Introduction
So, you go to your programme director with what you believe to be a great idea for a radio show. Once you’ve explained, s/he looks at you in bewilderment. What station in their right mind would think it was a good idea to run a programme with news about, features on, and recordings of, other radio stations? And yet, this type of programme has proven quite popular with audiences down through the decades. They were/are mainly run, and listened to, by radio enthusiasts – people who have a strong fascination with the medium. Not many licensed stations have seen fit to run with the idea but the shows were a staple of many a pirate station and were particularly prolific in the late 70s and throughout the 80s. For this Radiowaves fm special section, which is not even close to being exhaustive, we will revisit many of those programmes and will also have the recollections of some of the main protagonists.
As always if there’s any we’ve missed, or if you’d like to contribute, please get in touch.
Warning: any historical feature on Irish radio is likely to feature Eamonn Cooke. His inclusion is solely on the basis of his role in the Irish radio landscape and in no way condones the vile acts he perpetrated. We wish to apologise in advance for any distress or offence caused.
Radio Valleri
One of the earliest examples on Irish radio was a one off documentary which aired on Radio Valleri in 1974. The 90 minute programme was presented by Derek Jones and Mike Anderson and listed Dublin’s pirate stations, past and present, and gave a history of each, playing recordings where available. It stands as a fantastic historical piece from an era where information about pirate stations was hard to come by, let alone fifty years later. If for no other reason, that makes this broadcast invaluable.
This recording is a repeat broadcast from when Radio Valleri returned to the air on October 19th 1975. It appears to be from a studio feed with some recorded audio from the shortwave signal.Clicking on the images take you directly to the DX Archive hosted mp3 files.
Surf to DX Archives Radio Valleri page
Next for us: The first regular programme of the type was the brainchild of Kieran Murray. It was more than just a programme though, as Kieran explains in this piece written especially for Radiowaves fm…