{"id":11663,"date":"2026-08-28T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-28T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/?p=11663"},"modified":"2026-08-25T18:50:02","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T17:50:02","slug":"radio-dublin-farewell-broadcast-following-1977-raid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/radio-dublin-farewell-broadcast-following-1977-raid\/","title":{"rendered":"Radio Dublin farewell broadcast following 1977 raid"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"powerpress_player\" id=\"powerpress_player_8573\"><audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-11663-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/27-02-1977-Radio-Dublin-post-raid-128KBPS.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/27-02-1977-Radio-Dublin-post-raid-128KBPS.mp3\">https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/27-02-1977-Radio-Dublin-post-raid-128KBPS.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\/2026\/08\/27-02-1977-Radio-Dublin-post-raid-128KBPS.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_pinw\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Play in new window\" onclick=\"return powerpress_pinw('https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/?powerpress_pinw=11663-podcast');\" rel=\"nofollow\">Play in new window<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/27-02-1977-Radio-Dublin-post-raid-128KBPS.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_d\" title=\"Download\" rel=\"nofollow\" download=\"27-02-1977-Radio-Dublin-post-raid-128KBPS.mp3\">Download<\/a><\/p><div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"332\" src=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/1977_Radio_Dublin_letterhead_IB-1024x332.jpg\" alt=\"Radio Dublin farewell broadcast following 1977 raid\" class=\"wp-image-3901\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/1977_Radio_Dublin_letterhead_IB-1024x332.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/1977_Radio_Dublin_letterhead_IB-300x97.jpg 300w, https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/1977_Radio_Dublin_letterhead_IB-768x249.jpg 768w, https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/1977_Radio_Dublin_letterhead_IB-1536x497.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/1977_Radio_Dublin_letterhead_IB.jpg 1729w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 767px) 89vw, (max-width: 1000px) 54vw, (max-width: 1071px) 543px, 580px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Radio Dublin banner from 1977 (courtesy Ian Biggar). <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This recording is of what was billed as the final broadcast by Radio Dublin following a raid in February 1977 that led to most of the station\u2019s equipment being confiscated. In a publicity stunt that would be repeated by future pirate stations, Radio Dublin returned to the air with a fanfare in order to sign off for the last time. Paul Downey is at the helm and says that they are using borrowed equipment to bid farewell to listeners because \u2018the powers that be\u2019 want them silenced. He also urges people to write to the Department of Posts and Telegraphs to demand that Radio Dublin be licensed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">February 1977 was by no means the end of Radio Dublin, which had its equipment returned in June 1977 after a court case found a flaw in the 1926 act. The station in fact extended its hours over the summer and in September held a marathon 36-hour broadcast that broke the mould for pirate radio in Dublin, leading to a shift from hobby operators to full-time broadcasters. Dr Don would leave Radio Dublin in June 1977 to set up his own station ARD.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This recording was made by Kieran Murray from 1187 kHz AM, announcing 253 metres, on 27<sup>th<\/sup> February 1977 and is from the Anoraks Ireland Collection. Audio quality is mixed given the rudimentary technical set-up and passage of time since the cassette was recorded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This recording is of what was billed as the final broadcast by Radio Dublin following a raid in February 1977 that led to most of the station\u2019s equipment being confiscated. In a publicity stunt that would be repeated by future pirate stations, Radio Dublin returned to the air with a fanfare in order to sign &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/radio-dublin-farewell-broadcast-following-1977-raid\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Radio Dublin farewell broadcast following 1977 raid&#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":[152],"tags":[524,564,482,9,189],"class_list":["post-11663","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-full-recordings","tag-524","tag-anoraks-ireland-collection","tag-paul-downey","tag-radio-dublin","tag-raids"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Radio Dublin farewell broadcast following 1977 raid - 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-dublin-farewell-broadcast-following-1977-raid\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Radio Dublin farewell broadcast following 1977 raid - Irish Pirate Radio Audio Archive\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This recording is of what was billed as the final broadcast by Radio Dublin following a raid in February 1977 that led to most of the station\u2019s equipment being confiscated. In a publicity stunt that would be repeated by future pirate stations, Radio Dublin returned to the air with a fanfare in order to sign &hellip; Continue reading &quot;Radio Dublin farewell broadcast following 1977 raid&quot;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/radio-dublin-farewell-broadcast-following-1977-raid\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Irish Pirate Radio Audio Archive\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-08-28T05:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/1977_Radio_Dublin_letterhead_IB.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1729\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\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\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/pirate.ie\\\/archive\\\/radio-dublin-farewell-broadcast-following-1977-raid\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/pirate.ie\\\/archive\\\/radio-dublin-farewell-broadcast-following-1977-raid\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"John Walsh\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/pirate.ie\\\/archive\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a6eb579c7ad730e14f91e6455b207f00\"},\"headline\":\"Radio Dublin farewell broadcast following 1977 raid\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-28T05:00:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/pirate.ie\\\/archive\\\/radio-dublin-farewell-broadcast-following-1977-raid\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":239,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/pirate.ie\\\/archive\\\/radio-dublin-farewell-broadcast-following-1977-raid\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/pirate.ie\\\/archive\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/04\\\/1977_Radio_Dublin_letterhead_IB-1024x332.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"1977\",\"Anoraks Ireland Collection\",\"Paul Downey\",\"Radio Dublin\",\"Raids\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Full recordings\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/pirate.ie\\\/archive\\\/radio-dublin-farewell-broadcast-following-1977-raid\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/pirate.ie\\\/archive\\\/radio-dublin-farewell-broadcast-following-1977-raid\\\/\",\"name\":\"Radio Dublin farewell broadcast following 1977 raid - 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