From January 3rd 1986 this is a recording of Radio Nova’s Zoo Crew featuring Colm Hayes and Bob Gallico.
Radio Retro: archiving Irish radio broadcasts since 2002
1986
Radio Nova January 9th 1986
This is a recording of Radio Nova made off long wave in January 1986. Nova had been relaying their programming on 254kHz for around a month at this point. George Talbot is on the air for this Thursday afternoon. Sybil Fennell reads the news.
Radio Retro: archiving Irish radio broadcasts since 2002
This recording is with kind courtesy of our friends at DX Archive, who have some more background to the Nova long wave broadcasts here
Q102 January 12th 1986
From January 12th 1986 this is a recording of Q102, the Dublin superpirate, with Derek Jones on air in the afternoon.
Radio Retro – archiving Irish Radio broadcasts since 2002
BLANCHARDSTOWN FM BAND SERVICE (January 17th 1986)
This is a recording of Blanchardstown FM Band Service (BFBS) from January 17th 1986 from 3.10pm.
This interesting hobbyist pirate station was available on short wave and a number of FM frequencies.
The recording starts with the end of a French language programme for their listeners on SW and continues with Gerry Carroll at the mic.
This BFBS recording is with thanks to Joe Rossa
Q102 January 23rd 1986
Q102 celebrates one year on air. This recording from January 23rd 1986 starts at 6.52pm with Gerry Stevens on air leading to the 7pm news with Anne Cassin (pictured).
After 7pm John Kenny takes to the airwaves.
Westside Radio International January 26th 1986
This January 26th 1986 recording starts at 11.57am, just in time for this week’s DX News with Prince Terry.
Radio Nova LW January 28th 1986
This is a recording of Radio Nova made off long wave in January 1986. Nova had been sporadically relaying their usual programming on 254kHz for just over a month but on January 28th they broadcast split programming in the afternoon. Chris Barry was on the longwave service playing ‘country’ music favourites, which reunited with the main service for the news broadcasts, read by Sybil Fennell.
At 6pm the long wave transmitter resumed the relay of standard programming.
Radio Retro: archiving Irish radio broadcasts since 2002
This recording is with kind courtesy of our friends at DX Archive, who have some more background to the Nova long wave broadcasts here
County Sound FM February 18th 1986
This is a recording of County Sound FM, a Dublin pirate station broadcasting from the southside area of Churchtown.
Paul Madison is on the air for this Tuesday evening, February 18th 1986. We join the show at 9pm.
Listen
If you have any recordings on cassette or mp3 that you’d like to donate to our Irish Radio Recordings Archive please drop a line to recordings@radiowaves.fm
Radio Retro: archiving Irish radio broadcasts since 2002
Radio Nova March 11th 1986
This is a recording of Radio Nova from the afternoon of March 11th 1986. Colm Hayes is on the air and Sybil Fennell reads the News. We join the show at 3.35pm.
Radio Retro: archiving Irish radio in collaboration with Gary Hogg / DX Archive
Radio Nova March 12th 1986
From the evening of March 12th 1986 this is Richard Jackson on the air from 9.45pm. Gary Hamill is on News duty.
Radio Retro: archiving Irish radio in collaboration with Gary Hogg / DX Archive
Radio Nova March 13th 1986
This is Tony McKenzie on the mid-morning shift for Radio Nova. The recording starts at 9.45am. Bob Gallico reads the News.
Then from later in the day, there’s some explosive evening News bulletins with Sybil Fennell and Gary Hamill.
Tony McKenzie
News at 7pm
News at 8pm
News at 9pm
News at 10pm
News at 11pm
Radio Retro: archiving Irish radio in collaboration with Gary Hogg / DX Archive
Radio Nova March 14th 1986
These are a few recordings from Radio Nova across Friday, March 14th 1986.
We start with the midnight news from Gary Hamill with some explosive news about the station itself.
