Dublin Archives - Page 47 of 70 - Irish Pirate Radio Audio Archive

Interview with Paul Davidson of Anoraks Ireland on Centre Radio — Anoraks Ireland card and logo with Paul Davidson’s name.

On its final day of broadcasting on 31^st December 1988, there was a serious anorak feel to Centre Radio in Bayside as it looked back at the pirate radio scene and caught up with those who had been involved with it. During his final show, Richard Taylor (John Walsh) interviewed Paul Davidson of Anoraks Ireland who had recorded and documented so much of Irish pirate radio in the 1980s. In the recording above which was made after 8pm, John asked Paul who was still on air in Dublin and got his views about the forthcoming legalisation of local radio.

Earlier at 3pm on December 31^st, Brian Greene interviewed Derek Jones and got his thoughts on the final day of pirate radio. Derek was one of those behind the shortwave station Radio Valleri based in Baldoyle, Dublin 13 and in 1986, he got involved with Big Beat Radio also in Baldoyle. Big Beat was a summer youth station which preceded Centre Radio and many of the same young DJs were involved.

Derek continues to broadcast today and in this extended interview with Brian Greene, he looks back at many happy decades behind the microphone.

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.

27th December 20206th August 2021

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

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Today we begin a series of recordings to mark the closedown of Centre Radio on 31^st December 1988. Centre was a youth radio station broadcasting from Baldoyle and Bayside in northeast Dublin during holidays from 19^th 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 31^st. 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.

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 31^st. 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.

26th December 20206th August 2021

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

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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 19^th December 1986 at the Baldoyle Youth Club in Dublin 13. John Walsh was also involved and called himself Richard Taylor on air.

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 30^th December and broadcast through the night into its final day before the airwaves were silenced by the new broadcasting legislation.

Over the next few days we’ll bring you a selection from the final day of Centre Radio on 31^st 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.

21st December 20206th August 2021

Dublin’s easy listening station KLAS 98

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KLAS was Dublin’s easy listening station, broadcasting on 98.5 FM from November 1986 until December 31^st 1988. It was set up by Hugh Hardy who owned the Radio Carousel network and broadcast from a time from a garage behind his home in Sutton in Dublin. The station was renamed as Class 98 and managed by John May in its final months on air from studios in Harcourt Street in the city centre. It applied unsuccessfully in 1989 for one of the two Dublin city licences.

One of the founders of Pirate.ie, John Walsh, was involved in KLAS while still at school. Here is an aircheck of his programme between 1320-1400 on 21^st December 1986 which includes agency ads and an ad for the Sunday World voiced by John himself.