Downtown Radio @ 50

waywill1966 · 14-03-2026 05:49PM #1

https://www.belfastlive.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/northern-irelands-downtown-radio-marks-33588418?int_source=amp_continue_reading&int_medium=amp&int_campaign=continue_reading_button#amp-readmore-target

Great to see that they are inviting some of the old presenters for the 50th anniversary celebrations;

Declan A Walsh · 16-03-2026 10:48AM

During its 50 years on the air, Downtown Radio must have had its fair share of ex-pirate deejays/operators involved with the station. Here are four examples:

Eddie West (r.i.p.) - he was on a few Dublin pirates, prior to ending up as Controller of Programmes at Downtown.

Owen Larkin - he turned up on various pirates around the north-east of Ireland.

Marty Donnan - he turned up on a few pirates around the north-east of Ireland.

Lawrence John - he turned up on various pirates in Dublin and Monaghan.

Can you think of other examples of ex-pirate staff that ended up with Downtown Radio, whether the pirates were Irish, British (offshore pirates for example) or further afield?

TheBMG · 16-03-2026 12:02PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124316384#Comment_124316384

do we include CoolFM in this? That would open it up considerably I suspect. Dara Roberts did stuff up there for a while IIRC.

waywill1966 · 16-03-2026 01:16PM

what’s the difference between downtown and cool fm nowadays? They seem to play the same type of music.

Declan A Walsh · 16-03-2026 03:52PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124316570#Comment_124316570

The sister station Cool FM will do in the absence of more examples from Downtown Radio! Daragh O'Dea, aka Dara Roberts, was involved with a number of Dublin pirates, mainly of the dance variety, between the early or mid 1990s and the early '00s.

I see that Downtown Radio and Cool FM are owned by Bauer Media UK. Bauer Media is a big player right across the island, both north and south.

Declan A Walsh · 18-03-2026 10:55AM

I found another example of someone who had previously been on pirate radio prior to involvement with Downtown Radio. Johnny Hero was on a pirate in Monaghan in 1990. I have not been able to identify its name.

Declan A Walsh · 18-03-2026 01:18PM

It never occurred to me until now to look at the names in the article that was linked to in the original post. At least one of them started on offshore pirate Radio Caroline in the 1960s - Hendi.

Maybe some of the others mentioned came from the pirates too: John Rosborough, Ivan Martin, Richard Young, John Daly, Jerry Lang and Ronan Kelly.

waywill1966 · 18-03-2026 05:39PM

Hendi still going strong on Best City Radio in Belfast but Jerry Lang left the station before Christmas.

Declan A Walsh · 20-03-2026 03:03PM

I have another name for the list of ex-pirates who turned up on Downtown Radio. The late Henry Condon, who was involved with 1980s pirates in Cork and Dublin, was with Downtown Radio during this century.

its_steve116 · 20-03-2026 06:20PM

Would my assumption be correct that this is the oldest commercial station in the North?

Declan A Walsh · 28-03-2026 12:05AM

Here is one I found initially through Google's AI overview! It mentioned Trevor C and offshore pirate radio. Eventually I found out that the late Trevor Campbell was very briefly with offshore pirate Radio Northsea International off the Dutch coast, during the 1970s, circa 1973. He joined Downtown Radio in 1976 and was there for more than 40 years.

ford fiesta · 29-03-2026 11:05PM

Downtown are moving out of their Kiltonga, Newtownards studios in the next week or so, they have been broadcasting from there 50 years since the start of the station.

Declan A Walsh · 01-04-2026 11:50AM

I found another pirate link with Downtown Radio. Frank Mitchell started with Dundalk pirate Radio Carousel and was to end up doing a stint some years later on Downtown Radio.

Downtown Radio @ 50

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