Then it’s John O’Hara from 7am with Bob Gallico on News.
Next, we have Colm Hayes in two separate recordings. First for a half hour from 1pm and then later on from 3.55pm.
Midnight News Gary Hamill
7am John O’Hara
1pm Colm Hayes
3.55pm Colm Hayes
Radio Retro: archiving Irish radio with thanks to Gary Hogg and Ken Baird of DX Archive
Radio Nova March 15th 1986
This is a segment from the Rick Dees Weekly Top 40 as aired on Radio Nova on March 15th 1986. We join the recording just as the midday news with Gary Hamill starts.
Listen
Radio Retro: archiving Irish radio broadcasts in collaboration with Gary Hogg of DX Archive
Radio Nova March 16th 1986
Here’s a few recordings of Dublin superpirate Radio Nova from across March 16th 1986.
First Paul Kavanagh makes it sound easy like Sunday morning from 9.30am.
Then we join Dave Johnson as he starts this week’s European Top 40 at midday.
Next we join him as he concludes the first hour of the show from 12.55pm.
Then, we join Dave as he counts down from number 4 to finish the show from 2.45pm.
Finally, after a break in transmission as announced on the 3pm News, we join John O’Hara with Nova Gold from 3.26pm
Paul Kavanagh from 9.30am
Dave Johnson from midday
John O’Hara from 3.30pm
With thanks to Gary Hogg and Ken Baird – DX Archive
Radio Nova March 17th 1986
From Monday, March 17th 1986 on Radio Nova we have Colm Hayes from the afternoon recorded off FM and then George Talbot from the evening recorded off MW.
Colm Hayes
George Talbot
Radio Retro: archiving Irish radio broadcasts in collaboration with Gary Hogg of DX Archive
Radio Nova March 18th 1986
This is Radio Nova on the morning of March 18th 1986 with John O’Hara and Bob Gallico on Breakfast from 8am recorded off 738kHz.
Listen
This recording is with thanks to KenBaird of DX Archive
Radio Retro: archiving Irish radio broadcasts since 2002
Radio Nova March 19th 1986
Radio Nova from March 19th 1986.
This morning on Radio Nova was the same as any other. John O’Hara and Bob Gallico were on Breakfast and they were followed at 9am by Tony McKenzie…
8.15am
The first on-air hint that something was not right was the News bulletin at 1pm. It wasn’t the usual extended one.
Then, as the 3pm News with Gary Hamill was approaching, Colm Hayes was heard asking for Chris or Tony to contact the station.
Following the 3pm News the signal on FM went silent for a few seconds and returned with a different song to the one which had been playing. Even stranger, it was a different song to the one on 738kHz. 103.1FM continued with continuous music. There were no idents or anything else to give the listener any idea what was happening.
On medium wave Colm Hayes continued and we rejoin his show at 4.40pm to hear that Radio Nova was closing down. The 5pm News makes things a little clearer.
Courtesy of George
With thanks to Gary Hogg and Ken Baird – DX Archive
Zoom 103 March 19th 1986
This is a recording of the first live programming on Zoom 103, the very short-lived station that launched as Radio Nova was shutting down.
In the first recording we hear how Zoom 103 arrived – as an unidentified continuous music service that replaced Radio Nova on FM on the day Radio Nova was forced to close down. Nova’s FM transmitter on 103.1MHz was switched off just after the 3pm News and Zoom 103 was switched on.
Non-stop music continued long after Radio Nova’s 6pm closedown until the first live link at 10.15pm with Richard Jackson.
Zoom 103 March 20th 1986
Having arrived on the air just as Radio Nova was forced to shut down the day before, Zoom 103 went fully live on March 20th 1986 with the exact same line-up as Radio Nova, all in the exact same slots.
This recording features an hour of Tony McKenzie’s show from just after the midday News, read by Bob Gallico.
Tony McKenzie
Radio West March 30th 1986
This is the first edition of Radio West’s Anorak Show from Sunday, March 30th 1986.
