{"id":10727,"date":"2025-04-09T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-04-09T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/?p=10727"},"modified":"2025-04-21T17:45:46","modified_gmt":"2025-04-21T16:45:46","slug":"border-series-test-transmission-by-gospel-98-fm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/border-series-test-transmission-by-gospel-98-fm\/","title":{"rendered":"Border series: test transmission by Gospel 98 FM"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"powerpress_player\" id=\"powerpress_player_3338\"><!--[if lt IE 9]><script>document.createElement('audio');<\/script><![endif]-->\n<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-10727-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/19891210-0000-0000-Gospel98_97.8FM6min.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/19891210-0000-0000-Gospel98_97.8FM6min.mp3\">https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/19891210-0000-0000-Gospel98_97.8FM6min.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/div><p class=\"powerpress_links powerpress_links_mp3\" style=\"margin-bottom: 1px !important;\">Podcast: <a href=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/19891210-0000-0000-Gospel98_97.8FM6min.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_pinw\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Play in new window\" onclick=\"return powerpress_pinw('https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/?powerpress_pinw=10727-podcast');\" rel=\"nofollow\">Play in new window<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/19891210-0000-0000-Gospel98_97.8FM6min.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_d\" title=\"Download\" rel=\"nofollow\" download=\"19891210-0000-0000-Gospel98_97.8FM6min.mp3\">Download<\/a><\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"709\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Gospel-poster-IB-new-709x1024.jpg\" alt=\"Border series: test transmission by Gospel 98 FM\" class=\"wp-image-10728\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Gospel-poster-IB-new-709x1024.jpg 709w, https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Gospel-poster-IB-new-208x300.jpg 208w, https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Gospel-poster-IB-new-768x1109.jpg 768w, https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Gospel-poster-IB-new-1064x1536.jpg 1064w, https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Gospel-poster-IB-new.jpg 1330w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 709px) 100vw, 709px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Gospel 98 promotional poster (courtesy Ian Biggar). <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Gospel 98 FM was a short-lived offshoot of Donegal station Radio North and an example of the long-standing religious programming on the station itself or on related services. It began broadcasting on 11<sup>th<\/sup> December 1989 from Shrove Head outside Greencastle on the Inishowen Peninsula. A promotional poster described the new station\u2019s aim as promoting \u2018vibrant, joyful, biblical Christianity\u2019 over the airwaves. Gospel 98 was to be controlled and staffed by committed Christians who aimed to produce short bible studies, youth programmes and programmes for older people. The station\u2019s ethos was described as non-denominational but also Evangelical Christian and it was envisaged that programmes would be sponsored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This short recording is of a test transmission the day before Gospel 98 went on air and features music interspersed with recorded messages. The station was to broadcast from Monday to Saturday from 1500-1900 and promised gospel music and \u2018lively content\u2019. The tape was made in Lancashire on Sunday 10th December 1989 from 97.8 FM during an FM lift and is courtesy of Gary Hogg. Thanks to Ian Biggar for the image. Audio quality is fair and characterised by fading as to be expected some distance from the transmitter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On 2<sup>nd<\/sup> March 1990, the <em>Donegal Democrat<\/em> reported that Gospel 98 had been put off the air by a storm the previous weekend. In a letter to Ian Biggar on 6<sup>th<\/sup> March 1990, Francis Callaghan of Radio North wrote that Gospel 98 had been broadcasting between 1500-1730 every day and relayed Radio North at other times. He said that it would be off the air for at least a month due to the storm but in fact the FM station seems never to have returned. There does not appear to be a direct link with Gospel 846, an AM religious service linked to Radio North that was set up in 1999 when the main station moved to FM only. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Gospel 98 FM was a short-lived offshoot of Donegal station Radio North and an example of the long-standing religious programming on the station itself or on related services. It began broadcasting on 11th December 1989 from Shrove Head outside Greencastle on the Inishowen Peninsula. A promotional poster described the new station\u2019s aim as promoting \u2018vibrant, &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/border-series-test-transmission-by-gospel-98-fm\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Border series: test transmission by Gospel 98 FM&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[152],"tags":[535,260,459,771,170],"class_list":["post-10727","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-full-recordings","tag-535","tag-border","tag-donegal","tag-gospel-98","tag-religious"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Border series: test transmission by Gospel 98 FM - Irish Pirate Radio Audio Archive<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/border-series-test-transmission-by-gospel-98-fm\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Border series: test transmission by Gospel 98 FM - Irish Pirate Radio Audio Archive\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Gospel 98 FM was a short-lived offshoot of Donegal station Radio North and an example of the long-standing religious programming on the station itself or on related services. It began broadcasting on 11th December 1989 from Shrove Head outside Greencastle on the Inishowen Peninsula. A promotional poster described the new station\u2019s aim as promoting \u2018vibrant, &hellip; Continue reading &quot;Border series: test transmission by Gospel 98 FM&quot;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/border-series-test-transmission-by-gospel-98-fm\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Irish Pirate Radio Audio Archive\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-04-09T05:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-04-21T16:45:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Gospel-poster-IB-new-709x1024.