Ed McDowell Archives - Irish Pirate Radio Audio Archive

Don Moore (RIP) on Radio Dublin — Don Moore in 2015 (courtesy of Don’s Facebook page)

It was with sadness that we learned recently of the death of one of the early pioneers of pirate radio in Dublin and Ireland, Don Moore (Dr Don). Here is an early recording of Don on Radio Dublin on Sunday 28^th December 1975 from 1400-1630. Don bemoans the fate of another Dublin pirate, Capitol Radio, which had been raided on 21^st December and returned to the air on the 28^th for a farewell broadcast. Clips from Capitol’s final broadcast are heard, featuring Alan Russell and Ed McDowell, and Don advises listeners to write to the newspapers and the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs to complain. He also refers to Radio Mi Amigo on 252 metres, and says that Radio Dublin is blocking reception of their signal locally. Later in the recording, Prince Terry (Roger Lloyd) reads out some letters from listeners including one in Irish which is translated by Dr Don. Skywave interference from Mi Amigo is heard towards the end of the broadcast.

We thank Ian Biggar for donating this recording, which was made originally by Kieran Murray.

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Pirate Pioneers: Radio Empathy from 1973 — Radio Empathy QSL card from 1973 (courtesy of John Dowling).

Late summer of 1972 was a busy period for pirate radio in Dublin. Kieran Murray remembered one particular day in September in the first edition of his FRC Ireland Newsletter.

Of course, such increased activity prompted a proportionate response from the P&T which culminated in the raid on Radio Milinda on December 17^th. This pretty much silenced all the free radio stations in the city with the exception of one. Radio Empathy commenced broadcasts in early 1973 from the Churchtown area. The station operated on Sunday afternoons as well as some late-night transmissions on 1378 kHz. Station operator was Ed McDowell (Eoin McDonagh) who was also the main presenter on the station. Regular late night Saturday and Sunday afternoon transmissions continued every week with a power of around 100 watts. The station pioneered the use of FM in the city with broadcasts around 98 MHz.

With such a regular service it was only a matter of time before the P&T took action, which they did on April 4^th 1974. The transmitter and studio equipment was confiscated. The resulting court case on October 4^th 1974 was reported in the Irish Radio Movement’s Medium newsletter.

Ed McDowell would go to to found Capitol Radio which broadcast for the latter part of 1975 and again for three years from 1978. The recording above features Radio Empathy signing off one Sunday in 1973 or 1974 with Ed McDowell. 222 metres is announced which corresponds to 1350 kHz although presumably the actual frequency was around 1378 kHz. There were obviously some technical problems that day judging by the audio. Thanks to Ian Biggar for the text, Roger Lloyd for another gem of a recording and John Dowling for the QSL card, which was for daytime reception in County Carlow.

That concludes our mini-series on the pirate pioneers of the Dublin radio scene in the late 1960s and early 1970s, without whom the 1980s boom would never have happened. Thanks again to Ian Biggar for supplying much of the material and to all others who contributed recordings, images and information.