1988 Archives - Page 8 of 23 - Irish Pirate Radio Audio Archive

28th December 202130th December 2023

Final day of KISS FM Monaghan

This is a flavour of some of the final day of the Monaghan pirate station KISS FM that rocked the radio world along the border and in Northern Ireland during its short nine months on air in 1988. Other Irish pirates had tried and failed to break the Belfast market and in November 1987, engineer Miles Johnston decided to set up a high powered FM station right on the border with proper coverage of the North. KISS FM came on the air on AM and FM in March 1988 and quickly made a mark, much to the consternation of the local ILR station, Downtown Radio, in Belfast. Its FM signal was so powerful that it could be heard in stereo in Scotland and Downtown attempted to have the Monaghan station jammed and raided.

The recording above is of the final 45 minutes of KISS FM on December 30^th 1988 from 1720-1805. Tom Hardy (RIP), who worked previously on Radio Caroline, Sunshine Radio and Radio Nova, is in the DJ’s chair and is joined by Miles Johnston, Susan Charles and Dennis Murray. In an echo of the famous Radio Nova closedown in 1983, Tom asks motorists to blow their horns at 6pm and they duly oblige.

The recording below is of part of the final shows of Owen Barry (Larkin) and Dennis Murray from 1132. There is an edit at the end of the recording.

Both recordings were made from 103.7 FM and are courtesy of John Breslin.

27th December 202127th December 2021

Closedown of Westside Radio International

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This is a recording of the closedown of the long-running shortwave pirate Westside Radio International on December 31^st 1988. Westside was set up by the late Dr Don (Don Moore) in 1975 and broadcast on Sunday mornings before Radio Dublin came on the air. It was taken over by Prince Terry (Roger Lloyd) in 1977 and remained a stalwart on the 49-metre band every Sunday for the following eleven years. Westside embodied the pirate spirit and was popular with anoraks because of its regular updates about radio in Ireland and abroad.

This airchecked recording was made from 6280 kHz between 1200 and 1348 on New Year’s Eve. Prince Terry and Gary Lewis present music and discuss the radio scene as the new legal regime was about to come into effect. There are hints that Westside may return in 1989 and in fact the station was heard again under various guises in 1989 and continued to broadcast as Ozone Radio for many subsequent years.

Reception is poor and is of DX standard in places but but this gives a sense of how many shortwave listeners experienced the closedown of Westside Radio International. We thank John Breslin for his donation.

27th December 202126th December 2021

Closedown of Galway’s KFM

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KFM flyer (courtesy Ian Biggar).

KFM was the longest-running of the later Galway pirate stations, broadcasting from November 1986 until the end of 1988. It was first based in the village of Moycullen in Connemara and later moved into the city centre before returning to Moycullen towards the end of its run. The high transmitter site gave it good coverage over a wide area of Galway city and county.

This is the final hour-and-a-half of KFM on 31^st December 1988. The show is presented by Shane Keating, who was well-known to local anoraks because he presented a DX programme during the final months of the station. There are farewell messages and live requests phoned in by listeners and one of KFM’s founders Maureen Browne pays tribute to DJs, advertisers and supporters. It’s a low-key closedown compared to some other stations and KFM leaves the airwaves at exactly midnight following the national anthem.

The recording above is from 2238-2325 and the final 35 minutes are heard in the recording below. They were made from 95 FM in north Clare, outside the core reception area, so the signal is fair at times. Thanks to John Breslin for the donation. For a comprehensive account of the 1988 closedowns, see the Radiowaves site.

Final 35 minutes of KFM.

27th December 202127th December 2021

Closedown of Galway’s Coast 103

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This is the final 90 minutes of one of the more popular and successful Galway stations towards the end of the pirate era, Coast 103. Launched in mid-1987, by 1988 it had merged with Limerick station Hits 954, was calling itself Coast Hot Hits and could be heard on a string of AM and FM transmitters covering an area from Mayo to Cork.

The final evening on 31^st December 1988 was broadcast from Richardson’s Bar in Eyre Square, Galway and featured various people dropping in to share their memories of Coast 103. Seán Costello is heard first and is followed by closedown host Barry Williams who is joined by Tommy Kelly, Tom Cuffe, Shane Martin, Brian Davis and Keith York (RIP). The first recording above is from 2232-2318 and the second below from 2318-0004. Both were recorded from 102.47 FM and are kindly donated by John Breslin. Thanks also to Shane Martin.

Final 45 minutes of Coast 103.

26th December 202119th December 2022

Closedown of Boyneside Radio as heard on shortwave

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Boyneside Radio, based in Drogheda in Co. Louth, was a successful local and eventually regional radio station broadcasting to the northeast of Ireland and beyond from 1978-1988. This is a recording of the final few hours of Boyneside on the afternoon of its last day on air, 31^st December 1988. Rather than its familiar medium wave and FM frequencies, this was taken from 6231 kHz shortwave, the transmitter of Radio Rainbow International which was linked to Boyneside and used specially for the occasion. Reception ranges from fair to poor with a heterodyne in the second half of the recording but it gives a sense of how shortwave listeners, especially those outside Ireland, experienced the closedown.

The recording runs from 1348-1502 and features Eddie Caffrey on air with a host of Boyneside DJs and other staff. There are also plenty of farewell messages from loyal listeners who will miss their local station. We thank John Breslin for the donation.

The history of Boyneside is already well documented on this site and all recordings of the station can be found here. For a comprehensive account of the 1988 closedowns, see the Radiowaves site.