AN IRISH TRIP - APRIL 1982 |
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During
1979 stronger signals from free radio stations in Merseyside began to
cross the Pennines and were audible at my location in Leeds. With beer
drinking friends, I had made regular trips to both Liverpool and the
Wirral from mid 1979 mainly to sample the local real ales (Higsons was
a favorite until it was closed), but this also made me aware of the
free radio stations audible on the West coast. Not only were Merseyside
'pirates' easily received, but Irish local stations could be even heard
in the car. As a result of sending reports to stations, I began corresponding
with Dave Simpson, who had been a founder member of Merseyland
Alternative Radio. This station broadcast to Merseyside (first on
1197kHz / 259m then 1125kHz / 266m) and beyond for 30 hours every weekend,
and Dave presented a free radio show each Sunday morning. The programme
was a focal point for free radio supporters across the North of England
and through it, listeners began contacting each other. Amongst several
listeners whom I began corresponding with, were Barrie and Ruth Johnston
in Blackpool. They had been free radio enthusiasts for many years, and
had taken a keen interest in Irish radio, especially following the the
tragic sinking of Radio Caroline in March 1980, and the start of Sunshine
Radio later that year.
On our successful Irish tour in August 1981, we had compiled an accurate list of stations and their frequencies. A copy was sent to Barrie and Ruth, who combining it with their own, from earlier that Summer, produced possibly the most accurate list available at that time. They themselves had already visited Sunshine Radio earlier in the year after winning an on-air competition, and it was apparently during this visit that the idea of an English outlet for Sunshine merchandise came about. So began that well known address, which would also become home of 'Anoraks U.K.' - P.O. Box 539, Blackpool. ( The box number was chosen as it was the wavelength announced by Sunshine Radio during its early years.) I began making trips to Blackpool later that year and we began producing updated lists on a regular basis. Barrie and Ruth were also in touch with other free radio supporters around the country. One of these chaps was Warren Stevenson who lived in London. Between us, a visit was planned to Eire for April 1982. Due to work commitments this unfortunately only turned out to be for 4 days, and was to take in mainly the two major cities of Cork and Dublin. Station
Updates between August 1981 and April 1982
Between my first two trips, some stations had closed, but many new ones had commenced broadcasting, whilst some had even come and gone. We could obviously only monitor the stronger medium wave signals on the Lancashire coast, but even so, a lot of changes were heard. Double R Radio (1035kHz) which was testing in August 1981 had gone and was replaced by Radio Westside on the same frequency. The battle between the Dublin stations in the 1134-1170kHz range seemed to have been sorted, with Radio City finally settling on 1161kHz, rather than the off channel 1165kHz and Alternative Radio Dublin staying on 1143kHz instead of moving to 1134kHz at night. Bray Local Broadcasting had been forced to move from 828kHz to 657kHz due to severe splatter from Radio Nova, who had put on a massive 10kW signal from the Greenacres Country Club on the adjacent 846kHz. This transmitter was not seen on our August 1981 trip, and was obviously delivered and installed pretty quickly, as broadcasts began from 12th September 1981. A possible early reference to this was on a 'Captains News' broadcast earlier in the year on Radio Dublin, when Eamonn had commented that Sunshine Radio had ordered a 10kW transmitter. As this was around the time that Chris Cary left the station, this could well have been the one destined for Radio Nova. Another 10kW transmitter was also in the country at this time, and ended up on the ill-fated Radio Paradijs vessel, which was fitted out at a Dublin quayside during the Summer of 1981. The
Irish Christian Broadcasting Service (I.C.B.S.) was missed during our
August visit as it operated only for a few hours at the weekend and
evenings. It broadcast Christian programmes from a church based in Finglas,
North Dublin. Their frequency was 1071kHz and signal was particularly
good. Programming from this station was also becoming more regular.
Wicklow Local Radio from Ferrybank, County Wicklow had been noted during the Summer on 1111kHz, were by now well established on 1359kHz and heard strong on the Welsh coast, but poorly in Lancashire due to the powerful Manx Radio on 1368kHz. W.L.R had been heard regularly during 1981, but we did not have time to visit the area in August. A station in Wicklow had also been heard on 1134kHz. Further South, Arklow Community Radio had appeared on the strange channel of 1201kHz. This was again weak in Lancashire and subject to interference from BBC Radio 3 on 1215kHz as well as Telstar Community Radio (Blackrock) on 1197kHz. With Southside Radio on 999kHz becoming intermittent, a station in Wexford could be heard on occasions. WABC in Ballaghedereen briefly attempted to change frequency to 1071kHz, but had problems and went back to 1368kHz. They later changed to 1040kHz just before ceasing operation. It is not known exactly when they went off the air in Ballaghedereen, but the entire station was sold (reportedly including the services of Eamonn Brooks), to Alternative Radio West in Ballina, County Mayo. A.R.W were first logged during January 1982 operating on an announced 265metres. We have no confirmation of the exact frequency, but 1130kHz and 1134kHz were occasionally mentioned. As 1130kHz is a mid channel frequency and would have easily been heard by dx-ers in the winter months, it is assumed that 1134kHz was the more probable channel. The Trip I had travelled to Blackpool on the Saturday 3rd April to join up with Ruth and Barrie, and meet Warren Stevenson, who was also touring with us.A last tune around the band was made that day to make an updated list from which we would be working from during the following day. With more and more stations using FM we hoped to accurately list as many as we could, as most could not be heard in the UK.
