IRISH RADIO ARCHIVES: DECEMBER 1988 CLOSEDOWNS

Big M had been on since the early 80's.Various frequencies were used. They ended up on 864 and 954kHz by the time of legislation. The station went off the air on the evening of Friday 30th December 1988.

Boyneside Radio was one of the oldest and biggest stations on the East Coast by the time of Legislation. It started back in 1978 as Local Radio Drogheda, and continued for over 10 years. The transmitters built by Heddy Eddie pushed out some excellent signals across the Irish Sea, as well as up and down the Irish East Coast. Indeed it was one of the three strongest signals into the UK West Coast with Q102 and Sunshine. There was a big listenership of Eddie's weekly 'Green Scene' in the UK.

In the biggest coverage of all the Irish stations on that final day Saturday 31st December 1988, Boyneside programmes could be heard on AM 1233kHz, 1305kHz, 1386kHz (covering much of North East Ireland), FM 98.1MHz, and Shortwave 6205kHz, 6231kHz across Europe.

The main transmitters fell silent at 3pm, but 1233kHz (Boyneside North service at Carrickarnon) carried on for an extra hour until 4pm with extra listener requests.

Boyneside Radio Navan was a later arrival in the Boyneside Network and took the 1386kHz frequency following the closure of Radio Carousel in Navan Shopping Centre.

Boyneside Radio Northern Service was a stalwart on 1233kHz AM and operated from around mid 1982 until 4pm on Saturday 31st December 1988. The station was located on the border north of Dundalk, and beamed towards Newry and Belfast.

Breffni Radio was another long running station, having begun broadcasting around 1983 on 1170kHz. The signal got out very well on this channel but had changed to 657kHz by the time of legislation. The latter frequency was difficult to hear in the UK due to a transmitter in Wales, and also BLB in Bray on the same channel.

Capitol was the alternative music station in Dublin, and began operating around 1983 on 1017kHz AM. The signal got out well and into the UK in the early days, but they eventually dropped this in favour of FM only. Capitol was on 94.1MHz and 95.8MHz when they closed on 31st December 1988.

Carlow Local Radio operated on 99MHz FM and medium wave 1359kHz, announced as 231m. They had planned to closed at 3pm on Friday 30th December 1988, but over ran a little, eventually signing off at around 3:15pm.

Cavan Community Radio began broadcasting in late 1983 on 747kHz medium wave.  Due to interference from Radio Nova after they moved to 738kHz, CCR changed to 819kHz where Radio Nova had just moved from.  CCR operated until legislation, closing at 3pm on Saturday 31st December 1988.

CBC Community Radio operated from Clonmel, County Tipperary from late 1981 until 31st December 1988.  The station was a combination of two existing operations in Clonmel (Clonmel Local Radio) and Carrick-On-Suir (Radio Carrick).

KLAS 98, later renamed CLASS 98 was the easy listening station in Dublin, and began operating around 1986 on 98.5MHz. It originally operated from a garage at the back of Hugh Hardy's house in Dublin. The station closed at 8pm on Saturday 31st December 1988.

This station operated for a few weeks at the end of 1988. It was a community station serving a few thousand listeners and operated from Letterfrack. This station eventually obtained a license in 1995 and is still operating today. The recording is from the day prior to closedown as a pirate.

Community Radio Fingal (CRF) began operating from the Rockabill Hotel in Skerries during 1982. Initially on 1584kHz, they eventually settled on 1575kHz, and following a fire in the hotel moved to owner Brian Mathew's house, in Loughshinney. The transmitter, reputed to be former South Dublin Radio SW tx with 20 807's, was housed in a container nearby the studio. The studio was in an shed nearby.

Sometime in 1986 or maybe 1987?? the moved into the Swords Shopping Centre. At some point the station merged with Pulsar 98 FM. The stations went off the air at midnight on Friday 30th December 1988. The recordings we have of the last day are from 1575kHz, where the modulation was not very clear.

Community Radio Wexford had been on the air for six and a half years before they closed shortly before midnight on 31st December 1988.

Community Radio Youghal began operating in 1979, and as such was one of the longest running stations at closedown legislation in 1988. In its early years, the station could be heard across Europe on a Friday night around midnight on 1512kHz.

