Interview with Bryan Dobson (Southside Radio, Radio Nova)

Interview with Bryan Dobson (Southside Radio, Radio Nova)
Bryan Dobson’s Nova ID card from 1982 (Pirate.ie collection).

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 RTÉ journalist and broadcaster Bryan Dobson tells Leigh McGowran about his times in Southside Radio and Radio Nova in the early 1980s. Bryan Dobson retired from RTÉ on 3rd May 2024 after over 40 years in the industry.

Aircheck: Radio Annabel FRC

Aircheck: Radio Annabel FRC
Radio Annabel ad from the Sunday World, 6 January 1985 (Alan MacSimoin collection).

Dublin station Radio Annabel featured a popular weekly Free Radio Campaign programme presented by Gerard Roe. This recording from 1985 features an interview with Chris Cary taken from Radio Nova in which he criticises the notion of community radio. It is followed by a reference to a newspaper article about one of the failed attempts to introduce legislation to regulate the radio sector during the 1980s.

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

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.

Interview: Tom Hardy (Radio Nova, KISS FM 102.7, KISS FM Monaghan)

Interview: Tom Hardy (Radio Nova, KISS FM 102.7, KISS FM Monaghan)
Tom Hardy at Radio Nova on 19th May 1983, the day of the official closedown (courtesy Joe King).

In this interview the late Tom Hardy speaks to John Walsh about his memories of Radio Nova including the raid of 1983, Nova’s sister station KISS FM 102.7, KISS FM (Monaghan) and his views about the current state of radio.

The interview was conducted on October 20th 2018 when over one hundred radio anoraks gathered in the Ballsbridge Hotel in Dublin. The purpose was to meet and record oral history of the pirate radio era.