{"id":6948,"date":"2022-09-02T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-09-02T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/?p=6948"},"modified":"2022-08-31T17:41:09","modified_gmt":"2022-08-31T16:41:09","slug":"last-night-of-galway-station-wls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/last-night-of-galway-station-wls\/","title":{"rendered":"Last night of Galway station WLS"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"powerpress_player\" id=\"powerpress_player_2219\"><!--[if lt IE 9]><script>document.createElement('audio');<\/script><![endif]-->\n<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-6948-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/5071AI.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/5071AI.mp3\">https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/5071AI.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\/2022\/08\/5071AI.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_pinw\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Play in new window\" onclick=\"return powerpress_pinw('https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/?powerpress_pinw=6948-podcast');\" rel=\"nofollow\">Play in new window<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/5071AI.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_d\" title=\"Download\" rel=\"nofollow\" download=\"5071AI.mp3\">Download<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"999\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/WLS-Prospect-Hill-Galway-3-05-1986-1-999x1024.jpeg\" alt=\"Last night of Galway station WLS\" class=\"wp-image-6885\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/WLS-Prospect-Hill-Galway-3-05-1986-1-999x1024.jpeg 999w, https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/WLS-Prospect-Hill-Galway-3-05-1986-1-293x300.jpeg 293w, https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/WLS-Prospect-Hill-Galway-3-05-1986-1-768x787.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/WLS-Prospect-Hill-Galway-3-05-1986-1.jpeg 1158w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 767px) 89vw, (max-width: 1000px) 54vw, (max-width: 1071px) 543px, 580px\" \/><figcaption>WLS studios at Prospect Hill, 1986 (Anoraks Ireland Collection). <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>This unconfirmed recording may be part of the final night of broadcasting of Galway pirate WLS Music Radio. The cassette label refers to &#8216;last night&#8217; but it is not clear from the recording that this is the case. It begins at either midnight or 1am as the unidentified DJ refers to both. He sarcastically thanks Brian Mackay for letting disco music run on without waiting for him to arrive, perhaps an indication that things were not well at WLS. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"566\" height=\"191\" src=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/5071AI-WLS.jpg\" alt=\"Last night of Galway station WLS\" class=\"wp-image-6949\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/5071AI-WLS.jpg 566w, https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/5071AI-WLS-300x101.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 566px) 100vw, 566px\" \/><figcaption>Part of original cassette label from Anoraks Ireland Collection. <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>If this is in fact the final night, it would date from sometime in the second half of June 1987. The Anoraks UK <em>Weekly Report<\/em> of 28<sup>th<\/sup> June said it had received several reports during the previous week that WLS was off the air. It repeated a claim made on the Anoraks Show on Radio West that &#8216;an irate WLS investor arrived at the studios and seeing no immediate return forthcoming for his investment, proceeded to remove first transmitters, then studio equipment&#8217;. The Galway<em> City Tribune<\/em> on 3<sup>rd<\/sup> July reported that WLS had been off the air for the previous two weeks and its premises emptied of equipment. The owner of the premises at Prospect House where the station was located said he arrived on Monday morning to find the lock broken, the door ajar and everything gone. Manager Don Stevens was unavailable for comment and had left Galway. The <em>City Tribune<\/em> on 10<sup>th<\/sup> July reported that a listener who had won \u00a31,000 in a phone-in competition in May was never paid by WLS.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Whatever about the circumstances of its closure, WLS established a slick on-air sound over its more than two years on air and changed the nature of pirate radio in Galway city. WLS developed a commercial model similar to the &#8216;super-pirates&#8217; in other cities and a style that would influence subsequent stations. Indeed, two founders of WLS, Steve Marshall and Keith York, went on to set up Coast 103, another successful Galway pirate that broadcast from July 1987 to December 1988. However, despite a high quality FM signal for its time on air, WLS still managed to cause interference to television reception in the city, which led to RT\u00c9 being granted an injunction against it. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This unconfirmed recording may be part of the final night of broadcasting of Galway pirate WLS Music Radio. The cassette label refers to &#8216;last night&#8217; but it is not clear from the recording that this is the case. It begins at either midnight or 1am as the unidentified DJ refers to both. He sarcastically thanks &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/last-night-of-galway-station-wls\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Last night of Galway station WLS&#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":[505,564,322,323],"class_list":["post-6948","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-full-recordings","tag-505","tag-anoraks-ireland-collection","tag-galway","tag-wls"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Last night of Galway station WLS - 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\/last-night-of-galway-station-wls\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Last night of Galway station WLS - Irish Pirate Radio Audio Archive\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This unconfirmed recording may be part of the final night of broadcasting of Galway pirate WLS Music Radio. The cassette label refers to &#8216;last night&#8217; but it is not clear from the recording that this is the case. It begins at either midnight or 1am as the unidentified DJ refers to both. He sarcastically thanks &hellip; Continue reading &quot;Last night of Galway station WLS&quot;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/last-night-of-galway-station-wls\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Irish Pirate Radio Audio Archive\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-09-02T05:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-08-31T16:41:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/WLS-Prospect-Hill-Galway-3-05-1986-1-999x1024.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=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/last-night-of-galway-station-wls\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/last-night-of-galway-station-wls\/\",\"name\":\"Last night of Galway station WLS - Irish Pirate Radio Audio Archive\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/last-night-of-galway-station-wls\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/last-night-of-galway-station-wls\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/WLS-Prospect-Hill-Galway-3-05-1986-1-999x1024.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-09-02T05:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-08-31T16:41:09+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/#\/schema\/person\/a6eb579c7ad730e14f91e6455b207f00\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/last-night-of-galway-station-wls\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/last-night-of-galway-station-wls\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/last-night-of-galway-station-wls\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/WLS-Prospect-Hill-Galway-3-05-1986-1-999x1024.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/WLS-Prospect-Hill-Galway-3-05-1986-1-999x1024.jpeg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/last-night-of-galway-station-wls\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Last night of Galway station WLS\"}]},{\"@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":"Last night of Galway station WLS - 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\/last-night-of-galway-station-wls\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Last night of Galway station WLS - Irish Pirate Radio Audio Archive","og_description":"This unconfirmed recording may be part of the final night of broadcasting of Galway pirate WLS Music Radio. The cassette label refers to &#8216;last night&#8217; but it is not clear from the recording that this is the case. It begins at either midnight or 1am as the unidentified DJ refers to both. 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