Radio in Donegal has had a colourful and diverse past. Like many counties across Ireland and especially in the 1970’s, town and villages organised festivals to attract visitors and improve local footfall to businesses. Of course, one of the most famous festivals is the annual Mary From Dungloe but as the world moved on a pace a new medium was used to promote these festivals, radio.
In the early seventies newspapers in Donegal were promoting Radio Ramelton, Radio Ballyshannon and Radio Letterkenny, which operated for the popular Letterkenny Folk Festival but while these activities had all the hallmarks of radio, they did not broadcast by traditional transmitter and aerial but were rather carried throughout their towns on a wired public address system.
In 1976 a new innovation led to an explosion of traditional analogue radio in Donegal thanks to the State broadcaster RTE. For that years ‘Mary from Dungloe’ festival RTE’s mobile radio station visited the town and broadcast as Community Radio Dungloe for the duration of the festival on 202m medium wave. The broadcasts were seen as a massive success but for RTE they were travelling around the country and could not commit to return annually to Dungloe. They did however visit other festivals in Donegal over the following years including Glenties, in Letterkenny and Ardara.
In 1981, RTE’s mobile
service was advertised to return to Dungloe but just days before the festival
launch, RTE said they would be unable to attend. This opened up the opportunity
for a new form of broadcaster, the pirate station, to fill the void left by
RTE. Radio Donegal had been operating from Letterkenny since April 1980. Using
a standby transmitter, Radio Donegal headed to Dungloe and broadcast for the
duration of the festival on 257m Medium wave.
Pirate radio by 1980 was booming across the country in every city, town and village. Donegal was no exception. While Radio Donegal in 1980 were announced as the first Donegal pirate, there had been a station on air towards the end of the second World War. Known as Radio Nuala, the station was located above the Beehive pub in Ardara. The operator broadcast propaganda on medium wave of a Republican nature aimed at a cross border audience.
Once Radio Donegal began the trend of illegal broadcasting, demonstrating both a need and as a revenue creator for the station operators, more pirates came on the air. This golden era of illegal broadcasting in Ireland lasted from 1978-1988 when new legislation with severely increased penalties for illegal broadcasting and a new legal framework for independent commercial and community radio came into being. Some of the stations heard on the airwaves in Donegal were,
Radio Donegal - 186mMW
A Letterkenny based station that initially opened in 1979 as Radio North-West.
Radio Donegal was officially launched on Wednesday April 22nd 1980. The station
stayed on air until September 1981 when transmitter issues and the loss of their
audience to another Letterkenny pirate forced its closure.
Donegal
Community Radio - 212mMW
Based in Mountcharles, this short lived station broadcast from June 1980 until
early 1981. The station was set up by the local ‘radio committee’ who had
successfully brought the RTE mobile station to the area in 1978 but when RTE
stated that they could not visit again due to a packed schedule, they decided
to set up a pirate operation.
Donegal
Community Radio - 323mMW & 97.9mhzFM
This second incarnation of DCR was based in a room above the old ‘Funland’ building in Letterkenny. DCR opened in 1986 and closed in December 1988 when new legislation was enacted. The station was started by Paddy Simpson with Bobby McDaid later taking over the running of DCR. [1]
Glencoagh
Radio - 262mMW & 97.8mhzFM
Originally called Westside Radio in 1987 and broadcasting initially on
266m, the station’s name clashed with a nearby station broadcasting in County
Sligo. The station became Glencoagh Radio originally broadcasting from the
village of Mountcharles and later from a cinema on the Main Street of Donegal
town. Some of those involved in the station included Brian Curriston, Charlie
Cannon and Jack Ramsey. The station closed in December 1988 after just over
eighteen months on the air.
KTOK -
192mMW & 102.9mhzFM
KTOK was launched by Russ Padmore broadcasting from
Letterkenny
Community Radio – 252m MW
LCR opened and closed 1983 and was based in Letterkenny.
