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Westside Radio International returns for New Year’s Eve 1989

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Westside Radio International returns for New Year's Eve 1989
Westside operator Prince Terry in May 1983 (Anoraks Ireland Collection).

Westside Radio International was a long-running shortwave pirate broadcasting on Sunday morning from Dublin between 1975 and 1989 with later appearances under different names including Ozone Radio. The station was set up by the late Don Moore and was taken over by Roger Lloyd (Prince Terry on air) in 1977. It was steeped in the pirate spirit and created a real sense of community among free radio enthusiasts in Ireland and abroad. The station closed down on 31st December 1988 along with the vast majority of Irish pirates but returned for a special commemorative broadcast exactly one year later.

This airchecked recording was made between 1123 and 1253 on 31st December 1989 from 6280 kHz shortwave. Prince Terry announces that Westside has returned just for that day to mark the first anniversary of the pirate closedowns and says that it is also broadcasting on FM and medium wave. There are greetings to well-known radio anoraks and news about the small number of remaining pirate stations, including Radio Dublin which is said to have switched back on its AM transmitter.

Audio is fair to poor with deep fading but is an authentic representation of how Westside sounded on shortwave in the west of Ireland at the time. The recording was made in Co. Clare by John Breslin, who we thank for the donation.

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Sunday shows on Radio Skywave International

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Sunday shows on Radio Skywave International

Radio Skywave International was a shortwave station that broadcast from Baldoyle in northeast Dublin on Sunday mornings from 1985 to 1988. Skywave was one of many hobby shortwave stations broadcasting from Ireland during the pirate era. It was heard on 6260 kHz in the 48-metre band for the first two years or so and later moved to 6850 kHz.

These recordings were made on Sunday 1st December 1985. The first hour above runs from 1100-1200 and is an edition of the Free Radio Programme presented by Dominic Dillon and Fergal. The show includes historical recordings including Radio Leinster on its final day, 19th May 1983, a Christmas Day pantomime from Sunshine Radio (undated but possibly 1984) and Radio Dublin from Christmas Day 1984. There are the usual features on the medium wave, FM and shortwave bands. Free radio news includes mention of a test broadcast by Skywave later in the month on 7475 kHz. The address of PO Box 1686, Dublin 1 is given and there is a promo for Anoraks Ireland.

Sunday shows on Radio Skywave International
Original cassette from Anoraks Ireland Collection.

The second hour below consists of the Mailbag Show presented by station operator Michael Caine (Hegarty) from 1200-1300. He reads out letters and reception reports from Sweden, England and several from East Germany. There are more promos for Anoraks Ireland and Wavelength magazine.  

Mailbag show from 1200.

Radio Skywave International began broadcasting on 29th July 1985 and continued intermittently on Sunday mornings until 12th June 1988. Both recordings are studio copies and are from the Anoraks Ireland Tapes Collection, donated to us by Paul Davidson. Radio Skywave International itself donated a large collection of recordings to Pirate.ie.  

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Closedown of Westside Radio International

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Closedown of Westside Radio International
Westside Radio International QSL (courtesy Ian Biggar).

This is a recording of the closedown of the long-running shortwave pirate Westside Radio International on December 31st 1988. Westside was set up by the late Dr Don (Don Moore) in 1975 and broadcast on Sunday mornings before Radio Dublin came on the air. It was taken over by Prince Terry (Roger Lloyd) in 1977 and remained a stalwart on the 49-metre band every Sunday for the following eleven years. Westside embodied the pirate spirit and was popular with anoraks because of its regular updates about radio in Ireland and abroad.

This airchecked recording was made from 6280 kHz between 1200 and 1348 on New Year’s Eve. Prince Terry and Gary Lewis present music and discuss the radio scene as the new legal regime was about to come into effect. There are hints that Westside may return in 1989 and in fact the station was heard again under various guises in 1989 and continued to broadcast as Ozone Radio for many subsequent years.

Reception is poor and is of DX standard in places but but this gives a sense of how many shortwave listeners experienced the closedown of Westside Radio International. We thank John Breslin for his donation.

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Closedown of Boyneside Radio as heard on shortwave

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Closedown of Boyneside Radio as heard on shortwave
Boyneside sticker (courtesy Ian Biggar).

Boyneside Radio, based in Drogheda in Co. Louth, was a successful local and eventually regional radio station broadcasting to the northeast of Ireland and beyond from 1978-1988. This is a recording of the final few hours of Boyneside on the afternoon of its last day on air, 31st December 1988. Rather than its familiar medium wave and FM frequencies, this was taken from 6231 kHz shortwave, the transmitter of Radio Rainbow International which was linked to Boyneside and used specially for the occasion. Reception ranges from fair to poor with a heterodyne in the second half of the recording but it gives a sense of how shortwave listeners, especially those outside Ireland, experienced the closedown.

Closedown of Boyneside Radio as heard on shortwave
Eddie Caffrey pictured in 1986 (courtesy of Eddie himself).

The recording runs from 1348-1502 and features Eddie Caffrey on air with a host of Boyneside DJs and other staff. There are also plenty of farewell messages from loyal listeners who will miss their local station. We thank John Breslin for the donation.

The history of Boyneside is already well documented on this site and all recordings of the station can be found here. For a comprehensive account of the 1988 closedowns, see the Radiowaves site.

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Pirate.ie in three minutes – transnational radio

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Pirate.ie in three minutes - transnational radio
Boyneside Radio North AM mast just on the border (courtesy of Eddie Caffrey).

This three-minute clip includes highlights related to the transnational nature of Irish pirate radio in the late 1970s and 1980s. By accident or design, stations were heard beyond the borders of the Irish state on FM and especially on AM and there were also part-time shortwave operators aimed at international DXers.

Pirate.ie in three minutes - transnational radio
Constitution Hill in Aberystwyth where Leon Tipler recorded Irish radio (photo by John Walsh).

The first segment is of Arklow Community Radio as heard by the late British radio enthusiast Leon Tipler on FM in Aberystwyth on the Welsh coast on 13th August 1983. This is followed by a night-time recording of Radio Nova playing a request for Leon at his home in Kidderminster in the English midlands on 17th September 1982.

Pirate.ie in three minutes - transnational radio
Radio Nova sticker from the 50 kW days (courtesy of Ian Biggar).

The third segment is the iconic top-of-the-hour ident of Radio Nova recorded on 17th July 1984. This is voiced by station boss Chris Cary who stresses that Nova broadcasts from and not to Dublin on 738 kHz. The AM transmitter was using 50 kW at the time in order to reach the British market.

Pirate.ie in three minutes - transnational radio
KISS FM sticker (courtesy of Ian Biggar).

The fourth segment is of KISS FM, a high-powered FM and AM station based in Monaghan on the border and aiming its signal at the lucrative Belfast market. This was recorded in Scotland on 13th June 1988. The firth extract is an advert on the Louth station Boyneside Radio promoting a céilí in an Irish centre in Lankashire. Although recorded in Ireland, it is evidence that Boyneside had listeners across the Irish Sea. The final extract is from August 1985 and features one of the many Irish shortwave stations that aimed at international audiences. Radio Rainbow International broadcast on 6240 kHz but this is a studio recording.

Pirate.ie in three minutes - transnational radio
Radio Rainbow letter from 1986 (courtesy Ian Biggar).

These recordings are from our various collections and are discussed in more detail in our podcast focusing on the transnational nature of Irish pirate radio.