Worldwatch Ireland

Clive Glover visits Ireland's unlicensed radio stations

Imagine... a country where you can just set up a radio station anywhere you like... a country where there is no DTI or equivalent to harass you... green and pleasant countryside... friendly people who all speak English... Well, believe it or not, there is such a country: The Republic of Ireland.

Due to a wonderful oversight by the Irish Parliament when they passed their version of the Wireless Telegraphy Act in 1926, it is possible for anyone to set up and run a local station in the Republic without a licence — and without being busted by the authorities. Basically, the Irish law gives a monopoly of both radio and television broadcasting to the state-owned Radio Telefis Eireann (RTE), equivalent to the BBC in the UK. However, a court ruling in the late 1970s established that the monopoly only applied to national broadcasting, not local. There was therefore no law at all applying to any non-national station and, despite several attempts to pass such a law, this is still the position. However, there are plans for legislation, supposed to be introduced in the autumn, which promises the licensing of some stations and a clampdown on the pirates.

80 Pirate Stations

During the past 7 or 8 years around 80 unlicensed ("illegal" is the term RTE use), local stations have sprung up throughout Ireland. Some have failed, but many more have replaced them. Over this period there have been a succession of minority or coalition Governments in the country who have alternated between threatening tough action against the stations and promising to set up an Irish version of the IBA (yes, really!).

However, the stations have proved so popular that the various Governments have been very reluctant to take action against them. This has been especially the case since May 1983 when the Government did decide to take action: they raided Dublin's two 'Super-Pi- rates', at the time, Radio Nova and Sunshine Radio. Radio Nova returned the next day on low power for an 'official' closedown at 6pm that evening. They appealed to listeners to come down to their Herbert Street studios to show their support, to phone their members of Parliament and for all drivers to hoot their horns at 6pm as they closed down.

Standstill

As a result, in a day that has a unique place in the annals of Free Radio history, Dublin was brought to a standstill as 6,000 people converged on Herbert Street and the entire city centre was jammed as drivers stopped their cars and hooted for half an hour. Faced with

The huge public outcry, as well as intense press coverage and a barrage or hostile questions in Parliament, the Government quickly backed down. Radio Nova resumed broadcasting immediately, but Sunshine waited three weeks until their court case was heard. Sunshine was fined £20 for illegal broadcasting and Nova £25 and all equipment was returned to them both. No subsequent Government has dared take any further action.

The growth of local radio in Ireland is particularly interesting because the unique circumstances have meant that it has developed in a true 'free market' — there are literally no rules at all! The first stations, such as the original Radio Dublin and Radio Galaxy, were small 'back bedroom' type stations, familiar to listeners in London, Liverpool etc. These developed in the major cities and larger towns, like Cork and Waterford, into professionally run stations.

Many, for some reason, operated from hotels, such as Southside Radio from the Victor Hotel in Dun Laoghaire, which still has the antenna mast although the station closed down in 1981. Meanwhile, small community stations started to appear in the more rural areas, with BLB perhaps the best Known. All of the early stations were basically amateur operations and run on a shoestring. Even the more professional stations of the late seventies were still using amateur gear such as home built transmitters and mixers, and cassette machines to play jingles.

But, around 1980, things began to change. The demise of Radio Caroline when their ship, the Mi Amigo, sank in the North Sea, removed the UK's main pirate station from the airwaves and a number of their former staff began to drift to the Republic. Two people who arrived were Robbie Robinson (Robbie Dale) and Chris Carey (Spangles Muldoon). They set up the first of what was to become known as the 'Super-Pirates', Sunshine Radio.

The Super Pirates

They installed professional studio and transmitter equipment at the Sands Hotel, Portmarnock, a few miles north of Dublin, to produce by far the most powerful pirate signal Ireland had heard to date. Sunshine also adopted a slick, American-style Top Forty format and employed young and enthusiastic DJs. The results were immediate: within weeks of taking to the air in September 1980 they had by far the biggest audience in the Dublin area — bigger than RTE's -and a queue of advertisers.

As Sunshine's programmes started, arguments between the station's founders led Chris Carey determined to start his own super pirate. At that time, all broadcasting in Ireland was on AM/MW and Carey — having heard American 'FM' radio -decided to set up the country's first 'clutter-free' station: more music, less mouth. This was Radio Nova, which opened in June 1981 and grew to be the world's most successful pirate radio station. At one point it was taking over 60% of the Dublin area audience, against over 20 other stations -including RTE! Sadly, Nova was forced to close last year, not by the Government, but by the National Union of Journalists, who were demanding that Nova complied with the wage rates agreed for legal stations, such as the IR stations in the UK.

At present there are some 80 unlicensed stations in Ireland, with around 20 in the Dublin area. There are three super pirates: Sunshine, Q102 and Energy 103 — which bought all of Nova's equipment and premises and is run by Carey's wife, Sybil Fennel. I recently visited two of these stations, Sunshine and Q102, and was surprised at the difference in equipment being used, considering that both stations sound very similar technically, although they do have different formats.

Aircraft Noises

Sunshine 101 — still based at the Sands Hotel — originates from two Portacabins outside the hotel. The 'Red Hot Sound of Sunshine 101' (i.e. its Hot Hits format) comes exclusively from cartridges and a very tight rotation of hits. Most of the adverts, promotions, etc. are recorded in the production studio. When I was there, its window was wide open, birds were singing outside and there were very loud interruptions from aircraft flying past to the nearby Dublin airport! Often, four or five tracks are played in a row with perhaps a jingle somewhere, before the DJ says anything. And he (they are all men) never says '...that was... this is...'. Sunshine's most popular programme is' Be Bop Gold' every Sunday from 9am to 3pm, consisting of hundreds of oldies.

In contrast, 0102 appears to have spent a fortune on equipment and their studios, right in the heart of Dublin, look like any well-equipped IR station... they have all the latest record decks, cart and tape machines -and, of course, CD equipment. In the corner of the studio is a fascinating rack of audio processing gear with lots of knobs, switches and flashing lights... I couldn't help but wonder why they had bought all this equipment: it seemed to be so they could impress the authorities with how professional they were when licenses are handed out for Dublin. Don't get me wrong, Q102 is an excellent station, but I am sure they don't need all that expensive equipment to make it so.

Tuning In

Finally, if you're interested in hearing the Irish stations and are North of Birmingham, you should try listening on 531KHz for Sunshine Radio or 738KHz for Energy 103 during the mornings to hear two of the strongest signals from the republic. Listeners in London and the South East with really good radio equipment may also be able to pick them up — and others like ERI from Cork — when the reception conditions are right.