Robbie Robinson RIP

Losty Dublin

Sorry to hear of Robbie's death today.

The Admiral will forever be associated with Sunshine 101, which was arguably the most popular and successful radio station of the Pirate Era.

May he rest in peace.

https://youtu.be/4yqeNxFwkWU

Darc19

Really decent guy. My first employer many many years ago in Sunshine back in 1985.

Treated staff like family and always had time to talk.

Rip Robbie

TheBMG

RIP Robbie. Pioneers like him are the reason I found my enduring love of radio all those years ago.

Hope Bridge Over Troubled Water is playing somewhere tonight.

Declan A Walsh

I am sorry to hear of the death of Robbie Robinson, aka Robbie Dale. He was one of the pioneers of the superpirate era in Ireland. In fact, his station Sunshine Radio was the first superpirate. Chris Cary, better known for superpirate Radio Nova, was involved with Sunshine's launch, but it was always Robbie's baby.

In the first year or two, the emphasis was on its medium wave transmitter, which had a mighty powerful signal. I seem to remember in the early 1980s that if you switched from RTE Radio 1 on FM (or VHF as it was known then!) to Medium Wave on a portable or home radio you got Sunshine Radio! I am not 100% about that - it could have been switching from RTE Radio 1 on MW to Radio Nova on FM a year later!

After the arrival of Radio Nova, which was Sunshine Radio's first serious competition, Sunshine Radio began to pay more attention to an FM transmitter. Eventually, some years later the station name was changed to Sunshine 101. Sunshine always had more of a community feel to it than its other superpirate rivals, and of course it lasted longer than any of the other superpirate players in Dublin. This was a testament to Robbie Robinson's commitment to Sunshine.

Robbie, like a number of English players in the Irish pirate scene in the early 1980s, especially the superpirates, had done his time in the offshore pirate scene - Radio Caroline in his case. Aside: there were some who did it back to front, i.e. came to the superpirates first, particularly Radio Nova, and then went to the offshore pirates! I think that was after they had heard about the scene here.

Anyway, he managed a very professional operation even if the studio was a portacabin in the grounds of a hotel (Sands Hotel, Portnarnock)!. Tomangos Disco in the Sands Hotel did not have to look too far for deejays! Robbie gave a lot of Irish deejays their first break in a large pirate (and probably first official pay packet for radio too!), having previously been with smaller pirates. People who came from smaller pirates included: Greg Gaughran, Aidan Cooney, David Dennehy, David Lyons, Jim Kenny, Mark Byrne, Nails Mahoney, Paul Vincent, Paul Bradley, Tony Dixon, Tony Fenton, Declan Meehan (RTE Radio 2 in between!) and Martin King. There were a few who transferred from Radio Nova: Gareth O'Callaghan and Ernie Gallagher. Gareth decided to get involved with the relaunched Radio Caroline. No doubt his boss Robbie gave him some good advice there!

Steve Conway gave Robbie a mention in his book about his own later experiences with Radio Caroline - Shiprocked. Steve rang Robbie at Sunshine Radio, who gave him some help by agreeing to play along with Steve's and others ruse that they were buying radio equipment in the UK for Sunshine - the English authorities did not care about foreign pirates!

Robbie Robinson can now join Chris Cary in setting up their own radio operation in the sky! RIP

Ger Roe

So sad to hear this news. Robbie's contribution to the development of European and then Irish radio was very significant.

I have the pleasure of interviewing him about his long broadcasting career and found him to be very humble about his many groundbreaking achievements. A chat about his night aboard the Mi Amigo in 1967 when the marine offences act came into force, was one I will always remember. I was also delighted when he complimented The Anorak Hour - I was never in the super pirate club and it was a genuine surprise to me that he knew who I was, but Robbie was certainly an anorak and he was fully up to speed on what we were doing on pirate Phantom - even though he was resident in Spain at the time. Even in his non broadcast life, as manager of The San Francisco Apartments on Lanzarote, he proudly displayed Sunshine Radio items in his office and would always talk radio to anyone who recognised the connection. I know of people who sought him out specifically while on holiday and others who met him by accident and he was always delighted to hear from anyone who remembered Sunshine.

Despite his obvious connections and commitment to Radio Caroline, Sunshine was his pride and joy and he always looked back on his days in Dublin as being his greatest achievement. He was very proud of the station and its staff and he was very aware of the influence his very personal venture had on Irish radio, press and TV - still to this day.

There are many in the radio, press and TV business that will mourn his passing and many, many more of us mere listeners that will mourn too.

RIP Mr. Robinson.

Declan A Walsh

Sunshine Radio was where I first actually heard the following presenters: Robbie Dale (the man himself), David Dennehy, Mark Byrne, Nails Mahoney, Paul Bradley, Tony Fenton, Martin King, Justin McKenna, Cathy Cregan, Tom Hardy (one of the people who came from the offshore pirates) and Pat Courtenay.

It's interesting to see that Sunshine Radio used to have an FM transmitter on 91.6 in it's early days. That ended up being used a lot this century for Dublin pirates, including the aforementioned Phantom FM!

Ger Roe

Nice mention in The Independent today :

https://www.independent.ie/entertainment/radio/pirate-radio-maverick-robbie-robinson-changed-the-countrys-tune-40819124.html

Declan A Walsh

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117849953#Comment_117849953

I love the way the article says that Ronan O'Rahilly "invented pirate radio"! That was not quite true in the sense that illegal radio stations did exist, certainly outside the UK, before he started Radio Caroline. It may well be true, though, that he started the first offshore pirate station and that the word "pirate" may not have been used in that context before: an illegal radio station from a ship, hence the expression "pirate radio". Anyway, that's only a small point: nice article about Robbie.

