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Interview: Ken Sheehan speaks about Radio Dublin

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Interview: Ken Sheehan speaks about Radio Dublin
Radio Dublin poster from 1983 (courtesy of DX Archive).

Radio Dublin was the longest running pirate station in Ireland, on air in various guises from 1966 until 2002. It was raided on numerous occasions and was one of a handful of stations to defy the deadline of New Year’s Eve 1988. In its earliest incarnation, it broadcast as ‘Radio Baile Átha Cliath’ every Sunday afternoon from the home of Ken Sheehan. In this interview from 1985, Mike Anderson of shortwave pirate Radio Valleri interviews Ken Sheehan about his involvement in the establishment of Radio Dublin, his views of the station in 1985 and of the pirate radio scene in general at that time. This is from our own collection.

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Interview: Denis Murray (Big D/KISS FM (102.7)/Radio Nova/KISS FM Monaghan)

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Interview: Denis Murray (Big D/KISS FM (102.7)/Radio Nova/KISS FM Monaghan)
A sticker for the KISS FM on 102.7 set up by Chris Cary, where Dennis Murray worked from 1982-84. Courtesy DX Archive.

On October 20th 2018 over 100 radio anoraks gathered in the Ballsbridge Hotel in Dublin. The purpose was to meet and record oral history of the pirate radio era. 

John Walsh interviewed Denis Murray about his pirate radio past including the early days of Big D, Radio Nova, KISS FM (102.7) in Dublin and another KISS FM (103.7) in Monaghan.

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Panel: Liam de Siún, Roger Lloyd, Ian Biggar, Eddie Bohan and Dr Don Moore

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Panel: Liam de Siún, Roger Lloyd, Ian Biggar, Eddie Bohan and Dr Don Moore
QSL from Westside Radio International on its final day in 1988 (courtesy of Ian Biggar/DX Archive).

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.

Here we present a great panel of anoraks chatting to Dónal Greene: Liam de Siún (BLB), Roger Lloyd (aka Prince Terry of Radio Dublin and Westside Radio International), Ian Biggar (DX Archive), Eddie Bohan (Irish Broadcasting Hall of Fame) and Dr Don Moore (Westside Radio International and ARD).

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Jingles: Radio Dublin

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Jingles: Radio Dublin
Radio Dublin badge (Alan MacSimoin Collection).

Radio Dublin was Ireland’s longest running pirate radio station. It broadcast from 1966 until 2002 and was at its peak in the early to mid 1980s on 253m/1188KHz and 6910 kHz shortwave. Here are a number of station idents and jingles from our collection, beginning above with two iconic 253 jingles from the late 1970s.

The clip below is a top-of-the-hour jingle from 1988. The FM transmitter had moved to 105 but Radio Dublin was still announcing 98.8.

Radio Dublin relayed other stations frequently during its long existence including World Music Radio. After midnight on 1st January 1989 when it defied the new law, it relied on WMR tapes for the first few days before resuming live programming. Here’s a WMR promo from 1987.

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Interview: Karl Tsigdinos (ARD and others)

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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.

Karl Tsigdinos worked on the pirates from the mid seventies to early eighties going on to work with Radio Ireland / Today FM, Dublin City FM and RTE Gold. In this interview he explains how Hotpress (where he worked as a journalist) had a radio show that travelled around between Big D, Radio Dublin and ARD in the late seventies.

Interview: Karl Tsigdinos (ARD and others)
Karl Tsigdinos (Picture via Christmas FM)