Hanrahan V 'Chris Barry' Court case of 28 April 1998
High Court prevents radio presenter joining rival station.

THE High Court in Dublin yesterday granted an interim order preventing FM 104 radio presenter, Chris Barry, from breaking his contract with the station and joining the second Dublin local radio station, 98FM. An interim injunction was granted by Ms Justice Mary Laffoy to Capital Radio Productions Limited of Ballast House, O'Connell Bridge, Dublin 2, and trading as FM 104 against Radio 2000 Limited trading as 98 FM, with registered offices at Malt House, Grand Canal Quay, Dublin 2. The order restrains the defendants from doing any act or thing which produces or induces Pavilion Company Limited/Ciaran Gaffney (otherwise known as Chris Barry) from breaking the contract of June 11,1996, with the plaintiff. The court heard this contract is not due to expire until January 31, 1999. The injunction also prevents 98FM from doing any act or thing which induces or procures Pavilion from refusing to perform or further the contract with FM 104. 98 FM is also prevented from publicising, advertising or announcing that Chris Barry is or will be broadcasting with 98 FM. Ercus Stewart, SC, with Grainne Clohessy, BL (instructed by Kevin Barry, solicitor), appearing for FM 104, said he would be applying for an interlocutory injunction against 98 FM on Friday next. In an affidavit read to the Court by Mr Stewart, chief executive of FM 104, Dermot Hanrahan, said his station had entered into a contract with Pavilion under which it was to render the services of Ciaran Gaffney (otherwise Chris Barry) to his station for a period ending on January 31, 1999. Pavilion and Gaffney had wrongfully purported to terminate and resign from this contract. On Friday last, a press release from Fleischman-Hillard Saunders made on behalf of the defendant declared that Barry will be hosting 98 FM's late night talk show programme from 10pm to 1am, Monday to Thursday, with the new programme beginning on May 5 next. Mr Hanrahan said in May 1997 Barry had told him that general manager of 98 FM, Kenneth Hutton, had offered him £90,000 salary and up to £50,000 legal costs to break his contract with FM 104. Mr Hanrahan said the defendants had been informed of the existence of the Pavilion/Chris Barry contract on April 24 last but had not responded. If Chris Barry or Pavilion were permitted to break the contract of June 1996, there was a serious risk that the number one position in the market place, at present held by FM 104, would be lost, he said.

The Radio Ireland discussion group at
www.ferretface.com/Radio-Ireland/
group was shut down in late 1998. The operators gave the following explanation:

"Radio-Ireland Discussion Forum

Formally the place for the discussion of Irish Radio

We apologize for the abrupt discontinuation of our previously available service.
We have unfortunately been forced off the Internet by the following:
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INCORPORATING
DEANE & PARTNERS
SOLICITORS
MEMBERS OF LAWNET

12 SOUTH MALL,
CORK, IRELAND
TEL: (021) 802700
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email: firstname.surname@rdjcork.sprint.com
Acting on the behalf of the following:

TREATY RADIO LIMITED T/A 95FM
COLM O'CONAILL
ALEX MCCARTHY
SCOTT WILLIAMS
RONAN O'CONNOR
P.J. O'RIORDAN
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EILEEN BROPHY
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Reason: Internet Defamation

The Web Site has been accused of carrying highly defamatory material. "...the site and the disgraceful and wholly untrue material which it carries has damaged, and continues to damage, the reputation and standing in the community of our clients. They have been held up to public odium, scandal and contempt as a result of which they have suffered and continue to suffer, loss and damage."

The threat of pursuing "this matter through the Courts and to seek damages for defamation" isn't a concern. The possible loss of Hosting Services is of concern to us.


If you have any questions of concerns please use the contact information above or contact the Newsmaster here at the following:

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email: newsmaster@ferretface.com
For a list of links see http://www.ferretface.com/cogair/links.html
"

Apart from those described above, many posting were sensible/ worthwhile to read:
Here were two typical (sensible) posting of the Radio Ireland board:
Radio-Ireland
Re: More choice
From: Gandalf
Date: 16 Nov 1998
Time: 09:14:21

Comments
I am in favour of more choice on the air at any time. I think there is a market in Dublin for a Gold Station and an Easy Listening Station and possibly a Talk Station. The single biggest problems facing any new station is costs and the IRTC does not help when it comes to this as the biggest cost for any station is News/ Content and we all know about the restrictions there. But again this leads me back to my original point and that is that any station is only as good as it's Management / Staff and while there are fine broadcasters in both 98 and 104 they are more or less gagged and the weak people are holding them back. If the weaker people spent half as much energy on the stations output as they do to office politics then maybe things could improve or at the very least their shortcomings might become so evident that they could no longer be tolerated. Let me give you a small example as to how the dangers of letting non radio heads run free within a station: In Sunshine the News output was always treated with a certain amount of respect and the result was that the News was never fantastic but it was never bad either. The only production area for News was also used for promos / ads etc and to the best of my memory Sunshine had two Revox b77s a mixing desk and a few other bits and pieces. Now compare this to Century the biggest non-event in Irish radio history, I was in Century the day after they closed and I was shocked at the amount of waste in the place. In the production area I counted five or six Revox B77s and a couple of PR99s,I then came across a couple of more B77s in one of the on-air studios. My first thought was no wonder this mob went to the wall if this is an example of the overheads they had because if you compare the output of Sunshine and Century and the respective popularity of the two stations there can be no doubt which was the more successful and at a fraction of the cost. This I put down to the people involved. So I think that the success or failure of any new stations will depend a great deal on who is in there doing the job. And again this brings me back to the subject of the Famous Five and who they might be. So far the only two names put into the hat are Dave C and Dr.Don neither of which I had in mind ( Don is now Don Moore Faith Healer 7th son of a 7th son and doing quite well from it on the Continent-Dave is doing relaxation tapes). Surely you can do better than that. Lets have some names Regards Gandalf
Last changed: November 16, 1998

Irish Radio

Re: Wexford pirate station "99FM"

From: Sideshow Al
Date: 30 May 1998
Time: 00:13:06

Comments
The station in question is called 'Ultra FM' and broadcasts on 99.2 FM from the St. Johns Gate area of Wexford Town. Its not very good, and are often off the air.

Irish Radio

Limerick 105.7 relay?

From: Galway Here I Come
Date: 05 Jun 1998
Time: 14:44:08

Comments

105.7 was coming form EAST of NewcastleWest and was aimed at the West of Limerick . 
To improve the strength it was moved west of NewcastleWest. It is now Strong in Askeaton, Shanagolden, Glin, Foynes Etc. 
As a By-product it is now very Strong in Ennis and it reaches as far as Galway. 
It is now so strong in Ennis that Tony G can get it on his Radioalarmclock.

WLR-fm's new studio
From: journo
Date: 17 Sep 1998
Time: 15:09:57
Remote User:

Comments
Waterford's WLRfm opened their new studio in Dungarvan yesterday. The studio will be used for one programme a day (a different one each day) plus local production work.
Studio consists of an Alice AIR2000 desk, 3 Audiometrics CDs, 1 Denon MD, 1 Tascam MD, Gentner TS612 phone system, Telos Zephyr ISDN codec, RODE main mic plus two others for guests.
Audio is relayed to the Waterford base by ISDN.
There is also an Optimod 8100 in the rack.
Its an extremely nice job, obviously no expense was spared.
The official opening was carried out by IRTC's Michael O'Keeffe, who hails from the town.
* There - a bit of actual news, that didn't hurt, did it?
Last changed: September 17, 1998

Date: Wed, 03 Feb 1999 -


--- This message is from the Irish T.v. & Radio mailing list. 
[The Irish Radio Website http://listen.to/pirateradio]---
*Jam Fm launched yesterday in Dublin replacing the short-lived Sunrise Radio
which was supposed to replace Energy Fm.

*Pulse Fm now have sold there 99.4 transmitter and started broadcast on 102.9
with 250 watts from Kiltiper Hill for people in the west of Dublin.
Transmissions continue on 103.2 also.

*Live 105 start transmissions in South Dublin on 105.2.

*XFM 107 have moved to 107.9 from 107.1 because of the beginning of transmissions
from Tallaght Community Radio on 107.2, XFM transmit from 6PM-6AM everyday
Website: http://www.isis.ie/xfm

*Kicks FM now on 99.4.



Subject: Pulse to announce closedown tonight @6pm!!
Date: Fri, 11 Jun 1999 07:01:38 -0700

- From the Irish T.v. & Radio mailing list.
The Irish Radio Website is at http://listen.to/pirateradio

Pulse FM 103 are to announce closedown tonight @6pm!!
Tune in at 103.2 or 102.9 to hear in Dublin,
Byee,
David



- From the Irish T.v. & Radio mailing list.
The Irish Radio Website is at http://listen.to/pirateradio


Wednesday 18th August 1999
- NOVA Dance were off the air from 94.7 on Saturday morning, I could hear
Northern Sound from here in Dun Loaire on 94.8 which is from Cavan. They
returned with a much weaker signal at 1.30pm that afternoon. They have either
moved down the mountain or reduced power... If anyone knows what happened mail
radiotv@hotpop.com

- There is a station on 106.4 playing stereo dance music at the moment (9.47pm),
I have to check out if they have RDS or not

- Another station has been playing stereo music on 107.0, it has a hum in the
background.

- JAM FM has returned to the airwaves on 93.8 FM stereo with a very weak signal
out here in Dun Loaire.

- On Killiney Hill I could hear a relay from Medium Wave of BBC 5 Live on 107.05
. The tuner was not even tuned in properly to 5live!

- FM 2000 were off the air last Thursday (12th Aug.) they had been playing a
loop of music with FM 2000 jingles until Friday afternoon when they were removed
then it has just been looping music on its own since then.... This station has
an uncertain future... E-Mail me if you have any info. on this station.

