Northeast series: Boyneside Radio (1983)

Northeast series: Boyneside Radio (1983)
Boyneside Radio sticker (courtesy of Ian Biggar/DX Archive)

Today we bring you two more recordings of Boyneside Radio in 1983. The first recording was made from 2003-2030 on 1st July 1983 and features Áine Ní Ghuidhir on news followed by Neil O’Brien presenting the ‘Night Flight’ programme. There’s an ad for the popular Bubbles disco in Drogheda which regularly featured Boyneside DJs. Requests are received from north and south of the border, reflecting Boyneside’s large catchment area.

Northeast series: Boyneside Radio (1983)
Áine Ní Ghuidhir reading news on Boyneside Television (Sunday Tribune, 14.02.1982, courtesy of Ian Biggar).

The second shorter recording below is the last part of a show presented by Dave C (Cunningham) from 1152-1200 on 28th June 1983. Dave C was one of the pirate pioneers of the 1970s and involved in stations such as Radio Dublin and Alternative Radio Dublin (ARD). He was a director of Radio 257 and following its closure in 1982, he moved to Boyneside.

These recordings are from the Leon Tipler Tapes Collection, donated to us by Steve England. Both are from AM and sound as if they were recorded some distance from Drogheda, possibly on the west coast of the UK.

Northeast series: Balbriggan Festival Breakaway Radio (1982)

Northeast series: Balbriggan Festival Breakaway Radio (1982)
Balbriggan Harbour (photo by Brian Greene)

Balbriggan Festival Breakaway Away was a temporary annual station set up by Boyneside Radio in the north Dublin town of Balbriggan. Broadcasting for a week in early June from 1981 to 1985 to coincide with the local festival, it was based in the Balbriggan Shopping Centre and came on air daily from 12 noon. In this promo from 1982, 225 metres is announced, the same as Boyneside in Drogheda but the pop-up station actually used 1323 kHz, two channels away from 1305. Output was about 500 watts from two 813 valves, given it a decent coverage area. Balbriggan Festival Breakaway Radio broadcast for a week in early June every year. The station was logged by Anoraks UK in June 1985 on 1494 kHz.

We thank Eddie Caffrey for sharing this recording of a little-known satellite station of Boyneside.

Northeast series: Boyneside Radio North (1982)

Northeast series: Boyneside Radio North (1982)
Eugene Markey on Boyneside Radio North (photo courtesy of Eddie Caffrey).

Over the years Boyneside Radio operated services in Dundalk, Kells and Navan with local programming at certain times of the day. These had varying levels of success, but the most successful ‘satellite’ station must have been Boyneside Radio North. The station opened to serve the North of Ireland in the late summer of 1982, capitalising on the growing listenership to the Irish pirates north of the border.

Northeast series: Boyneside Radio North (1982)
Boyneside North’s AM mast at the border (photo courtesy of Eddie Caffrey).

Transmissions were on 1233 kHz AM, announced as 244 metres, from a studio located at Killeen, Co. Louth, just south of the border. Boyneside North had live programmes from 0800-1400, after which there was a relay of the Heady Eddie programme from Drogheda, more local output from 5pm and then a Drogheda relay in the evening and overnight.

Northeast series: Boyneside Radio North (1982)
Boyneside North’s rig at Carrickcarnon (photo courtesy of Eddie Caffrey).

The station employed several DJs from Northern Radio, which had closed earlier in the year. In 1986 a new mast was erected at Edentubber from which a high power FM signal was broadcast. At one point the power output was estimated at 20 Kw which reached Belfast, although there were reports of patchy reception around the city centre. Ironically, this mast remained in use by pirate radio until 2020, when it was illegally and dangerously felled by the Department of Communications following a raid.

Northeast series: Boyneside Radio North (1982)
The FM mast at Edentubber (photo courtesy of Eddie Caffrey).

Despite strong competition from other stations around the border, Boyneside North operated successfully until the final closedown on Saturday December 31st 1988 when it closed at 3pm.

Northeast series: Boyneside Radio North (1982)
Boyneside North rates card (courtesy of Eddie Caffrey).

This recording is of Marty Donnan on Boyneside North from 1000-1100 on 6th December 1982. Marty later worked for Downtown Radio and BBC Radio Ulster. We thank Ian Biggar for the text and recording.

Northeast series: Boyneside Radio (1982)

Northeast series: Boyneside Radio (1982)
Eddie Caffrey in Boyneside Radio in 1982 (photo courtesy of Eddie Caffrey)

By 1983, the split in pirate radio in Drogheda was resolved, the short-lived television experiment was over and Boyneside was united again. This allowed it to focus on the core business of doing local radio at which it was best. Here are two short recordings giving a flavour of the station around that time.

The first recording is of an ad break during the popular traditional Irish ‘Green Scene’ show with Eddie Caffrey recorded on 30th October 1983. The ‘Green Scene’ is still presented by Eddie on LMFM and is the longest-running programme on Irish commercial radio. The second recording is from 30th November 1983 and counts down the weekly Boyneside Top 40.

Thanks to Eddie Caffrey for sharing these recordings.

Northeast series: Boyneside Radio/CRD (1982)

Northeast series: Boyneside Radio/CRD (1982)
Richard Kenny (Crowley) at CRD in 1982 (photo courtesy of Ken Baird).

After breaking away from Boyneside Radio in July 1981, Community Radio Drogheda went its own way until May 1982 when the two stations merged once again. The economic reality of two pirate radio stations in the one town had hit home and given that Boyneside had more financial backing, it was unsurprising that it won out in the end.

According to Eddie Caffrey, Gavin Duffy had had enough of the final nine months of CRD and announced that he was moving on and that anyone who wished to return to Boyneside was welcome to do so. Eddie and Richard Crowley (pictured above) met Boyneside owner Eobain McDonnell and brokered a merger involving every second presenter from both stations. Some Boyneside staff were not happy about the return of the prodigal sons but Eobain persisted. Around the same time, a meeting was also arranged with Radio Carousel in Dundalk which was trying desperately trying to break into the Drogheda market. That came to nothing as Carousel owner Hugh Hardy’s offer was too weak.

The merged station was known as Boyneside Community Radio but the name Boyneside/CRD was also used for a time before references to CRD were dropped entirely by the late summer.

Northeast series: Boyneside Radio/CRD (1982)
The CRD transmitter on 1233 kHz on the Baymore Road (photo courtesy of Ken Baird).

Other DJs such as Mike Cluskey, Neil O’Brien and Seán Neilon were regulars on Boyneside following the merger doing weekend and holiday cover. This recording was made from 1540-1639 on 19th June 1982 and begins with a reference to the forthcoming Rolling Stones concert at Slane Castle in Co. Meath. Mike Cluskey is the presenter and uses Boyneside/CRD on air. We thank Ian Biggar for the donation of this recording.