Leitrim pirate station

Radio North West

Radio North West was the new name for Independent Radio Drumshanbo from February 1980. Drumshanbo had launched in November 1979.

The station was up a country lane by a small village. We walked up a narrow track, to find the studio in an old lorry container, and the transmitter in a small caravan close by. It must have been beauty, judging by the drifting, but surprise surprise, we weren't allowed to see it. Radio NorthWest had been run by a couple of brothers, Brian and Tony Tighe. Tony had been killed in a tragic accident some time before hand. Apparently while rigging an aerial for the station, a gust of wind had blown both Tony and the mast into a nearby power line. There were photographs up around the studio, which we presumed was Tony, although no one was rude enough to ask. We had a chat with the one guy on air, who seemed slightly bewildered as to why a station should be using that name in Charleston, Co Mayo, so near to Drumshanbo. One or two stations used the name North West Radio in the past. The Drumshanbo version of Radio North West seemed to disappear shortly after out visit, and were never heard of again.
From a DX Archive account of a visit to the station in 1981