Ken O'Sullivan Archives - Irish Pirate Radio Audio Archive

7th March 202517th February 2025

Ken Regis on North Cork Local Radio

North Cork Local Radio (NCLR) went on air in mid-May 1981 from the north Cork town of Mallow at weekends only. The station directors were Pat O’Brien, Maurice Brosnan and Noel O’Connor, two of whom had presented previously on the RTÉ temporary station Mallow Community Radio, which broadcast in 1980. Initially NCLR had a modest coverage of a 5-mile radius of Mallow but eventually expanded to all of north Cork. The station played pop music but also had a community ethos in programmes and formed a co-operative to rally support for a licence.

NCLR changed its name slightly to North Cork Community Radio (NCCR) in July 1986 and continued to broadcast until the end of 1988. In a letter to Ian Biggar in 1986, general manager Barry O’Mahony wrote that NCCR broadcast from 1100-1800 on weekends and 1000-1800 at weekends with a variety of shows including outside broadcasts, chat, hospital requests, farming programmes, sport etc. He added that the AM transmitter ‘isn’t great but is adequate for present time’, probably a reference to the fact that two other pirates in close proximity were using the same frequency of 1386 kHz, WBEN in Cork and Kilkenny Community Radio. The AM band was crowded and there were few free channels and as a result, co-channel interference between all three stations was severe in parts of Cork.

This recording of NCLR begins with the end of the Saturday Scene show with Pat O’Connor and is followed by Ken Regis (O’Sullivan), who had broadcast previously on other Cork pirates. News is read by Clare O’Sullivan. The airchecked recording was made by Kieran Murray from 95.3 FM on Saturday 16^th July 1983 between 1410-1510. It is from the Anoraks Ireland Collection.

22nd January 202222nd January 2022

Ken Regis on Cork City Local Radio

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We’re very grateful to Ken O’Sullivan for his donations of recordings of Cork City Local Radio (CCLR). The first recording was made on 24^th April 1983 from 95.5 FM in stereo and features Ken Regis, as he was known on air, with a Sunday afternoon requests show. There’s also a pretty tough competition with a prize of a box of chocolates up for grabs. Some of the recording is airchecked and there’s a bit of wobble on the 40-year old cassette.

The recording below is of Ken Regis on 19^th March 1983 from 1555 from 95.5 FM. It begins with adverts for local businesses around Cork and a generic sung jingle. There’s also a radio-related competition and interestingly, the show is being taped for a listener in Galway. Sound quality is fair due to the wobbly cassette.

The final recording features Ken in the early evening of 22nd May 1983 and is again from 95.5 FM. There’s a reference to a petition to support local radio in Cork, a reflection of the raids on Dublin stations a few days previously. Adverts are a mixture of pre-records and live-reads and once again the tape is showing its age.

30th December 201813th March 2022

Interview: Ken O’Sullivan (WKLR, Capitol Nitesky)

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On October 20th 2018 over 100 radio anoraks gathered in the Ballsbridge Hotel Dublin. The purpose was to meet and record oral history of the pirate radio era. Ken O’Sullivan worked at pirates in Cork (WKLR and Capital Radio) in the 1980s and is still working in radio today with LMFM. Here is his story.