'The Thing' from Cork, Dutch Pirate TV and the Irish Taoiseach

 

In the early morning hours of December 17th 1964, Dutch armed police boarded three military naval helicopters at Valkenburg airbase north of Den Haag and headed off out into the North Sea. As the three flew in formation, a naval ship, the ‘Delftshaven’ was already on route from the mainland to rendezvous with the airborne assault. At 8.55am, the ship was anchored two hundred yards from its target, five minutes later the three helicopters reached their target, hovering briefly. The door swung open admitting a strong gust. The first of the armed men abseiled down onto the deck below. Two men now secured the helipad and the other helicopters moved in to offload their forces onto the platform. Once secure, the naval vessel moved in and more armed military boarded together with representatives of the judiciary. The operation was swift and flawless and within thirty minutes, the Dutch authorities were in full control of the REM Island.

 

In the offices Department of Industry and Commerce on Kildare Street, Dublin, the Minister, Cork born Jack Lynch contemplated writing to his colleague at the Department of Posts and Telegraphs, Michael Hyland. He wanted to suggest to his cabinet colleague, the awarding of a temporary license for broadcast transmitting equipment be awarded to Verolme shipyard in Cork, to avoid them breaking the 1926 Wireless Telegraphy Act. No citizen or organisation had been granted such a license since the foundation of the State and the creation of Radio Telifis Eireann, the State broadcaster. This was a delicate matter, with hundreds of thousands of pounds of State aid to the shipyard, a major employer in Cork, on the line. To compound matters, massive press publicity and questions in Parliament would cause the Minister to feel the heat.

 

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As these events unfolded across Europe, in Cork, Felix Muroz, a native of Corunna, Northern Spain was still recovering from the injuries he received on May 16th at the Verolme dockyard. His cries of ‘Mio Dios’ (My God) were immediately answered by Cobh Catholic priest St. John Thornhill[1], who offered spiritual and physical comfort to the injured man as he lay on the docks waiting for an ambulance to take him to St. Finbarr’s hospital. With the cries of the Spanish born crew member of the Global Adventurer still ringing in their ears, the workers at Verolme Dockyard at Rushbrooke, on June first were happy to see ‘the thing’ depart from their shores heading out into the Atlantic and onwards towards the North Sea.

 

‘The Thing’ was the nickname given by the workers to a secret project undertaken by the Verolme Dockyard. The dockyard had been purchased by Dutch shipbuilder Cornelius Verolme in 1959 and had won contracts around the world to build fleets of vessels including Irish naval vessels. Work on creating the dockyard was begun by Joseph Wheeler in 1854 and it was officially opened in 1860. After changing ownership numerous times, with the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939 it passed into the hands of the State shipping company Irish Shipping Limited. It was reasonably successful and so it attracted investors and as Ireland began to industrialize, International investment was encouraged with financial incentives. In 1959 Cornelis Verolme bought the shipyard. Ship building stopped in 1984, but repairs continued for some years after.

 So how did a Dutch shipbuilder create this pirate television sensation in 1964, just two years after the launch of an Irish TV channel on December 31st 1961 with the launch of RTE Television? Cornelis Verolme sets up his first company ‘Scheepsinstallatiebedrijf Nederland N.V.’ in 1946 and subsequently took over two shipyards, one in Alblasserdam in 1950 and another in Heusden in 1953. The demand for ever-larger ships led Verolme to decide to start operating in this segment too. That called for a new yard, preferably in deep water, close to the sea. In 1956 Cornelis Verolme started the construction of the yard on the New Waterway in Rotterdam. Expanding to Ireland in 1959 and later to places like Brazil

 

Cornelis Verolme 

In an era when Ireland was emerging under the leadership of Sean Lemass and his Fianna Fail government from its insular agricultural based economy into a diverse manufacturing, exporting economy, Verolme was a major employer and leader in Ireland’s drive to attract foreign investment. In order to give it an advantage when competing for contracts from places like Poland and Liberia, the Irish Government provided grants to the company to allow it to compete on a financial front with shipbuilders in the UK. In June the company received £350,000 in subsidies to keep it competitive. For the relevant Minister, Jack Lynch [2]it was an important employer in his native City and it was providing a step on the ladder to the top job as Taoiseach, which he ascended to in 1966. According to Dermot Keogh in his biography ‘Jack Lynch, A Biography’

 

‘Lynch took a mild view of what were deemed ‘technical offences’ committed in Ireland by Verolme. The Department of Posts and Telegraphs complained in 1964 that Verolme was reporting to be providing offshore platforms for pirate radio and television operations. Enquiries established that the Secretary of Verolme Cork Dockyard Limited has confirmed that the company was making drilling rigs. Multi-purpose equipment of that kind could be used for anything, Verolme had no knowledge of intentions to use the product for pirate television. The Department of Posts and Telegraphs proposed to take action against the company over the alleged possession of an illegal wireless transmitting apparatus imported by Verolme and intended for use in a floating platform that would constitute a pirate television station.’

Lynch’s Ministry of Industry and Commerce took the view that,

‘even if there has been a technical offence, it does not appear that punitive action by the Post Office would be warranted, having regard that the apparatus would not be used in this country.’

 

The Department of Posts and Telegraphs in a memorandum to Government said,

‘The Minister for Posts and Telegraphs has been informed that the offshore structure being built at Rushbrooke is now almost complete and that is it not intended to install transmitting equipment on it while it is this country. No particular action is therefore proposed in this case’.

 

The Government were fully aware of the intention of the platform to house an illegal broadcasting station but decided to turn a blind eye to it as it did not affect Irish broadcasting and there seemed to be no intention to broadcast to or from Ireland. Very little consideration was given to the wishes of the Government in the Netherlands.

Verolme pictured with Taoiseach Sean Lemass at the Cork Dockyard

 Verolme workers were seemingly unaware of intentions to use the platform for pirate television when the build began in early 1964. The staff were also kept in the dark as to what they were building, which would resemble an oil rig platform, hence their description of the platform as ‘the thing’. What was ‘the thing’?

 

‘The Thing’ would resemble an oil drilling rig but it would be far from oil it intended to mine. Its financial viability would depend on advertising revenue. Once moored, it would act as an offshore artificial island. The island contained living quarters, a canteen, a fuel storage area and a helicopter deck. In total it measured 80 ft by 40 ft., fitted with a 250-ft transmission tower. The accommodation would have room for thirteen men and two women who would be on board to man both the radio and television stations. The newspapers reported that the building and transporting of the island would cost the investors a quarter of a million pounds. The structure had four periscope legs have been driven into the seabed filled with concrete. The location was outside Holland’s three-mile territory limit and therefore in International waters and exempt from Holland’s broadcastings laws.

 

The original idea of broadcasting from an artificial platform belonged to one Will Hordijk from The Hague. In 1963 he teamed up with Cornelis Verolme, who owned the Cork shipyard, and Pieter Heerema, a shipping entrepreneur from Scheveningen who saw the construction of a TV island as useful practice for his real work: the building of oil platforms, from which he was later to make his fortune. Financing was provided by banking house Texeira de Mattos. The name REM stood for Reclame Exploitatie Maatschappij (Advertising Exploitation Company).

