Southside Radio broadcast from north Wicklow and later from Dún Laoghaire in south Dublin between 1978 and 1982. First up in this recording is the end of Phil’s mid-morning show with requests and dedications. She is followed by Paul Nicholas (Andy Ruane, who later worked on Sunshine Radio and RTÉ), who is standing in for Scott Williams. Adverts are aired for local businesses in south Dublin. Other features include a weather report, news about local gigs and events, the tea break dedication slot and community notices. Many presenters who went on to become big names in Irish radio were heard on Southside Radio including Scott Williams, Keith York, Bryan Dobson and Sybil Fennell.
The recording was made from 300 metres/999 kHz on Wednesday 23rd September 1981 between 1337-1513 and is from the Anoraks Ireland Collection.
The Victor Hotel in Dún Laoghaire, home to Southside from 1980 (courtesy DX Archive).
An early pioneer in news for radio anoraks was the weekly Free Radio Campaign (FRC) show on Southside Radio from Dún Laoghaire in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Presented by Marc Boland, it was often relayed on shortwave pirate Westside Radio International. This short recording of the end of one edition of the FRC from 1981 includes correspondence from a listener in Leeds who wants to swap recordings of pirate stations from both sides of the Irish Sea.
The tape was made from 999 kHz AM (300 metres) on Sunday 29th March 1981 between 1248-1930 and is from the Anoraks Ireland Collection.
Southside Radio was one of the early Irish medium wave pirates of the late 1970s and early 1980s, based in various places in north Wicklow and south Dublin. It began broadcasting in December 1978 from a caravan to Bray for a few hours daily before extending its coverage. Southside Radio was raided in 1979 but a rate card and schedule from December that year showed an ambitious full-time schedule including accomplished broadcasters such as Bryan Dobson, Cathy Cregan, Sybil Fennell, Hugh Browne (RIP) and Paul Nicholas (Andy Ruane). Southside claimed to be the ‘major radio station on the southside of Dublin’ and said it had a community emphasis in its programmes. In spring 1980, a lightning strike and a break-in damaged equipment and disrupted broadcasts. In June that year, Southside moved to the Victor Hotel in Dún Laoghaire and became a round-the-clock operation. A report by DX Archive from April 1982 said that Southside was on its last legs and that the station closed the following month for good.
The hotel in Dún Laoghaire where Southside was based (courtesy DX Archive)
Of interest in the Southside schedule was the weekly Free Radio Campaign (FRC) show by Mark Boland on Sunday mornings, which was also relayed on shortwave stations Westside Radio International and Radio Condor and therefore heard well beyond Ireland. This recording is of an edition of the FRC that includes free radio and station news, a report from Liverpool, a tape of Australian station OZFM and Radio Caroline jingles from the 1960s. There are plenty of adverts for local businesses on the southside, including the voice of Tony Allan (RIP), who also features on station idents.
The tape was made on Easter Sunday 19th April 1981 between 1133-1305 from 999 kHz, announcing 300 metres. It is from the Anoraks Ireland Collection.
Some of the hundreds of cassettes in the Leon Tipler collection (photo by Brian Greene).
In May 2020, we were delighted to receive a large donation of cassettes belonging to the late Leon Tipler (1942-2013), a British pirate radio enthusiast and broadcaster who recorded thousands of hours of Irish pirate stations in the late 1970s and early 1980s. You can read a tribute here. We thank Steve England for sending us this important collection, which provides a unique insight into a critical period in Irish pirate radio, the years just before and after the arrival of the ‘super-pirates’ in the form of Radio Nova and Sunshine Radio.
Leon Tipler (photo courtesy of offshoreradio.co.uk)
We’ll be featuring this collection over the coming months, but we begin with Tipler’s well-known series of documentaries covering the period 1979-1982, ‘The Irish Pirates’ by Alfasound Tapetrix Productions. These eight hour-long recordings are reference copies from the documentary maker himself and are in high quality audio.
Volume 1 documents Tipler’s first visits to Dublin in 1979 and 1980 and includes recordings of and interviews with stations on the air in the capital at the time.
These include ARD, Big D, Radio Dublin, Radio City, Radio 257, Southside Radio and Capitol Radio. Tony Allan can be heard reading news and presenting a talk programme on ARD. There’s an interview with Robbie Robinson of the new Sunshine Radio about the loophole in the 1926 Wireless Telegraphy Act although Sunshine itself is not discussed until a later episode. Tipler also covers the launch of RTÉ Radio 2 in 1979 which, although forced by the pirates, did nothing to quell the success of the illegal broadcasters. As Tipler says, the best was yet to come.
Bray Local Broadcasting (BLB) was a pioneer in Irish community radio and spent almost ten years on air from 1979 to 1988. Based in the north Wicklow town, it focused on local speech content and specialist music in contrast with other stations broadcasting pop music. BLB’s innovative approach inspired other stations in Ireland and it also attracted interest in community radio circles abroad. The station broadcast on AM (837 kHz and later 657) and FM and could be heard well beyond Bray in its later years. You can read more about BLB here.
This fascinating panel discussion features three founding members of BLB: Mark Quinn, Michael Gray and Doug Bel-Maguire. The interviewer is Eolann Aitken.