- Flash FM are on 94.1 playing oldies

- 99.7 is home to a Satellite relay from N-Joy Radio

Send me any more news by replying to this mail thanks,
David.
http://listen.to/pirateradio

The following item from history details the raid on KISS FM Dundalk's Northern Irish relay transmitter by officials in Northern Ireland

From kissfm@iol.ie Thu May 15 16:19:36 1997
Subject: Raid on Kiss FM
Date: Fri, 16 May 1997 00:12:17 +0100

Because I would be here for a week writing to you all, I have decided to
give the same short explanation of recent events to all interested parties.
At approx. 12:55pm on Monday 12th May, 3 officials from the UK Radio
Communications Agency arrived at KISS FM's Northern Ireland mountain site
on Tamry Hill, just outside Hilltown in County Down. Armed with a search
warrant they proceeded to enter the building containing our transmitter and
after verifying what it was, switched off the transmitter and seized it.
When speaking to the official on Tuesday he informed me that I had committed
a criminal offence and should I enter his jurisdiction he would have no
objection to prosecuting me (The fine is 2 years imprisonment and/or
unlimited fine). The official let it slip to me that a complaint was
received by a legal station in the area (probably Downtown) and not by
another pirate as previously thought.
On the same day, Tuesday, Great North Radio was visited by the Department
of Communications here in the republic, apparently due to a complaint from
a similar source.
On Tuesday evening KISS FM switched off all remaining transmitters in
Northern Ireland and we are now operating exclusively from the republic.
However we have obtained a new mountain site, just south of the border
which already has a 120" mast in place. This should if anything improve on
the raided 106.0 signal. This site is expected to be activated within the
next month.
Up to date information can be obtained from our website at
http://ireland.iol.ie/~kissfm/
Thanking you all for your support
JG --- KISS FM

AND here are some interesting postings from the Bravenet Irish Radio forum in 2000:

re 1993 (in 2000)
1993
Magic 102 (from Cabra)
Groove FM (I think on 98.something...Power FM grew from this station) ********
POWERFM BOARD re. Limerick dispute, early/2000:
As owner of Kiss 106.7fm I am myself a Dublinman and regret having to witness the nonsensical comments of the past few days. Best of luck to the entire pirate radio community in the future and keep the faith. Yours sincerely, Darren McCann *******


Date: 01/25/00 07:19:29 PM
Name: Harry
Email:
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Answers
All people are saying is that Cary wasn't legally involved with ZOOM/NRG/Energy 103. Whether he employed the staff and signed their paycheques is irrelevant!
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

Replying to Original Article:
Article: Awww now come on.....you'll be telling us he didn't own Magic 103 next......
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Replying to Original Article:
Article: Basically Yes!
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Replying to Original Article:
Article: I heard a rumour some years back that even though was listed as a consultant, he actually was the owner of Nrg 103 the unions and tax people were just not to know. That's why when he came back with Nova 100 he was using all the NRG 103 resources equipment DJs etc with no objection from NRG. --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

Replying to Original Article: Article: But that's just it, he DIDN'T OFFICIALLY own Energy. He was just listed as a consultant. Basically a combination of NUJ Officials, VAT men, Receivers & Zena were there to make sure that Chris couldn't operate a station in Dublin. That's why there was the whole debacle over the name - Nova/Nova Power 103/Power 103/Energy Power 103. Anything that officially had Chris listed as owner was targeted. --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

Replying to Original Article: Article: Y'see Dipole, I keep asking Harry but he just mumbles something about VAT and Zena Brady.....I still don't get it though. Why would Harry put a station on to get back into the Dublin market if he already owned Energy? --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

Replying to Original Article: Article: Jesus Sybil the mind is going! Your dear hubby put Nova 100 on as his entry back into Dublin radio - it was to run all CDs - although I'm not sure why he put his lot in with Energy so soon. Could you ask him on your next prison visit? At least you can take some hope in the fact that the old Nova 3Kw rig is currently running at 5.2Kw with Energy Videotape 106. --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

Replying to Original Article: Article: Beaver, you really are a mine of information - I have to say I am extremely impressed. I have one further question. We've gone through the whole Nova/Zoom/Energy chronology, but I still don't understand why Nova 100 came on in the first place. Please explain! And yea, any time I get sentimental, I go to 19 Herbert St or even better, I go and look at the old Nova 50kW MW tx....
And also yea, the aerials are called Staghorns. I remember the boys from Groove FM plugging a 25w tx into them back in early 92. That was just before a certain "good sir" decided that cutting them in half would be easier than taking the full system down. Of course, that rendered them useless but I don't quite think he thought of that. And then, even after that, the old Nova mast disappeared one afternoon. Now that's a good trick!
PS Mister Webmaster, is that the King David in that picture? --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

Replying to Original Article:
Article: You're asking for a lot of info in one question my little friend!
Energy closed on March 11th 1988. However, Nova returned (as a "separate" entity, har har) on 100.0FM. After blowing NDCR off the airwaves with about 1billion watts or something average like that, they began testing as Nova, the Hot 100. They were forced to move, however, to 99.9Mhz after Robbie Robinson, not too pleased that 1. Nova was coming back and 2.that it was up his hole on 100FM, moved his 100.5Mhz TX to 100.3 to force Cary to move away.
While they announced 19 Herbert Street as their address, the station actually came from 143 Upper Leeson St., next door to Energy, from the top floor. The two stations continued side by side for a couple of weeks with no similarities whatsoever other than the same jocks, and the same news - there was actually a lead coming out of Energy going in the window of Nova! Nova was subject to a lot of interruptions, with CDs being played a lot of the time. Then, suddenly, Nova and Energy merged to become Nova Power 103.
Chris Cary was appointed a consultant to the company and promised to make Nova Power 103 the best station since, well, Nova.
This only lasted a few days until the Receiver of Nova Media Services injucted the company operating Energy, Oakdale Ltd. to prevent them using the name Nova as it was considered to be an asset of the company (Nova). After this, the station become Power 103 for a few weeks and then returned to Energy.
Again, I have all the dates in my trusty diary which was last seen in my used underpants drawer.
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Replying to Original Article:
Article: You said that NOVA came back in October 1987 on 100.00 fm . what year did energy actually close and was it the energy team back using the NOVA name or was it Chris Carey himself. Also how long did Nova last on 100.0fm in 1987 and what date did Nova begin relaying via satellite from surrey on 95fm.I am a bit younger than some people who post on this board so I don't have many memories of the original Nova, but I do remember Satellite Nova with Pat Courtney, Liam Quigly, Jim O,Neil, Robin Banks, Sybil Fennel and of course Chris Carey himself.
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Replying to Original Article:
Article: Amid speculation, here are the facts!
Nova closed on March 19th 1986. They were not using a 1kW Joe Jackson rig - they used that when they come back on May 19th 1983, the day after they got raided.
Nova announced on the 7pm news with George Long on Monday 17th March, 1986 (St. Patrick's Day) that Nova's 102.7FM (actually 103.1 since RTE's dirty tricks put on Claremont Cairn in October 1985) would be off for a short while for some vital maintenance work.
This work involved two things. Moving all spare link gear, any moveable stuff including Optimods and spare studio gear out to Leeson St. Bear in mind - Nova had been using Leeson St as a link-bridging site as there is no line of site between Nova Park and the site at Murphy's quarry. The only way Harry could get a link to Leeson St. and on to 3Rock without using any valuable equipment, which would be seized by the Receiver, was by relaying it off 738AM. This relay came from Leeson St and went through two Optimods - 1 at Leeson St. and 1 from the site itself.
Zoom began playing back 2 back after around 3PM on the 19th March when it became clear that a Court-appointed examiner would have to wind up Nova that day as any such examiner could not carry on the business of a pirate radio station. Nova closed on AM only at 6.04PM on the 19th.
The first link that evening on Zoom was Richard Jackson, who had been doing 9pm to 1AM on Nova and did the same shift on Zoom said "Welcome to Zoom103FM Dublin - the new Nova". Zoom carried on with Nova's exact schedule until Monday 24th March until around 3 or 4 in the afternoon when the Receiver to Nova Media Services seized equipment at Murphy's Quarry, rightly believing that this was Nova's FM installation. Seized from here was a 3KW CSI FM rig, now refurbished and being used by Energy 106, an FM Optimod, which ultimately ended up in Advanced Technology College (there's another story there!) and an MCI Link Receiver - which ended up with a certain well-known Dublin engineer.
The mast, with 8 Dallas cowhorns was used by Energy until March '88, then Q102, and eventually reached a tearful end at the hands of a well-known Dublin maverick around 1992 and has not been heard from since.
the last song on Energy was on March 11th at 7.10pm and I think was a Prince song - the fader was just ripped down and there was no proper closedown. Very unfitting end for such a great station.
I know all these facts to be true as I was sad enough to keep a diary for all these years. I saw the Optimod at 3Rock so I know it was there. And I experienced my first orgasm to first Nova jingle on 100.0FM in October 1987!.
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Replying to Original Article:
Article: PLEASE NOTE:(ONLY DUE TO CRAP DRIVETIME JOCK):THANK YOU!
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Replying to Original Article:
Article:
Being slightly too young to fully appreciate NOVA, Energy was my station of choice as a kid. Although they always got the bejaysus knocked out of them by Hot Hit Sunshine, they still sounded great.
Remember Pat Courtney always slagging off Cass Jones for being young. Bob Gallicoe singing "When I Fall in Love"? Courtenay singing "I Wanna be A Dress Designer". And Rick Dees as well. F*ck, what a station. Every Saturday afternoon, sitting in the garden, eating an icepop and listening to Rick Dees tell me I could win a crispy 100 dollar bill by sending my quiz entry off to some obscure PO Box number in Hollywood.
That reverb which they left on the news mics!! Those mega mega jingles. And then of course, The Hot 100 coming on, and every little anorak in Dublin having orgasms (Sybil, we know you were, don't deny it!!!).
Energy pissed all over the Q, left them for dead. And isn't it funny how all the people we don't like now sounded great then? Garret, Colm Hayes etc.
I know to many people it was the bastard child of Nova, but while it was there, wasn't it just the business? And the club mix on a Friday night. Guaranteed to hear "Funky Town" by Pseudo Echo.
Its a shame that Energy is kinda the forgotten superpirate. Together with Magic 103, we don't nearly hear enough about them.
GC
p.s..coming soon, was Rhythm FM really as bad as we remember? (YES)
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Replying to Original Article:
Article: Energy Started on the first Sunday in April (I think) with Level 42, Lessons in Love being the test song on and off all that afternoon......though Wax, right Between the Eyes was THE Energy song.........All Music Radio..........
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Replying to Original Article:
Article:
I think Zoom survived for three days before closing. I heard a great interview that Pat Jennings did with Bob Galleco in 1987 where he talks about all this happening. I'm sure you have it in your stash somewhere Sybil, or did they subject you to a vicious cavity search when you went inside???!
Anyone know what the last song was on Energy, before it switched over to the Q relay? And to frighten us all, Energy shut in March 1988. F*ck, I feel old...
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Replying to Original Article:
Article: I'm still researching that link question...Harry's memory is gone to pieces since he went inside. And well done InfoAnon it was Richard Jackson....and the link was at 9.44pm. No idea about the first ad, but how about what time did Zoom close and what date did Energy start....
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Replying to Original Article:
Article: My own memory is the switch to linking off 738am was made on the Monday evening between 7pm-8pm and announced on air. On the Wednesday there was an interruption for about 15 minutes on 738 (around 3.15pm)but up until 6pm 103.1 & 738 were both relaying Nova. First link was after 10PM-maybe Richard Jackson not to sure, I think the on air song was ROCK in the USA-now what was the first ad!
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Replying to Original Article:
Article: I also have tapes from the last days of Nova and first days of Zoom (courtesy of Tony Donlon) although I thought they were in stereo - I must check that out.
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Replying to Original Article:
Article: The last few days of Nova that I have on tape are all in mono....I have Zoom's first couple of days somewhere.....will go dig 'em out.
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Replying to Original Article:
Article: Dipole, you are absolutely correct. The link from Nova had been moved that afternoon, and continuous music was being played on 103 at that stage. 738 was on 1kw, using a transmitter that belonged to Joe Jackson, ex Nova manager which had been subject to one of the many court cases. Now, what time was the first link on Zoom and who was the DJ?
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Replying to Original Article:
Article: If memory serves, I think Nova shut down the FM at around 3pm and their closedown was only ever heard on AM. Zoom was testing with continuous music long before NOVA pulled the plug.
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Replying to Original Article:
Article: Zoom 103 switched on literally the second Nova's last Jingle was played.
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Replying to Original Article:
Article: Wasn't Nova in Mono the last 6 days or so anyway ? (due to the "change in assets") and 103 had Zoom on-air before Nova closed at 6.
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Replying to Original Article:
Answer: 1) Nova commenced in 1981 2)Nova was in mono on the last day as their FM was being relayed off 738AM ! 3)First link on Satellite Nova in Dublin-

