Radio Tralee 1939 - 1990, the legacy of Michael Donovan

Tralee has a long radio history in one guise or another. The first mention of a ‘Radio Tralee’ was in June 1939 when a loudspeaker system was installed in the town for the Tralee Summer Show and Carnival. The ‘station’ studios were installed on Castle Street to entertain those who attended the festival which included a major horse race meeting. According to the 'Kerryman' newspaper on June 17th when reporting the official opening of the Tralee Industrial Fair,

‘Mr. Thomas Lynch, Chairman of the Tralee Urban Council, opened the Tralee Industrial Show and Exhibitions on Wednesday night. Speaking from the studio of "Radio Tralee," he appealed to the people to support the manufacturers who had come to Tralee to show what can be done by Irishmen in their own country.’

The moniker Radio Tralee then reappeared in the sixties and the early seventies, initially during the Rose of Tralee festival when studios were first located in 'Arthurs' music and radio shop on the Square. By 1973, Radio Tralee was on every weekend from the Rose weekend in July until after Christmas providing entertainment and an advertising outlet for the traders in the town. The manager of the shop Declan Moriarty was one of the main presenters on Radio Tralee at the time. In 1974 the station would be moved to Barrack Lane behind the Munster Warehouse and the star presenter was now Sean Hurley.

He would be replaced by a man who would have a lasting impression on the listening public in Tralee, the late Michael Donovan. Donovan would take the name from the towns speaker system and put in on the airwaves properly as Radio Tralee in 1978 when it burst onto the medium wave. Sometimes known as Community Radio Tralee and Downtown Radio Tralee, it closed briefly in December 1979 citing financial problems. In its various guises Donovan would keep a Radio Tralee on the air until December 1988 when new legislation forced the closure of over 100 pirate radio stations across Ireland that ultimately made way for legal independent commercial radio and Radio Kerry. But having been overlooked for a franchise, Radio Tralee came back on the air in late 1989 but was eventually closed by the authorities in July 1990 putting an end to Radio Tralee, or did it?

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Radio Limerick Weekly Echo Launch 1978

                     

The Irish Pirate Radio Archives - Airwaves Fanzine

The history of Irish pirate radio is diverse and over the years a number of fanzines were published to promote the various pirates. This is Airwaves edited by Paul Barrett.

‘The Modern Swash Buckling Pirate Phenomenon’

On any given Sunday on the Dublin airwaves in 2020, the listener is treated to a melange of radio stations delivering a wide variety of speech and music entertainment. However, the Dublin airwaves are a uniquely Irish solution to an Irish problem. Radio in Ireland is the most consumed form of media with over 80% of the Irish adult population listening to the medium, whether it’s in the home, exercising or stuck in the car in a rush hour traffic jam. Because of its unique ability to connect with its audience, the listenership figures have stayed constant for the past quarter of a century and as a result, advertisers have flocked to the national, independent commercial and local radio stations across Ireland.

The Broadcasting Authority of Ireland issues licences for the independent sector, advertising different genres to accommodate all tastes. This radio industry we have today, was born in the 1970’s and 80’s when the state broadcaster RTE, had its monopoly position challenged by a plethora of pirate radio stations, stealing frequencies, listeners, and advertisers from RTE. In 1988 new stringent legislation plugged loopholes in the law and allowed for the orderly opening of legal licensed alternatives both nationally and locally. The BAI, and its predecessors the IRTC and BCI have struggled to blend listener requirements with commercial demands. Since deregulation in 1988, the market has solidified with some major media moguls commanding ownership of vast swathes of the airwaves.

In the eighties the success of the pirates was driven by market forces as a youthful market demanded to hear the music that they wanted, a direct alternative to RTE, who’s darkened halls attempted to accommodate everyone  on a national level when listeners actually wanted a local voice and perspective. RTE had failed the younger listener and even with their attempt to placate that constituency with the launch of the ‘pirate light’ RTE Radio 2, the uplifting super pirates like Radio Nova, Sunshine & ERI dominated their markets. In the quest for the local listener, once again RTE lost out to community stations like BLB and Kilkenny Community Radio and local stations like Mid-West and West National Radio 3 rapidly eroded any credibility RTE had with its listener.

Licensing has regulated the airwaves is the Government response, but even a cursory glance along the waveband on a Sunday tells a different tale. When the pirates were at the height of their success, every genre of music was catered for by individual stations, pop on Nova, rock on Phantom, C&W on TTTR, religion on ICBS or album tracks on Capitol. Today’s youth population listens to their music, dance, garage, trance, and rap but these music trends do not sell advertising and therefore find every little light on the current station playlists. That demographic is younger, usually under eighteen and therefore unimportant to current stations and their advertisers. Once again in step the pirates and as enforcement retreats like the tide, the pirates are empowered to start up their transmitters once again and fill up the Dublin FM frequencies. Not only has a need been created for these stations but technology has made it easier to get on air. Gone are the days of medium wave transmitters, home built, strewn over an attic floor with an aerial strung between the attic and a tree or telegraph post. FM transmitters are cheap and highly effective. They do not cause the interference that their Medium wave forbearers did, and computerisation has removed the need for bulky turntables and mixing desks. Because of their appeal to an under eighteen audience, these stations utilise social media avenues far better than their legal counterparts.

