Dublin Archives - Page 40 of 83 - Irish Pirate Radio Audio Archive

26th December 202114th November 2023

Hugh Hardy on KLAS 98

KLAS 98 (later Class) was an easy listening station which broadcast to Dublin from November 1986 until the closedowns of December 1988. It was set up by the founder of the Radio Carousel network, Hugh Hardy, and based first at a garage behind his home in Sutton in northeast Dublin. News bulletins from KLAS and overnight programming were relayed on occasion from Dublin to the Carousel stations in Navan and Dundalk. After Hardy stepped back in early 1988, KLAS moved to Dame Street in the city centre and was managed by David Baker. It then moved to Harcourt Street where it was taken over by television aerial salesman John J. May and relaunched as Class 98.

This recording from 98.5 FM is of Hugh Hardy presenting on St. Stephen’s Day, 26^th December 1986. News on the hour is read by a very young John Walsh, co-founder of Pirate.ie and the voice of the late Bob Gallico is heard on an advert. There are no time checks or references to St. Stephen’s Day in the links so this show could have been recorded for one of the automated 8-hour VHS tapes used by KLAS overnight. John Walsh has written his memories of KLAS here.

Part 1 of the recording above runs from 1637-1725 and Part 2 below from 1740-1828.

Part 2 from 1740.

The recording is from the Anoraks Ireland Tapes Collection, donated to us by Paul Davidson.

26th December 202114th November 2023

Christmas on Capitol Radio

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Here’s a selection of Christmas jingles from Capitol Radio (226 metres) from 1980. Capitol’s first Christmas on air was in 1978 and Alan Russell has shared his memories of that period with us.

‘I have some memories of that particular December being our first Capitol Christmas. The founder of ALONE Willie Bermingham was a fireman based in the nearby Pearse Street fire station and I can recall several interviews with Willie in the run-up to Christmas encouraging folks to look out for elderly neighbours. On Christmas Day we had live programmes and presenters. Back in 1978, the buses were off until St. Stephen’s Day and taxis were non-existent. On tuning in after Christmas lunch at my family home, I was horrified to hear the presenter getting progressively drunker! I had forgotten a small bottle of Smirnoff left in the postal boxes for any guests or business associates and the presenter was availing of the Christmas spirit – literally. I was five miles from the city centre and with no immediate transport other than walking or hitching, it was a nightmare (though probably entertaining for some!) that continued for a while, until Chris Barry reached Bachelors Walk and restored normality. The weather was particularly wintry with heavy ice on the ground, so hopping on a cycle or even a motorcycle to reach the station in the city centre was not an option’.

The jingles were a package used by a Capitol Radio in South Africa, and were heard also on the later station of the same name in Dublin (1983-1988). Alan Russell remembers that a few days after they began using the jingles, two men purporting to be from the South African embassy called to Capitol, telling them to cease using them. ‘Although they never gained admittance to the studios and were kept outside the main door – reinforced with a steel plate and a barrier – I spoke to them and they weren’t Irish guys having a laugh. This was around the time of the anti-apartheid movement in Ireland and we had interviewed Kadar Asmal, so they seemed plausible. I noted their complaint and reminded them they were in Ireland not South Africa so the heavy attitude wasn’t going to work’.

These jingles were kindly donated by Alan Russell.

19th November 202119th November 2021

Pirate.ie in three minutes – transnational radio

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This three-minute clip includes highlights related to the transnational nature of Irish pirate radio in the late 1970s and 1980s. By accident or design, stations were heard beyond the borders of the Irish state on FM and especially on AM and there were also part-time shortwave operators aimed at international DXers.

The first segment is of Arklow Community Radio as heard by the late British radio enthusiast Leon Tipler on FM in Aberystwyth on the Welsh coast on 13th August 1983. This is followed by a night-time recording of Radio Nova playing a request for Leon at his home in Kidderminster in the English midlands on 17th September 1982.

The third segment is the iconic top-of-the-hour ident of Radio Nova recorded on 17th July 1984. This is voiced by station boss Chris Cary who stresses that Nova broadcasts from and not to Dublin on 738 kHz. The AM transmitter was using 50 kW at the time in order to reach the British market.

The fourth segment is of KISS FM, a high-powered FM and AM station based in Monaghan on the border and aiming its signal at the lucrative Belfast market. This was recorded in Scotland on 13th June 1988. The firth extract is an advert on the Louth station Boyneside Radio promoting a céilí in an Irish centre in Lankashire. Although recorded in Ireland, it is evidence that Boyneside had listeners across the Irish Sea. The final extract is from August 1985 and features one of the many Irish shortwave stations that aimed at international audiences. Radio Rainbow International broadcast on 6240 kHz but this is a studio recording.

Radio Rainbow letter from 1986 (courtesy Ian Biggar).

These recordings are from our various collections and are discussed in more detail in our podcast focusing on the transnational nature of Irish pirate radio.

17th November 20219th November 2021

More Radio Nova as heard in Cumbria

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This is another recording of Radio Nova as heard in Cumbria on 828 kHz AM from 0915-0945 on 30^th June 1983. Tom Hardy is on air and features include the Nova Jobspot advertising current employment vacancies around town. The late Bob Gallico reads news headlines at half past the hour. There are plenty of agency ads and promos for the Radio Nova Puma 10K race and for a Nova news hotline which has just been launched. Reception is fair but Nova was operating on reduced power at this time following the raid the previous month.

This recording is from the Leon Tipler Tapes Collection, donated to us by Steve England.

15th November 20217th November 2021

Radio Nova as heard in Cumbria

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Radio Nova courted listeners on the west coast of Britain throughout its five-year existence from 1981-1986. By the spring of 1983, it had a 10 kW transmitter in operation on 819 kHz, with a 50 kW rig ready to go into service. Expansion plans were set back by the infamous raid of 18^th Mary 1983, and when it returned to the air, Nova operated on lower power for a while and switched frequencies between 828 kHz and 819 kHz.

This recording was made from 828 kHz AM in Cumbria on 29^th June 1983 from 2045-2115. Colm Hayes is on air announcing AM only, because Nova’s 88 FM frequency was at this time used for an specialist service called Super Nova every evening. News is read by David Malone. Reception is reasonably strong but noticeably weaker than in other periods and it would be autumn 1983 before Nova resumed high-power broadcasting on AM.

This recording is from the Leon Tipler Tapes Collection, donated to us by Steve England.