Web Forum by Bravenet Web Services
*****************************************************
Hey Dipole!!
Yup, the Q PAM package were pretty bad, as were the Gerry Moore sings that they used in late 85/up to mid 86. You will remember the excellent package they used after that....with the jock names done with sonovox. My second favourite jingle package of all time!
As for Blockie, I dunno. I rarely hear jingles these days that I'd like on my radio station (if I had one that is!!). Certainly Jam and TM don't do anything for me at the moment. How about you? Heard any killer packages recently?
(as we now descend into sad anorak heaven).
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Replying to Original Article:
Article: I have 13 full energy jingles on CD from jam creative productions in Dallas (the originals), whoever wants them leave a message.ps- also z100, coast f.m., horizon f.m etc
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Replying to Original Article:
Article: I didn't know the Energy jingles were a Z100 package. I have all the Z100 demos on CD and I don't recognise them. The same goes for Q102, although certainly their first package was made by PAMS (in their reincarnated form - CPMG???) and sounded dreadful. Capital 104.4 used the Turbo Z package. Century used a mixture of jingle packs but was mainly centered on 'PLJ, with a few NRG ones (resung for Ireland's Top 30) thrown in as a bonus! I wonder will Martin Block use the old Q package or will he spend £6000 on a new one for 102.2.
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Replying to Original Article:
Article:

I was talking about the original Energy 103 package...
The only bits I know about them were that they were orginally sung for WHTZ100 N.Y.
Jingle buffs take note: Over the years, the following Dublin stations have all used a Z100 package?
Energy 103 Q102 Sunshine Hot Hits (Rockin' to the Red Hot Sound was a Z jingle) Capital 104 (They use one of the music beds to this day on their weekend promo) 98FM (Their current package) Century (although most of their package were resings of WLPJ, they also used resings of the same package Energy 103 had used).
Annie
(now residing in Jingle Heaven)
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Replying to Original Article:
Article: if you could just put it onto an MP3 file and send it on it would be nice, got cool edit here to do the rest. I presume you want to make a bit of dosh on it though
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Replying to Original Article:
Article: It's a jingle demo which lasts for about 3 minutes. If you like, I can cut them up and add reverb to make them sound like a proper jingle package and master them onto a CD or MiniDisc, but it will cost you £100 stg. Then again, a single jingle from JAM is around £300. Let me know if your interested.
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Replying to Original Article:
Article: any chance of putting them into mp3 for use on a future energy fm? I would think all the jingles put together wouldn't be more then about 10 minutes
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Replying to Original Article:
Article: Did those jingles have a frequency mentioned ... or did it just say "energy" as I have a generic Energy package on CD from JAM.
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Replying to Original Article:
Article: Yeah, if anyone has energy jingles in any sort of decent quality mp3 feel free to say so and I'll give you my email address to send them to, even if they are copied from tape! Were all those jingles from Energy 88 back 1 or 2 years ago just from the old nrg in the 80's or some other energy in the world? Perhaps Ger could play them on Sunday either.
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Replying to Original Article:
Article: Yeah, I have a copy on cassette of some of the Energy carts, but I would like the full package in CD quality. Was it JAM who did the jingles?
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Replying to Original Article:
Article:

I'd love to get a really good copy of the Energy package. I know its floating around on cassette, but fuck me, what I wouldn't do for a properly sourced set.
Annie (missing you already, Sybil!!)
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Replying to Original Article:
Article: Ger is this show relayed on any other stations or at a different time I wouldn't mind tuning in. But sunday is a bad day.
regards........

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Replying to Original Article:
Further to the recent debate on the board regarding ownership of the Nova family of stations - Next week's 'Anorak Hour' will include the repeat of an interview first broadcast in 1998 during which Eddie Bohan (Pirate Radio Historian) explained some of the intricate company structures used by Chris Carey and crew to hide ownership of the stations.
It may answer some of the questions posed recently here or could also raise others. - 13:00hrs GMT next Sunday on Phantom 91.6. if anyone is interested.
Ger Roe.


**** BRAVENET webboard from March/April 2000:
Article:
The only reason the Q jocks were pissed off with it was because it took the music selection out of their hands. Plus the fact that the likes of Kelly & Gaughran thought they were a law unto themselves just because they were drinking buddies with Block & co.
When Cunningham arrived @ Q, he tried to get rid of Block straight away and that's why Block was so critical of Cunningham's formula and the Q jocks, used to waffling away to their hearts content over another Steely Dan album track, had to now be content with a four second jock over the new Kylie Minogue tune.
Love it or loathe it the Hot Hits format was one of the most successful formats (along with the Classic Hits format I hate to say) ever in Dublin radio and the battle between Sunshine & Q only served to prove the point that there's only room for one and in this case it was Sunshine.

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Article: I'm not sure about the "astonishing success" with older listeners, but the Hot Hits format certainly did get people talking about radio in Dublin. I have a long interview with Martin Block on tape where he spends half an hour deriding the format and saying that he would never listen to it and that the jocks at Q were pissed off with it and some had already left over it. So it certainly wasn't all sweetness and light!
Glad to hear that you agree that the audio on sunshine was highly suspect, I am working on a compilation of pirate station closedowns from 1988 at the moment and the difference between the audio on Q and Sunshine is quite remarkable (even if the 101 aircheck is off chrome cassette). I think the best audio (cleanest sound, best processing) I have heard was from KISS 103.7 in Monaghan with their Inovonics unit, closely followed by Energy & Q. Interestingly, the Inovonics processor can be bought for $2100 (£1300 stg) and sounds a hell of a lot better than that bloody Omnia.FM that 104 have!
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I won't start slagging you off just yet Dipole (oh yeah, the Q jingles will be with you next week), but the 'Hot Hit' format was huge across the board. I am still surprised at the astounding success of that format in older demographics. Their promotions were first rate, I think half of Dublin sent in tapes to become the Big Kahuna in 1987!!
I also remember the traffic snarl up on Baggot Street when they gave away their last Rolo on Valentines day. And 12 year olds don't drive cars.
One thing though; Sunshine Hot Hits airchecks never sound well. Ger Roe played Nails on Beebop Gold a month ago, and all it was was Nails roaring Beebop Gold! into a microphone about 8 feet away from him.
I agree about the audio, I think Energy had the best on air sound, but they overdid the reverb on the news mic once or twice.
Believe it or not, I still believe the Hot Hit thing could be huge today, 11 years after Sunshine's demise. And to drag up history, all that Cunningham did was recycle ideas from the likes of Ron Jacobs/Bill Drake in the 60's, Buzz Bennett in the 70's and Michael Joesph in the early 80's.
And a Bravenet record ; so far, the names Ben, Justin, Glen, and ESG have not been mentioned!!!!

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The "Hot Hit" format was aimed at twelve year olds. Maybe that's why you thought it was so exciting. That was the idea behind Robbie (and later Pierre Doyle) going with the format. Rather than getting a top rating in the 18 - 34 age group both stations decided to capture the whole radio market 12 - 49. The one thing it did do was turn an awful lot of people off Top 40 radio and I think helped make the 20% news & current affairs requirement mandatory. I never liked the on air sound of Sunshine (even listening to tapes of it today) I always thought that Q had much better audio quality - even Energy sounded better than 101. Anyway, that's all old news, lets get back to slagging each other!!
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Hey Dipole, I'd disagree with you re Wild Bill. I was 13 when he launched that format, and rest assured, people talked about Sunshine! Yeah, the 5 second link thing sounds bizarre now (it sounded even odder then), but it sure as hell worked. And Sunshine had a great sound to it that was more than just the jocks, although they helped.
It is interesting to note how the Hot Hit format died on its arse in Super Q. I've always said that despite those 4 second links, the jocks did matter. Bill took the same format but different jocks to Q, and it failed. So the jocks weren't entirely irrelevant.
Curious to know what you think of the above, as you seem to be one of the few people on this board who remember that era.
I also still think that Carey was just as 'commercial' as anything 98/104 do today.