In Dublin on FM on a Sunday there are a number of national and quasi national stations like RTE, Radio na Gaeltachta, Newstalk and Spirit Radio, there are community stations including Dublin City FM, Near FM and Phoenix Radio and there are five legal local franchises 98FM, Radio Nova, Sunshine 106, Spin 1038 and FM 104 all competing for the listeners ear and you would say to yourself that surely that is a comprehensive choice but yet despite five Dublin licensed stations, on Sunday April 19^th 2020 there were thirteen pirates radio stations on FM, one on Medium Wave, Energy 1395 and four on short wave broadcasting to the world. The majority of these pirate stations were broadcasting some form of dance music but other genres were being catered for that licensed stations seemed to have covered but yet pirate station were on the airwaves covering similar including The 90s Network and Easy FM.

Some legal stations are now voice tracked removing that personal touch with the listeners. This is simply a cost saving exercise for the media conglomerates that own them. This would be obvious if they used in studio cameras like watching RTE’s Today programme with the now retired Sean O’Rourke. A camera could show the DJ actually choosing and enjoying the music he is playing. The pirate DJ is not hampered by the playlist or the format. The reasonable pirate example of this is Phever FM.

The inertia caused by the lack of enforcement has given pirate radio a new lease of life with a number of them including Club, Pure and Pirate FM carrying a significant amount of advertising, not just relying on advertising club nights to generate revenue. Despite the coronavirus lockdown, the closure of venues and therefore the closure of those station revenue streams, the FM band is alive with pirate radio. These stations are catering for audiences ignored by mainstream stations who have once seen themselves as cutting edge, but the commercial reality has diluted their position. None of these pirates broadcast salacious, threatening or terrorist content and are simply on-air to entertain their constituency, they give airtime to new and struggling dance and rap artists and without causing interference they do little harm. They are however illegal and subject to a minimum of €10,000 fine either for broadcasting, advertising or providing transmission land and if Comreg continue to not implement the law and the BAI fail miserably to cater for the people who are actually listening to the radio, not the listeners that stations wishes to portray to advertisers, then pirate radio will continue to blossom. Is it too early to claim ‘long live the pirates’?

Supporting Pirate Radio Through the Decades

There were a number of umbrella groups formed to support and lobby for free radio in Ireland. One of the earliest was an Irish branch of the Free Radio Association that opened in 1968. The Irish branch gave an address at Library Road, Shankill, County Dublin. Next in 1970 was the United Stations Network which oversaw publicity for four stations Radio Eamo, Radio Galaxy, Radio Caroline and Radio Baile Atha Cliath. Their spokesman was Cork born Hugo Riordan. A former Arts student he was heavily involved in the occupation of 45 St Stephens Green to protect it from demolition.

The Irish Radio Movement (IRM) was founded in 1973 to support the growing number of pirate radio stations and to lobby for alternative radio. When letters to the newspapers began to appear, they were signed by Ken Sheehan with an address on Mourne Road. The club secretary would become one of the most well know broadcasters in Dublin, Mark Storey. In January 1976, the AGM of the organisation was held, and Paddy Brennan was elected as President, Mark Storey continued as Secretary and Ken Sheehan appointed Press Officer. The IRM’s also appointed John Dowling as editor of the group newsletter ‘Medium 6’. The group was disbanded in late 1976 to be replaced by the Free Radio Campaign.

The Free Radio Campaign was run by Kieran Murray from his home in Ranelagh. The FRC began in 1976, initially publishing the ‘FRC Newsletter’ in 1976 and 1977 before it was renamed ‘Sounds Alternative’ in August 1977. The FRC continued until mid 1981.

Anoraks Ireland was based on Collins Avenue West on Dublin’s northside and was run by Paul Davidson (real name Tony Donlon). He produced a newsletter, station lists and supplied tapes and mechandise from the many stations across Ireland. In 1983, in his newsletter Mr. Davidson reported that he was having issues,

“Anoraks Ireland have recently been experiencing a number of problems. We are pleased to report that these have been sorted out. On October 31st the following statement was issued.

‘Dear Friends, We regret that Anoraks Ireland has been unable to reply to your many letters in the last four months as we have had serious problems with the continued operation of Anoraks Ireland. 'Certain people' who do not wish us well have endeavoured since August 1983 to silence Irelands one and only Free Radio Organisation. These people have attempted at various times to persuade, discredit and threaten the existence of Anoraks Ireland by personal visits, the use of a PO Box number purposely in our postal district area and their latest ploy was to report Anoraks Ireland to the income tax authorities in Dublin. The inspectorate have investigated Anoraks Ireland in depth and are satisfied that Anoraks Ireland is a non-profit organisation run by Radio enthusiasts promoting independent radio in Ireland.

We have resisted all threats from these people who claim a genuine interest in Irish Free Radio, but who are instead motivated by Self Greed and commercial profit.’”