 1988 there was almost 150 on in the country. I mean 40 alone in Dublin when the closed down came in 1988 But it's been it was for the late 70s and most of the 80s It was a golden era of pirate radio and don't you go and don't you go was at the forefront of it? Yeah, there seemed to be a lot and don't you go was was there was there as many in in every county or did we just No, you were you were quite I think she's usually located due to your proximity to another six problems six counties in the province We might have more draconian legislation. So they were known as border blasters to were broadcasting into northern Ireland. Yeah, yeah But again, they were very again. You still had your your local community within Doney gall. I mean Doney gall part radio goes back as far as 1945 Wow, that's far back. Yeah. It was a station called radio nula above the beehive pulpinar dry And I had no idea that it went you know went back that far, but Let's let's chat about the the 80s anyhow, which was in a way I suppose a heyday of pirate radio and how were they able to operate there was a there was a loophole wasn't there? It was a loophole found there was a 1926 legislation the world historiography act and they found the loophole in it where If you're old enough to remember how a transmitter worked you used to have a crystal in it, which dedicated your frequency but if they Rated your station and they didn't find the crystals. They couldn't really say that you were broadcasting So it became a loophole in the law. You could use the equipment for training or whatever So the loophole was found in it and it meant that where you could be still fine for illegal broadcasting It ended up the department of post and telegraphs had to return all your equipment intact If they damaged the equipment while they were riding it they had to replace it with new equipment Which seemed a very strange way of doing Irish business Oh, so so once you could claim that you you were using it for something else Training or some other purpose then they they couldn't really touch it. They couldn't they couldn't touch it But like again in the 80s then there was Political instability and numerous governments come into power Everyone tried to grasp the nettle of illegal broadcasting, but nobody really wanted was the minority governments So they were kind of let it became quasi legal or some of the stations were paying Taxes and in row and ppr si So they became quasi legal and they were just left alone unless you were really interfering with Emergency services, so they were left to carry on which they did until 1988 Yeah, and and why then why did things change in in 88 was it was it Did things change Obviously it had to change at a government level, but why? I changed the government level mainly because it had just become almost chaos on the airwaves and there was Say a lot of people making money out of it and not paying tax So the government wanted to make sure that like it was properly They had tried to introduce numerous bills to try and replace the 1926 act to try and tighten up The penalties for legal broadcasting, but they never really come up with a proper framework for independent the independent sector Until 1987 when the white paper came out 86 when the white paper come out then the legislation was passed in 87 88 and then they gave them the stations They kind of gave them a proper time to close down their businesses So they were able to go off the air in a kind of controlled manner towards the end of 1988 And then legal radio came in 89 and of course yourselves in 1990 Yeah, yeah, we came into existence in 1990 and Well around the country. There was there was some there was some some of these pirate or illegal stations that Closed down, but then they they repositioned and sort of regrouped and reemerged as as legal entities They applied for and got a license they did yeah in certain areas now that only applied and especially to those that were locally based Dublin not so much as the pirate operator kind of frowned upon in Dublin Because they were probably making far too much money And but the local operators likes the midwest and WLR and then donnie god So it was you know a lot of people Saw it saw it coming and made the right decisions of how to get themselves properly financed properly backed and when it came to the Licensing from the at the time the IRTC now to be a I they were looked upon favorably As being the station that again a lot of these people were bringing the personalities Who were already popular within the county or within area back onto the airwaves. They already had an audience Which was hugely important Yeah, absolutely. I I remember working on one over in donnie gold town based in the castle center ktok And it was it was a great Learning ground because we had a couple of DJs in from radio caroline And just the grounding was was good and you you know, you look to these fellas and You know, they're the way they were doing things and they taught you a few tricks of the trade So I'd say there was a lot of DJs at the time who Were learning and to be fair when when 2fm come on the air in the late 70s They took on a raft of pirate DJs because they were already trained They knew what they were doing and they again bringing an audience with them. So it was it was a win-win situation So so what is it that you're hoping to do you already have Plenty of information, but there's there's more out there. Um, yeah, there's a little a little bit of a Gap again, we set up the Irish