When was the golden age of Pirate Radio?

Infoanon

With the 30th anniversary of the Big Closedown fast approaching , when was the Golden Age of Pirate Radio in Ireland ?:

Was it:

The 60's - when Caroline was briefly available along the East Coast

The 70's - with small stations appearing and the decade ending with BIG D, ARD,Radio Dublin etc hitting the airwaves

The 80's - the age of the Super Pirates - Sunshine,Nova,Q102,ERI,Coast,Kiss103.7 and specialists like TTTR,Heartbeat,Capital,KLAS and many local stations

The 90's - operating alongside legals but giving an alternative : Sunset106,Kiss103,Pulse103,Phantom,Jazz,DLR106,Caroline

The early naughties - Energy94,Phantom,KIC,Jazz,Freeedom,HOT,Vibe,SUN101

Today - Retro,Cube,Trax,Hot,Now,Easy,Energy AM,Chill (apologies for the Dublin centric list)

Advances in technology and FM undoubtedly give 80s and beyond an edge but when was the 'Golden Age' ?

Harry Palmr

Surely it's 1978-1988, the "local" stations had reached a certain level of success and stability - enough to prompt RTE to invent Radio 2 Comin'atcha and then the arrival of the Brits and their brash ways (!) to develop the Supers and their mini me's elsewhere (like ABC in Waterford)

This is worth a read for a reminder of just how many pirates there have been
http://dxarchive.com/ireland_a_to_z_irish_pirates.html

The Bishop Basher

Infoanon wrote: »

The 60's - when Caroline was briefly available along the East Coast...

...The 80's - the age of the Super Pirates - Sunshine,Nova,Q102,ERI,Coast,Kiss103.7 and specialists like TTTR,Heartbeat,Capital,KLAS and many local stations

Has to be the 80’s given the quality of pirate radio at the time and the volume of local shows with anything and everything on them..

That said I worked with a lad off Caroline, he was shipwrecked and the last to be winched off. I’m too young to remember it but I read his book and loved it.. as with so many things in the 60’s there was a magic about it all, despite the realities..

Declan A Walsh

Rennaws wrote: »

Has to be the 80’s given the quality of pirate radio at the time and the volume of local shows with anything and everything on them..

That said I worked with a lad off Caroline, he was shipwrecked and the last to be winched off. I’m too young to remember it but I read his book and loved it.. as with so many things in the 60’s there was a magic about it all, despite the realities..

Overall, I would have to plump for the '80s. I can only really speak for Dublin with any authority, but I know there were many many across the country. There was such a great variety of pirates around Dublin - small, medium and large (superpirates). There were niche stations such as Treble TR and Capitol Radio (Nitesky Radio) and Heartbeat FM. It was an exciting period for radio. So many of the voices that I grew to know ended up in legal radio. I also enjoyed the pirate scene in the late '70s and in the '90s. Over time, more presenters /deejays from the '90s and '00s ended up on legal radio, too.

Re the "lad off Caroline": if you are referring to Steve Conway, it should be noted that he was involved with Caroline from the mid '80s into the early '90s. - not the '60s!

The Bishop Basher

Declan A Walsh wrote: »

Re the "lad off Caroline": if you are referring to Steve Conway, it should be noted that he was involved with Caroline from the mid '80s into the early '90s. - not the '60s!

You are correct. I didn’t word it clearly but I was thinking more of the movie when mentioning the 60’s. It was a lot tamer in The 80’s..

Tigerbaby

Folks

I'm showing my age here.

Back in the early '70s all we had were Luxembourg 208 and BBC Radio 1.


Both "PoP" stations, ( yuch) apart from Alan Freeman's Album show on Saturday afternoons.

Thank God for Caroline back then.

Depending on weather and atmospherics, the most beautiful music broadcast to darkest Co. Wexford from an old ship in the North Sea , or off the Kent Coast.


