{"id":8975,"date":"2023-09-18T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-09-18T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/?p=8975"},"modified":"2023-09-09T17:02:05","modified_gmt":"2023-09-09T16:02:05","slug":"radio-west-closes-down-for-the-night","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/radio-west-closes-down-for-the-night\/","title":{"rendered":"Radio West closes down for the night"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"powerpress_player\" id=\"powerpress_player_5049\"><!--[if lt IE 9]><script>document.createElement('audio');<\/script><![endif]-->\n<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-8975-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/19830709_Radio_West_closedown_400m_TI.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/19830709_Radio_West_closedown_400m_TI.mp3\">https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/19830709_Radio_West_closedown_400m_TI.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\/2023\/09\/19830709_Radio_West_closedown_400m_TI.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_pinw\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Play in new window\" onclick=\"return powerpress_pinw('https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/?powerpress_pinw=8975-podcast');\" rel=\"nofollow\">Play in new window<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/19830709_Radio_West_closedown_400m_TI.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_d\" title=\"Download\" rel=\"nofollow\" download=\"19830709_Radio_West_closedown_400m_TI.mp3\">Download<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"445\" src=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/ireland_mullingar_west_compliments_2-1024x445.jpg\" alt=\"Radio West closes down for the night\" class=\"wp-image-5236\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/ireland_mullingar_west_compliments_2-1024x445.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/ireland_mullingar_west_compliments_2-300x130.jpg 300w, https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/ireland_mullingar_west_compliments_2-768x333.jpg 768w, https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/ireland_mullingar_west_compliments_2.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 767px) 89vw, (max-width: 1000px) 54vw, (max-width: 1071px) 543px, 580px\" \/><figcaption>A Radio West flyer from the 765 days (DX Archive). <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Finding suitable frequencies on the crowded AM band of the 1980s was one of the technical challenges facing the Irish pirates and the story of Radio West is a case in point. The midlands station began on 1071 kHz in 1982 before moving to 702 kHz and then 729 kHz, a bad choice given the presence of RT\u00c9\u2019s Cork opt-out service on the same frequency. Radio West switched to 765 kHz on 27<sup>th<\/sup> June 1983, increasing its range within Ireland and beyond. From 1986-1988, it returned to 702 kHz, rebranding itself as &#8216;West National Radio 3&#8217; and claiming national coverage on AM and a series of FM transmitters.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This tape was made from 765 kHz in the early hours of Saturday 9<sup>th<\/sup> July 1983 and features the closedown of Radio West for the night. The unidentified DJ signs off in both Irish and English and then plays the iconic <em>Desiderata<\/em> song, also used by Sunshine Radio in Dublin at closedown each night. The broadcast ends with the national anthem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There is plenty of fading as would be expected in late-night DX reception outside the core transmission area. The recording was made in the English midlands and is from the Leon Tipler Tapes Collection, donated to us by Steve England.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Finding suitable frequencies on the crowded AM band of the 1980s was one of the technical challenges facing the Irish pirates and the story of Radio West is a case in point. The midlands station began on 1071 kHz in 1982 before moving to 702 kHz and then 729 kHz, a bad choice given the &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/radio-west-closes-down-for-the-night\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Radio West closes down for the night&#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":[501,46,89,342,71,303],"class_list":["post-8975","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-full-recordings","tag-501","tag-am","tag-dx","tag-leon-tipler","tag-radio-west","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 down for the night - 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-down-for-the-night\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Radio West closes down for the night - Irish Pirate Radio Audio Archive\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Finding suitable frequencies on the crowded AM band of the 1980s was one of the technical challenges facing the Irish pirates and the story of Radio West is a case in point. The midlands station began on 1071 kHz in 1982 before moving to 702 kHz and then 729 kHz, a bad choice given the &hellip; Continue reading &quot;Radio West closes down for the night&quot;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/radio-west-closes-down-for-the-night\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Irish Pirate Radio Audio Archive\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-09-18T05:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-09-09T16:02:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/ireland_mullingar_west_compliments_2-1024x445.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-down-for-the-night\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/radio-west-closes-down-for-the-night\/\",\"name\":\"Radio West closes down for the night - Irish Pirate Radio Audio Archive\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/radio-west-closes-down-for-the-night\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/radio-west-closes-down-for-the-night\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/ireland_mullingar_west_compliments_2-1024x445.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-09-18T05:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-09-09T16:02:05+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/#\/schema\/person\/a6eb579c7ad730e14f91e6455b207f00\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/radio-west-closes-down-for-the-night\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/radio-west-closes-down-for-the-night\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/radio-west-closes-down-for-the-night\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/ireland_mullingar_west_compliments_2.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/ireland_mullingar_west_compliments_2.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":521},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/radio-west-closes-down-for-the-night\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Radio West closes down for the night\"}]},{\"@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 down for the night - 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-down-for-the-night\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Radio West closes down for the night - Irish Pirate Radio Audio Archive","og_description":"Finding suitable frequencies on the crowded AM band of the 1980s was one of the technical challenges facing the Irish pirates and the story of Radio West is a case in point. 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