DX ARCHIVE
ESTABLISHED 1996

RADIO GALAXY - DUBLIN

ARCHIVES
WITHOUT CLUTTER
Irish Era  -  Offshore  -  Landbased  -  Official Stations  -  Downloads  -  Press  -  Other
Contact

RADIO GALAXY - DUBLIN
200m

========================================================

IRISH PIRATES A / Z

EARLY IRISH NOTES

Radio Galaxy was amongst the longest running of Dublin's free radio stations, although it was not on air for as many hours as many of the others. The station was operated by Tony Boylan who had first begun experimenting with radio transmitters during the 2nd World War. Following the war and up until the late 1960's he continued to operate at times to his local community.

Tony then began to operate Radio Galaxy on a more regular basis from 1969 onwards on 200 metres, broadcasting mostly old time and sweet music from his extensive collection of 78rpm records on a Sunday from 1pm to 2pm. His collection even included some home made records of original Lord Haw Haw broadcasts which were received in Dublin.

The earliest recording we have of his station is believed to be from 1970.

On this mp3 clip (1280k), Tony Boylan can be heard doing a sign-off and informs listeners to tune to 217 metres for Radio Dublin (where it operated at that time before settling on 253m). Radio Galaxy made a closedown in September 1972, although the station re-appeared as Radio Laxey in the mid 1970's. Further recordings from the 1980's are lower down this page.

During the late 1970's Tony presented a 78's show on Alternative Radio Dublin. He continued with this type of programme in the early 1980's on the Community Broadcasting Co-Operative stations which operated during festivals. His programmes had a loyal listenership, and Tony made his broadcasts sound as though he knew personally all his listeners. Radio Galaxy returned during the mid 1980's on 1512kHz for several hours each Sunday lunchtime. Eventually, Tony and his wife decided to retire to the Isle of Man. His transmitter made its way to a religious station called CC Radio, on which Tony was heard testing on 1512kHz a few days after his final Radio Galaxy programme. The article below from the Evening Herald at the time tells about his extensive record collection which was on sale, but where this went is unknown. Tony also did an interview on BBC Northern Ireland, during which an extract from one of his personal Lord Haw Haw discs was played.

 

 

7galaxy_dublin_1970.mp3 An early sign off from Radio Galaxy in 1970 when they broadcast on 200m. Tony Boylan signs off and tells the listeners to tune to 217m where Radio Dublin would be on the air. Thanks to Prince Terry for sending this recording many years ago.  The original is a little longer, so we will update it in future. 1.2MB
1984_04_01_sun_galaxy-cbc_1134am_1225-1408_tonyboylan_franboylan_davidbaker-gh96.mp3 New APR 2021 An interesting recording of Radio Galaxy which starts with Tony Boylan being interviewed by Brian Dobson on BBC Northern Ireland about his 78 collection early days in radio. He then continues to host the '78 show' along with his wife Fran. At the end, the station changes to a CBC test transmission hosted by David Baker. The frequency is announced by David Baker as 1116kHz / 270m, but the tape is labelled as 1134kHz. Ken has Radio Galaxy and CBC logged as 1134kHz on the day of this recording, but on 1116kHz by 8th April.  So at some point in April they changed frequency. It was recorded near Blackpool, and suffers splatter from Radio Carousel, along with some clicks and electrical buzzes. 87MB
1986_05_11_sun_galaxy_1530am-195m_1205-1330_tonyboylan_78show-gh183.mp3 New APR 2021 This is a nice recording of Tony Boylan's Community Radio Galaxy as received in Ballymun. The recording finishes just before an early signoff at 1:30pm, but sadly the tape runs out before the closedown announcement. The frequency was announced as 1530kHz / 195m. There are a couple of adverts during the show. 80MB
1986_09_14_sun_galaxy_1512am_1335-1405_tonyboylan_to_signoff-gh521.mp3 New APR 2021 The last 30 minutes of the penultimate broadcast from Radio Galaxy. Tony Boylan was about to retire to the Isle of Man with his wife. Tony presented a regular Sunday '78 Programme'. This particular week he was operating on 1512kHz, announced as 196m.  Amongst the old records played on this show, was a recording of William Joyce (Lord Haw Haw) from World War 2.  It is believed this was one of many discs that Tony had recorded during the war on a cutting machine.  The recording was made near Blackpool, and suffered from some foreign interference.  At the end, the transmitter can be heard switching off. 30MB
1986_09_21_sun_galaxy_1512am-196m_1332-1405_tonyboylan_with_final_closedown-gh850.mp3 New APR 2021 The final 30 minutes from Radio Galaxy. This very poor recording was made near Blackpool, where sadly, compared to the previous week, the damp weather that day caused severe electrical noise from local power lines. Tony Boylan can just about be heard signing off the station for the last time with his wife Fran, and mentions during the show that he might do some spots in future on Manx Radio. The recording is poor but is included for completeness. 30MB


===================================================================

IRISH PIRATES A / Z

EARLY IRISH NOTES