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Article: Yes, I even have a copy of the cart with Cary's closedown speech from May 1983! In answer to the other points raised, Cary had tried to make Nova more of a family station with classical, news and religious programmes on the schedule. KISS was set up to try and get back to a more music format, but it never really worked. That's why when RTE started their jamming campaign in December '83 Cary took only four weeks before closing KISS - there was no such hurry in closing NOVA. In fact Nova was only closed because Zena Brady was about to take back half of her share of the station and the only way Chris could minimise this was to close very quickly and sell off all of the valuable equipment before Zena's receivers got into Nova Park!
The thing about SuperNova was that it was to be a two finger exercise at RTE. Basically, Radio Two had (unofficially) announced that they were going to provide four hours a night of local programming for Dublin on 1278 kHz. Chris got wind of this and decided to split Nova for the same four hours ... anything RTE could do Chris could also do!
Bill Cunningham is another kettle of fish. I (and many others like Martin Block) believe that he ruined radio in Dublin by turning it into continuous pop music with 4 second links where anyone could do the gig ... sort of Raduga ten years early! However, he passed away a few years ago, so let's just let his "Hot Hits / Super Radio" format die with him.
Cary, on the other hand, is I believe due for release in July (unless he escapes again) so God knows what could happen after that ...
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Article: Carey may have said he was the worst pirate...etc, but lets face it, he was the ULTIMATE pirate in everything he did! And running a legit station didn't seem to agree with him either(BUZZ FM if I'm correct).And do u believe everything he says? He claimed in his FINAL and only genuine closedown speech of NO*VA (from Nova Park) that he had not made a penny from Radio NOVA!!!! Yeah Right! His speech from the Herbert St studio after the raid was pre-recorded and basically a publicity stunt. I don't recall any pickets at Herbert St, only Nova Park. Agree with your final thought though.
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And sorry to contradict you. Gallicoe was there to pull an audience. RTE Radio 1 played classical music until recently, and got a pretty large audience share.
Kiss FM was run at a loss because of circumstances, rather than Harry being benevolent. Don't forget Careys plan was to put them on AM and sell the station properly. He was pretty quick to close 'em down.
Supernova?? In the early 80's rock was huge in Dublin. I'm sorry, but playing pop on AM and rock on FM was not a good deed, it was a strategic move by Chris.
Oh yeah, and he set it up to keep all those ex-KissFM jocks employed, didn't he? That's why there were people on the picket lines outside Herbert Street.
None of this is a criticism of Nova, but you do them a great dis-service by portraying them as some anorak station. Carey himself said in interview "I am the world's worst pirate".
Now, if you were to talk about Magic 103, that might be interesting...
My final thought : At least Carey was a businessman whose business was radio, as opposed to most station owners today.
And a VERY final thought ; BILL CUNNINGHAM
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sorry to contradict you, anonymous, but Harry did a lot of things that were commercially unsound. Remember Dublin Today and the classical prog with Bob? Also KISS FM was run at a loss! When NOVA and KISS were raided, he split the AM and FM Fqs to set-up SUPERNOVA in order to keep the KISS staff employed instead of letting them go as he could have.
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That's right, whereas Chris Carey was a simple idealist who only wanted to use his 20 watt shortwave rig of a Sunday morning.
Listen, reality check. The 80's super-pirates were every bit as commercialised as the Dublin ILRs today. The only difference was the era, what was considered commercial in those days is now considered almost avant-garde. When was the last time you heard 98 or 104 go into an adbreak without a stop set? Back in Nova, that was the norm.
All I will say to finish up this point is :
BILL CUNNINGHAM.
If you don't remember the (excellent) Hot Hit format he introduced to Sunshine 101...DJs were for a long time limited to 5 second links. In and out of adbreaks. That was it. Oh yeah, and it was the most popular Dublin radio station EVER.
That's why Nova was the mighty 890 and not Nova Community Radio.
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The 80s guys are now the legals. When 98 and 104 started up 80% of the crew were from either Nova/sunshine or Q102. Unfortunately they now play to the strict rules of commercialism...
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The UK Top 40 is based on record sales (allegedly), Now can anyone say this is the case in ROI?
Ah sure even if we had hit music handed to us on a plate would we know the style of station on which to play it?- Z100 Dublin's a mighty long time comin'!! SuperQ/Sunshine/NOVA et all seemed to have somewhat the edge musically indeed and they gave us great Top 40 radio. Dance is thee fad right now in Ireland - Officially Delerium's Silence is a prime example of the type of tune that befits the new dance image - Here's the simple food chain as it sounds :ESG played it first,then2FM,then... extinction? Behind? - mmm maybe if you look at it the other way we're ahead!! -like the music heads decide "unsuitable for our target audience - bin it!!)" and that my friends is usually what has been happening ... The 80's guys played cool music.... where are they now?
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The ODTR have taken on Niall McCaughey as a 'pirate buster'. He was Radio Ireland's chief engineer, previously at 252 and recently at TV3......
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Article: FYI -There is a new signal on 107.2 from Clonmel Town 5 mile radius but intermittently audible in car to outskirts of Kilkenny) Since last week they are playing Country/Irish/traditional automatic. While I'm at it from this area we have signals from Power in Waterford on 104.1( fighting it out with Shannonside on the same frequency. Galtee Radio 102.2 and Radio Limerick One 104.4 and 105.0. Also Radio 3 have a new signal on 96.2 in South Offaly (Around Moneygal?) On the mountains there are quite a few strong unidentified mono and stereo signals operating automatically in the South Leinster/North Munster region. --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

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kiss limerick isn't bad but suffers from being overly commercial during the day, there is fairly serious plans afoot for a station to cover all Tipp, up as far as Portloaise and into Limerick city. There's two old skool limerick pirate radio jocks and a promoter involved. they are currently working out the Technical side: relays etc and if it's going to happen it will be on track for June at the latest. more info as i get it
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Hi,
A friend of mine from South Tipp. asked me if there any stations away from Dublin which would substitute:
a) 2FM's floorplay show (club favs. & some classics *no mixing*)
2) 2FM's John Power show (new whites, alternative, hard, mixing)

I've seen KissFM Limerick mentioned, what's their music policy like ? Any others ? Don't suppose there's many dance shows during the weekdays, what about the weekend nights ???
Ta.
Brian
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Hi I am the station Manager at St Ita's Hospital Radio. Recently we had a burglary in which our CTE KT3000s tx was stolen, Also stolen were two Pioneer pd106 models a phonic compressor a one way filter and a phonic mixer. All this can easily be identified by us. I am appealing to a any jock whose station has recently acquired similar equipment and to any one who may have been offered this gear for sale to please contact me. This equipment was not covered under insurance and since the station is non profit making we do not have the finances to replace it. To the low life who stole it if you like to return it contact me, if not let me tell you that our many friends in radio land are looking out for it and I am confident that I will find out where it is being used. As I said earlier all the equipment can be easily identified. By Posting here I do not intend to cast a slur on the may decent people operating in pirate land ,indeed I have that background myself. Finally I want to thank those of who came to our aid with a loan of tx to get us back on air and also to the many Jocks who are on the lookout on our behalf. You know who you are.

Thank you
Tom Noctor
974@cheerful.com
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Where is Murphy's Quarry? and where about in Kilakee did Sunshine TX from?

Ta
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Article: As usual you are right Beaver! TX powers & ERPs are quite different. Since you're the resident expert on NOVA, answer this if you can; what did happen to the £17000 ?. Up your..
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It's possible that NOVA were pushing 100watts for a short time from Murphy's quarry although I'd say that would have been a very short time indeed with Mr. Cary involved. One thing to remember is that with the Dallas Cowhorns aerial system Nova were using, 100 watts would probably come out at a couple of kilowatts ERP, The only other good FM on from a mountain site at the time was Sunshine on 101.5 from Kilakee so they would have have whacked out.
RTE were pushing f*ck all power from Donnybrook because they didn't think they needed 3 Rock to cover Dublin. It was only when Chris Cary started melting everyone's signal meters that they had to do something. I remember they used to be on 89.3 and 95.3 with Radio 1 and RnaG sharing the same FM network.
They put in the FMs at 3 Rock in mid '84 which is when they put on 88.5, 90.7 and 92.9. Up till then RnaG didn't have their own network which was proper order. When Nova came back on 88.1FM after the jamming in April 84 their were told to move off by RTE When NOVA came back, they were running 88FM from Murphy's quarry, 102.7 from Nova Park, and 819khz and 738Khz from Nova Park - all blasting out.. they had as many TXs on as possible so RTE would give up jamming them and go after Sunshine instead - which worked.
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I remember hearing that for a number of months 88FM for Nova was only 100 watts on Murphys Quarry. The lack of other FM at the time meant that this signal got out well. Is this true?
I also remember hearing that, although RTE had been on FM since the early 60's, their main Dublin FM was 40 watts in Donnybrook. It wasn't until they moved up to 3 Rock in about 1980 that they increased power. Until then, people often had to listen to Kippure, which misses out huge chunks of the Southside.
Anyone remember the Three Rock TX site being built btw? I do remember RTE reshuffling freq. in about 1983/4...anyone recall Radio 2 used to be on about 95.2????
??FM 104
whatever new processing they have changed to - probably the Omnia - it could be adjusted to sound a lot better than that. I assume that they changed processors because they need to get separate left and right feeds for the new microwave STL and it is being re-encoded at the site. The old analogue Optimod 8100A does not provide this option as the output is MPX. still, it doesn't sound good at all. must be a case of "it'll do"
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I didn't notice any distortions last night during the guest mixes 10-12. the first jock and bren longs mixes sounded fine and didn't blow my speakers.
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The problem is that BTS are the Omnia dealers for this country. It would break BTS's heart to put an Orban product in one of their client stations. They got the designer, Frank Foti, over to set it up initially - about 6 months ago - but they made the mistake of telling him that FM104 wanted it LOUD! So it was set up LOUD - which means distorted.
The Omnia can sound nice, but if you turn off the composite clipping, which is the bit that makes it sound distorted and trashes the pilot, its not as loud as an Optimod 8200.
It'll be interesting to see if they do go to an Optimod, and if so if its set up properly. And have they bought it and if so who from?
98's may sound better than the Omnia but its still far from perfect - they can sound very nice, far better than 98.
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Posted by Rodney on May 7, 2000, 9:48:33 , in reply to "Q102"
Q 102 was originally run by Lawrence John and known as "The Quiet storm". Miles Johnston was the original station engineer, before handing over to John Thewlis (ands later Joe King). After leaving Q, Lawrence worked for some stations in Europe and then returned to Ireland for KISS FM 103.7 Monaghan in 1988. The next year saw LJ on the new Belfast Community Radio, where he stayed (through it's various re-launches) until 1996. Then after resigning live on air, he got backing from a Bangor businessman and set up Energy 106. Initially this came from a site in the Belfast hills, but after it was raided by the DTI, everything was moved to Monaghan (the same FM site that KISS had used in '88) and is engineered by Miles Johnston. They broadcast with an old Radio Nova Dublin 3kW TX souped up to give over 5 kilowatts output. Running through a tower with 16 x 5 element yagi aerials, Energy have an erp of over 500 kilowatts and can be heard quite clearly in Northwest England! Incidently George, Q became the most financially successful station in Dublin after Nova closed, but Pierre Doyle wanted it to be #1 in the ratings (and knock Sunshine off its pearch) so he hired the late Bill Cunningham to "do a Sunshine" on Q. It was moderately successful, but not a patch on the Sunshine format. So unfortunately Q will be remembered as an "also ran".

