Interview: Kieran Murray (Part 2)

Interview: Kieran Murray (Part 2)
Kieran Murray in the Boyneside Radio Kells studio (photo courtesy of Kieran Murray).

In this second part of the interview, Kieran Murray tells Brian Greene about his move from Radio Carousel to its biggest rival, Boyneside Radio, in 1983. Like Carousel, Boyneside had become a regional network and Kieran took over management of its satellite station in Kells, Co. Meath, which had its own opt-out programming.

Interview: Kieran Murray (Part 2)
A rate card for Boyneside Radio Kells (courtesy of Ian Biggar/DX Archive).

Kieran also describes his involvement with Radio Rainbow International, a hobby station set up by Boyneside co-owner Eddie Caffrey. Rainbow could be heard far and wide due to its powerful shortwave signal and Kieran presented a weekly FRC programme which attracted correspondence from across Europe. Part 2 ends with Kieran’s memories of returning to Dublin to work for Liberty 104 at the end of the pirate era in 1987-88.

Interview: Kieran Murray (Part 2)
A QSL for Radio Rainbow International signed by Kieran (courtesy of Ian Biggar/DX Archive).

There’s an interview with Eddie Caffrey about Radio Rainbow International here. We’ll bring you recordings of Rainbow at a later stage in our series about the pirates of the northeast.

Interview: Eddie Caffrey (Radio Rainbow International, Radio Fax)

Interview: Eddie Caffrey (Radio Rainbow International, Radio Fax)
L-R: Eddie Caffrey, John Walsh, Ian Biggar, Brian Greene on a visit to LMFM on 24th April 2019.

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, as the 30th anniversary of the 1988 closedowns approached.

At the event we met Eddie Caffrey (aka Heady Eddie), one of the best-known people in radio in the northeast stretching back over 40 years on both pirate and licensed stations. We spoke to him about the 1980s shortwave radio scene in Ireland, in particular his own stations Radio Rainbow International and Radio Fax. The interviewer is Brian Greene.

Interview: Eddie Caffrey (Radio Rainbow International, Radio Fax)
Eddie Caffrey on his afternoon show on LMFM (photo courtesy of LMFM)

We thank Eddie for his generous donations without which our series on the northeast pirates could not have taken place.