Paul Barnett (RIP) of WABC pictured c 1991 (courtesy Ian Biggar).
Despite closing down at the end of 1988 like the vast majority of the other pirates, the Donegal station WABC was among those to venture back on air in 1989, where it would remain for a further two years. Continuing our series on this important border station, we publish below an account of WABC’s return courtesy of Ian Biggar.
In early 1989, Paul Barnett [WABC founder, RIP] was talking about a license under what he termed ‘phase 2’. I assume he meant the community licenses which did eventually appear, but not for some years. To keep his hand in, Paul was operating a short wave transmitter on behalf of the Scottish Free Radio Network. However, the temptation was too great and WABC returned to the air on Sunday 3rd June 1989 on 101.7 MHz with a power of 20 kW. All the old crew like Krissi, Barry Owler, Happy Harry and of course Paul were back and the station often played American radio tapes overnight to maintain a 24-hour service.
I received a letter from Paul dated 1st September 1989, in which he wrote that the launch of Atlantic 252 had not lived up to his expectations! He said that the 101.7 transmitter was still located in Stroove at 230 feet above sea level. He had upgraded the aerial system with 4×10 element yagis estimating an effective radiated power (ERP) between 35-40 kW. The only drawback was that a couple of local houses could clearly hear WABC on their telephones! I had reported reception of WABC at on high ground on the west coast of Scotland on 98.3 MHz. Paul was surprised at this as it was only a 5 watts mono relay in the centre of Moville atop a 100 foot tower, 150 feet above sea level!
This recording was made shortly before Christmas 1989 and features the end of Paul Barnett’s breakfast show and the start of the lunchtime programme presented by his wife Krissi Carpenter. The musical style is oldies, referred to by Paul as ‘Solid Gold WABC’ and there are generic and branded station jingles. Due to the busy time of year, there are large numbers of adverts for businesses in Counties Derry and Antrim, reflecting the core coverage area and the reluctance of southern businesses to advertise of the pirates due to strict new legislation. The tape was made on 10th December 1989 between 1045-1215 from 101.7 FM and is courtesy of Ian Biggar. Audio quality is generally good but there is some fading in places.
FM 100 was one of many pirates that defied the new broadcasting legislation in 1989. Based in Monaghan town, it was owned by Frank McCarthy (RIP) and programmed by Lawrence John. Using the studios and transmitter of former pirate KITS that closed at the end of 1988, FM 100 was first noted testing by Anoraks UK Weekly Report on Saturday 15th July 1989. An AM frequency of 1116 kHz was added on 19th July and regular live shows were expected within days. As stated by Weekly Report: ‘For the first time since the end of 1988, Radio Star Country (981) has a neighbour, although most certainly not competition, due to their 100% country and Irish format’.
FM 100 launched on 26th July 1989, with the first live show presented by John Friday (Lawrence John), formerly of Monaghan super-pirate KISS FM and various other stations. The station’s aim was to secure a music licence for Northern Ireland to fill the gap left by the demise of the pirates south of the border. Weekly Report of 29th July commented: ‘The latest area to show dissatisfaction with the current radio situation is the border area of Ireland. A province-wide drive to try to persuade the Home Secretary to grant a licence for an all music station for Northern Ireland is already underway. The “Campaign for Music Radio in Ulster” is being spearheaded by the new Monaghan-based station “FM 100” and expected to be assisted by all the other border and NI pirate operators. Apparently a survey has shown that 83% of the 15-39 age group want a music station, whilst the IBA and Government continue to ignore their requests for this type of radio for which a demand clearly exists. Marches and rallies are expected to be organised in the province to support the cause’.
American-produced messages to support the campaign were due to be aired on FM 100 and other border pirates but these failed to materialise because, according to Weekly Report, the tapes went missing while crossing the Atlantic. Many of the presenters were originally from KITS and former Louth pirate Zee 103, with names other than John Friday including Graham Marks, Ollie Clarke, Noel McStay, Paul Thomas, Gary Peach, Terri Hooley, the Gooseman and Roy McKee. Adverts were heard as well as promos for the ‘music radio for Ulster’ campaign and by August there was an increase in power and a relay into Newry by Magic 103 on 103.25. A big night out was planned in a Belfast nightclub in September where petitions would be available, along with t-shirts and car stickers.