The group behind the plan wanted to expose the staid Dutch television landscape that was controlled by the State and devoid of advertising, similar to the BBC today. An R.C.A. transmitter was purchased in the United States and shipped initially to Ireland which would have a radius of about 50 miles, an area which includes roughly a third and most prosperous part of Holland's 12 million population, including Amsterdam, Den Haag and the Hague.

 

The group behind the venture were a diverse group of planners and businessmen that ranged from a former SS Nazi officer to a Jewish banking institution, a ship builder regarded as a ‘bluffer’ and a later to be jailed financier. The main backer for the project was Cornelius Verolme and it would be his involvement with Cork and the Irish Government that would pave the way for the illegal broadcaster to challenge the resolve of the Dutch Government.

 

The Irish Government were turning a blind eye to pirate operators, as long as they were intended to broadcast in other jurisdictions. On St Patrick's Day, the Irish Independent carried a story under the heading ‘Irishmen make television island for Dutch pirates’. After a veil of secrecy had been drawn over the building work, a spokesman at the Dockyard was now able to say ‘that the dockyard were satisfied that the steel structure was for a marine TV station. The dockyard was recycling some of the grant aid from the Irish Government to build the pirate television platform. This was also at a time when Ireland had launched their bid to join the European union and their laissez-faire attitude to the illegal operations did not go unnoticed on the Continent.  On May 19^th, the Connacht Sentinel raised many of questions that were bubbling under the surface. Their correspondent wrote,

‘It might be worth a question, or two, in the Dail, as to where the money for this construction originated. Was there any Irish subsidy involved by accident or design  in the project?’

One could imagine how angry our Government would be if a pirate television or radio ship were to perch at the Kish and proceed to outdo Radio and Telifis Eireann.’

 

The news that ‘a pirate television platform’ was being built in Cork was front page news, this despite the workers not being told exactly what they were building and nicknaming it ‘The Thing’. The building of this platform was a departure from traditional shipbuilding that had been the mainstay of the business in Cork. The story of its build and subsequent departure generated many column inches, even at one stage, Verolme telling spectators where the best vantage points were around the harbour to watch the platforms departure.

‘Dockyard officials stressed today that the best view of the island will be gained from the Monkstown shore and that it will be difficult to see anything from the Rushbrooke side. They also said that it would not be anything dramatic as say the launching of a ship. It will be rather like lifting a box of wooden crates onto a lorry said a spokesman.’[3]

Lynch seemed to maintain later that the Irish Government, including his Department had no idea that the platform being built at Verolme was to be used as a site for an illegal broadcasting station. Unfortunately for Lynch and Lemass’s Government, Ireland was gaining a track record in the field of providing facilities for the creation of pirate operations that would target Britain and the greater European community, this coming at a time when the campaign for Ireland to join the European Economic Community was gathering pace. In March 1964, Radio Caroline and Radio Atlantis were both fitted out as off shore pirate radio stations in the County Louth port of Greenore near the Northern Ireland border. Greenore was a privately operated port owned by Caroline founder Ronan O’Rahilly’s father. The Verolme dockyard was by 1964 in receipt of hundreds of thousands of pounds in grant money from the Irish Government. This ‘free’ money no doubt gave the shipyard an opportunity to pursue diverse projects. The grants however by mid 1964 were causing unease for the Government as it emerged that there seemed to be a game of ‘find the pea’ with some of the grants provided to the company.

 Mr. James Dillon, the Fine Gael leader of the opposition said he had seen in the Press that the dockyard " in the face of intense and fierce competition," had secured a contract to build a 30,000-ton ship. The order was placed by the Netherlands Freight and Tanker Co., Ltd., of The Hague, and the chairman of that company was Mr. Verolme. We can all picture the pretty picture of Mr. Verolme pleading and wrestling with himself to decide on placing this contract. "About three weeks before this vessel was completed the Minister for Industry and Commerce, Jack Lynch announced that he proposed to give Mr. Verolme a subsidy of £350.000 to enable Mr. Verolme to meet the contract price on foot of the agreement. which had been made between Mr. Verolme and himself." Then a remarkable development took place. said Mr. Dillon. The ship was sold to a firm in Amsterdam. "It has been assumed that it was not less than one million pounds sterling.' Another ship was now in hands, for which he understood they were to provide another £350.000 subsidy. This time the ship was being built for the Liberian National Shipping Line, of which Mr. Verolme owned 25 pc of the capital. (Belfast Telegraph June 17th 1964)

 

In response to the allegations made in the Dail against the Dutch shipbuilding company were rejected as "only partially true and a complete misrepresentation of the facts" by Verolme Vice-President, Dr. Henrik J. Hofstra, a former Netherlands Finance Minister. According to a debate in the Dail in May 1964, the previous year Verolme had been granted free aid of £900,000[4].

 

In November 1963 future Irish Taoiseach Garret Fitzgerald wrote in the Irish Farmers Journal,

‘the Verolme shipyard was launched at Cobh the Taoiseach told the Dail that Mr. Verolme was prepared to invest £5-6 million himself, and only required an assurance that if there were difficulties about the export of capital from Holland, it could be made available from Irish sources. For four years after that, the Government refused to disclose how much Mr Verolme had in fact invested in this project until in July they came to the Dail to say that Mr. Verolme had invested £687,000 in the project, that the Industrial Credit Co. had lent almost three time this figure, £1,825,000 and that the Government had given a grant of £550,000 of which £400,000 was to be used to pay back part of the Industrial Credit loan, (a very dubious use of the Industrial Grants Act machinery).

But despite the manner in which the Irish Government had financed Mr. Verolme's project, the shipyard was losing money at such a rate that it could be kept going, said the Minister for Industry and Commerce, only if the Dail provided a subsidy of £1,220,000 to help the company to recoup its running costs, a procedure which has not previously been employed to help any Irish company that got into difficulties.’

 

Writing in 1995 in Trouw.nl, Willem Breedveld wrote,

‘The Dutch Berlusconi’s wanted to seize the power of TV in the Netherlands in 1964. Shipbuilder and bluffer Cornelis Verolme, the obscure financier J.H. Fehmers (who later was jailed for malpractice) and former bunker builder PS Heerema opened a commercial TV station with the heartfelt support of the Telegraaf, which successfully started its broadcasts from an oil rig in front of the coast at Zandvoort. The vast majority of the people thought it was beautiful and even turned out to be willing to buy REM shares, which later turned out to be worth nothing.’