--Previous Message-- : No one seems to talk about Q102..I set up the : news service there when we broke from : NOVA. It was run by a man called LAWRENCE : JOHN. Anyone remember him? What happened : him I wonder, 15 years later. Q102 had a : great idea which they screwed up badly. : They wanted to be more of an asy-listening : station, but ended up competing for the : main "nova" audience. What a : shame. JOHN KENNY really started : professionally here. JASON MAINE, JOHN : KENNY, CHRIS BARRY, and myself along with : LAWERENCE JOHN started the station having : left RADIO NOVA during a strike (NUJ) in : Dublin in early 1985. Also, does anyone : remember MAGIC 103? Easy listening for : Dublin. Chris Carey had this station : linked to NOVA on the top of the hour when : I was reading news on the : "network". : Just some little tidbits of memories for : you... :
Posted by N*O*V*A on May 20, 2000, 4:26:43
What station did Nova get their early jingles from? Not the Radio Nova ones, but the ones they spliced ...
"Your music and your friends...day and night it never ends....88FM".

and "Your music is -splice!- RADIO NOVA"
I see that JAM did a CD a few years ago with classic Z100 and KissFM jingles on it. The old Herbert Street Kiss were on them. Sounded odd to hear after all these years.
From about mid 1984 Nova changed format slightly, from being quite an old sounding station in some ways with the odd album track or two in amongst the current material, but by 1985 they were far more of a hit music station than they had been. Lots of my early Nova tapes have stuff like Steely Dan/James Taylor, whereas my later stuff has them banging out the hits.
Was this a policy, or did they just lose a lot of the more 'album' jocks that were working there circa 1982.
Kiss FM Herbert Street. I was told that this had a better on air FM sound than its main station. Could this be true. What did Kiss use for its processing. I know Nova used Optimod, but did Carey splash out on a second FM one for Kiss.
And am I the only one to think the original Q jingles were manky? You know the ones, 828 and we're sounding great, Q102, with Gerry Moore singing?
I read elsewhere that Q sounded awful at the start with dodgy audio and a very poor signal. How did that happen? I never listened to early Q, it was about 1986 when Nova folded that I started listening elsewhere.
In early 1987 In Dublin carried a radio listenership poll. I can't remember the results, other than Sunshine creaming everyone else, and Energy coming in at about 25%. Radio Dublin had 5%. Does anyone have this, and if so, care to post the stats up on the board?
And heres one for ye: That camp sounding Southsider who read the traffic on Nova; who was he, and where is he now? A question I'd also ask about Terry Riley.
Late night Friday nights on Radio Dublin were presented by Pat Jennings (not the footballer, as he was always keen to point out). It was a late night phone in, with a very live sound. You used to be able to hear the phones ring on air, and people taking calls in the background. He used to talk about quite Dublin-y topics like "Spanish students" etc etc. I suppose in someways he predated the talk show scene we have today. He left in early 1988, I believe to give it a break after his brother passed away. He was working with RTE for a while, but since the end of 1988 I have never heard anything about him. What happened to him?
And anyone remember 12s on 2? Every Saturday night Radio 2 would play 12 inch mixes from 6-9 (I think). Sadly, Radio 2 missing the boat back then would not play the dancey stuff, but instead rock out with the 8 minute mix of Def Leppard "Animal" or T'Paus "China in your hand!!". At the same time, Energy used to play mixes every Friday night, where you were always sure to hear "Funky Town", the 1987 Pseudo Echo version.
One station I'd love to hear more of is Southside 95. This short-lived operation was the brainchild of Paul Vincent, who ran it from Dun Laoghaire in 1987/1988. Although I remember them with high technical standards, good audio, and good presenters, the station had a poor signal around the western part of the city, and went off-air mid 1988, when their channel of 94.9 was rented from them by Carey to rebroadcast his satellite Nova. Maybe Ger Roe could dig out some of those tapes.
Oops. Sorry. I'm anoraking about the old days. Anyone wish to comment on the above, feel free. I love remembering the great Irish radio era, I was a listener back then.


Posted by Q102 Heaven on May 20, 2000, 16:18:20 , in reply to "1980's questions."
Q sounded OK at first, but didn't someone steal their TX equip ? I also remember they had really dodgy cart players and every 2nd song sounded terrible........ as for the start up jingles....well.....if you ask me manky is being a little kind......always liked the "on AM and Stereo FM this is Q102" TOH though ! Nova's music policy changed with whatever format was HC's "thing" at the time...Anyone remember the first few weeks on Kiss and their awful breakfast show......????. I remember coming back into Dublin from Cork on the day they launched the last jingle package and the station sounded so "fresh".....

Posted by Miles J on May 21, 2000, 13:33:43 , in reply to "Re: 1980's questions."
I was the original engineer. However Pierre Doyle.........

Posted by its an energy weekend on May 21, 2000, 3:44:52 , in reply to "Re: 1980's questions."
Mysteries of the universe part 6253637 : WHY DID ENERGY 103 do so badly?????? My thoughts: Energy launched out of the ashes of Nova. Nova by the time of its closedown was having its ass kicked by a revitalised Q102. Calling Energy the sound of Nova and hacking the Nova package hardly did anything for the identity of the new station.
When they stopped that silliness, and concentrated on Energy 103, rather than as a tombstone for the memory of Nova, Sunshine was going Hot Hit. Like the format or not, it did capture the imagination, and I think Energy was lost in the background.
They also did sometimes have strange ideas; just as in Nova's latter days, the station would change music policy on a whim. Also, Q102 did have a strong breakfast show, while Energy chopped and changed. Their most consistent breakfast show was Pat Courtney and Bob Gallicoe, but even that only ran for about a year.
And in the meantime, Sunshine were doing some bizarre stunts and promotions that really got the attention of listeners. Most people recognised Energy's "I Love Energy 103" promotion as a direct rip off of the vastly more successful "Don't Say Hello" on Sunshine.
Despite all this, by Sept. 1987, Energy was rocking. Their line up included Pat and Bob, and the legendary Club Orange Schools Out with John O Hara. And although Energy may have billed themselves as "More Music, Less Talk", the bias was on personality jocks like Tony McKenzie.
At this stage, the Q started shadowing Energy, the music getting hotter and hotter, while the jocks indulged in more wacky zoo style shows. In some ways, this backfired on the Q, as they still led Energy in the ratings, and were breaking their own successful style to copy the upstart.
November 1987, and the Hot 100 came on. Soon calling itself the new Radio Nova, we all knew it was a matter of time before Energy and Nova would get together (same ownership, same building, same FORMAT!!).
When it did, they changed the line-up, tragically taking Pat Courtney off brekkie and moving him to afternoons (didn't 98FM repeat that mistake ten years later???). The use of the Nova name confused people, and although they were successful in getting the station name out there quite quickly, there was utter confusion amongst listeners when just before Christmas they were told to refrain from calling themselves "NOVA".
Even odder, they then chose to call themselves Power 103 for about 4 days, before reverting back to the old Energy 'Power' 103 name.
At this point, I think the music was VERY hot. Less Stock Aiken and Waterman than Sunshine, and quite a wide variety of music, but a lot of discoey stuff, and VERY upbeat.
Of course, by March 1988 it was all over. The station was closed and sold to Q, who decided not to run it as an ongoing business, but to add the powerful Energy TXs to Q102's programming. It also meant that they boxed in Sunshine 101, as the 99.9 TX for Nova 'The Hot 100' was still running.
Some of the Energy jocks went over to Camberly and continued to work for Cary, while some of them popped up on the Q, whose management took great delight in refusing many of the jocks who had defected from Q jobs (O Hara, Gallicoe etc etc). Some even surfaced on Liberty 104, where for about 1 month we had the strange listening pleasure of hearing people like Denis Murray, Tina Gates and Tony Allen alongside the DJ Dave Doubledeck types who worked there.
As for the Q? When Energy 103 closed they inherited Schools Out. Of course they refused to put John O Hara on it, and it quickly died off. By April 1988 the former Sunshine 101 consultant Wild Bill was working for the Q, and turned it into another 'Hot Hit' station. They never did manage to beat Sunshine in the ratings.


Posted by Late Night Energy on May 21, 2000, 4:21:37 , in reply to "THE ENERGY 103 SAGA"
Energy right from the start, as far as sales was concerned, was too heavily tainted by Nova. Nova may well have been a great station, but it did hit a lot of "the right" people when it folded. And these people sure as hell weren't gonna be hit in the pocket again ! On paper HC may not have owned Energy, but everyone knew he was behind it - even the address for heaven's sake !
When it did start to pick up, it lost a lot of it's jocks to other stations...the whole Nova/Power/Energy thing didn't help either - at a time when sales should have been great, Christmas, they changed their name 3 times in the space of a fortnight. I agree too the relaunched line-up was very weak compared to what had been on-air before.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted by Malty on May 22, 2000, 2:27:05 , in reply to "Re: THE ENERGY 103 SAGA"
wow!! Great memories!
Actually, the Hot 100 was coming from 143 Upper Leeson St., above "Joe Byrne Bets here" and they had a wire coming out of the front window of 144 into the window of 143 which was a direct feed from the news mike! You could here the bleedthrough on the newsreaders cans as they listened to Energy - a dry feed went out on Nova 100.
Energy was a great great station and the main reason Chris wanted to bring back Nova was because there was so much talk of licences at that stage - serious talk - he thought he would have a better chance with Nova than Energy. The station was called Power 103 for four days while the Nova liquidator took Tony Mckensie and Sybil to court to protect the asset of the name Nova.
Incidentally, KissFM 102.7 were using an Optimod. Its often said by people around at the time that Kiss FM had a better on air sound than Nova. The Kiss Optimod was set differently by Cary because the station was playing a different type of music etc to Nova. While Nova would have been loud, punchy and strong, Kiss would have been warmer.
Incidentally, Q never "whipped Nova's ass"! They were certainly doing OK in Dublin around early 86 when Nova closed, but Nova were still without a doubt the Big One! I think the only people who would disagree with that are Blocker and Scott!
I remember Q used to shadow everyone, Sunshine one week, Energy the next! No orininal ideas! --Previous Message--

Re: THE ENERGY 103 SAGA Posted by More Music Radio on May 22, 2000, 3:22:24 , in reply to "Re: THE ENERGY 103 SAGA"
That reminds me.....remember when Bob was packed off to Magic to do the Brekkie show with Peter Madison and Colm used to link up for the little bits they did between 8- 8:30. Because of phase cancellation Bob's voice vanished to nothing on Magic while Colm couldn't be heard on Nova.....if they tried to speak at the same time. The Optimod in Magic had a Nova Optimod id tag on it as well. Ahhh the brown carpet on the walls........the old green marble fireplace in the corner....whatever happened to Niall McGowan, the only jock who was on the Hot 100 ???

Posted by Energyman on May 22, 2000, 7:29:30 , in reply to "Re: THE ENERGY 103 SAGA"
Hi Malty!
It would be interesting to see how well both Q and Nova were doing against each other by the 1986. I would be of the opinion that Q were beating Nova, but I'm always open to correction! Certainly if Nova were still ahead, it was by a small margin, and they were a station on the way down in a hurry (hurts me to say that!!).
The Q were sounding better and better, and I remember Nova doing stuff like re-writing the Q102 Eye in the Sky traffic links, a practise which got Carey (yet) another mention in the Phoenix magazine.
I think Nova were a shadow of their former selves at that stage. The other comment that someone made about Q was correct though. They were always looking for someone else's ideas to rip off. Without a doubt they went through a phase of shadowing Energy 103, which was odd, as they were beating Energy in the ratings. Then of course, we had the Super Q saga which remains one of the funniest radio moments EVER in the history of the world. Lightning requests Vs Instant requests, BeeBop Gold Vs the Bop Shop.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The End of Nova Posted by NTL on May 22, 2000, 13:03:47 , in reply to "Re: THE ENERGY 103 SAGA"
Remember towards the end at weekends when it was Daaaaaaave Johnnnnnnson (as the jingle went) playing "fun favs and hot hits" for 6 hours followed by George Long......for another 6, usually followed by Richard Jackson...
I think NOVA was still beating Q almost to the end, at the end of the day the "behind the scenes" stuff never really has much of an effect on the audience who are there for the music etc. Does anyone know where Sybil is now ? A few years back it was always her answering the 'phone in the HiTech place if you placed an order- and yes, it was really strange to hear her doing that......


