{"id":10110,"date":"2024-09-16T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-09-16T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/?p=10110"},"modified":"2024-09-06T20:21:59","modified_gmt":"2024-09-06T19:21:59","slug":"radio-west-closes-temporarily-following-1983-raids","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/radio-west-closes-temporarily-following-1983-raids\/","title":{"rendered":"Radio West closes temporarily following 1983 raids"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"powerpress_player\" id=\"powerpress_player_5131\"><!--[if lt IE 9]><script>document.createElement('audio');<\/script><![endif]-->\n<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-10110-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/8119AI-192.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/8119AI-192.mp3\">https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/8119AI-192.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/div><p class=\"powerpress_links powerpress_links_mp3\" style=\"margin-bottom: 1px !important;\">Podcast: <a href=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/8119AI-192.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_pinw\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Play in new window\" onclick=\"return powerpress_pinw('https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/?powerpress_pinw=10110-podcast');\" rel=\"nofollow\">Play in new window<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/8119AI-192.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_d\" title=\"Download\" rel=\"nofollow\" download=\"8119AI-192.mp3\">Download<\/a><\/p><div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/SeanCoyne1986-square-1024x1024.jpg\" alt=\"Radio West closes temporarily following 1983 raids\" class=\"wp-image-5259\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/SeanCoyne1986-square-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/SeanCoyne1986-square-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/SeanCoyne1986-square-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/SeanCoyne1986-square-768x769.jpg 768w, https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/SeanCoyne1986-square-100x100.jpg 100w, https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/SeanCoyne1986-square.jpg 1075w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 767px) 89vw, (max-width: 1000px) 54vw, (max-width: 1071px) 543px, 580px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Radio West owner Shaun Coyne in 1986 (courtesy Andy Carter). <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p>Following the raids by Garda\u00ed and the Department Posts and Telegraphs on the large Dublin pirate stations in May 1983, panic spread throughout the sector and many stations left the airwaves, some for good. One such station to turn off its transmitters was Radio West, that had been broadcasting to the midlands from Mullingar in Co. Westmeath since early 1982. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This airchecked recording is of the last 2\u00bd hours of Radio West on the night of 19<sup>th<\/sup> May 1983. The station announces that it is closing on a voluntary basis as a gesture of solidarity with Radio Nova but will return to the airwaves if the situation changes. The station says it has run out of petition forms but urges listeners to lobby their TDs for licensed local radio. Among those calling the station with good wishes is Kieran Murray of Radio Carousel Navan. DJs include Mike McCartney, Davina Carroll, Mike Young, Dave Murphy, Mike Lewis, Willie Harte, Helen Bradley, Harry Burns and Michael O\u2019Flaherty. The final word goes to station owner Shaun Coyne and Radio West closes with the iconic spoken word version of the poem <em>Desiderata<\/em> by Les Crane, followed by the national anthem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The airchecked recording was made from 702 kHz (430 metres) from about 2230 until 0015 on 19<sup>th<\/sup> and 20<sup>th<\/sup> May 1983. It is from the Anoraks Ireland Collection and was recorded originally by Kieran Murray. There is some wobble on the cassette due to degradation over time. The closedown was short-lived and despite the on-air drama, Radio West returned to the airwaves in less than two weeks and continued to broadcast until the end of 1988.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Following the raids by Garda\u00ed and the Department Posts and Telegraphs on the large Dublin pirate stations in May 1983, panic spread throughout the sector and many stations left the airwaves, some for good. One such station to turn off its transmitters was Radio West, that had been broadcasting to the midlands from Mullingar in &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/radio-west-closes-temporarily-following-1983-raids\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Radio West closes temporarily following 1983 raids&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[501,171,707,708,46,564,243,71,380,303],"class_list":["post-10110","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-airchecks","tag-501","tag-1983-raids","tag-19th-may-1983","tag-20th-may-1983","tag-am","tag-anoraks-ireland-collection","tag-kieran-murray","tag-radio-west","tag-shaun-coyne","tag-westmeath"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Radio West closes temporarily following 1983 raids - Irish Pirate Radio Audio Archive<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/radio-west-closes-temporarily-following-1983-raids\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Radio West closes temporarily following 1983 raids - Irish Pirate Radio Audio Archive\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Following the raids by Garda\u00ed and the Department Posts and Telegraphs on the large Dublin pirate stations in May 1983, panic spread throughout the sector and many stations left the airwaves, some for good. One such station to turn off its transmitters was Radio West, that had been broadcasting to the midlands from Mullingar in &hellip; Continue reading &quot;Radio West closes temporarily following 1983 raids&quot;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/radio-west-closes-temporarily-following-1983-raids\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Irish Pirate Radio Audio Archive\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-09-16T05:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-09-06T19:21:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/SeanCoyne1986-square-1024x1024.