Into the welcome ears of a young teenager.

end of the road

late 90s to the late 2000s. it was the 2000s before i really became interested in pirate radio though. before hand while i'd remember some stations it was simply for the music i would listen so apart from some stations names i wouldn't remember much else. pitty really as i regret not being interested earlier but hay ho.

prunudo

Depends really on your age and genre of music you're after. The 80's for the super priates alright but for me it was the 90's and early 00's with the dance music stations around Dublin.

JDxtra

For me, it was from about 92 to 2002 - so many great dance stations over those years. The ones I can think of right now are Sunset Radio, Hot 107, Pulse FM, ESG FM / Energy 94, Energy 88, Super Q, Nova Dance, Power FM, Club FM / Vibe FM - sorry if I left any out!

Declan A Walsh

JDxtra wrote: »

For me, it was from about 92 to 2002 - so many great dance stations over those years. The ones I can think of right now are Sunset Radio, Hot 107, Pulse FM, ESG FM / Energy 94, Energy 88, Super Q, Nova Dance, Power FM, Club FM / Vibe FM - sorry if I left any out!

It was an exiting period for sure, particularly because of the explosion of the dance phenomenon. Even someone like me, who was not really into the dance scene as such, enjoyed tuning into some of these new sounding stations. I even enjoyed some of the tunes! Other dance stations included Rhythm FM, Mix 106, The Vibe 107 and Urban FM. I also listened to other non-dance specific stations during that period: Radio Dublin, DLR, Radio Caroline, NSR, Coast FM, Alcatraz, Spectrum and Phantom FM. Coast FM was my favourite.

That said, I have a special place in my heart for the '80s.

s3rtvdbwfj81ch

For me too, the days of Pulse and Phantom were just brilliant, I lived and breathed Pulse FM, and so did all my mates.

prunudo

Cadence Some Reggae wrote: »

For me too, the days of Pulse and Phantom were just brilliant, I lived and breathed Pulse FM, and so did all my mates.

A lot of the current DJ's came through Pulse, it was a well run station with good production for a pirate. The youth/dance license never really transferred over to spin like I had hoped.

end of the road

JDxtra wrote: »

For me, it was from about 92 to 2002 - so many great dance stations over those years. The ones I can think of right now are Sunset Radio, Hot 107, Pulse FM, ESG FM / Energy 94, Energy 88, Super Q, Nova Dance, Power FM, Club FM / Vibe FM - sorry if I left any out!

jam fm was another one. mostly automated i think. i think it came on around 1998 and lasted until mid to late 99? decent little station from what i do remember of it. it was on around 99.4 i think? but for some reason 93.8 seems to be coming to me as a frequency as well.
i remember listening to energy 88 as well. not much else about it mind.

Infoanon

end of the road wrote: »

jam fm was another one. mostly automated i think. i think it came on around 1998 and lasted until mid to late 99? decent little station from what i do remember of it. it was on around 99.4 i think? but for some reason 93.8 seems to be coming to me as a frequency as well.
i remember listening to energy 88 as well. not much else about it mind.

Jazz FM & KIC FM were 2 other stations of note - both highly professional and providing a service no legal station was. NOVA 947 though not my type of music was also held in high regard.

Jam FM was 93.8 from Sandyford afaik - when Energy 94 was launched they used the 93.8 and the former Flash frequency of 94.1

Declan A Walsh

end of the road wrote: »

jam fm was another one. mostly automated i think. i think it came on around 1998 and lasted until mid to late 99? decent little station from what i do remember of it. it was on around 99.4 i think? but for some reason 93.8 seems to be coming to me as a frequency as well.
i remember listening to energy 88 as well. not much else about it mind.

Jam Fm was an "R & B" station. It wasn't completely automated, because one of the presenters was Ronan Scanlon, who cropped up on a lot of stations during the '90s and the early '00s!
Edit: Ronan Scanlon's stations reads like a who's who of pirates during that era! They included, as well as Jam FM, Sunset, Coast FM, DLR, Freedom FM, Energy 88FM, Pulse FM and FM2000.