FM 100 lasted for a few months but failed to get much traction with the local audience. It was also interfering with Century Radio’s Dublin FM transmitter, although this was not aimed at the border region. Eventually FM 100 changed to 102 FM and re-named as KIKX Kicks 102 in November but lasted only a few more weeks before leaving the airwaves.
This recording is of Peter Wright (ex KITS) from 1235-1409 on Thursday 19th October 1989, recorded from 102 FM. It is from the Anoraks Ireland Collection. Thanks to Rodney Neill for background information and the stickers.
Riverside 101 advertising card (courtesy Ian Biggar).
Riverside 101 was one of the second wave of pirates that defied the new legislation in 1988 that was supposed to silence unlicensed radio in Ireland. It was set up by Frankie McLoughlin and managed by Steve Marshall, both of whom had worked at Radio Nova (1986-88) in Fahan on the Inishowen peninsula in Donegal. Previously, Steve had co-founded Galway pirates WLS and Coast 103.
Broadcasting from just over the border in Bridgend, Co. Donegal, Riverside initially focused on Derry City before expanding to cover a larger area of the northwest. It was first noted on 101 FM by Rodney Neil in May 1989 but was broadcasting overnight only from 11pm to 7am at the time. In a letter to Ian Biggar, he said that the station was running quite a few adverts. It was thought that the signal strength was around 100 watts initially. The final edition of Anoraks UK Weekly Report on 9th September 1989 noted that Riverside could be received in Derry City but not much further afield. Around this time the station began a 24-hour schedule.
In an entry on DX Archive, Steve Marshall said that he formatted Riverside and ran a £500 giveaway in the early days to attract listeners. He recalled that the station received a visit from the Department of Communications in Dublin but that they could not carry out a raid because the transmitter was on a raft in a river straddling the border and the studios were located in Derry.
Riverside 101 took over the transmitter of the other pirate WABC on 101.7 in Shroove, Co. Donegal after it closed down on 1st April 1991. That gave the station coverage in the likes of Coleraine as far as the Causeway Coast, whereas before that Riverside aimed at Derry. An advertising leaflet published after the expansion of coverage claimed 500,000 potential customers in the northwest. The station had 22 staff at that time and claimed a 42% market share in Derry, Donegal and Tyrone.
Riverside 101 closed just after 1am on 21st October 1993 after receiving a licence to broadcast to the northwest region. The transmitter on the border on 100.1 was switched off but the station returned the following morning at 6am from the same studio as Q102 and later became part of Northern Ireland’s Q Radio network. Interestingly the former WABC transmitter on 101.7 remained on air relaying Q102 but was eventually moved to 102.9.
Original cassette inlay from Anoraks Ireland Collection.
This recording of Riverside 101 is from the Anoraks Ireland Collection and was made from 100.1 FM from 2130-2306 on Thursday 28th December 1989. The DJ is Mike Henry and there are plenty of requests from listeners on both sides of the border and adverts from the northern side, reflecting the new legislation in the Republic that penalised businesses advertising on pirate radio. There is some distortion in the audio either due to the recording itself or an issue with transmission. Thanks to Ian Biggar for assistance with research.
Radio North from Co. Donegal is one of Ireland’s longest-running pirate stations, operating under various guises more or less continuously from 1986 to the current day. It began broadcasting from Carndonagh on the Inishowen peninsula on 18th November 1986 on 1386 kHz, later moving to 1404. Logs from mid-1987 show that it moved to the clearer channel of 846 kHz, which gave it better coverage over a wider area.
Radio North closed down along with the vast majority of the other pirate stations on 31st December 1988 but its frequencies did not remain silent for long. The station was among a handful of pirates to defy the new broadcasting laws and continue broadcasting in 1989. Radio North returned on tape on 5th January 1989 and resumed live programmes on 6th January on 97.9 FM and 846 kHz AM, putting out its usually good signal into Britain, according to the Anoraks UK Weekly Report. Promos were aired to raise funds for the station’s court case against the 1988 legislation with £30,000 required, £10,000 of which would be provided by Radio North. Adverts from both sides of the border were plentiful but an address in Ballymoney in Co. Antrim was used for advertising in order to circumvent the new provisions banning advertising on pirate radio in the Republic.
