Irish Pirate Radio Audio Archive
Open Free Radio Archive
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CAU FM was a short-lived station broadcasting on 103.5 FM from Foxrock in south Dublin from the summer of 1987 until the summer of 1988. Although more a hobby than a commercial station, it had a professional sound and slick jingle package and was run by Locky Butler who still works professionally in audio and sound recording. This is an aircheck of a longer recording in our collection from 1988 (unfortunately we have no date) featuring Locky Butler on air.
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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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This is an aircheck of the northeast Dublin station Centre Radio recorded from 2300 on 30th December 1988 to 0530 on 31st, the final day of broadcasting before the pirates were silenced. On air overnight is Bobby Gibbson (aka Brian Greene). Centre had just finished broadcasting a live variety concert from its studio location at the Mid-Sutton Community Centre. The decision was taken to broadcast through the night for the last time before the closedown at midnight on the 31st.
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On October 20th 2018 over 100 radio anoraks gathered in the Ballsbridge Hotel in Dublin. The purpose was to meet and record oral history of the pirate radio era, as the 30th anniversary of the 1988 closedowns approached.
At the event we met Eddie Caffrey (aka Heady Eddie), one of the best-known people in radio in the northeast stretching back over 40 years on both pirate and licensed stations. We spoke to him about the 1980s shortwave radio scene in Ireland, in particular his own stations Radio Rainbow International and Radio Fax. The interviewer is Brian Greene.
We thank Eddie for his generous donations without which our series on the northeast pirates could not have taken place.
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There were many Centre Radio stations. This small pirate broadcast in Baldoyle and Bayside in northeast Dublin between 1986 and 1988. It closed on December 31st 1988 at 2359:59. Here is one of the station jingles. You can read more about Centre here.