part where you archive. It's actually based in DCU in glass Devon and we are trying to build up a comprehensive History and to leave a legacy for future students of what pirate radio did for Ireland And we have had a huge amount of collections donated to us But don't think all seems to be a little bit I don't know. Maybe people a bit reticent about talking about it. So I'm just going up to don't you go Going to meet a few people who are involved in pirate radio. What if anybody is archives? We're looking for audio tapes Photographs posters Even I know some of the stations were that good. They had employment contracts which has been donated to us Like we're proper stations And so like the likes of that we like to donate now. You don't have to give it to us We could loan it to us so we can digitize it and keep it for future generations And but I'd like to talk to anybody in Donegal who was involved in ktok Donegal community radio radio north north Atlantic at a kenny community radio List goes on northwest community radio list goes on and again going back to the 70s There was a lot of festival stations like the Mary from Donegal festival had its own pirate radio stations on for their festival and Twin twin towns radio. So there's a lot of those Small stations running on for a week. Again, I'd love to talk to someone who's involved with them Just to get a sense of how it was done how it was operated And and I'd be only too happy to sit down and talk Shop And there must be a lot of audio out there because people you know who worked at these stations He would record a little snippets of themselves or others And and then there would be things like you know and posters and leaflets and Of all else some great stories Yeah, absolutely the stories. I mean already since I put out the The call that I was going to Donegal some of the Emails that I've got already from some of the stories is just you know, it just builds up that wonderful picture like you have to remember Ireland in the 70s and 80s was quite a very dull place You know, there was a lot of there was recession. There was a lot of immigration unemployment And pirate radio brought a little bit of color And and if you talk to some of the musical stars of today Like even the likes of Daniel Adano From your own locality and you too have credited pirate radio for enhancing their careers Because they weren't getting any airplay on the national broadcaster. It was pirate radio who championed their cause and They moved on to global stardom So again anybody who wants to talk to me about pirate radio. I'm a great listener I'd love to record some of the stories. We have an oral history section as well But if you have tapes if you it's very personal if you don't want to give them to us I'll just borrow them off you. I'll get them digitized and bring them back to you Same with photographs. I can digitize them and give them back to you because I know it's a very personal collection for some people But if you want to get in touch with me, just uh, if you email me The irish part where the archive at jmail.com Or I'll be staying in letter Kenny on wednesday thursday and friday We'll be traveling around and going up to photographs from the old sites like up in the fan and on You know, we'll make we'll make a good guest appearance, but I will be around to talk I'm freely available. Okay. Okay And it would help just just uh Complete the picture because I'd hate to think that you know And donnie gall would be not not so much laughed out But we've found wanting given the whole The the the number of radio stations and you mentioned many of them there that that were involved at the time So it would be great to get a full picture Yeah, absolutely. I mean we have I mean cork seems to be well covered like we we got a huge collection before christmas uh, there was a fancy website called in anorex Ireland And we got uh, unfortunately the man who ran anorex Ireland was a man called paul davison He passed away christmas, but prior to his passing away He donated his entire collection of almost 10 000 tapes and 5000 photographs. Wow Which are going to be digitized and again, we have a lot of closed downs from dunny gall But again, I'm just like to know, you know It was the people involved in the station that didn't really get off the ground just went through test transmissions Like we just want to make sure that we have Every station. Um, we I wrote a book a couple years ago And I listed the histories of 1200 Irish part radio stations that merely Yeah, over the years. I mean a great industry. It was a fledgling industry and I mean they really created something special All right, so it's it's time to go to the attic have a have a rummage around and you're going to be up here At the end of the week from wednesday onwards wednesday And and just to remind us again the the the email address email It's the irish park radio archive at gmail.com or you can find me online at the irish broadcasting hall of fame Eddie, I hope your stay here is successful and thanks for having a chat with us Thank you for your time and listen happy world history world radio day. Oh, is that what I just said? It's world radio day 2023 didn't I time that well, thanks Eddie. Cheers. Bye. Bye Foilside at the center of more for your euro with great value gifts So it's worth making the journey wherever you live with convenient parking late night and all your favorite brands You're better off shopping at foilside. 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