Full recording: Centre Radio (Dublin)

Full recording: Centre Radio (Dublin)
A flyer for Centre Radio courtesy of Eamonn Roe.

Centre Radio began as a hobby station on December 19th 1986 from Baldoyle in northeast Dublin and came on air during school holidays. Brian Greene of Pirate.ie was one of the original founders and the other half of this site John Walsh was also involved. By 1987 the station had developed into a youth project and was training up to 80 young people in radio. From February 1988 Centre was on air every evening and weekend from Bayside. It was one of the last stations in Dublin to closedown at midnight on New Year’s Eve 1988.

This recording is of an oldies show presented by Bobby Gibbson (aka Brian Greene) on 25th September 1988. It includes community news and stations idents by Richard Taylor (aka John Walsh). Despite the claims in the idents, Centre broadcast in mono only, with the exception of its overnight stereo relay of the Radio Nova satellite service via the former Southside Radio FM TX in Dublin. You can read more about the history of Centre here.

Feature: Pirate.ie discussed on Radio Survivor

On January 29th 2019 we were honoured to take part in a special edition of the Radio Survivor podcast dedicated to this archive. You can listen back here to an hour of discussion with Brian Greene and John Walsh about the story of Irish pirate radio, the aims behind the archive and the plans for the future.

Stephen Davitt on Centre Radio

Stephen Davitt on Centre Radio
Centre Radio logo courtesy of Brian Greene.

Centre Radio began as a hobby station on December 19th 1986 from Baldoyle in northeast Dublin and came on air during school holidays. Brian Greene of Pirate.ie was one of the original founders and the other founder of this site John Walsh was also involved. By 1987 the station had developed into a youth project and was training up to 80 young people in radio. From February 1988 Centre was on air every evening and weekend from Bayside. It was one of the last stations in Dublin to close down at midnight on New Year’s Eve 1988.

This recording is from 94 FM a few days prior to closedown, 27th December 1988, and features a youthful Stephen Davitt (aka Daragh O’Sullivan) on air. You can read more about the history of Centre here.

Aircheck: Radio Anita

Aircheck: Radio Anita

Radio Anita was a hobby station operated by Frank Williams (aka Frank Decker) from Howth in north Co. Dublin and broadcast sporadically in the late 1980s, taking advantage of the height offered by its site on Howth Head. Frank was also involved in Centre Radio in Bayside and Baldoyle, a youth station that operated mostly during school holidays from 1986 to 1988.

Here’s a short aircheck of Radio Anita from 1987 or 1988 (we don’t have a precise date) recorded from 94.6 FM. This is from our own collection.

Bandscan: who’s still on air on 31st December 1988?

Bandscan: who's still on air on 31st December 1988?

Centre Radio (94.2 FM from Bayside in northeast Dublin) was one of the few stations to remain on air until the final deadline of midnight on the 31 st of December. In this recording Bobby Gibbson (Brian Greene) and Dave Evans (Eamonn Roe) discuss who is still on air in the early hours of the morning of the 31st . We then hear another bandscan from just before 0800 and a very optimistic prediction about the availability of new licences in 1989. You can read about the history of Centre here.