Irish Pirate Radio 1978-1988: How Political Stasis Allowed Unlicensed Radio to Flourish and Innovate

ABSTRACT

The history of pirate radio in Ireland remains understudied by comparison with other countries with histories of unlicensed broadcasting. This is surprising given the extent and longevity of a large pirate radio scene which was at its zenith between 1978 and 1988. Drawing on our own archive of Irish pirate radio recordings, interviews with those involved and pirate paraphernalia, we contend that the cultural, social, political, economic., and technological influence of Irish pirate radio was far-reaching. However, although the pirates were influential and left a lasting legacy, they ultimately lost out in the new licensed regime rolled out from 1989.

Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge the participation of former pirates in the commemorative event they organized in Dublin in 2018 and to all who agreed to be interviewed then and since. They also extend appreciation to the many people who continue to verify historical information for Pirate.ie, in particular Ian Biggar of DX Archive.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. The figure of 100 is an estimate based on 1988 listings by pirate radio groups Anoraks Ireland and Anoraks UK which are in our possession. 1,218 Irish pirate radio stations have been noted for the period 1916 to 2000 (Bohan, 2020).

2. The term “super-pirate” refers to the larger stations in urban areas with considerable financial backing and professional staff and broadcasting equipment. Stations included Radio Nova, Sunshine Radio and Q102 in Dublin, ERI in Cork and ABC in Waterford. The label is not without its issues, however, and is not generally applied to stations outside the cities such even though some were very large in their own right, such as the midlands station Radio West which claimed to be broadcasting nationwide by 1988.

3. Stations such as BLB led the campaign for licensed community radio, sending taped messages to other likeminded stations around the country (e.g. Concord Community Radio, 1983).

4. One Scottish broadcaster, who spent several years working on Irish pirate stations, said he never felt hindered by his accent (Biggar, 2019) and indeed the large variety of non-Irish voices to be heard on successful stations was proof that listeners were not bothered by them. Despite political sensitivities between Ireland and the UK at the time, the larger stations featured many British accents, apparently without a problem.

5. There were complaints from Ireland about British pirates also. Former Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald blamed Radio Caroline for interference to reception of the BBC in central London as he made his way to the Irish embassy following sensitive Anglo-Irish talks between the Irish government and Margaret Thatcher at Downing Street in 1984. FitzGerald, speaking decades after the event, may have confused the detail: the US-owned offshore pirate Laser 558 was broadcasting at the time on 558 kHz, blocking out reception of RTÉ Radio 1 on 567 kHz in London. In no way would the British government have tolerated a situation where Radio Caroline was interfering with reception of the BBC (FitzGerald, 2015).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

John Walsh

Dr John Walsh is a Senior Lecturer in Irish at the School of Languages, Literatures and Cultures where he teaches sociolinguistics and media studies. Dr Walsh’s PhD on the Irish language and Ireland’s socio-economic development was awarded by Dublin City University (DCU) in Ireland. Before that, he completed an MA in International Relations also at DCU. He holds a BA in Irish and Welsh from University College Dublin. Dr Walsh previously worked as a lecturer in Irish at DCU, with the European Bureau for Lesser Used Languages in Brussels and as a journalist with local radio and national public broadcasters Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ) and TG4. He first gained radio experience in pirate radio in Dublin from the mid-1980s.

Brian Greene

Brian Greene works as Technical and Production Coordinator with community radio station Phoenix FM in Dublin. He has 35 years of radio experience starting on pirate community radio in Dublin in 1985. He is an award-winning podcaster with a BA in Journalism from the University of Wolverhampton, UK and an MA in Social Media Communications from Dublin City University in Ireland. Brian has worked with radio archives, recording oral history and indexing historic recordings at Pirate.ie.