AM Archives - Page 38 of 53 - Irish Pirate Radio Audio Archive

9th November 20201st August 2024

Pop-up community radio: Radio Sandymount

Radio Sandymount was the first of several pop-up community radio stations run by the Community Broadcasting Co-operative (CBC) in different parts of Dublin between 1982 and 1988. Set up by Dave Reddy and Al O’Rourke, it and other stations such as Radio Donnybrook and Radio Ringsend were regular summer features on the Dublin airwaves during that period. In an interview with Pirate.ie, Dave said that the first such station was in Sandymount in 1982 but proved so popular that other community groups wanted their own version.

Radio Sandymount broadcast to coincide with the Sandymount and Merrion Community Week in late May or early June. This recording is of a test transmission on 29^th April 1984 made from 270 metres/1116 kHz from 1135-1220. Among the presenters mentioned are David Baker, a well-known name on the Dublin pirate scene, John Murray and Charlie Sheehan who was a postman in Sandymount.

The recording also includes part of a simulcast of the 78s Show on Radio Galaxy, presented by the veteran pirate broadcaster Tony Boylan and his wife Fran. In 1945, Tony had set up one of Ireland’s earliest pirate stations, the Killeen Home Service, from his bedroom and continued to experiment with transmitters after the war. In 1955, he set up Radio Galaxy and specialised in playing his large collection of 78s records every Sunday for a few hours.

The 78s Show was very different to most of what was offered by pirate radio at the time and Tony and Fran’s engaging style and deep passion for the music earned them a loyal following. In 1986, they retired to the Isle of Man and became involved in setting up community radio there. Fran Boylan died in 2007 and Tony passed away in 2010.

Peter Mulryan paid tribute to Tony Boylan in his 1988 book, Radio Radio: ‘Tony Boylan’s pioneering broadcasts were amazing feats of personal and electronic achievement, and they were well ahead of their day. While Tony proved that pirate radio was technically possible, it would take younger men another ten years to prove its economic feasibility, and they were still at school’. Broadcast historian Eddie Bohan inducted Tony into his Alternative Irish Broadcasting Hall of Fame in 2015.

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

6th November 20207th August 2021

Full recording: Capitol Radio (Dublin)

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Capital or Capitol Radio was a common name for Irish pirates in the late 1970s and 1980s but the Dublin station specialising first in album and later in indie music was one of the best known. On air from 1983 to the end of 1988 it went through a number of format changes, including launching a night-time specialist sister station Nitesky 96 on 1^st July 1986. From then on Capitol-Nitesky established a reputation as a leading promoter of the lively Dublin alternative and indie music scene. It also ran the ‘Alternative Night’ every Thursday at McGonagle’s nightclub on South Anne Street.

This recording was made from 1035 kHz AM from 1335-1420 on 28^th April 1984. This was the period when Capitol was marketing itself as an ‘album station’ but in fact a variety of styles can be heard. The presenter is Dave Kelly who worked previously in ARD and KELO and would go on to the super-pirate Q102 after its launch in 1985. News is read by Miriam Fitzsimons and one of Capitol’s owners, Stephen Ryan, can be heard voicing the Sunday World ad.

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

31st October 20207th August 2021

Northeast series: Rainbow Radio (1987-1988)

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Rainbow Radio was one of several Co. Louth stations which placed transmitters beside the border in order to beam their signals into the North. It was set up by former Boyneside Radio North staff ‘Big O’, aka Oliver McMahon and the late Eugene Markey, onetime Chairman of Newry Council. Rainbow began broadcasting on 2^nd of August 1987 from a disused pigsty beside a furniture warehouse in Carrickcarnon right on the border. The musical style was country and Irish as was common on many rural pirate stations at the time. Rainbow’s AM frequency was 1152 kHz with about 500 watts of power, using a rig built by Eddie Caffrey of Boyneside Radio. For approximately a year, 96.1 FM was also used.

An advert for Rainbow in the Sunday World Northern Ireland edition in August 1987 (see above) used the slogan ‘the station of the stars’ and listed presenters Big O, Eugene Markey, Tommy Ballance, Leon and Danny Doran and Jeff T. Telephone numbers for Warrenpoint and Newry were given, reflecting the fact that Rainbow was aiming at the south Armagh and south Down market.

Editions of the Anoraks UK Weekly Report from the time mention confusion between Rainbow Radio and another Louth station, Radio Rainbow International, a hobby shortwave operation set up by Eddie Caffrey near Drogheda. Attempts were made to get the new Rainbow to change its name but this was said to be impossible as they had already printed promotional material.

