1987 Archives - Page 4 of 10 - Irish Pirate Radio Audio Archive

27th April 202226th April 2022

Shannonside Community Radio from Limerick

Shannonside Community Radio was a short-lived pirate broadcasting to Limerick city in 1987. Information about the station is scant but it appears that it started around February of that year and broadcast on 97.5 FM with an address at 37 Catherine Street in the city centre.

The first recording above is a series of airchecks and is undated, but estimated to be from March 1987. DJs include Leonard Scott, Mark Young and Johnny Reggae (John Dronay), who had previously worked on popular Limerick pirate Big L. Aspiring DJs are asked to send a demo tape to the station. The second recording below is from 2^nd March 1987 and begins with the Wonderworth sponsored programme, presented by Johnny Reggae. Other DJs are Mike Patton and Liz Dronay, who possibly had a connection with John.

Recording from 2nd March 1987

There was plenty of competition in the Limerick radio market in early 1987. The bigger stations were Sound Channel and City Centre Radio, both aimed at younger listeners, and Raidió Luimní which focused on speech content and music for older cohorts. Shannonside Community Radio does not feature in listings by Anoraks Ireland from July 1987 so it appears that it lasted only a few months. It is not to be confused with the similarly named Shannonside Local Radio, that broadcast from north Kerry from 1987-1988.

These recordings are from the Anoraks Ireland Tapes Collection, donated to us by Paul Davidson.

20th April 202216th April 2022

More from oldies station Swinging Radio Impulse

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Swinging Radio Impulse was a hobby station specialising in oldies. On air in 1987 and 1988, it broadcast at night and at weekends on 95.89 FM from Galway city centre with just 5 watts of power. This recording from 2044-2130 on 21^st November 1987 features the late John Steele (on-air name Carl Turner) presenting a live show. There’s a real hobby feel to the programme with plenty of reverb in idents and even live voiceovers. John also mocks the midlands station Radio West which was then available on a local Galway relay and there’s a request for the late Keith York of large Galway station Coast 103.

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

18th April 20229th April 2022

Galway oldies station Swinging Radio Impulse

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Swinging Radio Impulse (SRI) was a small hobby pirate station broadcasting from Galway city centre in 1987 and 1988. It was run by the late John Steele (on-air name Carl Turner), who had a large vinyl collection and was something of an authority on various musical styles from the 1950s on. SRI dubbed itself ‘Ireland’s only oldies station’ and was on air mostly in the evenings and at weekends. Precise dates are unknown, but in July 1987 Anoraks Ireland listed a ‘Radio Impulse’ on 95.3 or 96.1 FM in Galway and Swinging Radio Impulse was logged in an Anoraks UK Weekly Report in November that year. It’s not clear when the station closed down. An Anoraks Ireland survey from November 1987 recorded that SRI broadcast on 95.89 FM in mono, announcing 96, with a power of just 5 watts from a house in Bohermore, Galway city centre. Broadcasting hours were 2100-0100 during the week, 0900-1500 on Saturday and 1100-1700 on Sunday.

This recording was made on 10^th November 1987 from 0026-0100 and features Carl Turner with what appears to be a pre-recorded programme for the first half-hour. Audio quality is poor with a lot of hiss but improves when programming goes live. There is an American advert for Old Spice shampoo from the 1960s and music is interspersed with home-made and generic station idents. A promo for Anoraks Ireland is voiced by a young John Walsh, co-founder of Pirate.ie.

Carl Turner also presented an oldies programme on Sunday mornings on commercial Galway station Coast 103. He was also an active member of Galway Radio Club. Thanks to Ciaran McCarthy and Shane Martin for background information. This recording is from the Anoraks Ireland Tapes Collection, donated to us by Paul Davidson.

11th April 202212th April 2022

Twiggs FM from Galway

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Twiggs FM was a short-lived pirate station from Galway broadcasting for about six months at the end of 1987 and beginning of 1988. Called after a nightclub of the same name in Salthill, it was set up by local man Shane Martin and Alan Russell from Dublin who had established another Galway station, Atlantic Sound, in 1984. Alan was also a founder of Dublin station Capitol Radio (1975 and 1978-1981). When Twiggs FM was wound down, DJs either moved to other Galway stations such as County Sound and Coast 103, returned to Dublin or emigrated.

This recording from 11^th November 1987 is of a morning show presented by Mike Richardson, apparently in the middle of a storm (Twiggs FM was located on the promenade facing the Atlantic Ocean). A founder of Big L Radio in Limerick, Mike provided the transmitter and studio equipment for Twiggs FM and did shows when he was in Galway. The recording was made from 98.2 FM in stereo from 0912-0937 and is from the Anoraks Ireland Tapes Collection, donated to us by Paul Davidson. Thanks to Alan Russell and Shane Martin for background information.

24th November 202123rd November 2021

Don Allen on the Radio West Anoraks Show

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One of the presenters of the Radio West Anoraks Show was the late Don Allen, himself a veteran of the offshore pirate scene and an accomplished broadcaster on the Irish pirates of the 1980s. Here he is presenting the Anoraks Show in 1987 with station boss Shaun Coyne, who talks about the station’s expansion into Galway on both AM and FM. There are adverts for Anoraks Ireland and Anoraks UK and discussion of a pirate radio magazine that was being prepared at the time, although it seems it never materialised.

This recording was made from 1045-1145 on Sunday 19^th July 1987 from an unspecified FM frequency. It was donated to us by Ian Biggar.