Undated door plaque at WLR (courtesy Colin Kennedy).
Waterford Local Radio was one of the longest-running and most successful Irish pirate stations, broadcasting continuously from 1978-1988 and subsequently earning the licence for Co. Waterford. This recording is of the Frankie King Show on a Sunday afternoon in 1983. There are plenty of requests from listeners and adverts are heard for local businesses from Waterford City and beyond, including one for a WLR roadshow at a local hotel. Voices on adverts include station founder Rick Whelan and Clodagh Walsh, who went on to work as a journalist in licensed radio. News on the hour is read by Denise Wall.
This airchecked recording was made from by Kieran Murray on Sunday 24th April 1983 between 1400 and 1600 and is from the Anoraks Ireland Collection. 88.6 FM is noted on the cassette label but 88.8 and 100 FM were the frequencies announced by WLR at the time. The station also broadcast on 1197 kHz AM, announcing 252 metres as reflected in some of the liners in this recording.
Don Allen at ERI in 1983 (courtesy Svenn Martinsen).
The Canadian radio presenter Don Allen (RIP) was a familiar voice on Irish pirate radio in the 1980s and 1990s, where he shared his love of country music with appreciative audiences in various parts of the country stretching from Monaghan to Cork. After leaving Canada, Don worked on the offshore station Radio Caroline from 1965-1968 and later with Manx Radio and the BBC, before coming to Ireland and its growing pirate scene. He continued to broadcast on licensed station Midlands Radio 3 until his untimely death in 1995.
This recording of Don’s trademark country show on Cork station ERI in 1983 underlines his natural genius as a presenter. It was made during an outside broadcast from Kinsale before an event later that evening featuring ERI DJs. Reflecting the station’s growing popularity after its expansion earlier that year, several adverts are heard from businesses in the city and all around the county. The airchecked tape was made by Kieran Murray on Sunday 17th July 1983 from 105.8 FM between 1713-1800 and is from the Anoraks Ireland Collection. ERI also broadcast on 1305 kHz AM, announcing 225 metres.
Exterior of Energy Power 103 in 1988 (courtesy Andy Carter). The auctioneer’s sign indicates this was taken after the station’s closure in April.
This is a snippet from the Breakfast Club on the short-lived Nova Power 103 FM, a merger of the ‘new’ Radio Nova and existing Dublin pirate Energy 103 in late 1987. Sounding crisp and professional are Cassidy Jones, Lisa Moore (Fionnuala Sweeney) and Bob Gallico (RIP) with a mixture of music, chat, papers, sports and news. On a freezing Friday morning in Dublin, Bob Gallico presents the review of the papers and shares his racing tips for the day, while Lisa reads news. The familiar high-level adverts are heard, including for brands, and the classic Nova jingles are played, creating something of an identity problem as they differ from the station’s name. Although Nova founder Chris Cary had promised new jingles on the day the merger was announced (25th November), there was not enough time to complete the imaging of the new station as it was promptly prevented by an interlocutory injunction from using the valuable Nova name, and eventually reverted to Energy Power 103, as in the image above.
This recording was made by Kieran Murray between 0728-0748 on 27th November 1987 and is from the Anoraks Ireland Collection. It is not clear if it was made from 99.9 or 103 FM.
Handwritten NCLR banner from 1983 (courtesy DX Archive).
North Cork Local Radio (NCLR) went on air in mid-May 1981 from the north Cork town of Mallow at weekends only. The station directors were Pat O’Brien, Maurice Brosnan and Noel O’Connor, two of whom had presented previously on the RTÉ temporary station Mallow Community Radio, which broadcast in 1980. Initially NCLR had a modest coverage of a 5-mile radius of Mallow but eventually expanded to all of north Cork. The station played pop music but also had a community ethos in programmes and formed a co-operative to rally support for a licence.
NCLR changed its name slightly to North Cork Community Radio (NCCR) in July 1986 and continued to broadcast until the end of 1988. In a letter to Ian Biggar in 1986, general manager Barry O’Mahony wrote that NCCR broadcast from 1100-1800 on weekends and 1000-1800 at weekends with a variety of shows including outside broadcasts, chat, hospital requests, farming programmes, sport etc. He added that the AM transmitter ‘isn’t great but is adequate for present time’, probably a reference to the fact that two other pirates in close proximity were using the same frequency of 1386 kHz, WBEN in Cork and Kilkenny Community Radio. The AM band was crowded and there were few free channels and as a result, co-channel interference between all three stations was severe in parts of Cork.
This recording of NCLR begins with the end of the Saturday Scene show with Pat O’Connor and is followed by Ken Regis (O’Sullivan), who had broadcast previously on other Cork pirates. News is read by Clare O’Sullivan. The airchecked recording was made by Kieran Murray from 95.3 FM on Saturday 16th July 1983 between 1410-1510. It is from the Anoraks Ireland Collection.
Cartoon of Chris Cary by Terry Willers (courtesy of Sybil Fennell).
After testing for several days, at midnight on 9th November 1987, a new station began broadcasting continuous CD music on 100 FM in Dublin. On 18th November, the station announced itself as the ‘New Radio Nova’, rocking the Dublin pirate scene as it approached its final golden year of 1988. It was an ironic coincidence that the Minister for Communications, Ray Burke, published his new Broadcasting and Wireless Telegraphy Bill and Sound Broadcasting Bill the following day, 19th November, aimed at closing down the pirates and introducing licensed local radio. On 25th November came another dramatic announcement as existing station Energy 103 announced that it was merging with the new Radio Nova in light of the impending broadcasting legislation. The merged station was called Nova Power 103 FM and founder of the original Nova, Chris Cary (RIP), was involved, ostensibly as a consultant. This was to the consternation of many in Dublin who had been burned by Cary’s brash managerial style, particularly advertisers who lost money after the collapse of the station in 1986 and journalists and their union involved in the bitter industrial relations dispute with Nova.
In line with the new legislation, Nova Power 103 promised plenty of news and current affairs and revived the Dublin Today programme that was aired on the original Radio Nova. However, the new name was short-lived, when the receiver of Nova Media Services, Pearse Farrell, sought an interlocutory injunction preventing use of the Nova brand. According to Peter Mulryan in Radio Radio (1988), Farrell was also concerned about some activities of the bankrupt company and did not want to allow Cary to use the high-profile Nova name with licences in the offing. Within a few weeks, Nova Power 103 had reverted to Energy 103, which continued to broadcast until 11th March 1988.
This recording of Nova Power 103 was made on its first day and features an interview with Chris Cary on the Dublin Today programme, discussing his plans for the new station. Presenters of Dublin Today are Sybil Fennell and Teena Gates, and news at 1900 is read by Lisa Moore (Fionnuala Sweeney, who would later join RTÉ and CNN). The recording is from the Anoraks Ireland Collection and was made from 100 FM between 1850-1905 on 25th November 1987.