As with all the early trips, we sailed from Liverpool on the overnight ferry. Liverpool sailings were discontinued in later years due to disputes of one sort or another, and a long trip to Holyhead had to be made from the mid 1980's. We arrived in Dublin around 0700 as foot passengers, and a hire car was waiting for us (a Fiat estate I think). Space was at a premium, but we managed to cram everyone in, as well as a limited amount of radio and recording equipment. My memories are a little vague of the first day, probably due to having taken too many travel sickness tablets! I was, and still am not a very good sailor, but suffered in the cause of free radio. We must have gone for breakfast somewhere, but where?? Perhaps everyone else had breakfast on the ferry whilst I was indisposed!! The few photographs remaining from that day begin to jog memories, and I now recall Radio Nova as being the first station visited. We arrived outside 19 Herbert Street during the breakfast show. Being Sunday morning, the roads were very quiet and we found it quite easily. There
was no disguising where the station was operating from, there being
a plaque at the door proclaiming that 'Nova Media Services' was housed
here.A security camera pointed down at the doorway as we rang the bell.When
the door was answered we explained who we were and were kindly allowed
inside. It was the first time I had properly been into the newly refurbished
19 Herbert Street studios. (During the previous visit, the studios had
been moved to the transmitter site at Rathfarnam, and looking from the
door Herbert Street appeared full of boxes.) The legendary Don Allen
was on the air at the time. Don was only at Radio Nova for a short time,
and presented the weekend breakfast show, as well as some late night
programmes.This was the first time I had met any of the famous offshore
broadcasters from the 1960's. I felt that Don, being more a country
music fan wasn't really enjoying the Radio Nova format, and not long
after he left to join Radio Carousel in Navan. Nova was the best equipped
station I had seen to date. They had obviously put plenty of money into
the operation. The on-air studio consisted of proper broadcast equipment,
not just hi-fi / disco equipment that we had seen in most other stations.
Cart machines were used to play both commercials and some of the music.
The production studio was similarly kitted out, and included a reel-to-reel
editing suite. The transmitters were no longer at this site, and since
the previous August had been re-located to the Greenacres Country Club,
Rathfarnham. Radio Nova were probably the first 'unlicensed' station
to use a UHF link to their transmitter site. Most other stations used
an FM transmitter from the studio to medium wave site. We stayed at
Herbert street for a couple of hours, chatting with Don, and also Jason
Mayne who followed Don on the mid-morning slot. Jason was a friendly
guy. I liked his programmes a lot as he always sounded to be really
enjoying himself. We said our goodbyes and headed off at around 1000.
Monday
5th April 1982
One
of the few stations that could be heard in the Sands Hotel was Community
Radio Fingal on 1584kHz. They were located only a few miles North of
Portmarnock and we listened for a while until it was time to leave for
the second city. Travelling out of Dublin, as we listened to Radio Nova,
to our surprise there was a voice familiar to most offshore radio fanatics.
Warren had been corresponding with Andy Archer, who was on Devonair
Radio in Plymouth and had recently mentioned an interest in Dublin's
Radio Nova. Andy Archer had in fact just joined his old Radio Caroline
and RNI colleague Chris Cary and was sounding well on what was possibly
his first mid-morning show. He certainly had not been on the air when
we left the U.K. Tuesday 5th April 1982 Most
stations were on the air by 0800 that Tuesday. South Coast Radio signed
back on at 0700 with Peter Madison hosting the breakfast show, and doing
a bit of 'anoraking'. The station was initially only on FM in mono,
due to the hectic overnight move from the Metropole. Peter was followed
by Hugh Brown and then Pete O'Neil. Capital Radio was also heard signing
on at 0700. Cork City Local Radio and Radio City were both also on the
air with breakfast shows. We were particularly interested in listening
out for Leeside Community Radio, as just before sign off on Monday,
it was announced they would return at 0800. It was hoped to track the
station down as it appeared to be fairly close to the Metropole. Unfortunately,
they did not sign on as promised and in fact were not heard until around
10am, by which time a trip to the South Coast Radio medium wave site
had already been promised . This turned out to be a fairly high location,
quite a way west of the city, and not far from the airport. The transmitter
was in a farmyard, housed in a specially built breeze block hut, with
a lattice mast at the rear. The transmitter itself was not on the air
at the time. Engineer Keith York was there to switch everything back
on and check the alignment of the receiver which picked up the FM signal
for relaying on 1557kHz AM. Keith was keen to show us the equipment,
and if I remember correctly explained that the mast was a base loaded
1/4 wave for 194m. As the transmitter was still off he showed us that
because the mast was tuned to 194m, listening on a radio adjacent to
the mast brought in Capital Radio from London on 1548kHz (194m). We
left Keith to continue his work, and travelled back into the city, hearing
the medium wave signal come back to life at around 1230. The excellent
compression of the signal gave a superb sound to both the FM and AM
outlets of South Coast Radio. The stereo encoder was switched back on
the FM sometime later. Wednesday 7th April 1982 On
waking up Wednesday morning, I took the opportunity to listen to ABC
FM on 96.15MHz., as this station was new to me and although they had
a good signal covering Dublin, it was not receivable in the U.K. They
were well into the breakfast show when I tuned in. This station seemed
very laid back compared to the other stations, and played more of what
would now be described as Adult Orientated Rock than its rivals. As
far as I know this station did not last very long, and rumour has it
that it turned into South
City Radio which commenced broadcasts at the end of May.
So ended an eventful second DXpedition to Eire during which we completed an up to date Irish Station List for April 1982. |