Galway Archives - Page 7 of 13 - Irish Pirate Radio Audio Archive

1st September 20214th September 2021

Atlantic Sound from Galway

Atlantic Sound broadcast from Galway City from December 1983 until June 1985. It was set up by Alan Russell who had run previous stations in Dublin. Test transmissions were heard before Christmas on 1107 kHz (announcing 273 metres) with a full schedule starting in January 1984. Atlantic had a daytime Top 40 and oldies format and hosted interviews with local personalities, musicians etc. Specialist music interests were catered for in evening programme segments, for instance an Irish traditional programme presented by musician Gary Shannon. As part of news and current affairs coverage the station ran the Time World News series, organised by the late Robbie Robinson.

Alan Russell said: ‘From my background in steering Capitol Radio through a plethora of stations in Dublin, I knew there was little point in providing a “poor man’s RTÉ Radio2” as a local radio choice in Galway city and county. The choice had to be real with local musicians, bands and cultural interests reflected in the overall station content’.

The station was taken over in mid-1984 by former offshore DJs Keith York (RIP) and Don Stevens who moved from South Coast Radio in Cork after it closed down. Steve Marshall, who had worked for WKLR in west Cork, later became involved. Alan recalls that Keith was hired to check over an ex-BBC transmitter to ensure it was fully operational: ‘I recall it had Mercury valves and the transformers had to be removed to lighten the weight before hauling it up to the first floor where the station was based’.

Following the change of management, Atlantic changed its format to a formula of chart music and giveaways, the first of several Galway stations of the 1980s to do so. It also moved to 1026 kHz and added 95.4 FM and 99.1 FM. This recording features Seán Costello playing hits and taking requests. The voice of Don Stevens is heard on promos but there are very few ads. The recording was made from 99.1 FM and runs from 1753-1836 but we don’t have a more precise date than the August bank holiday weekend 1984. Atlantic Sound faded away after the Cork trio set up another station, WLS Music Radio, across the road.

We thank Shay Geoghegan for this donation and Alan Russell for background information.

21st July 202114th July 2021

More shortwave DXing on Galway’s KFM

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This is another selection of undated excerpts from the DXers’ programme on Galway pirate KFM in the final months of 1988. Presenter Shane Keating chats to contributor John Breslin from north Co. Clare about shortwave DXing. John lists DX clubs and shortwave stations he has heard recently including Radio Budapest, Transworld Radio, Voice of Ethiopia and Radio Finland. Shane provides addresses of European stations so that listeners can request QSLs.

Shane Keating also presented a Saturday morning children’s programme on KFM and there are excerpts of this including phone calls from young listeners. The recording ends with Shane signing off for the last time on 31^st December 1988, the day that KFM closed and the Irish airwaves fell largely silent.

We thank John Breslin for his donation of this recording, which was made from 95.99 FM in north Clare. Reception is variable as it outside the core KFM coverage area.

19th July 202114th July 2021

DXers’ programme on Galway’s KFM

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KFM flyer (courtesy of Ian Biggar).

Programmes for radio anoraks or DXers were a feature of some Irish pirates during their 1980s heyday. One such station was KFM, which broadcast from 1986-1988 from a village near Galway before moving into the city itself. In the last few months of its existence from October to December 1988, KFM broadcast a weekly programme for DXers with a focus on the shortwave band.

This is a selection of airchecked undated excerpts from the DXers’ programme from that period, presented by Shane Keating. The programme is aimed at listeners new to the band and there are explanations of shortwave propagation, QSL cards and SINPO codes. A regular contributor to the programme was John Breslin, who is heard describing his experience of shortwave DXing during a phone-in to the show. There is also a recording supplied by John of Radio Berlin International from East Germany.

We thank John for donating this recording, which he made in north Co. Clare from 95.99 FM. Reception is fair because of the distance from the transmitter.

13th February 20213rd January 2022

‘Galway’s Super Q’: Quincentennial Radio

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This is the second of two recordings of Quincentennial Radio, the short-lived Galway pirate that returned to the air on 2^nd January 1989 in breach of the new Wireless Telegraphy Act. The law came into effect at midnight on New Year’s Eve and silenced most of the country’s pirates including Coast 103, one of the two big Galway stations. However, Quincentennial Radio was essentially a reincarnation of Coast involving many of the same people including engineer Keith York (RIP) and DJs Steve Marshall, Tony Allan (RIP) and Shane Martin. It was located behind the Gallows bar (now Paddy’s Bar) on Prospect Hill, just off Eyre Square in the city centre, where Coast had been located for its final few months.

The recording is of Shane Martin’s show from 1827-1912 on 13^th February 1989. It includes liners and promos voiced by Tony Allan, including one that cheekily compares Quincentennial to Millennium Radio in Dublin and Cork Local Radio, both local RTÉ services. There are also community announcements, a letter from a listener criticising another unnamed radio station and a crackly Valentine’s Day phone call from London.

We don’t have an exact date but it appears from Anoraks UK logs that Quincentennial Radio closed down sometime in March 1989 after a warning from the authorities. We thank Ian Biggar for his donation of this rare recording and Steve Marshall and Shane Martin for background information.

12th February 20216th August 2021

Galway’s Quincentennial Radio in 1989

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Quincentennial Radio was a shortlived Galway pirate that broadcast for about two months at the start of 1989. It consisted of ex-Coast 103 broadcasters Steve Marshall, Shane Martin and Tony Allan (RIP) as well as engineer Keith York (RIP). According to Steve Marshall, Quincentennial – named after the 500^th anniversary of Galway City in 1984 – started broadcasting on January 2^nd 1989, just a day after most of the country’s pirates left the airwaves. The studio gear was formerly used by Coast 103 and consisted of Gates B77 turntables with Gray Research tonearms, an Alice 828 mixer and a pair of Accessit compressor units for sound processing. Quincentennial Radio began by just playing music and liners by Tony Allan and the first live voice was Shane Martin. Shane remembers that it didn’t have the same feel as Coast 103 as there was no money, no paid ads and no competition: ‘It just felt very empty. The buzz was gone’. The studio was located at the back of the Gallows Bar (now Paddy’s Bar) in the courtyard of Prospect House near Eyre Square, where Coast 103 had been based.

The Anoraks UK Weekly Report of 18^th February 1989 mentioned Quincentennial Radio on 98.4 FM, a frequency chosen to match the city’s quincentennial year in 1984. It was on air 24 hours a day broadcasting a variety of music. The station was logged throughout February and into March but on 22^nd April, Anoraks UK reported that the authorities had ‘instructed Quincentennial to cease broadcasting some time ago which they duly did’. After the station closed, it became a training facility for DJs.

We bring you the first of two recordings of Quincentennial Radio from Monday 13^th February 1989. Today’s recording was made from 1738-1824 and features the end of Steve Marshall’s programme. Tony Allan’s voice is heard on liners and there is one ad just before 6pm when Shane Martin takes over. A phone number for requests is given out and the station is referred to a few times as ‘Galway’s Super Q’. We thank Ian Biggar for this rare recording of a short-lived station which defied the new laws in 1989. Thanks also to Steve Marshall and Shane Martin for background information.