved in earlier Cork stations including Radio City and the original South Coast Radio. WBEN began on low power on FM only in the city centre but by summer 1986 had added an AM transmitter on 1386 kHz followed by high powered FM. Initially, WBEN specialised in mainly American Top 40 music and had no presenters but it later got rid of the automated style. Under Macari’s management, the format changed to mixed oldies, pop and showbands. WBEN was relaunched as South Coast Radio at the end of 1987 and continued under that name until December 31^st 1988.

One of those involved in the station was former offshore DJ Nick Richards, who shares his memories of WBEN:

It was 1986 and I was preparing to return to the Ross Revenge when out of the blue I had two calls from Ireland, both from Cork as it happened. The first call was to ask would I be interested in joining WKLR in Clonakilty and the other call was to ask if I might be interested in joining a new station about to launch in Cork City and called WBEN.

I briefly put off my trip back to the Caroline ship and and got a ferry over to Ireland. First I made my way to Clonakilty and WKLR. I met Dave Heffernan who was running WKLR, we had a long chat and I said that I’d get back to him and let him know. The following day I met Pete O’Neill in Cork city to see what his plans for WBEN were. I immediately liked what Pete had to say. He was planning an American sounding station which I agreed would do well. Pete also asked if I knew of anyone that might be interested in joining the station. I returned to Radio Caroline with a decision to make and the job of finding someone else that might head back to Ireland with me. Once back on board the Ross I knew who might be interested in working in Cork, so one evening I put the idea to Neil Frances, who was very interested. Once we had both left the ship, I contacted Pete O’Neill to say we would both be on our way in a week or so.

Pete met us at Cork Airport and took us into town and gave myself and Neil a great welcome which involved a tour of most of the bars in the city and then on to Co-Co’s nightclub. The following day it was down to work in the studios in Cook Street. Neil would be doing drivetime and I would do the afternoon show. The studios were well fitted out, the station jingles were from WBEN in Buffalo, New York but sounded good on what was a tight FM format. The summer was one of those that seemed to produce sunny day after sunny day. Eamonn Kelly was another DJ on the station. He had come from Radio Nova in Dublin and was a very professional sounding presenter.

Neil Prendeville was another local presenter on the station and a keen tennis fan. Somehow we gained accreditation to have live comentary on the tennis games at Wimbledon and Neil was the obvious person to send over to London to capture all the action for our news bulletins and live updates. We had an outside broadcast booked on one of the weekends during Wimbledon, during which we planned to also broadcast Neil from Wimbledon. For any station today, this would be relatively easy but for a small pirate station in Ireland at the time, this was quite a tricky thing to pull off. It worked a treat, much of the technical side of things was down to the legendary Keith York (RIP) who just made things work.

A point came where the radio station took a dip in advertising and unknown to me at the time Neil Francis had applied to join a radio station in the UK, I told him that I was thinking along similar lines and had applied to join the new Radio HMV in the company’s flagship store on Oxford Street in London. Needless to say we both left WBEN at the same time.

WBEN left its mark on Cork, it sounded so different to existing stations and I will always remember it fondly and the people I worked with while I was there.

The first recording above is of Nick Richards from 1525-1555 on Wednesday 25^th June 1986. The recording below is of Neil Francis from 1822-1843 on the same date. Commercial breaks include promos urging ‘yes’ and ‘no’ votes in the forthcoming divorce referendum.

Neil Francis show.

Both recordings were made from 98 MHz FM and are donated by Ian Biggar.

11th March 202322nd April 2023

Henry Owens on Q102

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Henry Owens (real name Henry Condon) was heard on various pirate stations in the 1980s, including Q102, Radio Nova and South Coast Radio in Cork, where he was known as Alan Reid. In this recording from 1986, he presents an afternoon show on Dublin super-pirate Q102. Along with plenty of agency adverts, there’s also a competition to win a trip across the skies of Dublin in the Eye in the Sky helicopter, from which Q102 delivered its traffic reports each morning. News is read by Anne Cassin at two minutes to the hour, an innovation allowing the station to claim that it was first to bring the news to Dublin listeners.

Henry went on to enjoy a long career on licensed radio in Ireland and UK up to his untimely death in 2013. Anne Cassin is now a presenter of Nationwide on RTÉ. This tape was recorded on Tuesday 11^th March 1986 from 102.1 FM. Part 1 above runs from 1519 and Part 2 below from 1618.

Part 2.

This recording is from the Anoraks Ireland Tapes Collection, donated to us by Paul Davidson.