Religious Archives - Page 2 of 4 - Irish Pirate Radio Audio Archive

6th May 20226th May 2022

Dublin religious station Hope FM

Hope FM was a nominally religious station that broadcast to Dublin for the last few months of the pirate era at the end of 1988. It launched on Monday 12^th September 1988 on 104.2 FM and soon moved to 104.4.

Hope FM came about when its owners bought another station CAU FM that had broadcast from November 1987 until July 1988, aiming mostly at the southside of the city. Some of the DJs on CAU FM were also heard on Hope FM and the same equipment was used. Using the strapline ‘the newest voice of Dublin’, the AOR music format was interspersed with various short reflections about life, although not overtly religious.

This recording was made on Monday 21^st November and is an aircheck of morning and evening programming. It begins with Greg Edwards (aka Locky Butler, former owner of CAU FM and previous southside stations) on breakfast from before 9am and includes a competition, adverts and a promo for a daily job spot. The drivetime show from about 5.30pm is presented by an unidentified DJ and includes traffic news sponsored by a taxi company and a Christmas children’s toy appeal. News is read on the half-hour.

This recording was made originally by Kieran Murray and is from the Anoraks Ireland Tapes Collection, donated by Paul Davidson.

29th October 202123rd October 2021

Irish Christian Broadcasting Service

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Masthead of an ICBS flyer from c. 1986 (courtesy Ian Biggar).

Christian and Catholic pirate stations were among the niche unlicensed broadcasters of the 1980s. The longest running station was the Irish Christian Broadcasting Service which went on air in 1981 and continued until midnight on 30^th December 1988. In the early days, it broadcast from a convent in Finglas in northwest Dublin and later moved to Chapelizod and then Ballsbridge. The station was listed on 1071 kHz in logs spanning 1981 to 1985, when it moved to 891 kHz and then to 981 kHz, where it remained until the end of 1988. An Evening Herald report from 5^th May 1983 said that ICBS was test broadcasting for a few hours each evening on 1404 kHz.

The same article reported that ICBS intended to apply for a licence and a spokesman Jim Sherlock was quoted as saying that they did not wish to defy the authorities. He claimed that the Catholic Church was interested in ICBS and that the minister with responsibility for broadcasting, Ted Nealon was ‘sympathetic’ with their case. It was reported that ICBS did not carry advertisements and was financed by voluntary contributions. The schedule consisted of 70 percent religious and other music and 30 percent religious interviews and news.

This recording was made from 1071 kHz on 5^th April 1982 and consists of biblical extracts read by a woman with an American accent, interspersed with religious music. It may have been a tape sent to ICBS by a US religious group. Recordings of this type were occasionally used as income streams by Irish pirates, both religious and non-religious. Thanks to Shay Geoghegan for the donation.

1st August 20219th March 2024

Dublin bandscan from 1981

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This is a bandscan of radio as heard on AM and FM in Dublin in August 1981 by Leon Tipler on one of his many visits in Dublin to document the local pirate scene. The scan gives a sense of the sheer volume of stations on AM and the less crowded FM band, where British stations could regularly be heard due to lack of congestion. We don’t have a precise date but part of the recording was made on a Sunday.

The bandscan begins on FM with Belfast station Downtown Radio’s closedown with a read- through of the next day’s schedule. This is followed by unidentified Irish and British stations on FM and céilí music on RTÉ Radio 1. Leon then switches to AM and tunes past foreign stations before settling on Radio City on 257 metres where Brian Harmon is signing off for the night. This is followed by classical music on what sounds like Radio 1 again. A live ad is read out by the DJ for the new Sunday Tribune newspaper on Sunshine Radio on AM and Leon then switches to Radio Nova on 88 FM. This is followed by exchanges from air traffic control, as was the norm on part of the FM band in those days.

The scan then returns to AM and Radio Leinster on 738 kHz (406 metres) where Anna Craig is signing off at the end of her Sunday morning show. She is followed by Fr. Michael Culloty with a religious programme. The bandscan ends with more AM stations include ARD and part of the Disco Format show on Sunshine.

This recording is from the Leon Tipler Tapes Collection, donated by Steve England.

26th July 202123rd July 2021

Tony Gareth on Radio Nova

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Here are two short clips from Radio Nova on Sunday 10^th October 1982. The one above features part of the 10am news read by Roland Burke (RIP) followed by the weather with Tony Gareth, aka Gareth O’Callaghan who would become one of Ireland’s best-known broadcasters.

The second clip below is from the religious programme Life is a Celebration, which was launched on Nova on that day. Presented by two priests, it featured music and spiritual reflections and was an example of the early experimentation in specialist programming by Chris Cary.

We thank Paul Buckle for his donation of both recordings, which were made from 88FM near Belfast.

20th May 202120th May 2021

Pirate.ie in three minutes

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This three-minute clip gives a sense of the variety of content in the Pirate.ie archive. It covers stations big and small, in Dublin and elsewhere, playing mainstream pop or featuring specialist programming. The first segment features Ireland’s best-known pirate Radio Nova and its ‘Dublin Today’ programme on 30^th August 1983, the day of the giveaway.

The second segment is from the Irish Christian Broadcasting Service from 3^rd September 1983, just four days before a divisive referendum about inserting a ban on abortion into the Irish constitution. The presenter announces an interview with a US campaigner.

The third segment features a promo for community radio broadcast in 1987 on Bray Local Broadcasting south of Dublin. Among the voices is the then Minister for Communications, the late Jim Mitchell, whose party did not favour community radio. BLB was a leading member of the National Association of Community Broadcasters.

The next segment is a jingle for Boyneside Radio (1978-1988) based in Co. Louth which became a regional station covering an area stretching from Belfast to Dublin. The station had transmitters along the border and an opt-out service aimed at Northern Ireland.

The next segment features one of Ireland’s best-known pirate broadcasters, the late John ‘the Man’ Frawley opening Raidió Luimní on 20^th April 1983. The station broadcast from Limerick for ten years from 1978-1988 and the popular Frawley had listeners over a wide area. He begins by greeting listeners in Irish.

Finally we hear the late Bob Gallico reading the news on New Year’s Day 1988 on Energy 103, a popular professional station that emerged from the ashes of Radio Nova in 1986.