Jingles: North Dublin Community Radio

Jingles: North Dublin Community Radio
NDCR poster (courtesy of Dave Daly).

North Dublin Community Radio (NDCR) began broadcasting from Coolock in northeast Dublin in 1983 and was one of the leading community stations of the time, broadcasting on 1008 kHz AM and 100 FM. Many of those involved in NDCR went on to establish NEAR FM, the current licensed community station for northeast Dublin. Here’s a selection of NDCR jingles and promos from 1987 and 1988.

This station ident is from late 1988 when NDCR had dropped its AM service.
A jingle from 1988.
A station promo from 1988.

You can hear an interview with NDCR founder Jack Byrne here and with former presenter Declan Ralph here.

David Baker discusses the pirate scene on Radio Annabel

David Baker discusses the pirate scene on Radio Annabel

Several temporary community stations came on air in the 1980s to celebrate local festivals in Dublin. Radio Sandymount, Radio Ringsend and Radio Donnybrook were all set up by Dave Reddy and broadcast on 981, 1116 or 1134 kHz. They were all affiliated with the Community Broadcasting Co-operative.

David Baker, who worked in a variety of Dublin stations in the 1980s, was also involved with the CBC network. In this recording from June or July 1984, David chats with Gerard Roe of Radio Annabel about the Dublin radio scene in 1984. Audio quality is poor as the recording is of a weak AM signal received in north Dublin on 981 kHz but recordings of these community stations are rare.

You can hear separate recordings of Radio Annabel here. There’s an interview with Dave Reddy of Radio Sandymount here and with David Baker here.

Interview: Jack Byrne – NDCR

Interview: Jack Byrne - NDCR

North Dublin Community Radio (NDCR) broadcast from 1982 to 1988 from the north Dublin suburb of Coolock and had a strong community broadcasting ethos. It first aired as Concord Community Radio before changing its name to NDCR. It could be heard on 1008 kHz AM and on 100 FM, abandoning medium wave at a later stage in common with many other stations. In this interview with Wireless on Flirt FM from May 2017, NDCR founder Jack Byrne talks about the early years of the station, the philosophy of community radio and the establishment of NDCR’s licensed successor, NEAR FM. 

Interview: Jack Byrne - NDCR

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.

Interview: Brian Matthews (Community Radio Fingal)

Interview: Brian Matthews (Community Radio Fingal)
CRF car sticker (courtesy of DX Archive).

Community Radio Fingal broadcast from Swords and then Skerries in north Co. Dublin from 1982 to 1988 and was an example of one of the many community-focused pirates in Ireland. It began with a 300 watt transmitter in Skerries and later moved to the nearby village of Loughshinney where it operated a 1kW rig on 1575 kHz and also broadcast on FM. In this fascinating interview from our own collection, station owner Brian Matthews talks about the history of CRF, its studio and transmitter facilities and provides some amusing anecdotes about presenters and listeners. The recording is undated but was made in 1988.