Letterkenny
Local Radio – 187m MW & 89.5mhzFM
Following the departure Simon O’Dwyer and Paul Millar from Radio
Donegal, LLR went on the air in November 1980 broadcasting initially from 9am
to 6pm. The Station closed in 1981.
Northwest
Community Radio - 269mMW & 103.5mhzFM
Northwest was launched by Jackie Crossan and Hugo Boyce in September
1984 with a one-kilowatt transmitter on medium wave and a 25-watt transmitter
for their 103.5mhz FM transmitter. The station was located in Buncrana,
Radio 4U
– 97.4mhz FM (later 96.6 & 100mhzFM)
The brainchild of Patrick Garten who had arrived from England to take advantage of the lax broadcasting laws and to broadcast primarily into Derry City, the station was initially located on the Southern side of the border in a cottage owned by Tom Brolly which had previously used as the location for City Sound Radio in County Donegal. After some test transmissions in early June 1987, the station officially went in air on Saturday June 6th 1987. In April 1988. The stations transmitters and equipment were sold to fellow Donegal station WABC and Radio 4U disappeared from the airwaves in May 1988.
Radio
Jackie - 193mMW
An early 1980’s pirate station that broadcast in Donegal.
Radio North
- 846khzAM & 103mhzFM
Radio North began broadcasting on November 18th 1986 from
studios located at Carndonagh,
In 2002 Paul Bentley took over the running of Radio North whose powerful
transmitter could be heard in
‘Gospel
846 promotes family values through religious programming and family centred
music programs.’
A quarter of a century after Radio North’s first broadcasts the station
now broadcasts from studios at Shroove and transmitters located on the
Radio
North Atlantic – 266m & 98mhzFM
Based near Carndonagh on the Inishowen
peninsula, this station opened after the introduction of the new legislation in
1988. The brainchild of Tommy Cunningham who opened the station in competition
with Radio North. The station was prosecuted in February 1993 following raids a
number on the pirate stations located in Donegal.
Radio
Nova - 233mMW & 97.9mhzFM
This version of Radio Nova began life as City Sound Radio broadcasting
from a transmitter site in Donegal aimed into
WABC -
241mMW & 101.7mhzFM
Located at Greencastle, County Donegal WABC aimed its broadcasts at
Gospel 98 – 98mhz FM
Opened in 1989 by Angela Evans, this religious pirate broadcast a
mixture of American preachers, rock music and bible quotations. The station was
located on the Inishowen Peninsula in Donegal and broadcast into Northern
Ireland. In February, their aerial was vandalised but it was quickly repaired
only for that aerial to come crashing down during an Atlantic storm in March
1990. The insurance would not cover the damage as it ‘was an act of God’ and
while with the help of fellow Donegal pirate, Radio North, the station opened
an aerial fund, the station failed to get back on the air on its own but its
programming was carried for four hours per day by Radio North from 3pm.
Tyrone
Community Radio – 1512khz AM & 106.8mhzFM
TCR opened in May 1996, broadcasting from Strabane in County Tyrone but
following raids by the British authorities that station relocated south of the
border in the house at Castlefin near Lifford, Co. Donegal. With increased
pressure from the authorities south of the border to discourage advertisers on
the station, TCR began fundraising by holding dances and party themed events n
and around Strabane. In August 2001, the station was raided but was back on the
air within ten days. On November 24th 2004, the station was raided
again by the Gardai and officers from ComReg. Following that raid, the Donegal
Democrat reported that,
‘A
Castlefin farmer who allowed a pirate radio station to broadcast from his land
was fined €100 and ordered to pay €1,500 in costs at a special sitting of
Letterkenny District Court. Noel Burns, Ballylast, Castlefin, pleaded guilty to
the charge which related to November 24, 2004. Mr Philip Rahan, BL,
representing the Office of the Commission for Communications Regulator, prosecuted.
Evidence
was heard from Mr Ivan Kiely, an official with the Commission, who said that he
first picked up the frequency in the Lifford and Castlefin area in October
2004. On investigation he found
that Tyrone Community Radio was operating from the defendant’s
lands.
