Mike Cluskey Archives - Irish Pirate Radio Audio Archive

The breakfast show on Boyneside Radio — Boyneside sticker (courtesy of DX Archive).

The history of Boyneside Radio has already been well-documented in our special Northeast Series and numerous full recordings, airchecks and jingles can be heard here. This newly-digitised recording is of the original tape of Boyneside made by British radio enthusiast Leon Tipler during a 1982 trip to Ireland and featured in his documentary ‘The Irish Pirates’.

The date is Monday 13^th September and Mike Cluskey is on the breakfast programme, standing in for Daire Nelson. The recording begins at 0818 and includes news headlines and plenty of ads, including one for units to let at Donaghy’s Mill in Drogheda, where Boyneside was based. 225 metres medium wave and 98 and 99 FM are announced.

There is interference towards the end of the recording, which was made in Dublin. This was the beginning of a period of growth for Boyneside after the station was reunited with the breakaway Community Radio Drogheda in the summer of 1982.

This recording is from the Leon Tipler Tapes Collection, donated to us by Steve England.

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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.

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 19^th 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.