Hobby station Archives - Page 5 of 6 - Irish Pirate Radio Audio Archive

10th April 20206th August 2021

Jingles: Radio Valleri International (Dublin)

Radio Valleri was one of the long-running Irish shortwave pirates of the 1970s and 1980s. Founded by Mike Anderson and Derek Jones, it began testing in 1972 on 1525 kHz medium wave before moving to short wave. The station became a regular operator on Sunday mornings, one of many such pirates from Ireland in the 49 metre band. There’s a detailed history on the DX Archive pages. One of those involved at the beginning was Arno St Jude (Declan Meehan).

This recording from 1985 is of station jingles, voiced by Brian and Dónal Greene. The frequency announced is 6870 kHz.

14th March 202011th June 2022

Interview: Jimmy St. Leger (Premier Radio International)

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We bring you an interview with Jimmy St. Leger of Premier Radio International, a long-running shortwave pirate station from Ireland. Premier began broadcasting on medium wave in 1976 and went on shortwave soon after. Jimmy’s first transmitter was used to broadcast Radio Cill Dara from Naas. He was also involved with Radio Dublin before the splits of the late 1970s. The interviewer is Eolann Aitken.

Premier continued on and off over the years and was among a small number to return to the air following the closedowns of 1988. It continues to broadcast today on shortwave as a hobby station. Further information is available on its website.

4th January 20196th August 2021

Aircheck: Radio Anita

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Radio Anita was a hobby station operated by Frank Williams (aka Frank Decker) from Howth in north Co. Dublin and broadcast sporadically in the late 1980s, taking advantage of the height offered by its site on Howth Head. Frank was also involved in Centre Radio in Bayside and Baldoyle, a youth station that operated mostly during school holidays from 1986 to 1988.

Here’s a short aircheck of Radio Anita from 1987 or 1988 (we don’t have a precise date) recorded from 94.6 FM. This is from our own collection.

31st December 20186th August 2021

Bandscan: who’s still on air on 31st December 1988?

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Centre Radio (94.2 FM from Bayside in northeast Dublin) was one of the few stations to remain on air until the final deadline of midnight on the 31 st of December. In this recording Bobby Gibbson (Brian Greene) and Dave Evans (Eamonn Roe) discuss who is still on air in the early hours of the morning of the 31^st . We then hear another bandscan from just before 0800 and a very optimistic prediction about the availability of new licences in 1989. You can read about the history of Centre here.

31st December 20184th December 2022

Signal 106 from south Dublin

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Signal 106 was a hobby station from the southside of Dublin which broadcast at the end of the pirate era. It was set up at Christmas 1978 by the youthful Kevin Branigan and Mike Ormonde and broadcast from Rathfarnham then and during the following summer holidays, returning for a final run at Christmas 1988. Because its antenna was on a height, Signal got out well despite its low power on 106 FM, as indicated by the good reception across the city in Bayside where these recordings were made.

In the first clip we hear Graham Turner (aka Justin Leonard) and Dave Adams (aka Andrew Mangan). The top of the hour jingle is by Seán Ashmore who did many station idents in the late 1980s. The second and third clips feature Graham Turner. The date is 29^th December 1988, the day before Signal closed down. These recordings are from the Pirate.ie collection.

Clip 1

Clips 2 and 3