Eddie Caffrey at Boyneside in 1986 (courtesy of Eddie himself).
Eddie Caffrey is one of Ireland’s longest-serving broadcasters, having spent a decade with the Drogheda pirate, Boyneside Radio, before moving to licensed local station LMFM. This recording is of his daily Afternoon Delight programme from summer 1984. It includes the Golden Hour, news on the hour with Shane Harrison (who went on to a career with the BBC), the tea break feature with three songs by Queen, racing results and the birthday spot. The large number of requests reflects the popularity of Eddie’s programme with listeners. Also of interest is an advert for a Drogheda venue hosting the Radio Nova Night Out, a popular club arranged by the Dublin pirate.
The airchecked recording runs from 1400-1620 on Thursday 16th August 1984 from 98.1 FM. It was made originally by Kieran Murray and is part of the Anoraks Ireland Collection.
The Boyneside studio c. 1983 (courtesy Declan McGowan).
By 1984, the Drogheda station Boyneside Radio was 6 years on air and had grown into a large regional station with offshoot services across the northeast. This recording features the end of Daire Nelson’s breakfast show followed by the mid-morning programme presented by Don (Donagh) McKeown. Donagh would go on to present the first show on border station Zee 103 in 1986 and later worked for Downtown Radio in Belfast. News is read by Shane Harrison, who later had a career with the BBC in Belfast and Dublin.
The airchecked recording was made by Kieran Murray from 98.1 FM between 0930-1103 on Monday 13th August 1984 and is from the Anoraks Ireland Collection.
Drogheda postcard from 1982 with the Boyneside logo (courtesy Ian Biggar).
Due to a split in the Drogheda station Boyneside Radio in July 1981, the Co. Louth town gained a second station calling itself Community Radio Drogheda (CRD). A detailed history of the split is available here but in summary, the two rival stations attempted to undercut each other for the best part of 10 months in a small town with limited advertising revenue. To complicate matters, Boyneside Radio experimented with television during this period and attempted to open another station in Navan, Co. Meath. By April 1982, the situation had reached breaking point, with CRD running out of money and DJs leaving for other stations in Dublin. After negotiations, the two camps made peace and Boyneside Radio regained its position as the sole Drogheda station in early May.
CRD car sticker (courtesy Ian Biggar).
This recording from April 1982 of both Boyneside Radio and CRD was made before the merger and gives a sense of the situation at the time. First up is Owen Barry (Owen Larkin) with his lunchtime show on Boyneside, including the Angelus bell at midday. Also of interest is an advert by Fianna Fáil, as politicians would later be censured by their parties for doing interviews on pirate radio. Next up is CRD with the voices of Richard Kenny (Richard Crowley), Eddie Caffrey, Dermot Finglas and Gavin Duffy presenting a lunchtime chat show. Gavin refers to plans for a new schedule and even a public meeting to discuss the development of the service with listeners, but the writing was on the wall for CRD at that stage.
The recording of Boyneside was made on 5th April 1982 from 98.1 FM and that of CRD on 6th April from 1305 kHz AM, announcing 225 metres. Boyneside also announced 225 but broadcast on 1323 kHz during this time as well as FM. We have done our best during the digitisation process but audio quality is fair to poor due to cassette degradation. The tape was made by Kieran Murray and is from the Anoraks Ireland Collection.
The Dublin pirate scene was alive and well in the summer of 1986. Radio Nova had closed suddenly in March, to be replaced by Energy 103. Other super-pirates Sunshine Radio and Q102 took advantage of the change to consolidate their positions in the crowded market. Smaller stations continued to chug along serving their own niche audiences or communities while pirates from nearby counties could be heard easily in the capital, particularly on AM.
This airchecked recording captures some of the variety to be heard in Dublin that summer and includes excerpts from KISS FM (Dublin 1), Capitol Radio, Radio Dublin, Q102, Sunshine 101, Energy 103, Bray Local Broadcasting (BLB), Community Radio Fingal (CRF) and Boyneside Radio. It was made on 19th June 1986 and is from the Anoraks Ireland Collection.
Boyneside studio from c.1983 (courtesy Declan Smith).
This recording features excerpts from two shows on Boyneside Radio from Co. Louth in the summer of 1984. Boyneside was 6 years on the air at this stage and had grown into one of the largest regional radio stations in Ireland, with its main studios in Drogheda. The tape begins with an aircheck of Declan McGowan’s Saturday night show between 2000-2130 on 11th August 1984. Requests are heard from both sides of the border along with plenty of adverts and a few clunky chopped-up jingles. Declan began presenting on Boyneside in 1982 when he was just 15 and he remained with the station until it closed at the end of 1988.
Original cassette label from Anoraks Ireland Collection.
This is followed by an aircheck of Daire Nelson’s breakfast show from 0745-0930 on Monday 13th August 1984. Some of the comments are a bit off by today’s standards but the recording also underlines Daire’s real talent as a broadcaster. News is read by Shane Harrison, who went off to work for BBC Northern Ireland. The tape was recorded from 98.1 FM by Kieran Murray and is part of the Anoraks Ireland Tapes Collection. Audio quality is generally very good but there is a buzz at the start, which may have been due to an issue with the recording device.
