It was the closure of the pirate radio station Radio Donegal in 1981 after eighteen months on the air that created one of the most unique pirate radio experiments in the country[1]. 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.
For many listeners to the
radio in Donegal, the national station RTE Radio was Dublin based and had
little influence on the events of Donegal. In the 1970’s, in an attempt to
generate business in small towns, committees formed to create unique festivals.
To help to generate publicity, to inform visitors and provide local businesses
with advertising opportunities, a radio station was operated but rather than
traditional AM or FM transmissions, these station operated on a wired
loudspeaker system, sometimes referred to as ‘lamppost radio stations’. Some of
the tons to adopt this system included Letterkenny for the Folk Festival and in
Ballyshannon. This created a local attachment to the familiar nature of their
own radio station. Radio Ramelton was another station that ‘broadcast’ via a
wired system. The Donegal News reported,
‘This year again ‘Radio
Ramelton’ will be in operation, when the whole town is " Wired up
". to receive local programmes. Mr. Mervyn Corry will be in charge of the
" mike," but special programmes have been set aside for the children
and the ladies.’
The station, set to promote the ‘Lennon Festival’,
was initially fronted by Jim Birney, known on air as ‘Slim Jim’ and later by
Mervyn Corry.
In 1976, a new radio station arrived courtesy of the State broadcaster RTE, when their mobile community radio station and transmitter arrived in Donegal. With a medium transmitter on 202m and a low powered FM transmitter, RTE’s service, under the then direction of Pauric O’Neill, covered three areas over six days. The local organisers in Fintown, Downings and Dungloe would see the broadcast unit spend two days in each town.
The days in Dungloe coincided with the most popular and famous festival in Donegal the Mary from Dungloe Festival. As the mobile unit continued to tour Ireland introducing towns and villages to community radio, towns in Donegal reverted to the lamppost radio services. The RTE service did travel at various times to The Glenties, Letterkenny, Ardara and Bundoran.
In 1981, RTE announced that the mobile unit would visit Dungloe for the entire now expanded festival. Advertisements appeared in the newspapers informing listeners how to tune into Community Radio Dungloe. At the last minute the visit was cancelled by RTE.
This provided an opportunity for some ex staff of the pirate station Radio
Donegal that had closed in April after eighteen months on air. With a standby
transmitter built by Paul Millar and broadcasting on 257m, Radio Dungloe
took to the airwaves for the festival. The newspapers reported,
‘Operating for most of the Festival was Radio Dungloe in association with Radio Donegal on 257m. with the studio based at the Festival caravan on Upper Main Street and making its own contribution to the spirit of the event.’
The station was operated by Don Clark with former Radio Donegal DJ Tommy Rosney assisting. Their numbers augmented by local DJ’s. Rosney told me in an interview[2] that at that time he was working at Dunnes Stores in Letterkenny and that he would take two weeks holidays around the Mary from Dungloe festival so that he could work on air. He also said that while there was not too much financial reward, the on air personalities were looked after with a quid pro quo advertising deals with restaurants that would deliver to the DJ’s meals. According to Rosney, he and his colleagues would stay in the mobile home while it was in operation with the transmitter housed in one of the utility rooms. Once the festival was finished, a tractor hitched up the mobile home and moved it to the next town or village.
With the success of Radio Dungloe in 1981, Clark saw an opportunity to take his station mobile and operate for various festivals around the county. The next visit for their mobile home was Radio Downings with the station now broadcasting on a regular 192m MW. This was followed by Radio Ceilteach (Celtic Radio) for the Ceilteach festival held in Falcarragh opening at midday on Saturday July 11th 1981 and then broadcasting each evening for the next five days from seven in the evening.
In 1982 the small village
of Bonagee hosted Radio Bonagee for the local spring show in May. The
Donegal Democrat reported,
‘Radio
Bonagee, which
will be under the supervision of the very popular ex-Radio Donegal D. J., Don
Clarke, will be on the air on 192 mts. medium wave, which is beside Radio
Luxemburg. Don will be on the air on Wednesday and Thursday between 2 and 5
p.m. and he will be on the air all day Friday, Saturday and Sunday. His many
fans will surely be phoning in requests to his popular show.’
Meanwhile when the station, now based in the mobile home, arrived back in Dungloe, it was based in the carpark of the Ostan na Rosann Hotel.
In 1983 the mobile home was back at Radio Dungloe, followed by Radio Lifford which operated just for a weekend. Radio Twin Towns was on air for the festival that connected the two ‘twin’ towns of Ballybofey and Stranolar. Radio Letterkenny was on the air once again for the Folk Festival, not as a loudspeaker station but with a medium transmitter, while in 1985 the mobile station was known as Radio Cunamh was based in Stranolar with Pat Reid and Kevin Duffy assisting Clarke and Rosney. Also, in May 1983 Radio Bonagee was back on the air with the Donegal Democrat once again reporting,
The station continued to
travel to various towns across Donegal, always revisiting Dungloe. In 1985,
they visited as Radio Killybegs based next to the Artic Fish Company
near the quays. Radio Killybegs was back once more in 1986, this time moving
frequency slightly to 205m MW. The mobile station also visited another Donegal fishing
port transforming into Radio Burtonport, which according to Tommy Rosney
was located next to the co-op in the town.
The experiment came to an
end when the new 1988 legislation came into force, forcing the end of the
pirate era.
My thanks to Tommy Rosney, Russ Padmore, John Breslin at Highland Radio, Ocean FM, Donegal Live and the Donegal Democrat
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