Declan Meehan at Nova during the raid of 1983 (courtesy Joe King).
The big Dublin pirate Radio Nova made various attempts to break into the British market during its 5 years on air. This recording features part of the breakfast show presented by Declan Meehan and Bob Gallico (RIP) and was made by English radio enthusiast Leon Tipler, presumably at his home in Kidderminster near Birmingham. It includes plenty of fading as is typical for AM propagation at the time of day and year. Although the weather forecast includes northwest England and Nova attempted to gain listeners in that region, clearly the signal was not commercially viable further south at Tipler’s home.
The recording was made from 819 kHz AM on 8th October 1982 between 0648-0718 and is from the Leon Tipler Collection, donated to us by Steve England.
Nova sticker from the 846 days (courtesy Ian Biggar).
The American Country Countdown was a syndicated country music show from the US presented by Bob Kingsley, aired by Dublin station Radio Nova in its early days. This recording from summer 1982 is of an early morning broadcast of the show, as heard on AM in Britain. It starts with night-time fading and some interference but the signal improves as dawn arrives. There are adverts for businesses around Dublin, including for brands, and mention of a Nova event at Maxine’s nightclub. The American Country Countdown is followed at 0600 by Colm Hayes with the first few minutes of his breakfast show.
The recording was made on Thursday 24th June 1982 from 846 kHz AM from 0407-0610. There are no details on the label but as the tape is from the Leon Tipler Collection, we presume that it was recorded at Leon’s home in Kidderminster near Birmingham. Thanks to Steve England for donating the Tipler Collection to us.
Nova car sticker from the 819 AM period (courtesy Ian Biggar).
This short recording of the successful Dublin station Radio Nova is from the run-up to Christmas 1982. It features Dave Harvey with plenty of requests on a cold Sunday night and news with Siobhán Purcell. The usual high-level adverts for brands and larger businesses are heard, reflecting Nova’s commercial success particularly in the busy pre-Christmas period. There’s also an advert for the Nova Park nightclub featuring musical events and gigs with Nova DJs.
The airchecked recording is from the Anoraks Ireland Collection and was made from 88 FM on Sunday 12th December 1982. Radio Nova also broadcast on 819 kHz AM at this time.
Exterior of Energy Power 103 in 1988 (courtesy Andy Carter). The auctioneer’s sign indicates this was taken after the station’s closure in April.
This is a snippet from the Breakfast Club on the short-lived Nova Power 103 FM, a merger of the ‘new’ Radio Nova and existing Dublin pirate Energy 103 in late 1987. Sounding crisp and professional are Cassidy Jones, Lisa Moore (Fionnuala Sweeney) and Bob Gallico (RIP) with a mixture of music, chat, papers, sports and news. On a freezing Friday morning in Dublin, Bob Gallico presents the review of the papers and shares his racing tips for the day, while Lisa reads news. The familiar high-level adverts are heard, including for brands, and the classic Nova jingles are played, creating something of an identity problem as they differ from the station’s name. Although Nova founder Chris Cary had promised new jingles on the day the merger was announced (25th November), there was not enough time to complete the imaging of the new station as it was promptly prevented by an interlocutory injunction from using the valuable Nova name, and eventually reverted to Energy Power 103, as in the image above.
This recording was made by Kieran Murray between 0728-0748 on 27th November 1987 and is from the Anoraks Ireland Collection. It is not clear if it was made from 99.9 or 103 FM.
Cartoon of Chris Cary by Terry Willers (courtesy of Sybil Fennell).
After testing for several days, at midnight on 9th November 1987, a new station began broadcasting continuous CD music on 100 FM in Dublin. On 18th November, the station announced itself as the ‘New Radio Nova’, rocking the Dublin pirate scene as it approached its final golden year of 1988. It was an ironic coincidence that the Minister for Communications, Ray Burke, published his new Broadcasting and Wireless Telegraphy Bill and Sound Broadcasting Bill the following day, 19th November, aimed at closing down the pirates and introducing licensed local radio. On 25th November came another dramatic announcement as existing station Energy 103 announced that it was merging with the new Radio Nova in light of the impending broadcasting legislation. The merged station was called Nova Power 103 FM and founder of the original Nova, Chris Cary (RIP), was involved, ostensibly as a consultant. This was to the consternation of many in Dublin who had been burned by Cary’s brash managerial style, particularly advertisers who lost money after the collapse of the station in 1986 and journalists and their union involved in the bitter industrial relations dispute with Nova.
In line with the new legislation, Nova Power 103 promised plenty of news and current affairs and revived the Dublin Today programme that was aired on the original Radio Nova. However, the new name was short-lived, when the receiver of Nova Media Services, Pearse Farrell, sought an interlocutory injunction preventing use of the Nova brand. According to Peter Mulryan in Radio Radio (1988), Farrell was also concerned about some activities of the bankrupt company and did not want to allow Cary to use the high-profile Nova name with licences in the offing. Within a few weeks, Nova Power 103 had reverted to Energy 103, which continued to broadcast until 11th March 1988.
This recording of Nova Power 103 was made on its first day and features an interview with Chris Cary on the Dublin Today programme, discussing his plans for the new station. Presenters of Dublin Today are Sybil Fennell and Teena Gates, and news at 1900 is read by Lisa Moore (Fionnuala Sweeney, who would later join RTÉ and CNN). The recording is from the Anoraks Ireland Collection and was made from 100 FM between 1850-1905 on 25th November 1987.