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"John Walsh\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"John Walsh\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/border-series-test-transmission-by-gospel-98-fm\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/border-series-test-transmission-by-gospel-98-fm\/\",\"name\":\"Border series: test transmission by Gospel 98 FM - Irish Pirate Radio Audio Archive\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/border-series-test-transmission-by-gospel-98-fm\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/border-series-test-transmission-by-gospel-98-fm\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Gospel-poster-IB-new-709x1024.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-04-09T05:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-04-21T16:45:46+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/#\/schema\/person\/a6eb579c7ad730e14f91e6455b207f00\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/border-series-test-transmission-by-gospel-98-fm\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/border-series-test-transmission-by-gospel-98-fm\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/border-series-test-transmission-by-gospel-98-fm\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Gospel-poster-IB-new.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Gospel-poster-IB-new.jpg\",\"width\":1330,\"height\":1920},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/border-series-test-transmission-by-gospel-98-fm\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Border series: test transmission by Gospel 98 FM\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/\",\"name\":\"Irish Pirate Radio Audio Archive\",\"description\":\"Open Free Radio Archive\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/#\/schema\/person\/a6eb579c7ad730e14f91e6455b207f00\",\"name\":\"John Walsh\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/80a5b6baea2fd739c3be046233f2ad61?s=96&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/80a5b6baea2fd739c3be046233f2ad61?s=96&r=g\",\"caption\":\"John Walsh\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/author\/john\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Border series: test transmission by Gospel 98 FM - Irish Pirate Radio Audio Archive","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/border-series-test-transmission-by-gospel-98-fm\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Border series: test transmission by Gospel 98 FM - Irish Pirate Radio Audio Archive","og_description":"Gospel 98 FM was a short-lived offshoot of Donegal station Radio North and an example of the long-standing religious programming on the station itself or on related services. It began broadcasting on 11th December 1989 from Shrove Head outside Greencastle on the Inishowen Peninsula. A promotional poster described the new station\u2019s aim as promoting \u2018vibrant, &hellip; Continue reading \"Border series: test transmission by Gospel 98 FM\"","og_url":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/border-series-test-transmission-by-gospel-98-fm\/","og_site_name":"Irish Pirate Radio Audio Archive","article_published_time":"2025-04-09T05:00:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-04-21T16:45:46+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Gospel-poster-IB-new-709x1024.jpg"}],"author":"John Walsh","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"John Walsh","Estimated reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/border-series-test-transmission-by-gospel-98-fm\/","url":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/border-series-test-transmission-by-gospel-98-fm\/","name":"Border series: test transmission by Gospel 98 FM - Irish Pirate Radio Audio Archive","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/border-series-test-transmission-by-gospel-98-fm\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/border-series-test-transmission-by-gospel-98-fm\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Gospel-poster-IB-new-709x1024.jpg","datePublished":"2025-04-09T05:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2025-04-21T16:45:46+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/#\/schema\/person\/a6eb579c7ad730e14f91e6455b207f00"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/border-series-test-transmission-by-gospel-98-fm\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/border-series-test-transmission-by-gospel-98-fm\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/border-series-test-transmission-by-gospel-98-fm\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Gospel-poster-IB-new.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Gospel-poster-IB-new.jpg","width":1330,"height":1920},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/border-series-test-transmission-by-gospel-98-fm\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Border series: test transmission by Gospel 98 FM"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/#website","url":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/","name":"Irish Pirate Radio Audio Archive","description":"Open Free Radio Archive","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/#\/schema\/person\/a6eb579c7ad730e14f91e6455b207f00","name":"John Walsh","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/80a5b6baea2fd739c3be046233f2ad61?s=96&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/80a5b6baea2fd739c3be046233f2ad61?s=96&r=g","caption":"John Walsh"},"url":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/author\/john\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10727","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10727"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10727\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10751,"href":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10727\/revisions\/10751"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10727"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10727"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10727"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}