The FRC Show on Southside Radio

For a period the Dublin airwaves were graced with not just one but two FRC radio programmes. Unfortunately for radio enthusiasts they clashed, both running on Sunday mornings. Kieran has given details of the Big D version; Mark Boland was the presenter of the Southside Radio version, although he was actually a former presenter of the Big D version.

The FRC Show on Southside Radio was a weekly Sunday specialist programme about pirate and free radio, often relayed on shortwave by Westside Radio International and Radio Condor. Southside Radio's broadcast frequency was 300metres, or 999kHz.

Although Mark’s career in radio was short it was very active. He left radio to go to college in 1982 and never returned. His first foray was as a 13 year old presenting a 2am slot on Radio Dublin in 1977. A year later he had a spot as a DJ in the Big D nightclub in Chapel Lane. By his own admission, although he was ‘technically’ still in school throughout his five years on the air, his life in that period was ‘99% radio’.

Southside Radio’s FRC Show first appeared in July 1979, usually running from 10am - 1pm and regularly opening with Robert Palmer's 'Every Kind Of People'. The programme was a magazine-style radio-anorak show built around free-radio news, listener correspondence and reception reports, features on other stations, relayed tapes, and selected music.

In March 1980, the station was hit by a lightning strike, which took out some of their technical equipment. Not long after this they suffered a break in. However the determination of those involved got the station back on air and the FRC Show continued to be very popular with listeners both at home and overseas. Our friend Ken Baird over at DX Archive won this t-shirt for being the farthest listener to the medium wave broadcasts of the FRC Show, which was aired for the final time in late October 26th 1981.

From just a few short weeks ahead of the final show, this is The FRC on Southside Radio on October 4th 1981 *Audio hosted and by kindcourtesy of DX Archive (dxarchive.com)

Click to read a letter received by Scottish Free Radio 'AIR Magazine' from Mark Boland during November 1979

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