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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Eric Vaughan presenting his radio programme on Boyneside Television (photo courtesy of Gary Hogg/Ken Baird).
Boyneside Radio was one of a handful of Irish pirate radio stations to venture briefly into television. A basic studio with Betamax machines but without mixing facilities was built at Donaghy’s Mill in Drogheda. Boyneside Television came on the air in November 1981 using a 10-watt transmitter, giving it patchy reception on Channel D in the town. Broadcasts were initially from approximately 4pm to 7.30pm daily and included news, sport and a simulcast of the DJs presenting their radio programmes. By 1982, Boyneside Television was coming on air twice daily, at lunchtime and teatime, and also extended broadcasts into Saturdays.
Production facilities at Boyneside Television (photo courtesy of Ken Baird/Gary Hogg).
Boyneside Television was used extensively by local politicians in the run-up to the general election of 18th February that year. Around that time, Boyneside accused RTÉ of jamming its signal in Drogheda and said that the national broadcaster had placed a jamming transmitter in the centre of the town. RTÉ responded by claiming that it was carrying out tests following complaints of interference to television reception from pirate broadcasters.
Irish Independent article of February 12th 1982 (courtesy of Eddie Bohan).
Boyneside Television continued for a while after the merger of Community Radio Drogheda and Boyneside Radio but petered out by around May 1982.
Boyneside Television cameraman Tony Breen (photo courtesy Ken Baird/Gary Hogg).
This is an audio recording of an hour of Boyneside Television from February 25th 1982, shortly after the election. The main lunchtime news is read by Áine Ní Ghuidhir and includes a reference to the RTÉ jamming which seems to be audible from the recording. Ad breaks and interviews are also heard. These are followed by sports news, apparently recorded later in the day, which includes an interview with former Down GAA manager Joe Lennon. Audio quality is poor at times and breakthrough from Garda communications can be heard. We are unsure if this was in the transmission signal itself or if a scanner was located near the recorder. Many thanks to Eddie Bohan for donating this recording.
