Irish Pirate Radio Audio Archive
Open Free Radio Archive
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The Dublin super-pirate Sunshine Radio published several editions of a magazine to keep in touch with its listeners. A form of multimedia in the pre-internet age, the first Sunshine Radio Review was published after it was raided and closed down temporarily in 1983, as a way of keeping in touch with its listeners. Here is a promo for another edition of the Review from 1985 to mark the station’s 5th birthday.
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Centre Radio in Bayside was one of the last stations to close at midnight on New Year’s Eve 1988. Rumours abounded that Radio Dublin was going to defy the new legislation and continue broadcasting so early on the morning of the 31st December, Bobby Gibbson (Brian Greene) decided to call Radio Dublin live on air. In this recording, he speaks to breakfast presenter Robbie Prior who says all presenters have been told that this is their final day. However he adds that station owner Eamon Cooke could well have something up his sleeve. The recording includes poor quality live audio from Radio Dublin’s AM broadcast on 1188 kHz.
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The Dublin pirates were not all about pop and some stations served niche audiences or specific demographics. One station playing easy listening and classical music was KLAS which broadcast on 98.5 FM from late 1986 until the end of 1988. The station was established by Radio Carousel boss Hugh Hardy from his home in the suburb of Sutton but after a change in management it changed its name slightly to Class Radio and moved to the city centre.
This recording features the initial set of KLAS jingles. More information about KLAS is available here.
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Radio Dublin was the longest running pirate station in Ireland, on air in various guises from 1966 until 2002. It was raided on numerous occasions and was one of a handful of stations to defy the deadline of New Year’s Eve 1988. In its earliest incarnation, it broadcast as ‘Radio Baile Átha Cliath’ every Sunday afternoon from the home of Ken Sheehan. In this interview from 1985, Mike Anderson of shortwave pirate Radio Valleri interviews Ken Sheehan about his involvement in the establishment of Radio Dublin, his views of the station in 1985 and of the pirate radio scene in general at that time. This is from our own collection.
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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.