 

On the front page of the Cork Examiner on Thursday May 14th under the headline ‘The Most unusual Ship Will Take Away TV Island’, they reported on the Global Adventurer’s departure from Rotterdam,

‘M.V. Global Adventurer , mounting the biggest floating crane in the world, left Rotterdam at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, bound for Cork, according to a message from Amsterdam yesterday’

 

Building the infrastructure in Cork was one part of the equation, transporting it to the North Sea was another. To achieve that goal Pieter Heerema's Global Adventurer vessel, the first ship in the world to be converted into a crane vessel with a lifting capacity of 300 tons arrived in Cork, creating a mini sensation. Originally a Norwegian oil tanker the Sunnaas, it was converted at the Verolme dockyard in Rotterdam to assist in the oil rig deployment industry.  On May 14th, the Global Adventurer arrived in Cork and it made front page news in the Cork newspapers including the Evening Echo. It was positioned by the quayside near the dry dock and loading of ‘the thing’ began. On Saturday morning as part of the living quarters was being loaded on board, the crane creaked and cracked and broke as it lifted a 160 ton section on board.[5] It crashed to the deck of the ship injuring Munoz, a married man with two children. Because of the news worthiness of both the plan to broadcast and the originality of the Global Adventurer being in harbour, the press photographers were there to capture the events as they unfolded, including a photograph of Father Thornhill tending to Munoz as they awaited the ambulance. His main injuries were to his back and suffering from shock. The front page of the Evening Echo told their readers ‘Dockyard Scenes of Chaos as ‘The Thing’ Crashes Down On Ship’.

 

The Evening Echo had a reporter quayside and he delivered an eye-witness account. The paper reported,

‘An "Evening Echo" reporter was ten yards from 'where'  the top of the giant crane, the largest floating crane in the world with a maximum lift of nearly 300 tons, sliced into the wharf on the port side of the Global Adventurer.

This is his eye-witness's account: '" l hope I may never nave to relieve the seconds of panic as I ran frantically from the crushing weight of the huge upper portion of the broken jib of the crane, the lashing cables and the flying metal.

"Some ten yards from where I had been sitting, watching an interesting but routine lift of the superstructure of the TV island, was a gaping hole.

" The head of the crane had driven in several feet into the wharf on. the port side of the ship, slicing through a steel plate as though it was tissue paper." Minutes before the crash, an " Evening Echo " photographer and a TV cameraman had climbed on deck.

The loading superintendent, Mr. Jenkins, was directing operations on a telephone system, while crew members waited to guide " The Thing" into its cradle.

" It was poised some fifteen feet above the steel members of the cradle. Then suddenly there was a grinding noise as the crane snapped, a sickening crash as the 160-ton upper structure of the TV. Island crunched into the ship just fore of midships. Then pandemonium.

"Deckhands scampered to avoid the falling debris, and I saw the TV. cameraman running frantically aft. All this happened in a split second. I remained frozen in horror.

"Then I was running, jumping over obstacles, and as I ran, I could hear the screams of an injured seaman.

"It seemed unbelievable that nobody had died, and that when the seaman was taken ashore, he could raise his thumb in weak greeting to me."

The Evening Echo provided a running commentary on their front pages for days. They reported on the Global Adventurer’s arrival in Cork before it had berthed quayside that,

‘An "Echo" reporter also learned from Amsterdam this morning that the Dutch people are taking an intense interest in the events in Cork Harbour, and keenly awaiting news of the departure of "The Thing" for the waters off their shores.’

The following day the Echo reported

‘The clang that rang out in the dockyard when ‘The Thing’ fell on the deck of the Global Adventurer in Cork Harbour today will have international echoing. Since it became known that the platform under construction at Rushbrooke was for a Dutch pirate TV station, the eyes of the world, particularly the querying eyes of television were on the situation.’

 

Cork and especially the Echo, seemed to be at the forefront of the great pirate debate that was now unfolding across Europe. It should be remembered that Ireland was already making headlines in the offshore pirate world when earlier that year two ships were fitted out in Greenore port in County Louth including the famous Radio Caroline.

 

The ship left Cork on the Sunday with part of the platform and a broken crane departed Cork and headed firstly to Southampton to unload the partial construction on board and then travelled across the North Sea to Rotterdam to the Verolme Shipyard to have the crane repaired. Once repaired it returned to Cork, greeted by large crowds and an excited Irish press corps.

 

The accident had been a serious setback for the operation. Mr. A. Hareeme, manager of the Global Offshore Construction Co., the firm engaged to erect the station off the Dutch coast, arrived at Cork Airport by charter plane to inspect the damage.

 

Every step of the Global Adventurer journey was reported in the press. It had arrived in Southampton[6], it arrived in Rotterdam[7], It has left Rotterdam[8], it arrives in Cork tomorrow[9] and then on Monday June 1st, having worked into the small hours of the morning, the ship with its cargo on board slipped away from the dock but as it moved into the harbour heading out to sea, it anchored as a weather front moved in and it was deemed unsafe with its precious cargo on board to continue its journey. The Examiner deeming that the jinx had struck again. The next day the ship began its journey to the North Sea. While moored in Cork, some of the crew visited their colleague in St. Finbarr’s Hospital, checking on his welfare and delivering presents from family and friends. The vessel and its crew also found itself stuck in the middle of lightening unofficial strikes which affected the local tugs and pilots in the harbour. It was one of the few ships to get away from the port that day.

Within two days, the ship was off the Dutch coast and construction began on the artificial island. The legs were lowered into the sea and filled with concrete anchoring it to the seabed eleven miles off the coast. With the legs in place, the platform was completed by June 5th and over the next couple of weeks, the radio and television transmitters were installed, the aerial erected, studios built and it was ready to test. 

On May 26th 1964, the Irish Press had reported,

‘The company setting up the station, R.E.M., has given some details of the type of programme to be transmitted. Four British Incorporated TV serials have been booked, Robin Hood, William Tell, The Saint and The Invisible Man. British, U.S. and continental films will also be shown.

A spokesman for R.E.M. claimed that the available advertising time had been fully booked from September 1, when the service is due to start, until the end of January, 1965.’

 

Meanwhile on the same day May 26^th, the building of the platform for an illegal broadcasting operation was becoming a political issue in Ireland with questions were directed at the Minister Lynch in the Irish parliament, Dail Eireann. Mr Sweetman TD asked the Minister in a debate of the ‘Construction of Pirate TV Station whether any subsidy was paid or payable, directly or indirectly for the pirate TV station constructed in Cork. Lynch’s curt reply was,

‘If the deputy’s question relates to the offshore structure recently completed by the Verolme Cork Dockyard Limited, the answer is in the negative.’

 

On 29 July 1964, the first radio test transmission was made from REM Island on 1400 kHz mediumwave. The transmitter power was 15 kW. This was followed by the start of TV tests on 13 August, and the official opening of TV Noordzee on 1 September. Special antennas had to be purchased to receive the broadcasts on VHF Channel 11, but the Dutch public were very enthusiastic, and by October 1964 audience surveys showed that TV Noordzee had 2 million viewers every night. The TV and radio broadcasts were not made concurrently. Radio Noordzee operated between 9am and 6.15 pm, and 15 minutes later the TV station signed on.