Due to the proximity of the transmitter sites of Radio Carousel, Boyneside North and Rainbow in Carrickcarnon, there were frequent reports of mixing of signals. In December 1987, Weekly Report reported fierce competition between the three stations when new FM transmitters were installed. In July 1988, Rainbow Radio was reported as being audible in Belfast on 96.1 FM, but the station was forced to move frequencies in November when BBC Radio 1 installed a new FM transmitter for Belfast on 96.0. Rainbow moved to 98.5, blocking out the signal of easy listening station CLASS which could be heard from Dublin.

In its final months of existence, Rainbow ran regular outside broadcasts on Saturday and Sunday evenings which were said by Anoraks UK to be very popular. They closed shortly after 3pm on the 31^st of December 1988 with the presenters signing Auld Lang Syne.

The recording above is the of the launch of Rainbow Radio on 2^nd August 1987 and features Big O and Eugene Markey on air. It was made in Portadown about 45 km from Carrickcarnon and the signal is fairly weak with variable audio levels. The second recording below is of Big O near the end of Rainbow’s existence on 29^th December 1988 from 0918-1000. It was recorded from 98.5 FM. Many thanks to Rodney Neil and Ian Biggar for these recordings.

That concludes our series on the pirates of the northeast in the decade up to the end of 1988. Thanks to everyone who contributed, especially Ian Biggar, Eddie Caffrey, John Gartlan, Kieran Murray, Michael Gerrard and Rodney Neil. Click on the tabs ‘Louth’ or ‘Meath’ if you want to hear all the recordings.

29th October 20206th June 2022

Northeast series: East Coast Radio (1986)

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East Coast Radio broadcast for a little over six months from the town of Ardee between Drogheda and Dundalk. According to the Anoraks UK Weekly Report of the 15^th of June 1986, an unidentified transmission with a strong signal on 1044 kHz AM was logged 75km away in Dungannon, Co. Tyrone. It was also said to be strong in Dundalk and was picked up without an aerial in Blackpool on the west coast of England. During the test period, RTÉ Radio 2 and BBC Radio 2 were relayed at different times. The station was to be called East Coast Radio and presenters were sought. The station was set up by local promoter Jim McQuillan in partnership with a local DJ. Jim is still promoting and currently manages the band Bagatelle. Former Boyneside Radio presenter Daire Nelson was among those involved. The studio was based in McCabe’s Motors, Main Street, Ardee.

In August 1986, Anoraks UK reported that East Coast was putting out an excellent signal on AM and that its studios were impressively laid out. It was also reported to be broadcasting on 97.7 MHz FM. The AM transmitter was located at a place called Hacklim Funshog just outside Ardee and had been used originally by Radio Meath in Trim and was also tried by Royal County Radio in Navan in 1982. It was on the air for just a week or two before being stolen but was later found in a yard in Kells, Co. Meath. Eddie Caffrey of Boyneside Radio built a 500-watt transmitter for East Coast at the time which ended up being used by a station in Carlow after East Coast’s short life. The AM site was high up which boosted the signal and was used for FM by Big M Radio from Monaghan at the end of the pirate era.

East Coast Radio closed down on the 24^th of January 1987. A lack of advertising revenue was suggested but one of its main competitors, Radio Carousel in Dundalk, had gone off the air earlier that month after a complaint of interference by the Department of Communications. This recording was made by Gary Hogg in Blackpool from 1044 kHz from 1125-1225 on 7^th July 1986 and some splatter from neighbouring channels can be heard. Chris Clarke is on air with Daire reading news on the half-hour. Thanks to Ian Biggar for sharing this with us and to Eddie Caffrey for additional background information.

28th October 20207th August 2021

Northeast series: Radio Rainbow International (1987-1988)

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Today we bring you more recordings from Radio Rainbow International, Eddie Caffrey’s high-powered shortwave pirate which broadcast from the Drogheda area on Sunday mornings from 1985-1988. Radio Rainbow could also be heard on 1521 kHz AM and on FM locally. There was no mast at the house, so the antenna cable was extended by attaching a stone to it and throwing it up over a power line at the bottom of the garden. Sometimes the transmission arrangements of the pirates were not for the faint-hearted!

One of those involved in Radio Rainbow was Kieran Murray who also worked in Boyneside Radio along with Eddie and had been with Radio Carousel previously. Kieran presented a weekly FRC show on Rainbow with news and information about the exciting world of pirate radio in Ireland and abroad. The recording above is an extract from one such programme in April 1987. The second recording below is from January 1988 and features a relay of John Dean (aka Colin Strong) presenting his own free radio show on the Scottish pirate WLR (no connection with the Waterford station).

In its later years, Radio Rainbow regularly relayed UK pirate stations which were facing harassment by the authorities. We thank Eddie Caffrey for sharing these recordings.