Radio Dublin had been around since the mid 60’s in one form or another. They were the first to challenge the broadcast laws with a daily service back in 1978. The station operated past legislation in December 1988 but suffered more issues than those stations which continued on the border and in Donegal.

A few recordings from 1989 are also included here when the station was still operating from Inchicore Road. Radio Dublin went off 1188kHz AM when it lost the Inchicore Road premises in the early 1990’s, but continued daily on 101MHz FM and occasionally shortwave 6910kHz until it disappeared sometime during the 2000’s.

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Radio ERI began broadcasting from Ballycotton in 1982 as Eastside Radio on 1332kHz. By the time of legislation it had moved into Cork City and was running a 5kW AM transmitter on 1305kHz and high power on FM.

Erneside Community Radio covered a large part of the Midlands around County Cavan on 1251kHz, and was on the air from around 1984 until 31st December 1988.

Radio Fax was a UK experimental station broadcasting pre-recorded programmes of technical information using a transmitter located in the Drogheda area, until 30th December 1988.

Heartbeat was a station playing easy listening songs in Dublin. The FM was heard in the UK during a lift. They had a fairly low power MW transmitter on air during the latter days on 1116kHz.

Hometown Radio had been operating on 981kHz from Castleblayney, County Monaghan since April 1985. The station closed at 7pm on Saturday 31st December 1988.

Hope FM were a religious based radio station and had only been on the air on 104.4MHz for a few months before they were required to close. Their final broadcast was before midnight on 30th December 1988.

ICBS first broadcast to Dublin in 1982. It initially transmitted on 1017kHz, but later moved to the clearer 981kHz where it stayed until closure just before midnight on 30th December 1988.

KISS FM began tests in early 1988 and beamed a massive signal into Belfast on 103.7MHz from a mountain site in Monaghan. They also had a 5kW AM transmitter originally on 1008kHz, and finally on 1413kHz. Sadly they had technical issues just days before legislation and lost the AM output. The powerful FM signal continued though until the end at 6pm Friday 30th December.

KITS was one of the four stations to come on air late in the day in Monaghan Town. Their signal on 100.9 used to make it into Scotland regularly, but the MW which was another late addition on 837kHz suffered from QRM from the BBC in Barrow in Furness.

KTOK operated from Donegal Town, initially on both AM and FM, although by the time of legislation were only on FM, but on several frequencies.

Independent Radio Longford had been operating for around 3 years, initially on 864kHz, but was possibly on FM only by the time of legislation.   They left the air for the final time at 6pm on 30th December 1988.

Raidio Luimni broadcast from the early days of pirate radio in Limerick, and was on air during a visit in 1979 as Radio Limerick, before assuming the Irish language name of Raidio Luimni. The station was on the air right through till 1988. Was it the longest running station bar Radio Dublin??

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Midway began on 1494kHz, but soon changed to 999kHz / 300m, where it stayed until legislation.  It closed at 9pm on Friday 30th December 1988.

Radio North 846kHz began broadcasting in 1986 and closed at midnight 31st December 1988. Radio North emerged as a station again in 1989, after a brief period as Northside Radio, and is still on the air when this page is being edited in 2016, still on 846kHz. It is a very different style of station now, compared to it's early days.

The final minutes of North West Communnity Radio as it approached midnight on 31st December 1988, courtesy of  radiowaves.fm.

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Premier Radio was one of the stations which appeared following legislation. They were heard regularly on a Sunday afternoon during the summer of 1989 on 104.2MHz and 1413kHz AM. The AM signal could be heard on the UK west coast.

Q102 was set up in direct competition to the then big stations Radio Nova and Sunshine Radio. They came on the air at the beginning of 1985 on 828kHz and 102.1MHz. By the time they closed on 30th December 1988, they were probably the biggest station in Dublin and operated on 738khz / 819kHz / 99.9MHz/ 102.1MHz / 103MHz.

(Amusing note - imagine calling yourself Boy Wonder on the radio..lol)

Rainbow Radio operated in the border area around Carrickcarnon on 1152kHz and 98.5MHz. Following legislation it re-opened briefly as Border Weekend Radio.