From the Dutch Newspaper Archives

The Dutch authorities moved quickly to put a stop to the broadcasts from the Irish built platform. They had up until now tolerated the radio broadcasts from the offshore ship housing Radio Veronica but broadcasting commercial television would not be tolerated. Using European laws, they rushed legislation through the Dutch parliament that rather than outlawing the broadcasts from the REM, they increased the territorial claim on continental shelf at the bottom of the ocean to include the area where the legs of the platform were concreted down. This technically made the broadcasts inside Dutch territory and therefore illegal. To counteract the authorities moves, the operators announced that its TV operations had been sold to a British company, High Seas Television. One Eric Bent from Weybridge, Surrey was named as the new owner, having paid just £100 for their purchase. TV Noordzee made its last transmission on 14 December 1964. Ownership of REM Island itself was transferred to a Panamanian company in the hope that this would raise international issues  if the authorities attempted to seize the platform. Radio Noordzee meanwhile continued broadcasting on board, but on the morning of 17^th December 1964, it was all about to change.

 There was increased activity seen around the platform early on the morning of the seventeenth. Over the previous couple of days, there had been an increase in the number of Dutch military aircraft overflies spying on the structure. Just before eight a.m., a flotilla of ships began to circle the base of the platform. At eight, three helicopters arrived over the horizon. The first helicopter moved in over the platform and dropped a smoke bomb onto the helipad area and as that aircraft moved off another swept in and Marine Captain Eric Gerritsen was the first to be winched down onto the platform, followed by more marines. Once the upper deck was secured and there was no opposition from the crew on board, a basket was lowered to the awaiting ships and more military forces were winched on board. The basket had been used by the crew to ferry up men, food, TV programmes cassettes and records but now they were being used to commandeer the platform. The crew of ten were ordered to switch off the transmitters, silencing Radio Noordzee in the middle of programme presented by Sonja van Proosdjijk and a record by 21 year old Anneke Gronloh titled ‘Paradiso’.

 

TV and Radio Noordzee had been silenced for good by the Dutch military on behalf of the Dutch Government. So, what happened to the platform built by the men at the Verolme dockyard in Cork harbour? In 1974, the Department of Public Works began using REM Island as a base for carrying out marine investigations and measurements. However, in October 2003 the authorities decided it is surplus to requirements, and a spokesman said that it has come to the end of its life and will be dismantled. The removal of equipment from the platform will begin in early 2004. It was later broken up and the platform and accommodation dock was anchored in Amsterdam harbour and opened as a restaurant.

---

[1] http://www.justice.ie/en/JELR/Cloyne_Rpt.pdf/Files/Cloyne_Rpt.pdf

[2] Jack Lynch b.1917 – d. 1999. Taoiseach 1966 -1973 & 1977 - 1979

[3] The Cork Evening Echo, May 14^th 1964

[4] Dáil Éireann debate -Wednesday, 6 May 1964 Vol. 209 No. 8

 

[5] Belfast Telegraph May 16^th 1964

[6] Irish Press, May 20^th

[7] Cork Examiner May 22^nd

[8] Southern Star May 23^rd.

[9] Cork Examiner May 30^th

 

Further Reading

http://www.offshoreradiomuseum.co.uk/page763.html

http://www.icce.rug.nl/~soundscapes/VOLUME14/Rem_Reflections.shtml

https://www.mediapages.nl/zeezenders/rtv-noordzee

https://www.anderetijden.nl/aflevering/670/Het-REM-eiland

Irish Pirate Television History

The History of Irish Pirate Television

 

The following is an extract from the forthcoming book on Irish television history outside the broadcasts and programming of the State broadcaster RTE. The book 'The Flickering Images Beyond Montrose' will be published in late 2021 and will explore the history of television reception in Ireland, community television such as Cork Community Television and NVTV, Irish satellite broadcasters like Buzz TV and Setanta Sports, regional stations like the City Channel network in the early 2000's, internet stations like An Lar TV and Scrogall TV and of course pirate television. 

There has been some interest recently online regarding pirate television stations that have gone on air in Ireland. For those viewers hooked on satellite television, Netflix or Amazon boxsets, pirate television broadcasting on analogue seems to be from a forgotten era but in 2021, we will be celebrating the fortieth anniversary of the first broadcast from a pirate television channel in Ireland. This is part one and will concentrate on the brief but eclectic history of pirate television in Ireland. RTE began broadcasting on December 31st 1961 and for nearly two decades the fledgling station dominated the airwaves alone. Cities like Dublin were being cabled removing the thousands of rooftop aerials that doimated the skylines. Dublin with its population of almost a million people was the location of RTE’s main studios but the stations served an entire nation and as pirate radio stations were now clearly leading the airwaves battle for ratings and generating millions of pounds in advertising revenue, the next logical step was for a television channel. The first attempt at providing a community television channel for Dublin began as an official channel but fears from the Government of the time that it would break RTE’s monopoly and that they could not control an independent media. 

 

If you want to support my work in preserving and presenting the history of Irish radio and archive as much broadcasting history as I can, then for the price of a cup of coffee (takeaway these days) you can financially support the work at -              https://ko-fi.com/irishbroadcastinghistory

BALLYFERMOT COMMUNITY TELEVISION

 

In 1973 Phoenix Relays the TV cable company negotiated with the Ballyfermot Community Association prior to installing their piped TV system in the area. They agreed that they would provide the means to establish a local community television channel. At that time there were over 5000 houses in the Ballyfermot area so it was of a significant size and highly organised as a working-class community. The main directors and owners of Phoenix Relays had worked previously in RTE and were directly involved in establishing the national station. They left the state company with the intention of cabling the wider Dublin area. This provided a unique opportunity to establish an alternative TV channel and this was clearly part of their intentions at the time. They almost achieved this ambition in the mid 1970’s and the participation of the Ballyfermot Community Association provided the basis for this attempt.

The installation of the piped system took approximately one year to complete. Incidentally, the initial cost of the piped TV service was £12.50 for a year in 1973 compared to £100 now. The local television station was inaugurated for community week in September 1974. An out side broadcasting station was hired by Phoenix Relays for the week with full colour and editing equipment. A studio was provided in the main shopping area over the Phoenix Relays office. The technical crew was made up by staff from Phoenix Relays. All of the production, presentation, research, interviewers, make up and programme control was provided by local people. Phoenix ensured that the programmes were recorded and broadcast but had absolutely no involvement in determining the content or scope of the programmes produced. The station was organised and run through two local groups, the Ballyfermot Community Association and the Ballyfermot Arts workshop. Both had core full time staff of three people and hundreds of voluntary activists. The area was organised on the basis of local street committees with about twenty-six different street committees at that time. These provided the local promoters of the service and the news and information for broadcast.

 

The BCA also formed a TV sub-committee who provided the day-to-day monitoring of the station. All of the committee were also involved in the production so had direct participation in the activity. Among the local people involved in the central team were John Sweeney who was president of the BCA and chairman of the TV sub committee, Maureen Gaffney studio controller, Mary Farrell producer, John Hammond presenter, Pat Callen research, Willy Kane entertainment, Marie MacCowan make-up and Gerry Fitzgerald MD of Phoenix Relays The first broadcast was of the opening parade for the community week. Over two thousand local people took part in the parade with a wide selection of floats from the street committees and sports, leisure and cultural groups from the area. The President, Erskine Childers officiated. The inaugural broadcast was at 8pm on Saturday 3rd September 1974. The highlights of the opening day were broadcast. In order to alert people to the broadcast Phoenix cut in to the advertising breaks on UTV.