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"John Walsh\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"John Walsh\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/radio-west-closes-temporarily-following-1983-raids\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/radio-west-closes-temporarily-following-1983-raids\/\",\"name\":\"Radio West closes temporarily following 1983 raids - Irish Pirate Radio Audio Archive\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/radio-west-closes-temporarily-following-1983-raids\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/radio-west-closes-temporarily-following-1983-raids\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/SeanCoyne1986-square-1024x1024.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-09-16T05:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-09-06T19:21:59+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/#\/schema\/person\/a6eb579c7ad730e14f91e6455b207f00\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/radio-west-closes-temporarily-following-1983-raids\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/radio-west-closes-temporarily-following-1983-raids\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/radio-west-closes-temporarily-following-1983-raids\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/SeanCoyne1986-square.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/SeanCoyne1986-square.jpg\",\"width\":1075,\"height\":1076},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/radio-west-closes-temporarily-following-1983-raids\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Radio West closes temporarily following 1983 raids\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/\",\"name\":\"Irish Pirate Radio Audio Archive\",\"description\":\"Open Free Radio Archive\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/#\/schema\/person\/a6eb579c7ad730e14f91e6455b207f00\",\"name\":\"John Walsh\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/80a5b6baea2fd739c3be046233f2ad61?s=96&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/80a5b6baea2fd739c3be046233f2ad61?s=96&r=g\",\"caption\":\"John Walsh\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/author\/john\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Radio West closes temporarily following 1983 raids - Irish Pirate Radio Audio Archive","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/radio-west-closes-temporarily-following-1983-raids\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Radio West closes temporarily following 1983 raids - Irish Pirate Radio Audio Archive","og_description":"Following the raids by Garda\u00ed and the Department Posts and Telegraphs on the large Dublin pirate stations in May 1983, panic spread throughout the sector and many stations left the airwaves, some for good. One such station to turn off its transmitters was Radio West, that had been broadcasting to the midlands from Mullingar in &hellip; Continue reading \"Radio West closes temporarily following 1983 raids\"","og_url":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/radio-west-closes-temporarily-following-1983-raids\/","og_site_name":"Irish Pirate Radio Audio Archive","article_published_time":"2024-09-16T05:00:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-09-06T19:21:59+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/SeanCoyne1986-square-1024x1024.jpg"}],"author":"John Walsh","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"John Walsh","Estimated reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/radio-west-closes-temporarily-following-1983-raids\/","url":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/radio-west-closes-temporarily-following-1983-raids\/","name":"Radio West closes temporarily following 1983 raids - Irish Pirate Radio Audio Archive","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/radio-west-closes-temporarily-following-1983-raids\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/radio-west-closes-temporarily-following-1983-raids\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/SeanCoyne1986-square-1024x1024.jpg","datePublished":"2024-09-16T05:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2024-09-06T19:21:59+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/#\/schema\/person\/a6eb579c7ad730e14f91e6455b207f00"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/radio-west-closes-temporarily-following-1983-raids\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/radio-west-closes-temporarily-following-1983-raids\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/radio-west-closes-temporarily-following-1983-raids\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/SeanCoyne1986-square.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/SeanCoyne1986-square.jpg","width":1075,"height":1076},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/radio-west-closes-temporarily-following-1983-raids\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Radio West closes temporarily following 1983 raids"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/#website","url":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/","name":"Irish Pirate Radio Audio Archive","description":"Open Free Radio Archive","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/#\/schema\/person\/a6eb579c7ad730e14f91e6455b207f00","name":"John Walsh","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/80a5b6baea2fd739c3be046233f2ad61?s=96&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/80a5b6baea2fd739c3be046233f2ad61?s=96&r=g","caption":"John Walsh"},"url":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/author\/john\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10110","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10110"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10110\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10111,"href":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10110\/revisions\/10111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10110"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}