Full recording: Centre Radio (Dublin)

Full recording: Centre Radio (Dublin)
A flyer for Centre Radio courtesy of Eamonn Roe.

Centre Radio began as a hobby station on December 19th 1986 from Baldoyle in northeast Dublin and came on air during school holidays. Brian Greene of Pirate.ie was one of the original founders and the other half of this site John Walsh was also involved. By 1987 the station had developed into a youth project and was training up to 80 young people in radio. From February 1988 Centre was on air every evening and weekend from Bayside. It was one of the last stations in Dublin to closedown at midnight on New Year’s Eve 1988.

This recording is of an oldies show presented by Bobby Gibbson (aka Brian Greene) on 25th September 1988. It includes community news and stations idents by Richard Taylor (aka John Walsh). Despite the claims in the idents, Centre broadcast in mono only, with the exception of its overnight stereo relay of the Radio Nova satellite service via the former Southside Radio FM TX in Dublin. You can read more about the history of Centre here.

Interview with Don Harris (Airtime IRS)

Interview with Don Harris (Airtime IRS)
Airtime advert from Business & Finance 1990

Don Harris worked on many early Dublin AM pirates like ARD and Southside Radio before joining South Coast Radio In Cork. He went on to form the first independent radio sales bureau in Ireland which straddled the pirate era and the legal local radio era.

Interview with Don Harris (Airtime IRS)
Don Harris on South Coast Radio with Renee & Renato

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.

Interview with Michael McMahon of Island Radio (Dublin)

Interview with Michael McMahon of Island Radio (Dublin)

Michael McMahon (aka Mick Taylor) talks to Brian Greene about his pirate memories of the short-lived Island Radio in Dalkey in south Co. Dublin. The interview was done on October 20th 2018 when 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.