 

It was too risky to interfere with RTE broadcasts as the BCA TV was an illegal broadcast. On the following day, Sunday, we recorded and broadcast an interview with the local Fine Gael TD Declan Costello who was also Attorney General. This was intended as an extra security, if the Government or the Department of Posts and Telegraphs decided to take action against us. Among other interviews of people taking part in the community week activities we interviewed a local Sinn Fein representative who had arranged a visit from a GAA team from Ballymurphy and a band from Turf Lodge in Belfast . Although this was in contravention of Section 31 of the Broadcasting act we decided that we should not censor local community activity. Very many of the events organised during the week were filmed and broadcast each night from the studio on Ballyfermot Road. These included traditional concerts, variety shows, make and model competitions, darts competitions and coverage of local street events. An hour long programme was prepared and broadcast each night at 8pm. There was an immediate impact on participation in the daily events as local people began to watch the nightly programme. Each of the pubs were asked to switch to the local channel at 8pm, although this caused some tension when sports events were on the TV. Very quickly people learned to re-tune to the BCA channel. Every house received a copy of the programme of events for community week with details of the events that would be filmed for broadcast. The final Saturday there was a live broadcast from the community centre of a local chat show with John O’Donohue of RTE as guest presenter. This proved technically very difficult with limited equipment but was very successful.

 

After the opening week it was decided to continue to broadcast on a weekly basis each Wednesday night at 8pm. The OB unit had to be returned, so initially black and white equipment was rented by Phoenix Relays. The basic equipment allowed us to use our local studio where the programmes were recorded on the Wednesday evening for broadcast at 8pm. Within six months Phoenix Relays had obtained good quality colour equipment. There was no shortage of news items of interest locally as many groups and street committees provided information and participants for the programmes. The local community newspaper the "Ballyfermot People" was also produced through the Arts workshop, so there was local experience in news production and research. The television station also provided a great boost to the work of the community association in highlighting important local issues and helping to organise the area. Different programmes covered local houdsing issues, protests against the planned motorway, the forced closure of the corporation refuse dump by local residents, the elections, demands for a new community college, the scale of unemployment in the area and important community issues. The weekly programmes also provided a stage for local musical talent and invited guests. A wide range of local musicians were presented. These included artists such as the Keenans and Furys as well as Christy Moore, Brendan Grace, Dana, Alvin Stardust, Sonny Knowles and any other well known names that we could get for free. However the main thrust always was to run the station as a local community based activity.

 

The weekly broadcast also allowed the BCA to introduce a very successful non-stop draw for fundraising purposes. This was organised on a street basis with the street committees acting as sellers and keeping part of the proceeds. The weekly draw was carried out live on BCA TV at the beginning of each programme by picking numbered balls from a drum. This draw enabled the association to clear all debts within a year and continued for ten years as a main source of funds with thousands of members. While the channel proved very successful locally it proved difficult to obtain publicity in the national media. This was illustrated when President Childers died shortly after the Ballyfermot community week and RTE declined our offer to allow them to broadcast the tape of one of his final public appearances. RTE only once covered the fact that a second channel existed, in a "Seven Days" programme on access to public broadcasting. The Minister of Posts and Telegraphs, Conor Cruise O’Brien TD refused to issue a broadcasting licence and the Department took a legal action against Phoenix Relays for illegal broadcasting. This went to the high court and was defeated by the barristers for Phoenix Relays with the help of the Ballyfermot Community Association. Our defence was that Phoenix Relays were using a micro wave receiver dish which was hidden on the roof of the church with the assistance of the local clergy. We won on the technicality that the charge was for broadcasting illegally when we were actually receiving in the area. We campaigned locally in a bye-election in 1975 for two basic demands- a new community college and a public broadcasting license. With the help of our local television and newspaper, and the level of organisation of the street committees, we were able to ensure that everywhere the Government candidates and ministers went in the area they were confronted by these two demands. The Minister for Post and Telegraphs, C. Cruise-O’Brien announced the licence two days before the election and the Minister for Education Dick Burke announced the new college on the day before the election. With the new license Phoenix Relays attempted to interest advertisers in the second channel which had the capacity to be broadcast throughout the Dublin area. Our weekly programmes were put on the wider network and could be viewed in any area where the Phoenix cable system had been installed. The facility to broadcast was extended to other communities in Dublin. It proved almost impossible to obtain steady advertising revenue that was needed to sustain the TV channel. The costs to Phoenix Relays of providing the facilities in Ballyfermot proved too expensive and we ended our broadcasts in 1976 over two years after the introduction of the first and only community television station in Ireland. We had insisted that the new community college when it was built should include a fully equipped television studio. This provided the basis for the development of media education in Ballyfermot community college. There was a subsequent attempt by the college to re-start the Ballyfermot television channel but this was without the participation of the local organisations and community activists who had been involved in the original station and proved unsuccessful. The overall experience of introducing and developing the first local community television channel in Ireland was very positive. It achieved a significant impact on the community in Ballyfermot. Hundreds of local people participated in the production of programmes. It helped in developing community solidarity and provided the means to promote a positive image and identity in the area. It proved that local broadcasting had significant potential. The fact that the national media and especially RTE were antagonistic to the idea and our achievement is a serious reflection on their attitudes and on their capacity to ensure local control and participation in broadcasting and other media. Unfortunately for Phoenix Relays they were almost twenty years too early in promoting the idea of an alternative to RTE and the possibility of a sustainable Dublin channel. The Flood tribunal investigation into the issuing of the national broadcasting licences is providing us with some insight as to why this lucrative area was kept so firmly under central political control.

 

According to the Dáil Éireann records - Volume 290 - 28 April, 1976 

Written Answers. - Community TV.

51. Mr. Dowling asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs if he is aware that the Ballyfermot community television programme will shortly cease to operate because of conditions imposed by his Department; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Minister for Posts and Telegraphs (Dr. Cruise-O'Brien): I am not so aware. The position is that about 12 months ago I approved the relay on the local cable system of programmes produced by the Ballyfermot Community Association subject to certain conditions. There has been no change in those conditions. Some time ago the association in common with a number of other community associations asked for permission to have their programmes relayed over a large area of Dublin city and suburbs and that the venture be financed by commercial advertising. I was not prepared to agree to this pending detailed consideration of its implications for the future of community television, which I was the first to encourage, and for Irish public service broadcasting. On hearing this, the cable company who had been providing production facilities for Ballyfermot Community Association announced that they were not prepared to continue to do so as from the end of April.

My Department pointed out to the firm in question that the notice given for cessation of production facilities—a little more than a month—was far too short to enable the question of alternative methods of servicing community television to be explored. The company have now intimated that they are prepared to continue to service community television but only on a modified and considerably less costly basis. I understand that a meeting between the interests concerned is being held on 30th April. I hope that these discussions will result in an acceptable solution.

52. Mr. Dowling asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs why, apart from the commercial aspect, the editorial rights of community associations which he has licensed to make television programmes are less than those conferred on ITV and BBC in respect of programmes on the cable system.

