Will Rogers Archives - Irish Pirate Radio Audio Archive

27th May 202427th May 2024

Lunchtime on Radio Phoenix from Limerick

Radio Phoenix was a small Limerick station broadcasting in 1984 and 1985 and linked to other later similar pirates in the city. In a report by Tony Donlon for Contact magazine from the World DX Club on 28^th January 1985, Radio Phoenix is listed on 99.4 FM with broadcasting hours from 0730-0000. Tony wrote that the station had previously operated for around eight months as Radio Ormond in Nenagh, Co. Tipperary (November 1983 to end of September 1984). Radio Phoenix went through several name changes over the years including the Limerick Broadcasting Corporation (LBC), Munster Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) and Stereo Radio Munster. In his list of 18^th April 1986 in Contact, Tony Donlon includes LBC on 95.5 and 98.5 FM with an address at Blackboy House, Mulgrave Street, Limerick. In a letter to Ian Biggar on 2^nd August 1986, Tony wrote that the Munster Broadcasting Corporation had a notorious habit of changing name, previously calling themselves LBC, Nova Limerick and much earlier Radio Phoenix.

The man behind all of these stations was Bernard Rooney, who called himself Will Rogers on air. This recording of Radio Phoenix was made from 99.3 FM on Wednesday 12^th December 1984 from 1310-1355 and features Will Rogers himself in his usual lunchtime slot. An AM frequency of 1560 kHz or 190 metres is also announced, but this was in fact the spot claimed by rival Limerick station Big L at the same time. There is no log of Radio Phoenix on anything other than FM so the claim to be on AM also may have been wishful thinking.

This recording is from the Anoraks Ireland Tapes Collection. Thanks to Ian Biggar for background information.

16th June 202325th May 2024

Summer sounds on Munster Broadcasting Corporation

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The Munster Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) was one of the smaller Limerick pirates, broadcasting in 1986. Despite the gradiose name, the station was situated in a tiny loft room on Catherine Street in the city centre. It claimed coverage of counties Limerick, Clare and Tipperary on various FM frequencies, but most of the advertisements were from Limerick City itself. This recording from July 1986 features the lunchtime show with current pop hits presented by Will Rogers, who had one of the stranger mid-Atlantic accents of the pirate era. He also features on many of the adverts. MBC was relaunched as Stereo Radio Munster in 1987.

The tape may have been recorded from one of the Limerick City frequencies, 95.9 or 98.6 FM. There is no date but Part 1 above runs from 1304-1349 and Part 2 below from 1351-1437.

Part 2 from 1351.

The tape is from the Anoraks Ireland Collection, donated to us by Paul Davidson.

22nd March 202025th May 2024

Munster Broadcasting Corporation from Limerick

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Limerick really punched above its weight in the golden age of pirate radio prior to 1989. There is some good material online about the Limerick stations including a blog about Big L, Liam Byrne’s radio site, the DX Archive Limerick pages and our own entries featuring Limerick. This recording from July 1986 provides a snapshot of one of the city’s lesser-known pirates at the time, the Munster Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) which despite the grandiose name operated from a tiny attic studio on Catherine Street in the city centre.

MBC was linked to other Limerick stations Radio Vera and Radio Munster. A corporation it wasn’t, and it certainly didn’t broadcast to the whole of Munster, although there were some ads from Tipperary and they claimed to have three FM frequencies covering Limerick, Clare and Tipperary. There was nothing remarkable about the music on MBC – it was the usual diet of the Top 40 – but it was a presenter calling himself Will Rogers who made an impact during our short visit to Limerick in 1986. He did a lunchtime show and also voiced most of the ads and jingles in one of the stranger mid-Atlantic accents of pirate radio in the 1980s.