Seán Coyne and Philip Hilton present the week’s anorak news and gossip.
This Radio West recording is with thanks to Joe Rossa
RADIO WEST April 1st 1986
From the afternoon of April 1st 1986 this is
Philip Hilton, followed by Willie Hart, on the Mullingar-based Radio West. Recorded off 765kHz, we join the broadcast at 1.45pm
Phillip Hilton as broadcast
Willie Hart as broadcast
With the music stripped out
Radio Retro: archiving Irish radio broadcasts in collaboration with Gary Hogg
WATERFORD LOCAL RADIO April 2nd 1986
This is a recording of Waterford Local Radio from April 1986. Seán Orghan is on air from 10.14pm.
Radio Retro – archiving Irish radio broadcasts in collaboration with Gary Hogg
ERI April 2nd 1986
This is a recording of the Cork 80s pirate station Radio ERI dated April 2nd 1986.
Steve Kelly is on the air from 11.30pm.
Radio Retro – archiving Irish Radio broadcasts in collaboration with Gary Hogg
LLCR
This recording of Dublin station LLCR is from April 4th 1986, when the station was newly-launched.
It features Paul Barrett’s programme in two parts, the first starts at 4.30pm and the second and starts at 5.13pm.
At this time the station broadcast on 96.7MHz FM and 1035kHz AM.
This Radio Retro recording is with thanks to Joe Rossa
RADIO WEST April 6th 1986
This is the second edition of Radio West’s Anorak Show from Sunday, April 6th 1986.
Philip Hilton presents the week’s anorak news and gossip.
This Radio West recording is with thanks to Joe Rossa
Radio Dublin April 26th 1986
This is a recording of a special broadcast marking the 20th birthday of Radio Dublin. ‘The History of Radio Dublin’ was hosted by Pat Jennings and included various studio and telephone guests looking back at the station’s history.
Energy 103 April 28th 1986
The first day of broadcasts from Energy 103.
On Sunday April 27th 1986, 103.1MHz and 738kHz in Dublin had lit up with continuous music tests, presumed to be the return of Zoom 103 – the station owned by former Nova employees – which had broadcast for just a few days following the closure of Radio Nova on March 19th.
The unidentified tests returned on Monday April 28th, this time on 103.0MHz and 738kHz. Following a couple of hours of continuous music, the station went live at around 2pm and identified as Energy 103.
Richard Jackson was the first jock on the air and this recording has the very first presenter ID and then has Richard’s show in full.
At 4pm Tony McKenzie takes over the reins.
WLS MUSIC RADIO May 3rd 1986
This is a recording of the 1980s Galway pirate station WLS Music Radio featuring first, Seán O’Boill, and then Casey Kasem.
From 1.43pm on May 3rd 1986, we catch the last few minutes of Seán’s show before joining Casey Kasem’s American Top 40 at 2pm.
There’s also the possibility of listening to an edited version with the music stripped out.
Seán O’Boill
Casey Kasem
Edited
Energy 103 May 6th 1986
This is a recording of Tony McKenzie on Dublin’s Energy 103 from May 6th 1986 at 6.40pm.
Radio Retro – archiving Irish Radio broadcasts since 2002
Photo credit Mike Mahon
Radio Sandymount May 18th 1986
From May 1986 this is David Baker on air for Radio Sandymount – one of the series of ‘Festival’ stations that popped up in towns whenever they had their Community Week during the summer months. This recording starts at 2.31pm.
Energy 103 June 4th 1986
This is a recording of the Dublin station Energy 103 from June 4th 1986. It starts at 7.13am and features John O’Hara and Gary Hamill on air with Early Energy.
Unfortunately, this recording has two large segments missing from the programme but that does not affect the enjoyment of a great sample from the early stage of the station.
Energy 103 June 7th 1986
This is a late night recording of the Dublin station Energy 103 from June 7th 1986.