Re: The End of Nova Posted by Malty on May 23, 2000, 1:43:56 , in reply to "The End of Nova"
I seem to remember seeing a survey in one of the papers at the time which had Nova at 35% and Q10poo at 24%. sunshine , I think were around 22%.
While not bad for a station only on air a year, Nova were definitely murdering Q. Harry had kinda gone into self-destruct at that stage and believed it was more important to run Nova into the ground that sort out the NUJ picket,(by paying them as opposed to pouring diesel on the walls so the strikers couldn't sit on them and threatening Ken Hammond
A very interesting story is the one where Bill Cunningham came up to Nova in late '85. Nova was being run at that stage by Dave Harvey and Tony Mackenzie. When Bill C told Cary he'd make Nova even better than it was - told him what his formula was, Harry told him to f##k OFF. He did tell him to try a station called Sunshine. "Just ask to speak to Robbie, he'll be the looser in the Portacabin!" Bill did and the rest is history.
It always annoyed Robbie to the end that his big success story with Sunshine 101 was always marred by the constant reminder that he never came near to beating Chris Cary in Dublin, and that he only made it to Number 1 when Chris left the scene ( something Cary got a great kick out of reminding him on a regular basis.)
Q were never actually number 1 in Dublin.
--:


Re: The End of Nova
Posted by NTL on May 23, 2000, 10:34:04 , in reply to "Re: The End of Nova"
I think towards the end Robbie also suffered from the "shit, I've sold my soul" guilt trip as well.
Whatever Sunshine may or may not have been before the "hot hits" era, it was in many ways 1000 times better than most of the ILR's on air at the time across the pond. Sunshine was a very good example of a well rounded Radio Station - in many ways similar to Downtown up in the north. On the other hand, Cary eventually ruined Nova by constantly going just that little bit too far (remember NOVA TV ?) - his "I'll get them in the long grass" attitude towards various people really did result in the end of Nova and made selling the station harder and harder. With Robbie, I personally always found it odd that he didn't keep the old Sunshine on AM and fire ahead with the "Hot Hits" on FM. It could have worked.
I also wonder and I think this hit him too, if he hadn't gone Hot Hits and had left Sunshine as it was would he have been allowed to go legal in 89 ?
Likewise had Cary let Nova alone when it was "doing the business" and been happy with it as it was, who knows, maybe it would still be here today.
As it is I think he's always been just a little too far ahead of the times he's living in. I mean stuff his Eutelsat and Astra days, had Nova turned up on Sky Digi now - things could have been so different !

Re: The End of Nova
Posted by Q102 hater on May 23, 2000, 7:30:29 , in reply to "Re: The End of Nova"
Yeah, but the point that Q was a station on the way up, while Nova was going downhill very quickly at that stage.
It is funny about Wild Bill though, Sunshine had a very low profile compared to Q and Nova in 1985/6, up until Bill's arrival.

And Q102 were NEVER number one in Dublin. That still brings a happy smile to my face. Serves 'em right for being so smug!


Re: The End of Nova
Posted by Peter Mulryan on May 23, 2000, 18:16:26 , in reply to "Re: The End of Nova"
Q 102 were only number one in Dublin for about 3 days in March 1986. When NRG kicked off they essentially took all of Nova's audience (barr AM listeners) and re-claimed the #1 spot. Sunshine were a poor 3rd, that's why the late Bill Cunningham's format was taken on board so readily by Robbie Robinson. Although by 1988, Q had the largest advertising revenue of any of the Dublin pirates, it was still a poor second to Hot Hits Sunshine and Pierre Doyle just couldn't stand that, so he tried to get Bill Cunningham to out-do Sunshine on Q. But as we all know, that was a disaster - why listen to a copy when you can listen to the original!

Posted by George Long on May 23, 2000, 14:37:40 , in reply to "Re: The End of Nova"
You said It. I started up the news service on Q102 and was somewhat distraught at the bad quality mics and the jingles (ordered by LJ) were appalling! When I went back onto Nova some months later, I breathed a sigh of relief when I could hear my voice in the cans in a loud crystal clear way. I had missed the quality of Nova so much while I was at Q. That, my friend, is the truth.

Radio Nova Clutterfree!!
Posted by Peter on May 17, 2000, 20:43:21

WoW...Its so good to review all the wonderful memories of Nova 88fm...In Stereo..... I really enjoyed the memories of what songs and jingles "Stood out" in people minds about the station.
For me it was the "Brekie-Treky" with Declan Meehan and Bob Gallicio. I also have very fond memories about the "Nitecap" segment of Jason Maine's evening show....Was that Barry White just before Nova News at Midnight.
Speaking of Nova news, I still think that the Intro Music for Nova News was and still is the best intro music for radio news.
Yes the days of Nova. For those of you who do not remember or were too young, In the 80's there were several stations to listen to. I am from Tipperary and I went to college in Dublin at the time. Each weekend I could Pick Up the "Nova" signal on medium wave, or 846AM. I remember Ken Hammond, Brian Dobson, Pete ???
Siobhan Purcell, all on Nova News.
N-O-V-A come back Please!!!!!!!


Re: Radio Nova - Personalities
Posted by Steve on May 18, 2000, 0:23:06 , in reply to "Re: Radio Nova Clutterfree!!"
Just to mention a few of the names from Nova which may have slipped from memory:
Mike Moran (now Mike Moloney - recently joined Lite FM from 2FM)
Tony Allen - what a voice.(don't know where he is now - but did a brief stint with Sam Prendergast's Liberty Radio in 1986 when Nova closed - down)
David Harvey (Mr Crimeline on RTE)
Greg Gaugharan - now with FM104
Declan Meehan - now with East Coast
Bob Gallico - presents a classical prog on East Coast every Sunday evening
Jason Maine - The overnight man on FM104 - and he still does the Nitecap - it kicks off Sundays - Thursdays at 1am.
Chris Barry - now with 98FM
Henry Owens - now with Virgin Radio in the UK
There were many many more - please post if you can remember.


Re: Radio Nova - Personalities
Posted by George Long on May 23, 2000, 14:24:43 , in reply to "Re: Radio Nova - Personalities"
Fascinating to hear where these people have gone. I'm glad to hear Bob (Gallico) is still on air...and still alive for that matter! When I worked on Nova in '84 he was trying to give up smoking, and when I told him that I smoke too, he said "George, you are young. You don't need to give up smoking yet". Ha! What a line!!!

Radio Nova
Posted by Anthony on May 17, 2000, 0:42:37
As a listener in my teens in the 80s, I was very happy to listen to radio nova.... I actually have some "Cut Outs" from the Sunday World when Nova 88FM were advertising. Does anybody remember the News readers Siobhan Purcell. Of course the others: Brian Dobson, Ken Hammond, Dave Harvey are now with RTE. Nova for me, was the best station I have ever listened to. I am NOT involved in radio I am just a listener. Thanks for reading this ...I just wanted to express my opinion....

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Re: Radio Nova
Posted by Anthony on May 17, 2000, 2:39:53 , in reply to "Re: Radio Nova"
Thanks for replying to my message. I am glad that many other people remember how wonderful NOVA actually was. if memory serves me correctly the once ran an ad campaign called "The great Irish radio experiment"....how true that was. I wonder where all the DJs from Nova are now.
John Clarke is with 2FM, Colin Hayes is ??????
Jason Maine is ????? Declan Meehan is on Today FM I think....Bob Gallicio is ??????????
Tony Garreth is now Garreth o Callaghan on 2fm...
Still lots of CLUTTERFREE Memories..(AAAAHHHHHH)
They also had ...The Mighty 890...even though they were on 846am (I Think)
Has it ever been really proven that it was RTE which were jamming NOVA way back then???? I remember being very annoyed with RTE when I heard the Nova DJ's broadcasting jingle after jingle and telling everyone to Honk their Horns at 6pm when they were shutting down. I remember then I annoyed I was, but the very next day....Nova was Back...it was a big PR exercise and it reached all the papers that day.
all the stations around at the time of the early days of Nova were very "unprofessional" and even RTE Radio 2 as it was known used to have Ronan Collins in the breakfast show....Those were the days of Cominatcha!!!! May 31 I think is there birthday...ah well age catches up with you...
NOVA come back !!!!!


>MMM! NOVA - the Golf GTI of radio,the creme de la creme,the pioneer,the only station that made you feel you COULD achieve your dreams! It was always exciting back in the day to hear what Harry was going to do next - everyone even outside Dublin loved NOVA! What a sexy station!
I wanted to be a racing driver but the jocks on Nova were even cooler than racing drivers - now I'm a jock!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
songs that remind me of NOVA - 65 love affair - Paul Davis,Dolce Vita - Ryan Paris,Break my Stride - Matthew Wilder! Music by John Miles and on and on there's so many special things about Nova it was simply thee best Radio Station for Ireland - it deserved to go national - INSTEAD WHAT??!!!!! - The Government and RTE shut em' down!! eeeh HELLO! Sadly the diffusion of innovations has not diffused our love for THE POWER STATION - RADIO NOVA. N(left) O(right) V(leftagain) A(rightchannelagain) aaa the memories.....................................
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: --Previous Message--
: : While not being about the Super Pirates : themselves Peter Mulryan's 1988 Book : "Radio Radio" does cover Nova, : Sunshine and Q as well as ERI in some : detail. : Should be on a few library shelves.... Radio Nova....forever!

Posted by Falcon Eddie on May 17, 2000, 12:32:55 , in reply to "Re: Radio Nova"
I can't believe that what I started on this board 2 weeks ago about Nova, has mushroomed into something much bigger than I expected. It's great to see the contributions from so many who can recall in their own memories of Nova. I notice that not one bad word has been said about it, although I did expect something harsh and crude from the current batch of pirate operators under the age of 30! Just goes to show that there is RESPECT for Nova. We've heard before that Chris Carey was difficult to get along with (most of the time anyway) but that didn't stop people from churning link after professional link etc. Money was no object and there was plenty of it at the Herbert St. HQ. Recently I was passing through Cork city and did my usual bandscan when I came across a station playing old Alphasound tapes. It was the Story of the Irish Pirates by Leon Tippler! I logged the station on 94.70 and calling itself Power FM and playing 80's music only. It was awesome to hear all the old Dublin and Cork stations brought back to life again. It really brought it home to me that all we have now are tapes and memories...that's all that remains, sadly.


