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In spring 1988, Radio Nova founder Chris Cary (RIP) began yet another innovative radio experiment, this time on satellite from Surrey in England. Radio Nova International was a licensed satellite station on Intelsat VA F11 but remained connected to the Irish pirate radio scene through AM/FM relays on the other side of the Irish Sea. The station began testing at 1450 on 29th April 1988 with Cary being the first voice heard on air. Ex-Energy 103 DJ Tim Kelly presented the first show and another familiar name from Ireland was Liam Quigley, who had broadcast on pirates in Cork and Dublin. Veteran offshore DJ Tony Blackburn, then working with London’s Capital Radio, was to present a European Top 40 show and a soul programme. Radio Nova International was officially launched at 1900 on 4th May by none other than the Minister of State for Broadcasting. Reportedly, Cary had invested £1m in the new service, which was aimed at all Europe.
A special report in the Anoraks UK Weekly Report of 22nd May 1988 explained the novelty of satellite radio to readers: ‘The transmissions are microlinked from the studios in Surrey, England, to the Telecom Tower in London’s West End. From there, they are beamed directly to Docklands, British Telecom’s Teleport, where the signal is uplinked to the satellite Intelsat VA F11, in geo-stationery orbit 26,000 miles above the earth. The satellite re-broadcasts Nova (and the others) back to earth. At this point, satellite dish owners can tune in’. It added that alternative ways to tuning in were ‘being lucky enough to be on the cable system’ or living ‘in the listening area of a radio station taking Nova for all or part of the day and re-broadcasting it locally. It is thought that many Irish stations may invest in a satellite dish and relay Nova, inserting their own adverts in opt-out advert spaces, and leaving Nova’s national adverts in’.
Many top names from the radio world were hired by Cary to work on Radio Nova International. News bulletins were syndicated from Independent Radio News and a mailing address of PO Box 1065, London W2 was announced on air. The format was aimed at 15-39 year olds and described by Weekly Report as CHR (contemporary hit radio). The 29th May 1988 edition of Weekly Report had strong praise for Radio Nova International: ‘This station is hypnotic, get a satellite dish at once! The programmes, listened to extensively on Tuesday, were excellent, well produced and fast moving’. At that time, the line-up included Chris Cary himself, Declan Meehan, Tony Blackburn and Liam Quigley and numerous adverts were noted for large firms such as Teledisk, Premier Film Channel, Sunday World, Comp Shop and hi-tech companies. ‘Half the excitement of the station comes from wondering who is going to appear next’, Weekly Report added.
In the edition of 26th June 1988, Weekly Report noted that Coast Hot Hits in Galway was the first Irish station to relay the satellite Nova, followed by ABC Waterford. ILR stations in the UK were also using the Nova Night Network as overnight programming, with 15 such stations predicted to be doing so in the near future. A promo for a £10,000 giveaway was also aired around this time, prompting a comparison with the big competitions of the early 1980s by the original Radio Nova in Dublin.
A change in the Nova line-up was noted in the Weekly Report of 14th August. Tony Blackburn was forced to leave Nova due to contractual obligations at Capital Radio. Pat Courtenay also joined the station having spent several years in Ireland. It was noted that many stations in Ireland were by then relaying the Nova Night Network, including ABC Radio, Coast Hot Hits, Southside 95 (Dún Laoghaire) and Liberty 104. Following the demise of Southside 95 in autumn 1988, the transmitter continued to relay Radio Nova 24 hours a day, thereby returning the familiar and popular Nova sound to the listeners of Dublin for the last few months of the pirate era. The relay continued right up to midnight on New Year’s Eve 1988 when the pirate airwaves fell silent.
This recording of Radio Nova International was made close to the end of its Dublin relay and features station owner and founder Chris Cary on air. There are many references to other stations carrying Nova in other parts of the UK as well as in Ireland and Norway and among the adverts are one for Dublin’s Tivoli Theatre. Familiar voices on adverts include Sybil Fennell and Pat Courtenay and the classic Nova jingles are also used. The tape was made from the Southside 95 relay on 94.9 FM between 0002-0048 on Saturday 17th December 1988 and is from the Anoraks Ireland Collection.