53. Mr. Dowling asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs the proposals, if any, he has to allow open cable television in the same way as he has allowed open broadcasting.

54. Mr. Dowling asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs (a) when the study group will be set up to examine community television (b) how the group will be selected (c) its terms of reference (d) when is it likely to report and (e) why he has waited so long to have the study group set up.

Minister for Posts and Telegraphs (Dr. Cruise-O'Brien): I propose with the permission of the Ceann Comhairle, to take Questions Nos. 52, 53 and 54 together.

I do not propose at present to allow open cable television if by that phrase the Deputy means permitting the wide distribution over cable networks of programmes produced by local community associations for their local areas.

No editorial rights have been conferred on ITV and BBC in this State. Licensed cable television operators are, of course, permitted to relay all television services which are available off air in the area they are serving.

Community television is still at the experimental stage. The present approved arrangements were settled on the basis that community programmes would be confined to programmes originated locally and acquired material of an educational and informational character only. The associations are required to comply with the same standards as regards objectivity and impartiality as RTE.

I hope to set up a study group soon to consider what research would be desirable in the field of community television, who should undertake such research and how it might be financed. The composition of the group has not been decided yet. I cannot say at this stage when a report can be expected. The Department had already carried out a certain amount of research, particularly in regard to developments in community television elsewhere. After it received the views of a number of community associations it consulted the Departments of Education and Local Government and the Dublin Corporation on the matter. Consideration of their replies indicated the desirability of setting up a special study group of the kind referred to above. Because of the recent request by the community associations for a radical change in the existing arrangements, I have decided to set up the study group and to ask them to report at an early date.

There were two follow ups to Ballyfermot Community Television when Harold’s Cross Television and Tallaght Community Television came on air through the capital’s cable systems.

 

In 1981, pirate radio was becoming mainstream, exiting bedrooms and attics in to Georgian houses and flooding the airwaves with music, local programming and community news.

CHANNEL D

Channel D was Ireland's first pirate television channel when it began broadcasting on April 25th 1981 under the title Channel 3. The station changed name to Channel D and much of its programming consisted of broadcasting movies except on Saturday when it broadcast local programmes. The station was originally located in the Camelot Hotel, Malahide but under Garda pressure moved to the State Cinema in Phibsboro.

The station's directors were Don Moore, who had been a founder and stalwart of the pirate radio station ARD (Alternative Radio Dublin and Michael Tiernan who led the National Independent Broadcasting Organisation and they claimed in newspaper reports that they had secret financial backing for the station.  

Some of the first films shown on the station were 'Silent Night, Bloody Night', 'Joe Panther' and 'No. 1 of the Secret Service'. The local produced programme was originally called 'Weekend Dublin' but this was changed to 'Dublin Profile' and was presented by Brian Dick and Joan Lowe. All programmes were pre-recorded on video and fed through the transmitter.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076475/ (No 1 of The Secret Service)

When launched first the station was only available in colour within a three mile radius of the transmitter but with the installation of an ex-BBC transmitter in July 1981, the stations radius was extended to fifteen miles.

The transmissions were in vision on 61.75mhz and sound on 67.75mhz. As transmissions progressed the channel planned Breakfast time programmes, the first in British Isles to provide such a service but technical problems and authority haressment curtailed these plans. 'Dr Don' Moore once said that he got word that the station was about to be raided one particular night so he sneaked up to a nearby corner and peaked down at the State Cinema (TV TX and video player location) to see some suspicious cars parked across the road waiting for him to go in and turn on. He decided not to bother and the station never broadcast again.

From the Video The Irish Era

There were immediately rumours of pirate television channels opening in big cities like Limerick, Cork and Galway but it was the County Louth town of Drogheda that would see the arrival of pirate television and RTE would do everything in its power to starve the station of success.

 

BOYNESIDE TELEVISION

Boyneside Television began broadcasting on November 2nd 1981 from studios located in Donaghty's Mill, Drogheda, Co. Louth. The station was operated by Boyneside Communications and Eoghain McDowell who were the parent company of Boyneside Radio. The channel broadcasted entirely locally produced programmes, as they feared to break copyright laws.

 Initially the station broadcasted at weekends only but expanded to go on air every night. The first programme to be broadcast on the station was a report on a local religious festival. Boyneside Television received excellent reviews from the local press for their coverage of the 1982 General Election. In 1982, while broadcasting on Channel D, the stations signal was jammed by a RTE transmitter based in a plain van in a public carpark near the station but public pressure forced RTE to stop the jamming.

 https://pirate.ie/archive/northeast-series-boyneside-television/

CAPITAL TELEVISION

Capital Radio was a Dublin pirate station broadcasting from the Milltown area of the city and in 1982 they began pirate TV Test transmissions broadcasting on UHF Channel 23 and these tests consisted of an on-screen clock. These tests lasted five days.

 RADIO TELE DUBLIN

 

The next attempt to get onto the television airwaves was by the long running pirate radio station Radio Dublin from its headquarters on Sarsfield Road in Inchicore, this station went on the air with test card transmissions on March 8th 1983. The test card consisted of the Radio Dublin logo and the radio stations programming piped on the sound channel. Broadcasting on UHF, the station never passed the test card stage and disappeared from the airwaves.

 

MALLOW TELEVISION

 For rural Ireland, unable to take advantage of cabling though companies like RTE Relays and later Cablelink, entrepreneurs and technicians began setting up receiving stations on high grounds around town and villages and rebroadcasting via pirate transmitters signals from British channels including BBC, ITV and Channel 4. Because of the porous law, the 1926 Wireless Telegraphy Act, which pirate radio had exposed loopholes allowed these pirate deflector systems to proliferate.  But not alone did these community deflector systems carry British programming, they produced their own programmes and interupted the broadcasts of Channel 4 to carry local programming, thus becoming pirate television channels in their own right. There were many of these illegal rebroadcasters, one such being Mallow Community Television in County Cork.

The issue was at the heart of local politics to the extent that in Donegal Tom Gildea was elected a member of Dail Eireann (Parliament) on the back of the issue of deflector TV.

The arrival of satellite broadcasters including SKY TV spelt the end of these systems and they closed one by one and in 2012 the introduction of the digital Saorview service meant multi-channel TV reception was now accessible to the vast majority of the country.

Mallow television began broadcasting in November 1983 to five hundred homes in the Mallow area of County Cork. The station was run by Alan Wilson and together with recorded programmes from the four British channels, BBC 1 & 2, ITV and Channel 4, the station broadcasted live locally produced programmes. The transmitter was located at the top of a nearby mountain and the station survived on local donations and subscription as no advertising was carried.

 

In February 1984, the station was raided by The Department of Posts and Telegraphs and the Gardai and over £2,000 worth of equipment was confiscated putting the station off the air.