Ger Roe

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117850815#Comment_117850815

As you said Declan, O'Rahilly didn't invent pirate radio and there were certainly earlier European offshore stations, before Caroline.

Commercial offshore pirate radio in Europe dates back to the late 1950's with Radio Syd and Mercur from the MV Cheeta off the coasts of Sweden and Denmark. There was also Radio Nord off Stockholm in 1961 based on board the MV Olga, later renamed the Mi Amigo - later again bought by Alan Crawford for Radio Atlanta and then famously merged with Caroline in 1964. Radio Veronica had been on air off the Dutch coast since 1960 from it's first ship the LV Borkum Riff, and Radio Antwerpen had started broadcasting to Belgium from the concrete hulled Uilenenspiegel in 1962.

Ronan was certainly aware of these past activities as he knew the history of the Mi Amigo when Crawford bought it and he even borrowed the second ship used for Radio Syd, MV Cheeta 2, while the Mi Amigo underwent repairs after grounding on Frinton beach in 1966. I don't think he ever went to any great lengths to clarify the misconception that he invented the pirate radio process and so many people in the UK and Ireland think that he did.

The radio ship history aspect with multiple changes of ownership and stations, is a separate anorak interest worthy of a 'who do you think you are?' programme. The family tree diagram of some of them is quite complicated 😄

Declan A Walsh

I think the first Irish "pirate" was in 1916 at the GPO when rebels broadcast from there!

I'm kind of surprised that Robbie did not explore other options for radio after the shutdown of Sunshine and being unsuccessful with his application for a license. His rival Chris Cary shut down Energy 103 specifically to get a license to broadcast via satellite - Radio Nova International. Maybe, Robbie was just not into technology and preferred traditional means of communication and he wanted to be in charge. So, he used his business acumen elsewhere. It's a pity really - an online Robbie Robinson-run Sunshine Radio, for instance, could have been interesting. As I said above, he helped a lot of radio careers here with Sunshine. For that, he will be most appreciated by many.

Ger Roe

The 1916 morse 'broadcast' was arguably the first legitimate use of the term, in the world - as in a signal being sent out for general reception by non specified recipients. Up until then radio was in the experimental realm of official communication messages sent by radio telegram companies or agencies of various states with access to the new technology. Therefore the messages were intended for point to specific point reception. Eddie Bohan is the man to talk to about that aspect - he put a lot of research into proving it happened and there is a very detailed explanation in his self published book - A Century of Irish Radio 1900 - 2000 (Amazon). People tend to forget that it was a morse declaration and not modulated (speech) radio - It wasn't DJ Padraig P on the decks with a shout out for the new republic.😄

With regard to Robbie getting out of radio after Sunshine, In my conversation with him about the time of the closure he said that the whole IRTC process and the rejection of his licence application 'nearly killed him'. He was a broken man after the initial application disappointment and then fighting against the Ray Burke shenanigans. He told me that Sunshine was his baby and he had very fond memories of the station, the staff and of Dublin, but he was then 'living on a beautiful Island in the Sunshine' and enjoying his new life. I think he and Stella worked exceptionally hard on Sunshine, making personal sacrifices when needed and they well deserved a break. It would have been impossible to go back to their previous lives once they had committed to the new business venture.

As I said previously though, several people have told me over the years how they either sought him out, or met him accidentally, and if you mentioned radio, his eyes would light up and the chat would flow. When once asked if he would still consider broadcasting, he said that he was still on the radio - he had a radio link at the apartment complex to call Taxi services for his clients!

California Dreamer

Another year to get snubbed by the radio awards committee!

Antenna

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117837419#Comment_117837419

Simon Maher of 8Radio (and previously Phantom FM) appeared on RTE 2fm during Dave Fanning's show last Sunday:

https://www.rte.ie/radio/2fm/clips/22001349/

Whilst there was no direct mention of Robbie Robinson or Sunshine , the last piece of music featured was the above mentioned 'Bridge over Troubled Waters' which was associated with Sunshine 101 by all accounts

VanHalen

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117854023#Comment_117854023

Maybe not - watch this space - I have been told it may happen this year. Almost did in 2019 (they even had a banner made) but the childish cretins in RTE vetoed it.

California Dreamer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117875055#Comment_117875055

It will be someone from RTE, someone from Commuicorp/Bauer or Wireless, someone in management, and then the token local presenter!

California Dreamer

The Hall of Fame is a highly regarded achievement within the Irish radio industry. This year we are delighted to announce the four new inductees:

Declan Meehan EAST COAST FM

George Hamilton RTÉ lyric fm

Patricia Messinger C103 Cork

Stephen Clements RIP BBC Radio Ulster goQradio

At 11am today we will be livestreaming on our Twitter feed and Facebook page a very special event held to award the inductees their plaques. #IMRO21

Always has to include someone from RTE. I wouldn't have associated George Hamilton with being a long term radio presenter. Maybe Robbie will get in next year, but I doubt it!

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117854023#Comment_117854023

Sure those guys pretend that there was no non-RTE radio in Ireland before 1989.

yiddo59

Martin Van der Ven has posted over 270 photos and cuttings from Robbies time on Caroline, Veronica, Tros and Sunshine on Flickr https://www.flickr.com/photos/offshoreradio/albums/72177720298475224 They are from Robbies own collection. Some great memories.

Tow

Brings back memories. I think I was at the balloon release outside their offices.