CAVAN COMMUNITY
RADIO (c1982 - 1988)
747kHz - 819kHz - 98.1MHz
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IRISH
PIRATES A / Z
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Cavan Community Radio began transmissions around 1982 (although the above flyer suggests it was new in 1983) and broadcast to the County Cavan area as well as further afield including into Ulster. They initially operated on 747kHz, advertised as the 'Jumbo Channel'. However when Radio Nova moved from 819kHz to 738kHz during May 1984, they suffered side interference in some areas. As a result the station moved to the former Nova channel of 819kHz where they stayed until closure due to legislation at the end of 1988. The actual date of the frequency change is not known, but our lists indicate it was sometime between May and November 1984. The signal from CCR covered a wide area, and the transmitter power was believed to be around 1kW. When on 747kHz, it could be heard on the UK West coast, despite the powerful Dutch station on the same channel. Following the move to 819kHz it was audible easily in Dublin and the UK until Q102 began operating on the same channel. CCR could even be heard underneath the Q102 broadcasts only a few miles out of Dublin, and on the UK West coast. For the most part of its life, the CCR studios were located above the Musicland Record Store on Main Street in Cavan Town. A more detailed account of the stations history, including some photos and programme listings, could be found on Sean Brady's website. Sean worked on many of the stations in this area, and was on CCR from December 1983. Offshore broadcaster, Don Allen also worked for a time on CCR. (UPDATE) Sadly, like many web sites, Sean's has come and gone, and is no longer on line. Many thanks to Phil Hilton for supplying the two photos here from when the studio was situated above the Musicland Record Store on Main Street in Cavan Town. The first is the studio before it was refurbished, and a later photo after refurbishment. |
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This image from an unknown source via Rodney Neil was wrongly included with Breffni Radio until June 2011. It is really CCR, and the chap in the photo is Ollie Clarke, or Fab Ollie as he was known as on Royal County Radio. Thanks Ollie for getting in touch. Ollie is with Spirit Radio in 2011. |
An advertisment
from the Sunday World of 24th March 1985
An Advertisment from an
unknown newspaper around 1985
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A QSL Letter received by Ian in 1986
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| 1984_05_07_mon_cavan_cr_747am_1215-1400_ollieclark-gh501.mp3 New Jan 2022 | Ollie Clark presents a lunctime show on CCR when it was operating on 747kHz, the ' Jumbo' channel. The station later changed to 819kHz due to Radio Nova in Dublin moving its big transmitter to 738kHz from 819kHz. It could be that the splatter heard on this recording was the first day that Nova had put a second transmitter on 729kHz due to them being jamming by RTE. Once Nova put their 50kW transmitter on 738kHz it would have made it difficult to listen to CCR in places, especially towards Dublin. News is read at 1pm by Sally Reynolds. Recorded some way from Cavan on 747kHz, and has some background interference. | 94MB |
| 1984_08_27_mon_cavan_819am_0734-0906_donallen-gh245.mp3 New Jul 2022 | Don Allen with a Monday breakfast show, apologising for the station being off for the previous weekend. Don mentions the all new bigger, more powerful and mighty CCR on 747kHz and 98.1MHz FM, although they were actually now on 819kHz, which Don's jingle announces as 819 metres. Lynsey Shelbourne reads the news at 8am and 9am. Recorded from 819kHz near Blackpool. At some point the station had moved to this frequency from 747kHz to avoid interference from Nova who had moved next to them on 738kHz during May. The signal on this recording had a bit of side splatter from UK stations and some electrical crackling, but good for the distance. | 85MB |
| 1988_06_14_tue_cavan_cr_819am_1245-1705_tony_pathamil-gh756.mp3 New Jan 2022 | Once CCR moved to 819kHz, their signal to the West and in the UK was underneath Q102, and the only time it could be heard was when Q102 was off the air. This was the case on the afternoon of 14th June 1988, when this four hour recording was made near Blackpool from 819kHz between 1245 and approx 1705. There is some crackling at times, but the signal was quite good considering the distance. | 235MB |
| CavanCommunityRadio--Cavan819kHz--December31st1988--1336-rw.mp3 New JAN 2021 | The final 90 minutes of the station up to closedown just after 3pm is courtesy of radiowaves.fm | 67M |
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IRISH
PIRATES A / Z