1986 Archives - Page 4 of 20 - Irish Pirate Radio Audio Archive

29th May 202412th May 2024

Northeast series: FRC show #7 on Radio Rainbow International

Radio Rainbow International (1985-1988) was a high-powered shortwave station broadcasting from Co. Louth. Set up by Eddie Caffrey of Boyneside Radio, it also involved other Boyneside DJs Jim Agnew and Kieran Murray, who presented a weekly Free Radio Campaign (FRC) show. This recording of edition #7 of the FRC features listeners’ letters from the UK, 5 minutes of jingles from offshore stations, a feature on Sussex station Automatic Radio and promos for Anoraks UK.

This studio copy of the show is from the Anoraks Ireland Collection and was made on Sunday 16^th February 1986 from 1100-1200. There is some wobble due to cassette degradation and the show is truncated because the cassette jammed and it was not possible to complete digitisation. Radio Rainbow International broadcast initially on 6240 kHz shortwave in the 48-metre band, before adding medium wave and FM transmitters.

22nd May 202412th May 2024

Breakfast show traffic reports on Q102

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One of the stand-out features of Dublin super-pirate Q102 was its live traffic reports every morning from a helicopter flying over the city. The Eye in the Sky service was presented by general manager Mike Hogan from the skies above Dublin and quickly became the go-to place for up-to-date traffic information. In this excerpt from the breakfast show in spring 1986, DJ Greg Gaughren chats to Mike Hogan who is grounded due to helicopter maintenance but nonetheless phones in traffic reports from his car. Greg is joined in studio by another familiar voice, Martin Block. News at 2 minutes to the hour is read by Bryan Jennings and Scott Williams then takes over in the mid-morning slot. All presenters went on to have careers in licensed independent radio or RTÉ.

This recording is from the Anoraks Ireland Collection and was made from 103.5 FM on 27^th March 1986 between 0817-0905. The tape was made during an interesting period in the Dublin radio scene, as the city’s biggest station Radio Nova had closed down just over a week previously. Another month would pass before Nova’s successful successor station, Energy 103, hit the airwaves.

13th May 202412th May 2024

Radio Nova on its final morning

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After dominating the Dublin market for 5 years, by early 1986 Radio Nova was in serious trouble. A bitter dispute with the National Union of Journalists had affected advertising revenue, shareholders were unhappy and the station had lost listeners at home due to the decision to chase a British audience. In March, Chris Cary announced that he would sell Nova by the end of the month, blaming the NUJ for his decision. In fact the end came sooner, on March 19^th, after two disgruntled shareholders successfully applied to the High Court for a receiver to be appointed to Nova Media Services. There was no indication on air that anything was awry until that afternoon. Radio Nova closed down just after 1800 but continuous music was broadcast on both AM and FM, with a new station, Zoom 103, announced a few hours later. Zoom lasted for less than a week but was replaced on 28^th April by Energy 103.

This tape from the Anoraks Ireland Collection features part of the Nightcap programme on Nova, recorded as the station entered its final day. The DJ is Richard Jackson and the recording was made from 0000-0045 on March 19^th 1986 from 103.1 FM.

8th May 20241st May 2024

Northeast series: 1st birthday of Radio Rainbow International

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Radio Rainbow International was a high-powered shortwave station broadcasting from Co. Louth between 1985-1988. It was set up by the engineer of Boyneside Radio, Eddie Caffrey and other Boyneside presenters were also involved. Radio Rainbow was the highest powered of the shortwave pirates from Ireland and broadcast every Sunday morning across Europe on 6240 kHz in the 48-metre band, later adding medium wave and FM.

On Sunday 27^th July 1986, Radio Rainbow International celebrated a year on the air, complete with cake and champagne in the studio. This recording opens with the final 15 minutes of a special celebratory show from 1145-1200 on that date presented by Eddie Caffrey, who is joined by fellow DJs Jim Agnew and Kieran Murray. They estimate that up to 350 reception reports have been received in the station’s first year, the furthest of which came from Finland. Kieran Murray looks back at the popular weekly Free Radio Campaign (FRC) show, that has been running since January. This is followed by Jim Agnew’s music show on the same date. There are no times, but it seems it was broadcast before the special birthday programme. The recording includes promos for Anoraks UK and a multilingual ident.

At this time, Radio Rainbow International broadcast on 6240 kHz, but this is a stereo studio copy. It is from the Anoraks Ireland Tapes Collection.

1st May 202430th April 2024

Community station Radio Ringsend from 1986

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Radio Ringsend was an annual temporary station broadcasting during the Ringsend and District Festival in southeast Dublin during the 1980s. It was one of several pop-up stations under the umbrella of the Community Broadcasting Co-operative (CBC) set up during local community festivals in Dublin and surrounding counties. Radio Ringsend began broadcasting in 1982 and broadcast for the last time in the summer of 1988 before the legalisation of independent radio.

The CBC stations gave a fascinating insight into the popularity of hyper-local radio complete with small corner stores and competition results from the festival. In 1986, Radio Ringsend was based in a fruit and vegetable shop in Irishtown and this recording contains plenty of adverts for similar small businesses and copious amounts of requests and dedications. There is also a phone-in quiz, listeners’ competitions and karate results from the festival. The presenter is CBC founder Dave Reddy and voices on the adverts include David Baker and Bryan Lambert, familiar names on the CBC stations and indeed other 1980s pirates.

The recording is from the Anoraks Ireland Collection and was made from 98.4 FM from 1248-1425 on Saturday 26^th July 1986. Radio Ringsend also broadcast that year on 1530 kHz / 196 metres.