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Mid-morning with Pete O’Neill on South Coast Radio

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Mid-morning with Pete O'Neill on South Coast Radio
Pete O’Neill in the South Coast studio (courtesy Lillian O’Donoghue).

Pete O’Neill was a popular DJ on various Cork pirates in the late 1970s and 1980s, including one of the city’s big stations, South Coast Radio. This is a recording of his mid-morning show beginning at 1000 on Tuesday 4th May 1982. Pete thanks Alan Reid (aka the late Henry Condon/Henry Owens) for the breakfast show and presents his usual mix of music, chat and information. There are promos for Wheelchair Awareness Week and local concerts, daily horoscopes and birthdays, an adult education diary, what’s on file and lost and stolen section. A studio guest from the Tony Quinn Yoga Club talks about relaxation. The listener’s Top 5 just after 12 noon features the choice of loyal South Coast fan Lillian McCarthy (O’Donoghue). News on the hour is read by Mark Lawrence but is cut.

Part 1 above runs from 1000-1135 and part 2 below from 1150-1250.

Part 2 from 1150

Audio quality is mixed as the recording switches between 104 FM and 1557 kHz AM. Thanks to Lillian O’Donoghue for the donation and photo.

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Westside Radio following 1983 raids

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Westside Radio following 1983 raids
Westside Radio advert in Irish Radio News in 1983 (courtesy Ian Biggar).

Following the raids on Sunshine Radio and Radio Nova, the pirate airwaves of Dublin fell largely silent. Only three stations remained on air: Radio Dublin from Inchicore, ABC Radio from the city centre and Westside Radio from Mulhuddart in the west of the city. This recording is of Westside Radio from the morning of 20th May 1983, the day after Radio Nova’s official closedown. DJ John Martin says that no pirates remain on FM in the city, with just three on AM, including Westside. Listeners are invited to complete a petition in favour of the pirates and send it to Westside or Radio Nova itself in advance of a court hearing the following week.

The recording was made from 1035 kHz, announcing 290 metres. Westside went on the air in early 1983 and later merged with ABC Radio to become Radio Annabel, which began testing in September 1983.

This recording is from the Skywave Tapes Collection. Radio Skywave International was a shortwave station broadcasting from Baldoyle in northeast Dublin in the 1980s.  

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Radio Sandymount during 1983 raids

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Radio Sandymount during 1983 raids
Charlie Sheehan on Radio Sandymount (courtesy Dave Reddy).

The 1983 raids on Radio Nova and Sunshine Radio rocked the Irish pirate scene, with many stations closing temporarily as a precaution. This recording is of temporary station Radio Sandymount on the morning of Thursday 19th May, not long after Sunshine Radio in Portmarnock was raided. Radio Nova had been put off the air the previous day but returned on the morning of the 19th on lower power. Charlie Sheehan is the presenter on Radio Sandymount, which was in the middle of its run to coincide with the Sandymount and Merrion Community Festival. There’s no mention of the raids but panic was spreading through the pirate world at the time.

The recording was made from 1512 kHz, announcing 199 metres. Radio Sandymount also broadcast on 99.9 FM. The station was part of the Community Broadcasting Co-operative that ran several temporary community stations in Dublin and surrounding counties between 1982 and 1988. This recording is from the Skywave Tapes Collection. Radio Skywave was a shortwave pirate broadcasting from northeast Dublin in the 1980s.

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Royal County Radio during 1983 raids

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Royal County Radio during 1983 raids
Royal County Radio flyer (courtesy Ian Biggar).

This recording of Co. Meath station Royal County Radio was made during the infamous raids by the Department of Posts and Telegraph on the super-pirates in May 1983. It was recorded on the morning of Thursday 19th May, a few hours after Sunshine Radio in Portmarnock was raided, and a day after Radio Nova was shut down.

Royal County Radio broadcast from Navan from October 1982 until the middle of 1984. In this recording, Al O’Rourke refers to a quiz coming up the following Monday but adds ‘fingers crossed’, a reflection of the nervousness among pirates at the time. Many stations closed down temporarily as a precaution in the days after the raids.

This extract begins at 1117 and is partially airchecked. It was recorded from 846 kHz, announcing 355 metres. Audio quality is fair to poor as the signal is groundwave reception recorded outside the Navan area. This recording is from the Skywave Tapes Collection. Radio Skywave International was a shortwave station broadcasting from northeast Dublin in the 1980s.

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Community Radio Fingal during 1983 raids

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Community Radio Fingal during 1983 raids
CRF studio in Loughshinny in 1984 (Anoraks Ireland Collection).

This recording of Community Radio Fingal (CRF) was made during the May 1983 raids on Irish pirate radio stations. CRF broadcast from various locations around north Dublin from March 1983 until the end of 1988, focusing on a local listenership but getting its signal out well due to its 1kW AM transmitter. CRF was based in the Castle Shopping Centre in Swords at the time, and many of the adverts feature businesses located there.

Our recording was made from 1575 kHz (announcing 189 metres) from 1040 on Thursday May 19th, just over an hour after the raid on Sunshine Radio less than 10km away in Portmarnock. As fears grew that more stations would be raided, DJ Jimmy Clarke makes an oblique reference to transmitters and laughs nervously.

This recording is from the Skywave Tapes Collection. Radio Skywave International was a shortwave station from Baldoyle in northeast Dublin in the 1980s.