The great era of Pirate radio in Ireland

[john40]

Who remembers the great era of the Pirate radio stations in Ireland ?

I have always wanted to work in radio, music is my drug. I have great memories of the likes of the original Q102, Nova, Sunshine and many more

Great presenters like Liam Quigley, Phil Cawley, Greg Gaughran, Jason Maine, Declan Meehan and the great voice that was Bob Gallico (RIP) and Sybil Fennell and Anne Casin reading the news. With the likes of Martin Block behind the scenes.

I gave up listening to radio in Ireland over 20 years ago because all it is now is shouty presenters (I had the misfortune of having to listen to it regularly when an office colleague would have some of the stations on up until when I retired from work in 2016) with "look at me" egos. Generic playlists that you can nearly predict what song will be played at the same time every day and very heavily scripted shows.

The attraction to DJ'ing has gone too with the advent of computerised systems. I always loved the thought of presenting and playing vinyl. The closest I came to it was playing music over the PA system in secondary school with two friends at lunchtime every day. I used to love seeing the big outside broadcast units too, now it's reduced to a DJ in a van with a laptop.

I also spent my Saturday afternoons in our local station Kiss FM here in Tullamore. I was supposed to be collecting sports results for the presenter who was on air at the time but spent most of the time with him chatting in the studio. It was over a takeaway and the owner used to bring us up burgers and chips whenever I was there lol.

Ah for the memories and the carefree days of pirate radio

For me nowadays it's my internet radio listening to stations in Spain or Australia, my own music collection or Spotify

[Airbusdriver]

I loved the original Radio Nova. Declan Meehan & Bob Gallico were great. I remember they were giving out a £10,000 cash prize if you were the 50th caller after 3 designated songs were played. I spent weeks listening to the station waiting for the three songs, a few times they played 2 out of the 3 teasing us! I think Bryan Dobson was a newsreader on it. Then there was Sunshine Radio out in Portmarnock. All I remember of that station was the same song they played every night when the station shut down (yes they weren't open 24/7). Can't remember the name of the song. When the pirates were forced to close along came the new (legal) radio stations, not the same at all. I thought Radio Ireland in particular was crap, it was lated renamed Today FM.

[bmw528]

Yes, There was Big D Radio, Radio Dublin. Pity that the founder of Radio Dublin turned out to be an absolute monster.

[TheFalcon]

a radio presenter would be my career of choice if I was starting out again.

[john40]

I loved the original Radio Nova. Declan Meehan & Bob Gallico were great. I remember they were giving out a £10,000 cash prize if you were the 50th caller after 3 designated songs were played. I spent weeks listening to the station waiting for the three songs, a few times they played 2 out of the 3 teasing us! I think Bryan Dobson was a newsreader on it. Then there was Sunshine Radio out in Portmarnock. All I remember of that station was the same song they played every night when the station shut down (yes they weren't open 24/7). Can't remember the name of the song. When the pirates were forced to close along came the new (legal) radio stations, not the same at all. I thought Radio Ireland in particular was crap, it was lated renamed Today FM.

Ah they were great days. Always loved hearing Bob, what a voice he had. I think Radio Ireland became Century (I went on a tour of their studious when they were in Christchurch) before it became Today FM but I could be wrong. Today FM was pretty ok before DOB bought it, then it just went down hill rapidly.

I could talk about this subject for days on end. I just think it was such a great time for radio in this country and a lot of the pirate stations were ahead of their time and much better than some of the legal/professional outfits.

Check out this website for some great archive clips and shows of the time radiowaves.fm

[Noregrets]

I loved the original Radio Nova. Declan Meehan & Bob Gallico were great. I remember they were giving out a £10,000 cash prize if you were the 50th caller after 3 designated songs were played. I spent weeks listening to the station waiting for the three songs, a few times they played 2 out of the 3 teasing us! I think Bryan Dobson was a newsreader on it. Then there was Sunshine Radio out in Portmarnock. All I remember of that station was the same song they played every night when the station shut down (yes they weren't open 24/7). Can't remember the name of the song. When the pirates were forced to close along came the new (legal) radio stations, not the same at all. I thought Radio Ireland in particular was crap, it was lated renamed Today FM.

Remember the giveaway well
Nine to 5 sheena easton was the 3rd one i think, Billie Jean was another.

The phone network in dubiin crashed when they played the songs


Also i think it was 5K but that was the largest radio giveaway ever.

[Airbusdriver]

Remember the giveaway well
Nine to 5 sheena easton was the 3rd one i think, Billie Jean was another.

The phone network in dubiin crashed when they played the songs


Also i think it was 5K but that was the largest radio giveaway ever.

I remember two of the songs which were 'Gotta be starting something' by Michael Jackson and 'Rip it up and start again' by Orange Juice. I can't remember the third!