AM Archives - Irish Pirate Radio Audio Archive

14th April 202519th February 2025

Sunday evening on Westside Radio

Westside Radio was a small station broadcasting to Dublin in 1982 and 1983. It had its origins in Double R Radio in Inchicore and moved around different premises in Dublin, later broadcasting from a site in Mulhuddart in the west of the city. Westside was one of a small number of pirates to stay on air following the infamous raids of May 1983 but did not last for long as it ran into trouble due to claims of interference, a common charge levelled against the pirates.

This short recording of Westside Radio was made on a Sunday evening in early summer 1982. Up first is Chris Byrne and he is followed by DJ Lynne. Both DJs read out a letter from the Irish Wheelchair Association thanking Westside for promoting them during a recent sponsored run in the Phoenix Park. Audio quality is fair to poor due to an over-modulated signal and cassette degradation.

The airchecked recording was made by Kieran Murray from around 2000 on 16^th May 1982 from 1035 kHz, announcing 290 metres and is from the Anoraks Ireland Collection.

7th April 202515th April 2025

Northeast series: Plenty of requests on Telstar Community Radio

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Telstar Community Radio (1980-1988) was a long-running pirate station broadcasting from in and around Dundalk in Co. Louth. Despite stiff competition from other stations in the small county, especially Radio Carousel, it held its own and carved out a niche in the local market.

This short recording of Telstar gives a flavour of afternoon programming in 1982. Dave Ritchie reads out plenty of requests from listeners, there is an oldies spot and sports results are promised. The station also offers a chance to win tickets to a concert by Irish traditional band Clannad, who were making waves at the time. One of the most familiar voices on Telstar, Ray Stone, is heard on many of the adverts for businesses in and around Dundalk.

This airchecked recording was made by Kieran Murray from around 1400 on 13^th May 1982 from 1197 kHz (announcing 250 metres) and is from the Anoraks Ireland Collection. Audio is of DX quality as the recording was made outside the core listening area in north Louth.

3rd April 20252nd April 2025

Afternoon shows on Radio West in the early days

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Mullingar-based pirate Radio West grew from humble origins in early 1982 into a large regional station by 1987, even rebranding itself as West National Radio 3 and claiming coverage of 22 of the 26 counties. Our short recording was made not long after its launch and features snippets of afternoon programmes. First up is John Flood (if we heard the name correctly), who is followed by Mike Young with the Solid Gold show. News is read by Orla Francis. The strapline of ‘the mighty 290’ is used but Radio West in fact broadcast on 1071 kHz at the time, which was closer to 280 metres. Such flexibility in announced frequencies was common in the days before digital displays on radios. The recording is of note because it shows how Radio West developed from a relatively amateur local service into a much larger regional operation during its 6 years on air. Its footprint was transformed after it acquired a 10 kW transmitter that gave it widespread coverage, leading it to claim national coverage.

This airchecked recording of Radio West was made from shortly before 1500 on 12th April 1982 from 1071 kHz AM. The tape was recorded by Kieran Murray and is from the Anoraks Ireland Collection. Audio is of DX quality as Radio West was on low power at the time and the tape was made outside the core listening area in Westmeath.

27th March 202520th February 2025

Northeast series: Drogheda radio split reaches a head in 1982

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Due to a split in the Drogheda station Boyneside Radio in July 1981, the Co. Louth town gained a second station calling itself Community Radio Drogheda (CRD). A detailed history of the split is available here but in summary, the two rival stations attempted to undercut each other for the best part of 10 months in a small town with limited advertising revenue. To complicate matters, Boyneside Radio experimented with television during this period and attempted to open another station in Navan, Co. Meath. By April 1982, the situation had reached breaking point, with CRD running out of money and DJs leaving for other stations in Dublin. After negotiations, the two camps made peace and Boyneside Radio regained its position as the sole Drogheda station in early May.

This recording from April 1982 of both Boyneside Radio and CRD was made before the merger and gives a sense of the situation at the time. First up is Owen Barry (Owen Larkin) with his lunchtime show on Boyneside, including the Angelus bell at midday. Also of interest is an advert by Fianna Fáil, as politicians would later be censured by their parties for doing interviews on pirate radio. Next up is CRD with the voices of Richard Kenny (Richard Crowley), Eddie Caffrey, Dermot Finglas and Gavin Duffy presenting a lunchtime chat show. Gavin refers to plans for a new schedule and even a public meeting to discuss the development of the service with listeners, but the writing was on the wall for CRD at that stage.

The recording of Boyneside was made on 5^th April 1982 from 98.1 FM and that of CRD on 6^th April from 1305 kHz AM, announcing 225 metres. Boyneside also announced 225 but broadcast on 1323 kHz during this time as well as FM. We have done our best during the digitisation process but audio quality is fair to poor due to cassette degradation. The tape was made by Kieran Murray and is from the Anoraks Ireland Collection.

23rd March 202529th March 2025

Sunday afternoon on Wicklow Community Radio

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Wicklow Community Radio (WCR) began broadcasting from Wicklow Town in mid-1982, emerging from a network of temporary community stations set up by the Community Broadcasting Cooperative in Dublin in the early 1980s. It relaunched as Wicklow Local Community Broadcasting (WLCB) in summer 1985, which was more commercially-oriented despite the name. A final change in July 1987 rebranded the station as Viking 105, and it continued as such until the end of 1988.

This is an airchecked recording of WCR from 1983. It begins with the end of the WCR Top 30 Show with David Byrne and is followed by Victor Ryan with Sounds Easy. There are plenty of adverts for businesses around Wicklow and reference to the Maytime festival in Newtownmountkennedy. WCR broadcast on 1512 kHz AM at the time, and station liners feature that frequency. The DJ (and marketing material above) also refers to 198.4 metres, which was unusual as metres were often rounded up or down, sometimes quite generously.

The recording was made by Kieran Murray between 1630-1730 from 1512 kHz on Sunday 1^st May 1983 and is from the Anoraks Ireland Collection.