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Late-night on hobby station Q107

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Late-night on hobby station Q107

Q107 was a part-time hobby pirate station broadcasting in Dublin in the 1980s. Information about the station is scant, but it seems that Q107 appeared sporadically between 1984 and 1988. In common with many other hobby stations, it spent a longer period on air towards the end of 1988 as the deadline for the closure of the pirates approached. Based in Ballyfermot in west Dublin, Q107’s owner was Ray Brennan, reportedly a nephew of the legendary pirate pioneer Don Moore (RIP), who provided studio gear for the hobby station. This recording was made in the final few weeks of 1988 and features Ray Brennan himself, using his on-air name Alan Byrnes. Callers to Q107 include Paul Davidson (Tony Donlon, RIP) of Anoraks Ireland, who says he has plans to record the closedown of every one of the 128 pirates still on air at the end of the year.

This recording was made from 107 FM from 2343-0029 on Sunday and Monday 11th and 12th December 1988 and is from the Anoraks Ireland Collection. Alan Byrnes closes down the station for the night and says it will return later that morning at 0700. Thanks to Ian Biggar for additional information.

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Dublin hobby station Q107

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Dublin hobby station Q107

Q107 was one of many small weekend hobby pirates broadcasting in Dublin in the 1980s. In this undated recording it describes itself as a 24-hour weekend station but then refers to test transmissions on Saturday from midnight to midday. It seems the recording was made on a Thursday morning from 3am until the end of broadcasting. There are generic jingles but no links apart from the sign-off which is followed by the famous pirate theme tune ‘Man of Action’ by Les Reed. Q107 may have been based in Ballyfermot in west Dublin and we estimate this recording to be from 1984 as it is the other side of a tape of Radio Zodiac from that year.

The Anoraks Ireland catalogue includes a recording of Q107 from 1988 and the following account: ‘Ray Brennan, boss at Q107 was reported to be a nephew of the famous Doctor Don. We understand Don provided young Ray with the studio gear which was very basic with Realistic turntables and a Phonic 5 channel mixer. Pity young Ray didn’t make much use of the equipment and the transmitter again courtesy of Uncle Don. Q107 spent most of its 6 weeks off the air and when broadcasting programming it was terrible’. We do not know if this was the same Q107 or another station entirely. Thanks to Ian Biggar for research.

This recording is from the Skywave Tapes Collection. Skywave Radio International broadcast a shortwave station in the 1980s from Baldoyle in northeast Dublin.