Interview: Kildare pirates

Interview: Kildare pirates

Despite its proximity to Dublin, Kildare had its own pirate stations down the years, including Radio Cill Dara (Naas), Kildare Community Radio (Naas) and KLB Community Radio (Newbridge). In this interview, Liam Kett and Anthony McAllister reminisce about their involvement in Kildare stations as well as a stint spent at Radio Dublin. They recall that in the early years, there were fall-back transmitters and premises across the county in the case of raids and they remind us that high-profile RTÉ broadcasters Ray D’Arcy and Ronan Collins cut their teeth in the Kildare stations. Liam Kett is now a presenter on the local Kildare station KFM.

The interviewer is Eolann Aitken and the interview was recorded at a meet-up organised by Pirate.ie in Dublin in 2018 to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the closedowns.

Promo: ‘Shout to the Top’ on Bray Local Broadcasting

Promo: ‘Shout to the Top’ on Bray Local Broadcasting
BLB car sticker (courtesy of DX Archive).

Bray Local Broadcasting (BLB) was one of the leading community broadcasters of the 1980s and put out a strong signal on 657 kHz AM from Bray in Co. Wicklow. In this promo from 1987 which includes the voice of Minister for Communications Jim Mitchell, BLB extols the virtues of community radio in anticipation of the new licences. Although many of those involved in BLB were behind the licensed Horizon Radio in 1989, that station was to merge with another more commercially-focused broadcaster in Wicklow and community radio proper was not licensed until the mid 1990s. You can read more about Horizon Radio on the Wireless Flirt blog.

Panel: Liam de Siún, Roger Lloyd, Ian Biggar, Eddie Bohan and Dr Don Moore

Panel:  Liam de Siún, Roger Lloyd, Ian Biggar, Eddie Bohan and Dr Don Moore
QSL from Westside Radio International on its final day in 1988 (courtesy of Ian Biggar/DX Archive).

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.

Here we present a great panel of anoraks chatting to Dónal Greene: Liam de Siún (BLB), Roger Lloyd (aka Prince Terry of Radio Dublin and Westside Radio International), Ian Biggar (DX Archive), Eddie Bohan (Irish Broadcasting Hall of Fame) and Dr Don Moore (Westside Radio International and ARD).

Interview: Tommy Greene (Southside Radio).

Interview: Tommy Greene (Southside Radio).
Early Southside Radio sticker

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.

Tommy Greene was involved with Southside Radio, BLB and stations of the southside in the early 1980s.