This is another recording of Galway pirate WLS Music Radio from 1985. Tony Henry is on air with laid-back music until midnight and is followed by Richie O’Shea with a more upbeat offering. There are few adverts given the time of night but one business featured is Supermac’s, now a successful west of Ireland fast-food company. The weather forecast contains a reference to ‘the bay area’, which was clearly based on the style of Radio Nova in Dublin.
Tape label from Anoraks ireland Collection.
The recording was made from 102.7 FM on 17th September 1985 and audio quality is fair with some distortion and hiss, so it is possible that the receiver was slightly off channel. Part 1 above runs from 2325-0011 and part 2 below from 0011-0057.
Part 2 from 0011
This recording is from the Anoraks Ireland Tapes Collection, donated to us by Paul Davidson.
WLS Music Radio was a commercial pirate station broadcasting from Galway City from March 1985 to June 1987. It was set up by former offshore DJs Keith York (RIP) and Don Stevens who moved from South Coast Radio in Cork after it closed down in the summer of 1984. They joined existing Galway station Atlantic Sound and were later followed by fellow ex-offshore DJ Steve Marshall. The three took over Atlantic Sound and changed its format to chart music and giveaways, but by St. Patrick’s Day 1985 had set up WLS from across the road on Forster Street in the city centre. WLS was supposed to stand for the clumsy ‘West Local Station’ but was in fact based on a jingle package from a longstanding Chicago station of the same name that continues to broadcast today.
WLS broadcast on 846 kHz AM and initially 104 FM and later added shortwave on 6240 kHz. WLS switched to 102.7 in May 1985 in advance of a court case involving RTÉ. The national broadcaster alleged that WLS was interfering with television reception in Galway and had taken advertising revenue. When it moved to new premises on Prospect Hill in December 1986, WLS was praised for its high technical standards by Anoraks UK, who described it as on a par with licensed local stations in Britain. A station newsletter from late 1986/early 1987 (see below) said that its AM signal was designed to cover south Co. Galway and north Co. Clare both day and night, while its ‘superior FM stereo signal’ was aimed at the city. It also claimed to be the first pirate to broadcast in stereo to Galway.
WLS went off the air in mysterious circumstances around June 15th 1987. The City Tribune of 3rd July reported that the station had been off the air for the previous two weeks and its offices at Prospect Hill deserted. Equipment had been removed, the lock broken and the door left open. Attempts to contact manager Don Stevens were unsuccessful and he had vacated his rented accommodation in the city. An edition of the Radio West Anoraks’ Show in July 1987 reported that WLS had gone off the air after an irate investor dismantled equipment because he was unhappy with his return. In the same month, Steve Marshall and Keith York set up another successful Galway station, Coast 103, which broadcast until the end of 1988.
This recording of WLS was made on 23rd and 24th July 1985 and comprises airchecks of various programmes. The voice of Steve Marshall is heard on adverts for businesses in Galway and Castlebar. There are also agency adverts for larger national companies, a sign of the relative success of WLS just a few months after it started broadcasting. Presenters on the tape include Sarah Miles, Richie O’Shea and Brian Walsh. The 8am news is read by David Pollard and there’s also a promo for a Live Aid benefit concert to be held in Galway.
The recording was made from 101 FM in stereo and is from the Anoraks Ireland Tapes Collection, donated to us by Paul Davidson.
Page 1 of 1986/7 newsletter (courtesy Ian Biggar).Page 2Page 3Page 4Page 5
This recording of Kandy Radio from Ballinasloe in east Galway was made on 27th December 1986 from 1510-1556. An unidentified DJ holds a phone-in competition but there are technical issues with the line and some callers are barely audible. Adverts feature small businesses from around east Galway, giving the station a distinctive local sound. The recording was made from 1386, a frequency that suffered congestion and there is co-channel interference. Kandy Radio also broadcast on 98.2 FM in Ballinasloe. It closed in April 1988.
This recording is from the Anoraks Ireland Tapes Collection, donated to us by Paul Davidson.
Kandy Radio broadcast from Ballinasloe in east Galway from 1986 to 1988. This recording was made on Monday 13th October 1986 from 1320-1405 from the station’s AM frequency, 1386 kHz. Mark White is on air until 1330 and is followed by Paul Davis for the afternoon show. News is read by Tara and adverts feature local businesses in east Galway, south Roscommon and west Offaly. The music is a mixture of middle-of-the-road, country and chart hits. There is co-channel interference due to congestion on the frequency, suggesting that the recording was made outside Kandy’s core area of east Galway.
This recording is from the Anoraks Ireland Tapes Collection, donated to us by Paul Davidson.
Kandy Radio broadcast from the town of Ballinasloe in east Galway from the middle of 1986 until spring 1988. Serving the town and its rural hinterland, Kandy sounded very different to the slicker Galway City stations that aped the ‘hot hits’ format of the super-pirates in other cities. Kandy Radio was initially logged by Anoraks Ireland on 1386 kHz AM and 98.2 FM and although manager John McGrath said it had a radius of 30 miles, he also reported reception reports from Norway and Sweden. An Anoraks Ireland survey from November 1987 recorded a move to 1404 kHz and both 98.5 and 100.9 FM. Hours of broadcasting were 0800-1900 and there were plans for programmes 24 hours a day. A log from April 1988 recorded Kandy on 103.5 FM only and the station closed down that month.
This recording of Kandy Radio was made from 1386 kHz from 1636-1721 on Saturday 11th October 1986, country fair day in Ballinasloe. Paul Davis is on air until 5pm and says that he will be gigging later that night in Hayden’s Hotel where Irish Eurovision star Johnny Logan will also be performing. News at 5pm is read by Tara and she is followed by Steve Jones with more requests and a mix of music. There are plenty of ads for small businesses in Ballinasloe and surrounding areas and the Top 30 is donated by a local record shop. Complete with uneven audio and technical glitches, this is the authentic sound of a small town radio station from the height of the pirate era.
Original cassette label from Anoraks Ireland Collection.
The recording may have been made some distance from Ballinasloe because it suffers from co-channel interference due to congestion on 1386 kHz by both Irish and British stations. It is from the Anoraks Ireland Tapes Collection, donated to us by Paul Davidson.
