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Aircheck: Dusty’s Trail on Radio Dublin

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Aircheck: Dusty’s Trail on Radio Dublin
Radio Dublin car sticker (courtesy of DX Archive).

Dusty’s Trail was a popular programme on Radio Dublin presented by Gerry Jones aimed at teenage listeners. Trailers, as they were called, wrote into the programme requesting music and even met up at organised gatherings every weekend at the band stand at Stephens Green (it wouldnt be allowed nowadays with GDPR and all the regulations of safety). In this recording from 1985, a listener sends in a copy of a response she received from Minister of State for Broadcasting Ted Nealon to her letter expressing concern that stations such as Radio Dublin would be shut down. Audio quality was never great on Radio Dublin but is worse on this recording due to a loud heterodyne. This is from our own collection.

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Interview: Joe Doyle (Moonlight Radio, NDCR, Ballymun Community Broadcasting, Radio Dublin)

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Interview: Joe Doyle (Moonlight Radio, NDCR, Ballymun Community Broadcasting, Radio Dublin)

This is an interview with Joe Rossa (aka Joe Doyle), a former manager of Radio Dublin for the later part of this station’s history. Joe also recalls his involvement in earlier pirates such as the hobby station Moonlight Radio, community station NDCR and Ballymun Community Broadcasting, which continued until July 1988. The interviewer is Walter Hegarty and the conversation took place at a meeting of radio anoraks in Ballsbridge in October 2018.

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Interview with Radio Dublin on its ‘last day’ of broadcasting

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Interview with Radio Dublin on its ‘last day’ of broadcasting
Radio Dublin badge courtesy of Brian Greene.

Centre Radio in Bayside was one of the last stations to close at midnight on New Year’s Eve 1988. Rumours abounded that Radio Dublin was going to defy the new legislation and continue broadcasting so early on the morning of the 31st December, Bobby Gibbson (Brian Greene) decided to call Radio Dublin live on air. In this recording, he speaks to breakfast presenter Robbie Prior who says all presenters have been told that this is their final day. However he adds that station owner Eamon Cooke could well have something up his sleeve. The recording includes poor quality live audio from Radio Dublin’s AM broadcast on 1188 kHz.

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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.