It starts at 11.45pm and feature Gary Hamill on air with Pure Energy.
This Energy 103 recording is a Radio Retro original
Energy 103 June 19th 1986
John O’Hara on Energy 103 from 7.09pm on June 19th 1986.
RADIO WEST June 22nd 1986
This is an edition of Radio West’s Anorak Show from Sunday, June 22nd 1986 which features a long phone-call from Heady Eddie and the rest of the week’s anorak news and gossip.
This Radio West recording is with thanks to Joe Rossa
MOUNT MERRION COMMUNITY RADIO (June 29th 1986)
From June 29th 1986 this is an afternoon recording of RTÉ Mount Merrion Community Radio, a week-long service which was facilitated by the state broadcaster.
Sunshine Radio July 4th 1986
This is Pat Courtenay on Drive for Dublin station Sunshine 101FM. The recording starts just as the 5pm News with Cathy Cregan is coming to a finish. The date is July 4th 1986 – American Independence Day – which is too good of an opportunity for Pat’s comedic talent to ignore.
As broadcast
Recording is thanks to Gary Hogg at DX Archive
Radio Retro: archiving Irish radio broadcasts since 2002
Click on the name to hear lots more from Sunshine Radio or Pat Courtenay
Sunshine Radio July 9th 1986
From July 9th 1986 this is Pat Courtenay on Drivetime for Dublin station Sunshine 101FM. The recording starts just as the 5pm News with Justin McKenna is coming to a finish and you have a choice to listen to the broadcast either as it aired or with the music stripped out.
As broadcast
Music stripped out
Radio Retro: archiving Irish radio broadcasts since 2002
Click on the name to hear lots more from Sunshine Radio or Pat Courtenay
Wonderland Radio June 20th 1986
Joe Carney on Tallaght’s Wonderland Radio from 9.58pm on June 20th 1986.
Q102 July 21st 1986
This is Dublin pirate Q102 from July 21st 1986. Al Dunne is on air from 2.31pm.
Radio Retro – archiving Irish Radio broadcasts since 2002
Energy 103 July 21st 1986
This is a recording of Gareth O’Callaghan with The Energy Cruise on Energy 103 from July 21st 1986.
Radio Retro – archiving Irish Radio broadcasts since 2002
Radio West July 27th 1986
This is an edition of Radio West’s Anorak Show from Sunday, July 27th 1986.
Seán Coyne is joined by guest presenter Bob Gallico for this edition in which they dissect all the radio industry stories of note.
Radio Retro: archiving Irish radio broadcasts in collaboration with DX Archive
WABC July 27th 1986
This is a recording of a test transmission from WABC, a station from the Paul Barrett stable which was based in the Dublin 1 area.
From July 27th 1986, this is Paul on air on 97.2MHz.
ABC Radio August 18th 1986
From August 18th 1986 this is a recording of Roddie Cleere on ABC Radio in Waterford.
Roddie Cleere
RADIO RAINBOW INTERNATIONAL August 24th 1986
This is edition 31 of Kieran Murray’s Free Radio Show on the SW station Radio Rainbow International from August 24th 1986 based in Louth.
This week’s featured station is Athlone Local Radio and the jingle package is from Downtown Radio in Northern Ireland
This recording is courtesy of Kieran Murray
Sunshine Radio August 26th 1986
This recording of the Dublin superpirate Sunshine Radio is from August 26th 1986
This particular day saw the culmination of a long-running listener competition with a live broadcast from Tomangos.
There’s a short clip from Tony Dixon’s show as he hands over to Pat Courtenay, who warms up the listening audience before handing over to Robbie Dale/Robinson and Mark Byrne for the presentation from the nightclub.
Once the winner is announced the outside broadcast comes to an end and they hand back to Steve Kelly in the studio.