Powerful Signals-RetroStyle
Posted by Falcon Eddie on May 16, 2000, 12:04:18
With all this talk of the 98FM and FM104 and pirate signals not getting very far outside Dublin, it reminds me of a time in a bygone age when Q102 and Sunshine could be heard on FM in parts of Cork city! Even Radio Nova could be heard on 88mhz if the conditions were right, of course it was clearly audible on 819khz in the South much the same way as South Coast Radio and ERI were clearly audible in Dublin on MW! The powerful transmitters of the 1980's cannot be emulated now in the era of Mickey mouse pirates and VeronicaFM et al!

ye olde radio 1987/1988
Posted by Cass Jones (not the real one!) on May 18, 2000, 4:21:49 , in reply to "Re: Powerful Signals-RetroStyle"
I thought Super Q was great at the start, with all that bizarre Wild Bill "Supersounds" stuff. They gave Sunshine a run for their money for a couple of months, but I think they fell apart towards the end. Remember the Bob Shop Ball (its the business!!) at Parkes Hotel in Stillorgan? They had a big f##k off billboard on top of the hotel for about 3 months prior to the party...I remember the newspaper article with Wild Bill where he mentioned that he had been offered sex in return for tickets. 1987/1988 was a fantastic time for radio. You had Hot Hit Sunshine, you had the Q, Energy 103, Nova the Hot One Hundred, and some killer tunes!! Can still remember listening to Super Q/Sunshine rivalry all through the summer of 1988, and they would just keep playing "Sweet Child of Mine" by G'n'R, and "Dirty Diana" by Michael Jackson. For just a brief period of time, Dublin radio sounded major market USA quality. That Hot Hit battle was great fun...Super Q promos alleging that the Sunshine jocks were on tape, and that the Q were playing the most music allowed by law. What was the miaow about anyway? And as for that launch...they had some young one off the street count up to about eight thousand, while all the mics were on in studio, and you could hear all sorts of noise through the processors. Bizarre. The first song on Super Q? "Fat" by Wierd Al Yankovich. Definite shades of Sunshine where they kicked off with "Nothing Serious (Just Buggin" (an appalling novelty hit that Pat Courtney played for about three hours non stop!!!). And although Energy had shot its bolt by the time of Super Q, it too rocked in 1987/8 (well, up until a Friday evening in March 1988). "Catch me, I'm Falling" by Pretty Poison, "When Will I Be Famous" by Bros. Yup, the hot pop stations of that era made even Bros sound good. Hey, anyone got the words to the Energy 103 rap? No Memory by Scarlet Fantastic. In fairness to Energy, they did have tons more personality than Sunshine, and their playlist was guite broad. I remember Courtney playing the Sisters of Mercy "This Corrosion" on the Energy Breakfast Club (wake up with the happy sound of Dublin...wake up with ENERGY!!!). Gallicoe singing "When I fall in Love" during Christmas 1987. Both Rick Astley and the original singer had the single out in the charts, but Energy claimed that their version was the one getting the calls!! Anyone recall Courtney claiming that they had recorded the Energy rap in the 'Record a hit' recording booth in the Ilac Centre? AND I f##kING BELIEVED IT!!!!!! Sunshine 101 and the Free Money Hit! Beebop Gold! The Bop Shop! The Q102 Eye in the Sky (and then it became the Star in the Sky). That obscure boarding school in Wales that would always phone anytime the 738AM went off. The great Energy car sticker promos (white man speak with forked tongue, red man reply with forked fingers, hit 'em boys!!!!). "Dinner With Gershwin" by Donna Summer. AND THEN!!! The Hot 100. What were they like, eh? The 1pm news bulletin "Energy 103 and the New Radio Nova have merged". Every anorak in Dublin must've had heart attacks at the same time. You'd travel around the country, and although many of the towns had awful radio, you were always guaranteed at least two stations per town. More usually than not, every major town would have one big station, one average station, and then a crap one! Sometimes you'd travel back through the same town a week later, and there'd be a new station on the air, or the two smaller stations would've merged. Where did all the DJs come from anyway? How did Ireland sustain enough DJs for over 100 commercial radio stations? and where are they now? These days, radio is so dull, you'd yearn for the return of Liberty 104, let alone sunshine or Energy!! If CAU-FM came back today, they'd probably get to number one. For the people working in legit radio, I'm not slagging, but do YOU lot get the fun from it these days? And if not, why not? Perhaps its time to think about it.
*********************************************
| Irish Radio Discussion Board ]

Re: yeah, so ANYWAY, more 80's radio
Posted by Malty on May 29, 2000, 0:07:33 , in reply to "yeah, so ANYWAY, more 80's radio"
Both Energy and Q used the Optimod 8100A. Q later brought in a digital add-on to the Optimod (not made by Orban though) called the Prism - it was a four band parametric eq/compressor which was designed to give an extra kick to your audio. It used to sound shit though because it brought up loads of hiss and other shite. Sunshine around this time bought the new Orban XT2.
The Prism was last in the news when Branigan and Ormond tried to buy it off John Thewless to use for Kiss FM in 1994. Scott Williams at 104 heard about the impending purchase and snapped it up with the help of Joe King, as both Scott and Joe at the time were out to get Kiss in a major way. 104 had it on air for a while in '94 and it sounded very hissy. I think Energy used to sound amazing on FM and AM even though they only used the 8100A on its own.
When Nova came back in November '87 and "merged" with Energy, I was on the phone to Michael Mahon one Friday evening and Chris Cary was there tweaking the Optimod himself!

--Previous Message--
: : huh? : ANYWAY...speaking of audio, can anyone tell : me what sort of audio chains did Q102 and : Energy 103 use? I seem to recall Q : switching from Orban Optimod in 1988 to : some digital set up. am I right? :

Re: yeah, so ANYWAY, more 80's radio
Posted by mALTY on June 7, 2000, 0:29:42 , in reply to "Re: yeah, so ANYWAY, more 80's radio"
Mmmmm, lot of questions there patcourtfanclub! You're stirring some old memories there. Must have a good think..
--Previous Message--
: : Cool. Any idea whatever happened to John : Thewlis btw? Did he disappear off the : scene after being involved with the early : stages of Q. : I'm not an engineer, so I didn't know there : was no variable control for attack on an : Optimod, but on the recording I heard it : did sound fast. : I've always wanted to know how would a TX on : Howth Head get out around Dublin, I didn't : realise that Sunshine had one up there in : the 80's. Any ideas what their signal was : like citywide? : Didn't Eamon go up the mountains in 1987 and : stick a rig on 105.something? I remember : he had two rigs right beside each other on : the dial. It didn't sound healthy. This : wasn't using the 'disputed' mast that Q102 : then Cablelink and then Sunset used. I : think Cookie may have had the rig on : towards Tallaght. : Maybe I was being a bit hard on Kevin, and I : know that they did have hassles with : raids, but they only had 2 to the : studio... : When they came on first they were using a BSS : compressor, which aren't bad little units, : but it was completely mis-set. : In fact, I always thought Kiss sounded at : their best (as a station, not audio) after : they were off from the hills and on the FM : from the studio, with Andrew Mangan : programming the station. Had Andrew been : in charge of programming from day one I : think it may have been a lot more : successful than it was. : And a final thought (just like Springer : does!); : isn't it odd to look back in the cold light : of day and to realise that nobody seems to : have many good words for Q102? I mean, : they were a big station in the 80's, and : many anoraks then preferred them to : Sunshine Hot Hits...but judging from this : board people have changed their views. : Whad'ya think Malty? I have to admit that : I always thought Q102 sucked, but now it : seems that I wasn't alone in my thoughts.
:
:
: --Previous Message-- : : No, I don't work for 98 btw! : Energy 103.0 was coming from Murphy's quarry, : the old Nova site with the cow horns. 2 kW : CTE rig. The 99.9 was coming from a site : at Kilmashogue, which was also the site : that Magic 103 used after moving from Lamb : Doyles. : Sunshine's 100.3 came from Howth Head, the : 100.7 came from the Sands, 101.1 came from : the Kilakee Restaurant near the Hellfire : club and the 101.5, which came on in : mid-86 came from Murphy's quarry right : next to the Energy site. : I don't really give a shit about Q but their : 101.9 came from the old Eamon Cooke mast, : up behind Lamb Doyle's, where Gary had his : stuff robbed from in '93. Their boring : 102.3, actually 102.4 when it came on : first came from some boring place in : Saggart. They were also at one stage in : the field beside Noel Donnelly's house, : his mother's field where they had a tower. : The base of the tower is still there : somewhere. : Southside 95 used a CTE 250 copy made by Karl : Reddy, Dave's nephew. The site was the : old Coast 103 site beside the Blue Light. : They bought all the Dundrum Community : Radio gear, so they had two Phonic desks : joined together and some compressor Karl : rigged up himself. I remember they had a : problem with their TX which used to just : go awol by itself and wipe out half the : band once every few days or so. : I think you're being a little unfair on Brano : by the way! what kind of audio would you : have if the Department were coming in : every couple of days and taking all your : gear! : Also, there is no attack time control on an : Optimod 8100A btw, but it is certainly : possible to use the other controls such as : Bass Coupling and Release time to achieve : an aggressive sound.

: --Previous Message-- : : I found an old tape of Energy 103 recently. : I noticed that the attack time was quite : fast...giving it a very tight aggressive : sound. The only thing about the audio I : wasn't impressed with was O Hara on the : mic! Not his jock skills, but he seemed : to have the mic cranked up a bit too much. : Why did Carey love reverb on mics btw? I : know a lot of AM stations did it in the : 60's, but sometimes it did sound odd on : FM. : Malty, you seem to know your stuff. Can you : give me some info re Southside 95FM? : They're a station that have been : airbrushed out of radio history sadly. : Any idea what audio gear they used? : Didn't Kiss 103 use two Orban Co-operators : running into each other? I was never : impressed with their on air sound at : all...typical Kevin audio. The use of a : unit like the Prism (which I never heard : of before) would've been great to hear. : On the tape I found recently, I must've been : hitting my presets, 'cos there were other : stations on as well. Because they were : presets, I don't know who was who (other : than they were 101, 102, and 103!!!). I : think it was Q that used to sound very : bassy. In fact it sounded quite turned : in. : Anyone got any ideas of the various TX sites : used at that time? I've got a fairly good : idea where sunshine were, and the Q, but : what about Energy 103, the Hot 100, and : the various FM sites. : Finally, Malty, do you work for 98FM with a : name like that? And if you do, can you : ask them to bring back Pat? WHAT A : GENIUS!!!!!! : :

*** Bob Heuston of WLR Waterford. RIP Sat 27-5-2000
Bob Heuston of WLR-FM once in interview had said he used to be on WCCR (West Coast Community Radio) in Galway (early 80s) was also on old pirate WLR. Originally from Donegal.
************* Powerful signals : KISS-FM Monaghan Town
Posted by ANORAK on May 16, 2000, 22:19:09 , in reply to "Powerful Signals-RetroStyle"
Yeah, I remember getting KISS Monaghan in stereo in 1988 just outside Co. Dublin. Stunning audio, great jingles, Scott Shannon's 'Rockin America' programme. (consider my astonishment, as I didn't even know that Kiss were on until that day. Would've been very early 1988, after Energy closed, but before Q went to 'Super' Q.)

