Joe Finnegan Archives - Irish Pirate Radio Audio Archive

Independent Radio Mayo as heard in Scotland — IRM flyer from 1987 (courtesy of Ian Biggar).

This is a recording of Independent Radio Mayo (IRM) as received in Scotland from 1525-1720 on Friday 25^th July 1988 on 738 kHz AM. IRM was in fact heard by accident when Dublin station Q102, broadcasting on the same frequency, went off the air for approximately two hours. The recording begins with adverts on Q102 and a relatively strong signal due to the geography, followed by the weaker signal of IRM when the Dublin station goes off. However IRM’s 1kW professional transmitter, used originally by Radio Leinster in Dublin, was very effective and as can be heard, the signal travelled well as far as Scotland.

There follows almost two hours of IRM, including the afternoon show of one of the founders Gerry Delaney with plenty of community announcements, requests, the Golden Hour and a sports round-up. Joe Finnegan takes over at 5pm with his teatime programme and news is read on the hour by Chris Clesham. Of note are the long ad breaks featuring businesses from across Mayo and occasionally Sligo. At the end Q102 returns to the frequency, blocking out IRM.

This recording was made by Ken Baird and we thank Ian Biggar for sharing it with us. Reception is fair to poor but perfectly listenable for DXers.

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The Golden Hour on Independent Radio Mayo — IRM ad in AUK Weekly Report (23.08.87).

Independent Radio Mayo (IRM) from Castlebar began broadcasting in July 1987, in competition with the popular local station Midwest Radio in Ballyhaunis. An advert in the Anoraks UK Weekly Report (left) shows that IRM had three FM frequencies: 96 MHz to east and south Mayo, 100 MHz in Castlebar and 102 MHz covering Ballina in the north. Test transmissions on 1044 kHz AM were mentioned but the station later switched to 738 kHz, using the old Radio Leinster transmitter from Dublin.

This recording of IRM was made from 99 FM from 1630-1719 on Friday 4th November 1988. It features the last part of the Golden Hour with Andy Rogers (formerly of the BBC) and Peter James, who review the music of 1972. The 5 o’clock news is read by Chris Clesham and this is followed by Joe Finnegan. The ‘Independent’ part of the station name was often dropped by presenters who referred simply to ‘Radio Mayo’. Along with most other pirates, IRM closed down on New Year’s 1988 in line with new radio legislation.

Reception is fair as the recording was made in Co. Clare, well outside IRM’s core FM coverage. We thank John Breslin for the donation.