Hello from Australia Just a quick post .We're out here with our friends from Network 10 to promote the station and our first stop was Melbourne for the Grand Prix.Our passes were amazing I got to see my heroes in action.
In the Media area with Damon Hill and Martin Brundle
Here we are in Sydney at the Center Point Tower
Our friends in East Brisbane
Channel Seven on Mt Coot-tha,Brisbane
Join me soon for all the news and photos from our promotional trip .Cheerio and gooday sports.
Hello again and welcome along to our Memory Radio Blog. This week we're off to March 1979 and let's start our trip with the No1 song in the charts this week in March 1979
Top 10 Hits of Early March 1979
1
The Bee Gees
Tragedy
2
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
Oliver's Army
3
Blondie
Heart Of Glass
4
Gloria Gaynor
I Will Survive
5
Lene Lovich
Lucky Number
6
Abba
Chiquitita
7
Edwin Starr
Contact
8
The Real Thing
Can You Feel The Force?
9
Leif Garrett
I Was Made For Dancin'
10
Gene Chandler
Get Down
We work hard now to make our Blog mobile friendly after many tries we found this blondie video that plays on apple products.We have a rare heart of glass video on our facebook page heres the link MEMORY RADIO BOYLE ON FACEBOOK
COUNTRY CLASSIC 1979
TV 1979
Colour TV sales really took off in 1979 after the opening the previous year of the new a Irish channel
RTE 2 and a crystal clear UHF signal from newly erected mast at Cairn Hill (outside Longford) Ireland's most powerful television transmitter .A good excuse with the forthcoming papal visit in 1979 was "we want to see the new pope in colour"
Our first colour set was a Phillips similar to this one pictured below
The test card .A thing of the past now with 24 hour broadcasting.
Living near the border with Northern Ireland we were able to watch the BBC and ITV channels using a high gain Ariel and amps. With freeSat and the forthcoming digital changeover these systems are disappearing this side of the border every day now
What we watched in 1979
UK TV 1979
IRISH TV 1979
Caitlín Maude (1941 – 1982) poet, teacher, actress and traditional singer in her native Irish tongue
US TV 1979
The Dukes Of Hazzard along with the Movie Convoy started the CB Radio craze in 1979
During 1979 and in the 1980's, the trend of CB radios was similar to online chats or text messaging today. When we did this, We developed friendships with other people on CB's, and while their real names remained anonymous, their handles were well known names.We used a Handle or Call Sign, (Mine was Shooting Star) because CB Radio at this time was seen as illegal (there were no provisions in Irish broadcasting law and the whole thing was very vague) of course this added to its appeal.
The sets we used were imported from the USA, where 27 Mhz AM was granted for Citizens use hence the term citizens band C.B.The standard set had 40 channels and an output of 4 watts .These were mostly 12v mobile sets like the one pictured above .
This was usually coupled with a magmount Ariel .There was an art in setting up the ariel in tune with the C.B. ,adjusting the S.W.R. by using a meter and twiddling with the adjustable rod at the end of the Ariel whip. It could be difficult to chat at any distance during the day because of what was known as skip the signals of other C.B.'s all over the world bouncing off the upper atmosphere and just making a wall of noise that the background noise filter SQUELCH could barely keep out , at night all the noise stopped and at dusk and dawn it was possible under the right conditions to talk long distance DX
RADIO 1979
Up until May 1979 here in Ireland the only pop broadcasters were Pirate stations such as Radio Dublin, new local unlicensed stations such as Radio North West which I worked on and powerful Radio Luxembourg at night which was aimed at the U.K ,BBC Radio1 the U.K. pop station during the day.All broadcasting on MW
Then along came RTE Radio 2 on the 31'st of May.The Main MW signal came from Athlone.But it was on also FM around Ireland and was soon re-branded Radio2fm
.
This was the first song that I heard played when I tuned in to the newly opened RTE Radio 2
CARS 1979
The Ford Fiesta was starting to become a very popular car in1979
Boy the weeks fly by and once again it's time for another Memory Radio Blog.This week we venture back to 1984 and our focus is on Drumshanbo Co Leitrim .We've managed to restore the highlights of a Fashion Show held in McGlynns Lounge Drumcong in 1984.
The memory of famine has never left the west of Ireland and our reaction to the plight of those suffering in Somalia was from the heart as shown by a large crowd who came and gave generously to this good natured impromptu show with local models in fashions from shops such as Daly's,Flynns and Fitzgeralds .
We have the pop charts from this week in 1984, Top Country song,Headlines,TV memories,Film and lots more as the Blog is updated every day all week.
THIS WEEKS POP CHART 1984
Top10 Hits of Late February 1984
1
Frankie Goes To Hollywood
Relax
2
Nena
99 Red Balloons
3
The Thompson Twins
Doctor Doctor
4
Kool & The Gang
Joanna / Tonight
5
Queen
Radio Ga Ga
6
Nik Kershaw
Wouldn't It Be Good
7
Rockwell
Somebody's Watching Me
8
The Style Council
My Ever Changing Moods
9
Matthew Wilder
Break My Stride
10
Billy Joel
An Innocent Man
COUNTRY CLASSIC 1984
It could only happen in the 80's
This had to be the most unlikely duo ever to team up. Julio iglesias and Willie Nelson yet it worked . RADIO 1984
Today we take a large choice good radio for granted but back in 1984 it was a different story Radio 2 was the only pop station and it was very starchy state broadcasting compared to the slick professional sound of Radio Nova and Sunshine Radio .They were the super pirates and although they broadcast to Dublin you could pick them up on MW here in the West of Ireland .This recording was made from FM late at night when as if by magic the signal strength came up .
In 1984 the average weekly wage in euros was €204.65 and a pint of beer cost €1.48
Do you remember 10p a go on Pacman & Space Invaders
How many screens did you reach
COMPUTERS 1984
Apple present the first Macintosh computer.
DJ's CHOICE
In 1984 Dj Mixing was just staring to become popular and making mix-tapes was all the rage.
One of the perks of being out the country in those days was on a hot summers afternoon (Summer 1984 was ok weather wise ) to set up the decks and speakers hook up the tape deck have a few beers and try out different mixes.
If a mix turned out well we'd play it in the van on the way to a gig and if it sounded good when we were sober we'd put the tape on for the warm up and if it got a good reaction It became part of the set for a few weeks (We had a human league yazoo mix that really worked ).I've left some great tapes behind at parties back then and that was one of them .
