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More of the final day of Centre Radio, New Year’s Eve 1988

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More of the final day of Centre Radio, New Year's Eve 1988
In the studio on December 31st, L-R: Brian Greene, Dave O’Flynn, Tom Campbell, John Walsh, Eamonn Roe.

Today we bring you more recordings of the final day of Centre Radio on 31st December 1988 as the airwaves fell silent to make way for new radio legislation. In its two years on air, Centre Radio was based in youth centres or clubs in Baldoyle and Bayside in northeast Dublin and trained about 80 young people in radio. On the final day, various DJs did an hour each and others dropped in to say their goodbyes. Despite serious sleep deprivation, Brian Greene kept it all going. Behind the scenes was Tom Berry (RIP), who had given the youthful station credibility and kept an eye on output since it moved to Bayside.

More of the final day of Centre Radio, New Year's Eve 1988
Tom Berry (RIP) who was involved in running Centre Radio when it moved to Bayside in 1987.

On 31st December, there was a special news bulletin every hour from 12 noon to 7pm with Richard Taylor (John Walsh) which included features about well-known pirates that were closing down or had already left the airwaves. The first recording above is an aircheck of the hour 1308-1408 with Stephen Davitt (Daragh O’Sullivan) and Andy Callaghan. News at 2pm features Capitol Radio which was also due to close at midnight and Sunshine Radio which switched off on 30th December. You can hear another recording of Daragh O’Sullivan here.

More of the final day of Centre Radio, New Year's Eve 1988
Pauline Reddin and Conal Lawlor on New Year’s Eve 1988.

The second recording below is of DJ Caroline (Pauline Reddin) from 1715-1815. News at 6pm features KLAS/Class Radio. Pauline was Brian’s girlfriend at the time and they would later get married. She presented ‘Music of the Century’, an easy listening show. Centre had a broad range of musical styles from easy listening to punk.

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Final day of Centre Radio (Dublin), New Year’s Eve 1988

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Final day of Centre Radio (Dublin), New Year's Eve 1988
Brian Greene in the original Centre Radio studio, Christmas 1986. Kim Wilde was popular with the DJs!

Today we begin a series of recordings to mark the closedown of Centre Radio on 31st December 1988. Centre was a youth radio station broadcasting from Baldoyle and Bayside in northeast Dublin during holidays from 19th December 1986 and each day from February 1988 until closedown. Although not widely known outside its small transmission area, Centre is important to this archive because both of the people behind Pirate.ie were involved as teenagers, Brian Greene as one of the station’s founders and John Walsh as a broadcaster.

Over the coming days, we’ll bring you various recordings from the final day of Centre Radio, one of only a handful of pirates still broadcasting in Dublin. This first clip is of Brian Greene (Bobby Gibbson) in the final hours of his overnight programme between 0500 and 0700 on the 31st. There’s a strong anorak feel as Brian talks about pirate history in Ireland, plays jingles from other stations and explains Centre’s plans for the rest of the day.

Final day of Centre Radio (Dublin), New Year's Eve 1988
Centre Radio flyer when the station was on 92.5 FM.

Listen here to Brian interview Radio Dublin on its last official day on air. Of course, Radio Dublin would defy the new legislation and continue after midnight on the 31st. Listen here to a bandscan presented by Brian and Eamonn Roe (Dave Evans) of the stations still on air on New Year’s Eve in Dublin.

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Youth radio for northeast Dublin: Centre Radio (1986-88)

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Youth radio for northeast Dublin: Centre Radio (1986-88)
Centre Radio, Christmas 1986. L-R behind: Mark McGuinness, Frank Decker. L-R front: John Walsh, Peter Walsh, Dónal Greene, Liam Ward.

Centre Radio may not be the most famous of pirates in the decade 1978-1988, but it was especially important for the founders of this archive. Brian Greene, known on air as Bobby Gibbson, was one of those who set up Centre Radio on 19th December 1986 at the Baldoyle Youth Club in Dublin 13. John Walsh was also involved and called himself Richard Taylor on air.

Youth radio for northeast Dublin: Centre Radio (1986-88)
Some of the original recordings of Centre Radio digitised for Pirate.ie.

The station broadcast during school holidays for the next year and by November 1987, it had teamed up with Bayside Youth Club to train up to 80 young people in radio. From February 1988 Centre was on the air every evening and all day at weekends from the Mid-Sutton Community Centre in Bayside, Dublin 13. The station broadcast a live concert in aid of charity on 30th December and broadcast through the night into its final day before the airwaves were silenced by the new broadcasting legislation.

Youth radio for northeast Dublin: Centre Radio (1986-88)
Ticket to a Centre Radio fundraising disco from 1986 (courtesy of Brian Greene).

Over the next few days we’ll bring you a selection from the final day of Centre Radio on 31st December 1988. But first, complete with plenty of reverb and clunky cassette edits, here’s a selection of jingles based on an Alfasound package and various station promos voiced by Brian and John. The final two refer to the fact that Centre carried the Radio Nova satellite service overnight.

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Aircheck: Capitol Radio (Dublin)

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Aircheck: Capitol Radio (Dublin)
Capitol/Niteksy ad in the Sunday World, April 1986 from Alan MacSimoin collection.

Here’s a short aircheck of Capitol Radio from sometime in 1988. Capitol was a strong supporter of the alternative Irish music scene and the bands A-House and Cypress Mine are featured in this recording. The weather sting doesn’t fire at 3pm so the presenter carries on and reads the forecast. The request for ‘Brian and Pat listening in the Centre in Bayside’ is a reference to Centre Radio, the station ran by Brian Greene from Dublin 13 in 1988. Brian and fellow Centre presenter Pat Kenny phoned in the request – one station listening to another!

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Aircheck: remix of Gay Byrne Show announcing legalisation of radio

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This recording is a remix of the Gay Byrne Show on RTÉ Radio 1 from 17 October 1988, the day that the newly-established Independent Radio and Television Commission published advertisements for the first independent radio licences designed to put the pirates off the air. Byrne seems dismissive of the initiative which would of course threaten his show’s dominance in the market, and appears to be imitating a folksy but clumsy pirate radio presenter. His kitsch portrayal of an amateur local pirate is part of Byrne’s theatre of the mind and evokes stereotypical illegal broadcasters of an earlier era. 

Gay Byrne’s voice, remixed by Brian Greene with Queen’s Radio Gaga, was broadcast on Centre Radio in Bayside, Dublin 13 at the end of 1988 up to the closedown.

RIP Gay. Your voice was part of the soundtrack of our youth during the pirate era.