Listen
Recording is thanks to Gary Hogg at DX Archive
Radio Retro: archiving Irish radio broadcasts since 2002
Click on the name to hear lots more from Sunshine Radio, Pat Courtenay, Robbie Dale or Mark Byrne
Energy 103 August 31st 1986
This is a recording of Mike Kingston playing love songs in the twilight hours on Dublin’s Energy 103. We join him at 3am on August 31st 1986.
You can listen to the recording as it was broadcast here
Or if you’d prefer an airchecked version, choose below
Radio Retro – archiving Irish Radio broadcasts since 2002
Q102
From the afternoon of September 14th 1986, this is a recording of John Lander’s Hit Music USA as aired on Dublin station Q102.
Kiss FM September 30th 1986
This is a recording of Dublin’s Kiss FM from September 30th 1986 featuring Maurice Nevin sitting in for David Baker on Kiss Drive.
Radio Retro – archiving Irish Radio broadcasts since 2002
This recording is courtesy of Ian Biggar
Energy 103 October 22nd 1986
Courtesy: Mike Mahon
From October 1986, this is ‘The Voice’, the one and only Tony Allan on Dublin’s Energy 103.
We join him halfway through the Park Leisure Complex Hour from 7.30pm on 103.0MHz.
You can listen to the recording as it was broadcast here
Or if you’d prefer an airchecked version, choose below
Radio Retro – archiving Irish Radio broadcasts since 2002
Radio Diamond October 27th 1986
From the October bank holiday in 1986, this is a recording of John Gold on Diamond Radio, the small, hobbyist pirate station based in Ballyfermot.
This Diamond Radio recording is with thanks to John O’Flaherty
Energy 103 October 28th 1986
From October 1986, this is a recording of the first outing for an all-new Breakfast Show on the Dublin pirate station Energy 103, recorded off 738kHz.
Gareth O’Callaghan and Cathy Quinn were charged with entertaining early risers in the capital from 7.30am.
You can listen to the recording as it was broadcast here
Or if you’d prefer an airchecked version, choose below
Radio Retro – archiving Irish Radio broadcasts since 2002
North Dublin Community Radio November 9th 1986
From November 1986 this is a recording of North Dublin Community Radio off 100FM.
Starting at 9am, it’s the debut outing for Early Call with Dave & Tony.
This Radio Retro recording is by kind courtesy of Dave O’Connor
Heartbeat FM November 16th 1986
This is a short recording of the launch of Heartbeat FM, Dublin’s love-songs station.
The service started broadcasting at midday on November 15th 1986 with David Baker hosting a party on air!
As broadcast
Airchecked
West Country Radio November 28th 1986
From November 1986 this is a recording of the south Limerick based pirate station West Country Radio. On the air is Paul Fahy from 8.10pm.
Radio Retro – archiving Irish Radio broadcasts since 2002
This contribution is from the collection of Ian Biggar
Klas December 5th 1986
This is a recording of Dublin’s easy-listening station KLAS from December 5th 1986 featuring David Baker from 8.30pm.
Radio Retro – archiving Irish Radio broadcasts since 2002
This recording is courtesy of Ian Biggar
Energy 103 December 27th 1986
This is Ernie Gallagher (right) on Energy 103 overnight on a Saturday morning over the festive period in December 1986. The recording starts at 2.09am.
This recording was very kindly donated to Radio Retro by Emmet Hand.
If you have any cassettes, digitised recordings or radio recordings on a Mixcloud/Soundcloud account that you’d like to donate please contact recordings@radiowaves.fm.
Radio Retro – archiving Irish Radio broadcasts since 2002
Hot FM November 3rd 2003
From November 3rd 2003 this is a recording of Hot FM, the Dublin dance music pirate station, taken off 99.4MHz FM.
First on is Paul Duffy, and he’s followed by DJ Spiral.
Paul Duffy from 2.55pm – as broadcast
Paul Duffy from 2.55pm – music stripped out
DJ Spiral from 4pm – as broadcast
DJ Spiral from 4pm – music stripped out