Re: Alien signals : KISS-FM Monaghan Town
Posted by A still knobless radio! on May 17, 2000, 10:42:15 , in reply to "Powerful signals : KISS-FM Monaghan Town"
Yeah Kiss Rocked! What a station! Charlie Van Dyk (The King) Wee Owen Barry (and the size of him god love him!) Denis Murray rocked (particularly playing Van Halen on their sweet Optimod) Lock it on n rip thy knob off it's sexy Susan Charles reading the news! The stickers (yea complete with lipstick marks n' all) Myles and his friends the aliens (who was in control really?) Alien Mountain oh sacred mount! My Panasonic clock radio - R.I.P. Their helicopter top of the hour(I'd have gladly given my left ** to fire that cart -Jim'll fix it badge please!) Their audio -F*** it was amazin'(g) Scott Shannon (nearly as good as Rick Dees!) "AM 1008,FM 103.7 (in stereo)WE ARE KISS FM MONAGHAN TOWN da -da -daa ...KISSS EFEM !!!!!" (with the helicopter sound on the bed) - excuse the language but what a great f##king jingle! NOTHING will ever compare to the type of radio our ears feasted upon in Ireland in the 80's -from the music to the jocks to the jingles to the madgeniuses running those outfits All I can say is I wish the aliens return one day to abduct some of "The Businessmen" who run the operations these days! P.S Myles what's an alien look like my friend? -it's ok I'll camp out on alien Mt. one night and see a real one for meself! Live long and prosper.
Re: Powerful signals : KISS-FM Monaghan Town
Posted by Tom on May 16, 2000, 23:16:22 , in reply to "Powerful signals : KISS-FM Monaghan Town"
Yes, Kiss were clearly audible in Dublin on 103.7 - LJ was the main man or John Friday as he used to call himself.

Re: Powerful signals : KISS-FM Monaghan Town
Posted by 80's Kid on May 17, 2000, 0:41:05 , in reply to "Re: Powerful signals : KISS-FM Monaghan Town"
I remember being at the Michael Jackson concert in Cork in 1988, and hearing Kiss blow in on 1008kHz also Telstar on 1197

Re: Powerful signals : KISS-FM Monaghan Town
Posted by agag on May 17, 2000, 1:49:03 , in reply to "Re: Powerful signals : KISS-FM Monaghan Town"
I remember listening to Kiss testing as Kiss AM one weekend around the same time. They announced that regular broadcasts were still on 103.7, and they just played music and stuff, but went to the FM news on the hour. What was that about (or did I dream it all)???

Re: Powerful signals : KISS-FM Monaghan Town
Posted by Miles' Gimp on May 17, 2000, 7:56:32 , in reply to "Re: Powerful signals : KISS-FM Monaghan Town"
You didn't dream it, yes it did happen. KISS had planned to offer split programming on AM & FM - with the FM carrying the pop service and 1008 AM carrying a country service. However, main man Tom Hardy (and not LJ) didn't want any country shite on his radio station and so the idea was dropped. But they did still continue to independently link to the AM & FM sites. KISS launched on Sunday 28th March 1988 on 1008 AM only, but closed at lunchtime the next day due to interference on their AM link. It was re-launched on Friday the 1st April on both AM & FM and remained on air until 6pm on 30th December 1988. Incidentally, their audio was processed with an Inovonics 3 band processor which can be had today for $2100 - about £1300 - and sounds better than that bloody Omnia.fm shite that 104 were using! Check out : http://www.inovon.com
Re: Powerful signals : KISS-FM Monaghan Town
Posted by Gimp on May 17, 2000, 19:34:23 , in reply to "Re: Powerful signals : KISS-FM Monaghan Town"
No, it was the tri-band one. And Downtown didn't (and still don't) use Inovonics processing, it was the basic Optimod they were using, (although they did beef it up a bit for DTR FM) - Cool & City Beat use them though.

Re: Powerful signals : KISS-FM Monaghan Town
Posted by NTL on May 18, 2000, 12:22:28 , in reply to "Re: Powerful signals : KISS-FM Monaghan Town"
Eh, they do you know and always have ! About 6 years ago they had a few days of playing about with various settings - Cool sounded great as HOT CHR - though a little too "hard" for the management - it returned to wimpy weedy ILR a few days later.... They have an Orban AM, but three Innovonics for FM. (One transmitter has it's own clean feed and it's own unit)

Re: DOWNTOWN
Posted by ivan on May 21, 2000, 3:14:19 , in reply to "Re: DOWNTOWN"
Whats Cool FM sounding like? Back in 1991, when Cablelink used to relay them on 108.5 (what was that about anyway?), they didn't sound bad. More AC than Top 40, with the odd strange format breaker thrown in (My Sharona by the Knack? Come on....!). I see these days they bill themselves as hit music? Are they? Someone told me they sound quite similar to FM104 in Dublin. Let us know, I still think they can't sound as good as KISS-FM did in 1988! / ** On RadioFax feature (1991/2) : John Cahill, Cork 96FM/County Sound was interviwed by Maggie Taylor in 'RadioWorld': (He is radio engineer since 1980). Speaking about UHF links: presently for linking from Cork 96FM to Mallow County Sound studio: 3 hop UHF link, Philips Aerials, Mosley (County Sound) and Marti (96FM) links (were not directly compatible after merger of stations), 96FM (96.4) uses a Continental 2.6 KW, North Cork 103.7 uses a Harris (valve) TX, (old NCCR pre 1989, also used a Harris MW): ** OFFSHORE UK stations: Lazer (1983?)- studio fitted out in New Ross, started on 729AM using 354ft Helium filled ballon, Yorkie - engineer 25kW capability, moved to 558, then using 'T' aerial 2X 100 ft towers, dash dot dash -.- I want to communicate/ Radio Scotland 1960s used Ampliphase system of Mod (2TXs)/ Another station on T aerial Double thread, 66ft high and 24 ft length arms/ Marine Offences act 14-8-1967, shut them. ** >(from the >www.listen.to/pirateradio
>site
>
>Galtee Raid
>Posted by The Eagle on June 6, 2000, 21:41:20
> >My Informants down the country bring me some interesting information. It >seems that a station called Galtee in Limerick had a visit from the gardai >and an official from the ODTR two weeks ago. I believe that their >transmitter spiked and disrupted communications at the control tower in >Shannon Airport on 7 frequencies. This caused a lot of hyper activity in the >ODTR who arrived at the premises of The Danes bakery in upper william st and >looked for the owner. My informant tells me that panic broke out all locks >were changed on the doors to the station locking everybody out. They were >advised to cease broadcasting immediately. This they did for a week but it >seems they are now back on air broadcasting from the same place alledgedly >under new managment. Last time I heard them was three months ago when I was >down in limerick and their signal was crap. Idiots like these get all >pirates a bad name, one would think they might have the decency to change >the station name, but perhaps they like to tempt fate. Tom Angley who owns a >music store is the manager. Has anybody got any more information on this? > > >-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- >Responses: > >Re: Galtee Raid Crapass June 7, 2000, 19:10:03 >michael noonan attorney general June 8, 2000, 5:18:56 >Re: michael noonan knackerbasher June 8, 2000, 6:41:41 >Re: michael noonan Knackerbasher-basher June 8, 2000, 19:57:39 >Re: michael noonan Cockalikie June 9, 2000, 10:22:39 ********** June 2000 History of Hot 107 (radioanoraks board) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Message Body Hot 107 used multiband home-made processing. Home-made by Gary Cruze that is! It sounded mega for the first three months, pretty good for the next three, and mega again until it closed down. It was once described by an out of town pirate operator as if "the transmitter is burning a hole on the FM band!!!". Most of the other pirate operators (including Pulse, who had launched two weeks previously) were impressed at Hot. However, over in Club FM people were very upset. That station hadn't been raided in 1994 when Sunset and Kiss were forced off air. As a result, G. had had practically the entire dance market to himself. Now, within a matter of weeks, two VERY slick stations had commenced, Pulse 103, and Hot 107. Soon, the original Vibe 107.1 was to come on, and by the end of 1995 Q95 was also on air. Gl*n had been opposed to Hot all along..... Once Hot kicked in with a music format that could be described as handbag, commercial dance, or hot pop..... By the end of Hot 107, Gl*n found it difficult to get people at his gigs ... he had to advertise on Hot 107 to get the numbers. This came as respite to Hot, who didn't have many gigs of their own, and had to compete with Gl*n on that part of the city, while Pulse had a free reign over the lucrative South County area. The summer of 1995 was a long hot glorious time. Hot did some great radio one long summers day, when they broadcast live from Portmarnock beach. Hundreds of people turned up for the ob (which was with the tech help of the Caroline crew). Many people from other stations, including legal ones, turned up to wish Hot well. At this stage, the v/os were voiced by Dara Roberts, who went on to produce a similar sounding package for Pulse 103. The daytime lineup was consistent, comprising Andy Preston, Tracey Lee on Afternoons, and Barry Dunne on drive. The station even had a promotion vehicle, Ian Redmond (in the first of of his many jeeps!) drove the Hot 107 White Lightning. No relation to a Black Thunder, it looked even better, and certainly made the station more visible. In August 1995, Hot Press ran an article on the dance stations. Proclaiming Hot 107 to be "the biggest and best in Dublin", it went on to say that "the DJs wouldn't sound out of place on 2FM...is that a good thing?". 2FM didn't beckon, but FM104 were changing formats, and going younger. They had already put Rick O Shea on the air 7-10pm, and needed more talented new jocks. In December 1995 Andy got an offer to go to FM104, so he pulled out of Hot. This also meant it could now no longer broadcast from his house!! At this point, Gary didn't have the time to put into the station to make it viable, so he sold the name and equipment to Gl*n as a going concern. It didn't work out that way. Dara Roberts refused to let Gl*n use the v/os, and once most of the staff heard that was the new boss, they left, with a number of them going over to Pulse. 106.8 fell silent for a number of weeks. Eventually a carrier returned. The new Hot 107! The New Hot 107 operated from Tracey Lee's house in Walkinstown for about 3 months. It then shut down, and after a few weeks, re-emerged as Mix 106. This didn't last long either. The audio was suffering at this stage too, 'cos Gary was no longer engineer, and there were too many wannabes with itchy fingers playing with the equipment. Soon after, Mix 106 collapsed......... It was a shabby end to one of the finest pirates Dublin has ever heard /

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