Around 21st January 1989, the station was relaunched as Northside Radio complete with new jingles, promos and studios and a move to Redcastle on the banks of Lough Foyle. The Donegal Democrat reported that a split in the Radio North camp led to the new name, with the original owner Paddy Simpson deciding to apply for the north Donegal licence. Anoraks UK reported that listenership was obviously strong, due to a large number of requests and regular promos for public appearances of DJs on both sides of the border. In March there were rumours that the station was raided and the FM transmitter confiscated but these were not confirmed. On September 4th 1989, the name reverted to Radio North again when the original owner took back control, according to Anoraks UK.
Francis Callaghan at Radio North in Muff, Co. Donegal in 1991 (photo courtesy of DX Archive).
Around the end of 1989, a rival station, North Atlantic Radio was established in Carndonagh using some Radio North DJs. Both stations coexisted for a while but by 1992, North Atlantic was the only station still on air and had taken over Radio North’s frequency of 846 kHz. In January 1994, North Atlantic adopted the name Radio North again. Another variation of the name, Radio North 2000, was logged in 1998. DX Archive visited Radio North in May 1991, which was at that time operating from a caravan in the village of Muff right on the border with Co. Derry. In 2001, the station was taken over by Paul Bentley (RIP), founder and operator of successful Donegal pirate WABC, which broadcast intermittently between 1987 and 2001.
The authorities attempted to silence Radio North and its offshoots in the early 1990s but it seems to have been largely left alone since then. The November 1990 edition of Free Radio News from Ireland reported that all Donegal pirates were warned to cease broadcasting by a visiting party from the Irish Department of Communications and the British Department of Trade and Industry. According to local newspapers, the Donegal pirates were raided on 12th June 1991 but soon returned to the air, leading to a warning letter to advertisers from the Independent Radio and Television Commission, the licensing authority in the Republic. On 5th August 1993, the Donegal Democrat reported that Radio North had been prosecuted three times and was no longer broadcasting, but that North Atlantic Radio was still on air. The persistence of so many pirates in Donegal was a cause of some annoyance to the newly-licensed local station, Highland Radio.
Following a further change in ownership, Radio North has defied all the odds and continues to broadcast today from Redcastle in Co. Donegal on 846 kHz AM and online, making it one of Ireland’s longest-running pirate stations. Its signal is heard far and wide across Northern Ireland and beyond. MWLIST reports that Radio North has a power output of 3 kW and the station can indeed be heard well across Northern Ireland and into Britain, helped by the clear channel. It broadcasts a mixture of live and recorded music programmes along with American evangelist recordings, presumably to generate income. Radio North is one of two Irish border pirates that continue to defy the laws and the odds, the other being Radio Star Country in Co. Monaghan, which began broadcasting in 1988. Both are on AM only, which may explain why they have been left alone by the authorities, but even a cursory listen to either reveals that they still have advertisers and listeners.
Radio North’s caravan in Muff, Co. Donegal in 1991 (photo courtesy of DX Archive).
This recording was made from 1005-1155 on Sunday 8th January 1989, just three days after Radio North returned to the air having closed down on New Year’s Eve. DJ James plays a mixture of country, oldies and pop and there are requests and adverts from both sides of the border along with an appeal for donations to help the station fight the new broadcasting legislation in the High Court. The recording was made in Scotland and reception is fair with some electrical interference as would be expected given the distance from the broadcast site. We thank Ian Biggar for the donation and for help with research.
Solsvik in western Norway – listening post was located in white house in centre (courtesy Svenn Martinsen).
This recording of Radio Star Country from western Norway was made almost a year after the Monaghan station defied the new broadcasting laws and stayed on air, one of a handful of Irish pirates to do so. Isobel Byrne (RIP), the wife of station founder and owner Gerry Byrne presents the breakfast programme. There are very long commercial breaks, featuring mostly Northern businesses and releases and concerts by country music stars. The voice of former offshore pirate legend Don Allen (RIP) is heard on adverts and promos remind listeners that Radio Star Country is Ireland’s only country music station.
A 1988 photo of Gerry and Isobel Byrne at the Swan Lake Hotel studio (courtesy Andy Carter).
Audio quality ranges from poor to dire with deep fading and is for serious DXers. There is also wobble on the tape in places due to the passage of time. The recording was made from 981 kHz from 0833-0915 on 5th November 1989 in Solsvik in western Norway, using a Drake SPR-4 receiver with a 200-metre Beverage antenna aimed towards the southwest. It is kindly donated by Svenn Martinsen.
