Daragh O'Sullivan Archives - Irish Pirate Radio Audio Archive

4th October 20243rd October 2024

Another Alternative Radio Dublin from post-1989

ARD (Alternative Radio Dublin) was one of the biggest stations in the early years of the pirate era, first broadcasting in 1976 on 217 metres. It was set up by Declan Meehan, Mark Story and Davitt Kelly (RIP). Following a split at Radio Dublin, the late Don Moore (Dr. Don) joined ARD in 1977 and it moved to 1161 kHz (announcing 257 metres), next to its old rival on 253 metres. Competition between Radio Dublin and ARD forced up standards and led to greater professionalism among the pirates and a shift from hobby to full-time broadcasters.

It is said that imitiation is the best form of flattery so we were interested to discover a recording of another Alternative Radio Dublin, based in the north Dublin suburb of Bayside in the second wave of pirates following the new laws that came into force in 1989. This ARD was one of the occasional hobby stations operated by the people behind Radio Caroline Dublin, a long-running pirate that broadcast from 1989 to 2000 from the same part of Dublin. Brian Greene of Pirate.ie was one of the founders. From the same stable, ARD played indie/alternative music on weekday evenings between 10pm and midnight. All shows were pre-recorded rather than live and power output was about 30 watts on FM through a half-wave dipole with no elevation, so coverage was very local. It is not clear how often ARD was on air but it was most likely heard on only a handful of occasions in 1989/1990. Another more regular hobby station run by the same people was Suburban Radio, broadcasting in the same late-night timeslot before Radio Caroline became a more full-time operation. This recording of ARD features Dave Walsh (aka Daragh O’Sullivan) on air and was made from 94 FM from 2208-2338 on 24^th July 1990. It is from the Pirate.ie collection.

Radio Caroline Dublin and ARD/Suburban Radio had their origins in other local stations in northeast Dublin such as Centre Radio (1986-1988) and Big Beat Radio (1986). Radio Caroline broadcast on bank holiday Mondays in 1989 and on weekends in 1990/1991 before introducing a full-time schedule from 1992. It was one of the longest continuous pirates of the 1990s, a significant achievement given the new stricter legal regime in place.

28th December 20206th August 2021

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

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Today we bring you more recordings of the final day of Centre Radio on 31^st 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.

On 31^st 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 30^th December. You can hear another recording of Daragh O’Sullivan here.

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.

17th January 20194th December 2022

Stephen Davitt on Centre Radio

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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.