Such was the close proximity to Boyneside Radio's Northern Ireland service, listening at a distance even in Scotland, breakthrough was sometimes heard from one station to another on the FM outlets. It is difficult now to recall which way round the breakthrough occured!!

Following legislation, the former staff of Rainbow Radio appeared as Border Weekend Radio in late January 1989, complete with Jolly Ollie!!!!!!.

Radio Rainbow International began broadcasting every Sunday morning on shortwave in 1985 as an offshoot of Boyneside Radio. Kieran Murray who edited the 1970’s FRC Magazines, hosted a free radio show every week. The free radio shows ceased in 1988, and the Radio Rainbow transmitters, by then on AM 1521kHz, 6231kHz SW and FM became the relay for several UK stations. The Radio Rainbow shortwave transmitter on 6231kHz relayed Boyneside Radio on the final day.

Signal 106 FM broadcast to Dublin from late 1987 and closed on 30th December 1988.

Radio Snowflake was an annual station operating each December. It commenced broadcasting in 1982 and was part of the Community Broadcasting Co-operative operated by Dave Reddy.

Radio Star Country was one of a few stations to defy the Irish broadcasting bill 1988, which came into force on 1/1/89. They were originally on 891kHz, but moved to 981kHz in early 1989. As we approach the 25 anniversary of legislation, Radio Star have been operating as a pirate for almost 26 years, and counting.

Sunshine Radio, or Sunshine Hot Hits 101 as it was known in the latter days, left the air shortly after 6pm on Friday 30th December 1988. Having started in 1980 on 531kHz / 539 metres, Sunshine were using 531kHz, 846kHz, 100.5MHz, 101.0MHz, 101.5MHz when they finally closed.

Telstar was one of the longest operating stations, having been on air since 1981 on tha same channel of 1197kHz. They went off the air on Saturday 31st December 1988 at 1300 with a rather emotional closedown.

Treble T R Radio was one of the longest running Dublin stations which lasted until the end, having commencing transmission mid 1981 on 945kHz from Greenacres Country Club, Rathfarnham, where Radio Nova also installed its big transmitters. TTTR changed frequency in the later years to 936kHz, and also operate on FM 99.5MHz. They went off the air on Friday 30th December 1988 around midnight.

This station used MW, SW as well as FM in it's lifetime, and all were well heard. Even studio links which were very low power FM transmitters made it to Scotland during a good lift. The station officially closed at 4pm on Friday 30th December 1988, but left a loop tape on the air.

WLR was one of the early independent stations in Ireland and the first of the three main pirate stations in Waterford, and was run by Des and Rick Whelan. The 1197kHz MW frequency used to be heard in Scotland and elsewhere especially late at night when signing off.

Radio West had been on the air since 1982. Originally on 1071kHz, they then purchased the 10kW Radio Nova 846kHz transmitter in 1983 and moved down the band briefly to 702kHz, and then for a few years sat on 765kHz but were finally back on 702kHz when they closed on 30th December 1988. The station had been been putting out a fantastic signal for a number of years, but problems shortly before Christmas 1988 meant a much lower power in the final days. In the latter days they also had a relay in Galway on 711kHz.

Westside Radio was possibly the most regular free radio station in Europe on the shortwave from 1975 until legislation in December 1988. In the beginning the station was operated by Doctor Don, who would run Westside on a Sunday morning on shortwave until sign off around 1315, after which at 1330 he and others would operate Radio Dublin locally on 253m. Following a raid on Radio Dublin in 1976, Prince Terry, who also operated Radio Dublin, took over Westside in 1977 and could be heard almost every Sunday morning until 31st December 1988. During the final week of December 1988, Prince Terry could be heard every day on his regular 6280kHz. The final day began with a relay of Radio Limit, followed by Gary Lewis and Radio Pandora until around mid-day. Prince Terry and Gary Lewis were then live until the final closedown at 1347. The recording below of the final day was made from the ground wave signal and kindly sent to us all those years ago by Pierce.

This station began broadcasting to Bandon in 1985 on AM 1503kHz, but by the time of closure also covered a large area of Cork and Kerry on FM.