According to a newspaper report at the time,

‘The country's first private television station was closed down last week by gardai and post office officials. The station, with live broadcasts and videoed programmes taken from the four English channels, beamed to 500 householders in the Co. Cork town by video expert Alan Wilson and his wife Margo for the past four months. "It was solely, a community television station giving Mallow people the chance to see multi-channel programmes they have no opportunity of seeing now, Alan said last night. "we weren’t doing anyone any harm since we didn't look for advertising. We weren't taking any revenue away from RTE. "We also did live broadcasts of local community interests, such as interviews with councillors and other well-known figures in the area. "As we didn't want to hurt the local cinema, we didn't show any films." said Alan. "Local people loved the station and they are very angry now that we have been closed down. There is talk of a petition to allow us to continue." For years Alan Wilson was general manager of an oil drilling company in the Middle and Far East and Australia. Re returned_, to Mallow, where his wife comes from, last year and they decided to start their community station. "We had a transmitter on a nearby mountain, beaming programmes from Mallow to the mountain and back to the town. There are 1,800 households hi the town and nearest cable is 20 miles away," he said. Six men called with a warrant last week and confiscated £2,500 worth of television equipment. Said Alan ‘We’ll certainly be applying for a local TV community licence when they are seeking applications."

 

L.T.V. 1 & L.T.V. 2

 

In February 1984, in the West Cork town of Macroom, Local Television (LTV) made its first broadcast. Their first broadcast was of a Corpus Christi procession through the town. The broadcast was well received and the station went from strength to strength and began twice weekly regular broadcasts on Wednesday's and Sunday's. The station covered a variety of local events from religious events to soccer matches. LTV produced their own six part drama serial 'Strangers'. LTV was the brainchild of Dan Kelleher who launched the station on borrowed equipment but as the station blossomed, he was able to purchase new equipment. The station had a radius of fifteen miles and could be received on the outskirts of Cork City.

LTV's last broadcast was its first live broadcast when they broadcasted midnight Mass live from Kilmurray Parish Church on December 24/25th 1988. The station closed in accordance with the introduction of the Wireless Telegraphy Act 1988.

 While LTV served the community of Macroom with local programmes, a new serve originated from Millstreet and was called LTV 2. Sean Radley led the team that covered events in an around Millstreet and they continued to broadcast through their mountain based transmitter until 2018 when the station moved to online broadcasting.

 NOVA TELEVISION

 The most audacious attempt at pirate television and one that threatened the authorities more than any other was Nova Television. Radio Nova from the time it began its illegal radio broadcasts in June 1981 revolutionised Irish radio. Within a year it was reaching forty percent of the Dublin listening public daily as opposed to the national pop channel RTE 2’s 15 percent. In May 1983, as station owner Chris Cary threatened to expand onto longwave and aim its programming towards the UK, it was raided but was quickly back on the air after a brief absence.  With advertising revenue rolling into his two stations Radio Nova and Kiss FM, television was the next media to be conquered. Nova Televsiion or NTV went on the air on Sunday December 4th 1983 broadcasting on Channel 60 with a power of 100watts and located in studios at 19 Herbert Street, Dublin 2. Following a bar test card on that day, programming began at 9p.m. when Sybil Fennell came on the air to introduce the station. Following the introduction, a Jane Fonda workout video was aired and the station reverted to their test card. The following night the station was back on air with Ms. Fennell informing its viewers of the aims and future plans for the station including plans for franchising Breakfast and Afternoon programming.

 

On Tuesday December 6th, following pressure from RTE and the Government, station owner Chris Cary pulled the plug on the station. On Friday December 9th, Gardai and Post Office officials raided the station and seized equipment worth an estimated £170,000. For what was to be an experiment in independent television in Ireland it was short lived with the Government fearing that such a pirate station could have found the same success as Radio Nova.

 

Nova owner Chris Cary always believed that there was an opening in Ireland for Independent television as there had been for independent radio. In December 1981, barely six months after launching his commercial radio venture he announced plans to set up a cable television station in Dublin. The station he announced was expected to broadcast from seven p.m. to midnight. The signals from the station would be scrambled with a decoder costing the viewer initially sixty pounds and a further thirty pounds per month for the service. He had planned to show movies that were currently showing in Irish cinemas but the cinema owners objected fearing lost revenue and job cuts and this was one of the main reasons that this service never got passed the planning stages.

 

Despite his failure to get a cable station on the air he pursued the idea of independent television. Nova Television went on air on Sunday December 4th 1983. Broadcasting via a one hundred watt transmitter, the station broadcasted on Channel 60. The channels studios were located at Nova Park along with the transmitter. A coloured bar test card appeared with the sound channel carrying Radio Nova. At 9p.m. Sybil Fennell came on the air to introduce the station. The Jane Fonda Workout Video was then aired before the station reverted to a test card with the letters 'NTV' written across the bottom of the screen.

 

The following day the channel was back on the air again with the test card followed at 9p.m. with Sybil Fennell who read the news and continued by introducing the station to the Dublin viewing public.

 

"NTV is expected to start broadcasting a full programme schedule in time for Christmas. We are a local station for the greater Dublin area. We have a radius of about fifteen miles and we don't expect to increase our power to broadcast to areas beyond that. A number of music videos will be included in the programme schedule. We are basically a channel of family entertainment. There will be no pornographic or video nasties. NTV is broadcast from the Nova studios. NTV is on Channel 60, it can be received on any television with an outdoor aerial although pictures nearby maybe received with rabbits ears but the reception won't be as good as with an aerial. We are not available on cable TV, the pipe, at the moment but in the near future that may change. To tune your television, simply select a clear channel on your television perhaps your video button because we have not got a time base corrector although we shall have one within the next seven days. Tune your television set to Channel 60 VHF and that is it. When full broadcasting commences programmes will be transmitted from 6p.m. in the evening to 2a.m. in the morning and the broadcasts of course will be in full colour.

           

We are open to franchise offers at the moment for the breakfast time and afternoon programmes. Broadcasts will be in full colour and full broadcast standards. We are entirely funded by Radio Nova. The normal responsibility for any company making progress is to expand, diversify and employ more people and that is exactly what we are doing at Nova Media Services. Staff numbers will initially be twenty and we hope to increase that to one hundred in the near future. We will be adhering to full copyright laws. For the first time in Ireland a teletext service with up to one hundred pages will also be available as will a full news service provided by  the Independent Radio News team. You do need a television licence although we do not receive any of the licence fees. We don't interfere with any of the television station at present on the air. We are using a channel with an Irish allocation. Our transmitter power is one hundred watts. Our broadcast range is approximately fifteen miles according to reception reports we have received so far. Many of the presenters you know and love from Radio Nova will also be on the air from time to time. The staff will be mostly Irish. local advertising will be accepted in due course at rates proportionate to viewing figures. We are trying to give local advertisers an opportunity. The whole name of the game is accessibility for the general public of the greater Dublin area. We won't have the cosmopolitan flavour of Radio Nova because we are as we say a local community station with no plans to increase power.

           

NTV is not really expected to make a profit, we don't even know if we are going to break even at this stage, the overheads, the equipment and the staffing are very costly. Our aims are to allow for a local experiment in local television, the first such experiment in Ireland. The afternoons will be available to the Irish language groups who we are hoping will take up the franchise option.