“They
offer easy listening and main stream country music together with commercial
advertising,” Mr Kiely said. The broadcast was traced to a pre-fab at
Ballylast, Castlefin. On November 24, 2004, Mr Kiely arrived at the premises to
execute a warrant. Mr Rahan explained that a DJ was broadcasting at the time
the Commission officials arrived on site. An inventory was made of the radio
equipment which was subsequently seized.’
On December 12th 2007, TCR was raided again. John Barron of
Drumdoit, Castlefin pleaded guilty to supplying electricity for broadcasting
and two counts of supplying premises for broadcasting. William Baird with an
address at Tirkeeran, Lifford also pleaded guilty to two charges of supplying
electricity for broadcasting and one count of supplying premises for
broadcasting. Judge Kilrane fined 68-year-old Barron €50 along with €750 costs
for supplying electricity for broadcasting. Two charges of providing premises
for broadcasting were taken into consideration.
Mr Tom Boyce, an inspector with ComReg told the court he had been
monitoring radio signals from the TCR radio station on December 12, 2007 which
in turn lead him to a prefabricated building at a premises in the Castlefin
area. He reported that a man was seen running from the premises across a field
but was quickly detained by a garda who had accompanied the inspection team.
The prefabricated building contained the radio studio including computers,
mixing desk, microphones and CD players. The electricity supply to the prefab
was disconnected, he said, and a cable from a transmitter lead to another
single story dwelling on the property. Boyce said he interviewed Baird who
identified himself as the owner of the premises. He admitted disconnecting the
electricity supply to the prefabricated building adding he believed the prefab
was to be used for a taxi business and he would get help with paying the
electricity bills.
Mr Boyce explained to the court that TCR played country music and
advertisements for local businesses, adding the defendant was not at the core
of running the station. William Baird was also fined €450 for supplying
electricity plus €750 costs.
In August 2008, TCR was raided yet again but this time they were located
north of the border and the warrants were executed by Ofcom and the Northern
Ireland authorities. This was the sixteenth raid on the station. In 2013 the
station went off the air in the hope of applying for an RSL.
But it was the closure of
Radio Donegal after eighteen months on the air that created one of the most
unique pirate radio experiments in the county. Don Clark who worked for Radio
Donegal saw an opportunity to help publicise the various festivals around the
country by creating a mobile service in a caravan travelling from town in town.
Radio Dungloe 257m MW 1981
Radio Downings 192m MW 1981
Radio Ceilteach 192m MW 1981 (Falcarragh)
Radio Dungloe 192m MW 1983
Radio Lifford 192m MW 1983
Radio Twin Towns 192m
MW 1983 (Ballybofey and Stranolar)
Radio Dungloe 198m MW 1985
Radio Cunamh 187m MW & 96FM 1985 Letterkenny
Radio Killybegs 192m MW 1985
Radio Killybegs 205m MW 1986
The legal stations have included these stations including today’s leading local station, Highland Radio based in Letterkenny. Highland began broadcasting on March 15th 1990 having been awarded the new licence from the IRTC. The southern part of the county along with Sligo and Leitrim was covered initially by North West Radio but they lost their licence in 2004 to be replaced by Ocean FM. Community in the county in the past has included Inishowen Community Radio and Donegal Bay FM and today is served by temporary licences awarded to Owenea FM, Finn Valley FM and Rosses Radio.
Today (February 2023) there is one pirate still operating in the county, Radio North.
There are other non-licenced stations operating on FM across Donegal as various Catholic and Protestant churches broadcast Mass and services mostly on Sundays but also for funeral services.
Sources
The DX Archive
Radiowaves.fm
Pirate.ie
The Irish Pirate Radio Archive
The Anoraks Ireland
Collection at DCU
The Irish Newspaper
Archives
The British Newspaper
Archives
Tommy Rosney
Russ Padmore
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