AM Archives - Page 52 of 53 - Irish Pirate Radio Audio Archive

23rd December 20187th August 2021

Panel: The Louth Pirates

Co. Louth was an important county in Irish pirate radio history, with several successful commercial stations often beaming their signals across the border. In this panel discussion on the Louth pirates, Richard McCullen, Michael Hughes and Eddie Caffrey share their memories of the county’s lively pirate scene. Stations featured include Radio Dundalk, Radio Carousel and Boyneside Radio. The interviewer is John Walsh and the discussion was recorded on the 20th of October 2018 at a special event held in Dublin to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the closure of the pirates.

23rd December 201821st February 2021

Interview: Bill Ebrill, transmitter man

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Radio engineer Bill Ebrill built transmitters for many of the early pirates including Radio Caroline Dublin, Radio Dublin, Big D, Radio Carousel and Northern Radio. In this interview, he discusses transmitters and the early days of pirate radio with Dónal Greene.

The interview was recorded on October 20^th 2018 when over 100 radio anoraks gathered in the Ballsbridge Hotel in Dublin. The purpose was to meet and record oral history of the pirate radio era.

23rd December 20185th January 2019

Interview: Eamonn O’Connor

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On October 20th 2018 over 100 radio anoraks gathered in the Ballsbridge Hotel Dublin. The purpose was to meet and record oral history of the pirate radio era.

Eammon O’Connor is a radio enthusiast and ham radio operator from Raheny in Dublin 5. He is very well known to the AM pirate operators of the 1970s from his correspondence with stations. Eamonn spoke to Dónal Greene about his radio memories.

23rd December 20187th March 2023

Interview: Derek Jones (Radio Valleri)

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One of Ireland’s longest serving DJs and radio operators, Derek Jones sat down to tell his radio story, from AM Raidió Bhaile Átha Cliath (Radio Dublin) in the 1960s, to his long running SW station Radio Valleri, to Christmas FM and Retro FM. Derek also discusses his favourite radio memories including his nine years on Radio Caroline Dublin in Sutton.

22nd December 201814th June 2022

Jingles: Radio Dublin

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Radio Dublin was Ireland’s longest running pirate radio station. It broadcast from 1966 until 2002 and was at its peak in the early to mid 1980s on 253m/1188KHz and 6910 kHz shortwave. Here are a number of station idents and jingles from our collection, beginning above with two iconic 253 jingles from the late 1970s.

The clip below is a top-of-the-hour jingle from 1988. The FM transmitter had moved to 105 but Radio Dublin was still announcing 98.8.

Radio Dublin relayed other stations frequently during its long existence including World Music Radio. After midnight on 1st January 1989 when it defied the new law, it relied on WMR tapes for the first few days before resuming live programming. Here’s a WMR promo from 1987.