           

We will be broadcasting music videos, news and local current affairs programmes, Irish programmes, religious programmes, we will also be showing local Irish talent shows as well as educational programmes, quiz shows, chat shows and at the weekends children’s programmes which we hope will be presented by the children themselves. Basically our idea is to provide family entertainment on a local Dublin community station. If you are receiving this test transmission our    phone number for reception reports is 603228. Amateur video groups may like to send us their tapes once they own the copyright to them. That is it for now. I'm Sybil Fennell and this has been a test transmission for Nova Television broadcasting on Channel 60."

 

Pressure on the Government from R.T.E. and pressure from the Government on Nova led to Cary's decision on Tuesday morning December 6th, to close the station until further notice. This did not seem to satisfy neither R.T.E. nor the Government. On Friday December 9th, Radio Nova and Nova Television were raided. Equipment estimated as valued at £170,000 was taken in the raid along with the television transmitter. As in the May court case, Nova was fined for broadcasting without a licence and contravening the Wireless Telegraphy Act. Having been fined and the fine paid, the equipment was returned to Radio Nova. Cary did not use the television transmitter again and it is believed that the transmitter was sold to some businessmen from Northern Ireland.

 

For what was to be an experiment in independent television in Ireland, it was short lived mainly because neither R.T.E. nor the Government could allow such a professional operation like Radio Nova with a proven track record in illegal radio to branch out into television and perhaps repeat the success that they had on the radio airwaves. R.T.E.'s paronia about such a television station was obviously in a reply to a question directed at Deputy Director General Vincent Finn when asked how would fight the television pirates he replied that,

            "R.T.E. could take a number of measures on a legal front, commercial front, financial front and technical front."

When asked if that last 'front' would include the jamming of Nova's signal, the Deputy Director General was non-committal.

 

TELIFIS NA GAELTACHT

 

Operating from the community hall at Rosmuc, Co. Galway, Telifis Na Gaeltacht broadcasted programmes solely in the Irish language. The station went on air on Friday October 2nd 1987 and on that opening weekend broadcast programmes specially made for the station by filmmaker Bob Quinn. On opening night a gala concert held at the Community Hall was broadcast live on the station. That first Sunday saw the transmission of a special Mass from the local parish church dedicated to the memory of the late musician Sean O'Riada.

 

The stations transmitter was built by Dublin man Norbert Payne and had a radius of fifteen miles. The idea for a pirate station dedicated to the native language came following a visit by some locals to the Faroe Islands off the coast of Scotland. This Danish controlled territory set up their own illegal television station Gothab TV following Copenhagen refusal to give them a station. Telifis's operators had hoped to emulate the success of Saor Radio Connemara which led to the setting up of a legal Irish language station, Radio Na Gaeltachta.

 

Irish language television did not finally arrive in Ireland until 1996 when T na G (Telifis Na Gaeltacht) was launched.

 

RADIO LIMERICK ONE TELEVISION (RLO TV)

 

When Radio Limerick One lost their franchise from the IRTC, the station continued to broadcast via satellite and then relayed around Limerick City and County on an illegal FM transmitter network. In 1999, station owner Gerard Madden decided to launch a television channel RLO TV. The station began broadcasting television programmes originally via Sirius 2 but in late 1999 transferred to Eutelsat Hot Bird at 13* via Globecast transponder 94.

 

The following is a schedule for two days in 1999.

 

Tuesday October 26th 1999

 

7a.m.               Dr. John's Diary (Featuring Petals, Destiny & Ellen Street Antiques)

7.45a.m.          Play (Alone It Stands)

10a.m.             Repeat of  7a.m. - 10a.m.

1p.m.               U 14 Football. (Capermore v. Adare)

1.45p.m.          Hurling (Old Christians v. Drom \ Broadford)

2.30p.m           Dr. John's Diary

3.15p.m.          Mid West Report

4p.m.               Repeat of 1p.m.

7p.m.               Repeat of 1p.m. & 4p.m.

 

Thursday October 28th 1999

 

7a.m.               GAA (September GAA Awards)

7.45a.m.          Soccer (League of Ireland, Limerick City v. Home Farm)

8.30a.m.          Mid West Report (Markets Artists at TSB Bank)

9.15a.m.          Let's Talk Sport (Interview with former World Heavyweight Champ, George Foreman)

10a.m.             Repeat of 7a.m.

1p.m.               Mid West Report (Nurses Strike)

1.45p.m.          Hurling (Croom v. Patrickswell)

2.30p.m.          Basketball (Limerick v. Notre Dame)

4p.m.               Repeat from 1p.m.

7p.m.               Repeat from 1p.m. & 4p.m.

After ending transmissions on Satellite, the station was rebroadcast on UHF through a deflector system installed for the Limerick area. The ODTR granted the deflector system licence in 2000 to the following,

COMPANY   Cliffmount Ltd,

TX SITES   1. Newcastle West 2. Knockfeerina 3. Woodcock Hill Clare

LICENCE AWARDED       14th March 2000

CONTACT   Cliffmount Ltd, RLO TV, Norwich Union Hse, 17 Patrick Street, Limerick

After a raid by the Irish authorities in 2001 the radio and TV equipment of RLO were seized and the channel never returned.

 

BBSEE TV

BBSee Television was a local pirate television station that aired during the Ballinamore Batchelor Festival in the County Leitrim village. The station broadcast from 2000 – 2003 for two weeks per year.        

A Century of Irish Radio including Pirate Radio in Words and Pictures.

A century of Irish radio has delivered wonderful entertainment, social change and political upheaval. 

In 1926 the first official radio station in Ireland took to the airwaves on January 1st 1926 with the arrival of 2RN, later to become Radio Eireann and today as RTE Radio

The State broadcaster enjoyed a monopoly for more than fifty years bar a couple of illegal stations mostly of a political nature, but with the arrival of the transistor radio, pop music and offshore pirate radio stations like Radio Caroline, Irish pirate radio stations began to take to the airwaves.

To counter the arrival of pirate stations, the State broadcaster RTE began to tour the country with a mobile radio station that visited towns, villages and communities usually for the duration of a local festival. Rather than demonstrate the RTE could provide regional and local broadcasting, these local mobile operations led in many instances to the opening of a pirate radio station in the wake of RTE's departure.

 

Pirate stations appeared in every corner of Ireland, providing local information, local advertising, advertising, local news and a local voice. 

To celebrate the contribution of Irish pirate radio to the political and social history of Ireland, I have lectured at home and abroad on various aspects of Irish radio history. 

Pirate radio stations not alone proliferated in the Republic of Ireland but also in Northern Ireland especially sectarian pirate radio during the early years of the troubles from 1969-1975

      
  

In December 1988, a golden era of pirate radio in Ireland came to an end with the introduction of stricter broadcasting laws and the replacement of the pirates with legal, commercial and independent radio.

For more information on the history of Irish radio, my book 'A Century of Irish Radio 1900 - 2000' is available in hardback and on kindle. Copies are available here

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Century-Irish-Radio-1900-2000/dp/1717899641

For a signed copy of the book including post and packages (in Ireland & UK) are available by contacting theirishpirateradioarchive@gmail.com with payment through the secure paypal service.