{"id":10806,"date":"2025-05-30T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-05-30T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/?p=10806"},"modified":"2025-05-29T20:14:43","modified_gmt":"2025-05-29T19:14:43","slug":"border-series-tom-hardy-on-kiss-fm-monaghan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/border-series-tom-hardy-on-kiss-fm-monaghan\/","title":{"rendered":"Border series: Tom Hardy on KISS FM Monaghan"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"powerpress_player\" id=\"powerpress_player_5078\"><!--[if lt IE 9]><script>document.createElement('audio');<\/script><![endif]-->\n<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-10806-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/19880509-1000-1045-1138-1223-TomHardy-rec.Kilbirnie-IB.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/19880509-1000-1045-1138-1223-TomHardy-rec.Kilbirnie-IB.mp3\">https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/19880509-1000-1045-1138-1223-TomHardy-rec.Kilbirnie-IB.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\/05\/19880509-1000-1045-1138-1223-TomHardy-rec.Kilbirnie-IB.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_pinw\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Play in new window\" onclick=\"return powerpress_pinw('https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/?powerpress_pinw=10806-podcast');\" rel=\"nofollow\">Play in new window<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/19880509-1000-1045-1138-1223-TomHardy-rec.Kilbirnie-IB.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_d\" title=\"Download\" rel=\"nofollow\" download=\"19880509-1000-1045-1138-1223-TomHardy-rec.Kilbirnie-IB.mp3\">Download<\/a><\/p><div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1000\" height=\"605\" src=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/ireland_monaghan_kiss_tom_hardy.jpg\" alt=\"Border series: Tom Hardy on KISS FM Monaghan\" class=\"wp-image-10807\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/ireland_monaghan_kiss_tom_hardy.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/ireland_monaghan_kiss_tom_hardy-300x182.jpg 300w, https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/ireland_monaghan_kiss_tom_hardy-768x465.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 767px) 89vw, (max-width: 1000px) 54vw, (max-width: 1071px) 543px, 580px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Tom Hardy (RIP) at KISS FM in 1988 (courtesy DX Archive). <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p>Despite being on air for only 9 months in 1988, KISS FM from Monaghan Town was one of the more successful and ambitious stations during the peak period of pirate radio in Ireland in the 1980s. Tests began at the end of 1987 but the start date was delayed by technical problems in spring 1988 and full tests did not begin until the end of March with a full schedule commencing on 1<sup>st<\/sup> April. High powered transmitters gave unparalleled coverage of Northern Ireland and FM reception was reliable even in parts of northern England and Scotland. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This recording of the early period of KISS FM features the experienced English DJ Tom Hardy (RIP), who had worked previously in offshore pirates and larger Dublin stations such as Sunshine Radio and Radio Nova. Adverts are heard for businesses in Armagh and Belfast but are not particularly plentiful, perhaps reflecting the fact that the station was little more than a month on air. There is the usual slick imaging with top-class jingles, idents and liners, news is read by Con McConville and Tom presents the regular Job Spot section. The KISS FM Ulster sailboard championships coming up that weekend in Antrim is an example of one of the many marketing events than the station excelled in during its short existence. The KISS FM closedown on 30<sup>th<\/sup> December 1988, also presented by Tom Hardy, was emotional and dramatic and underlined the station&#8217;s popularity on both sides of the border.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The tape was made on 9<sup>th<\/sup> May 1988 from 1008 kHz AM between 1000-1045 and 1138-1233. It was recorded in Ayrshire in western Scotland and is courtesy of Ian Biggar. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Despite being on air for only 9 months in 1988, KISS FM from Monaghan Town was one of the more successful and ambitious stations during the peak period of pirate radio in Ireland in the 1980s. Tests began at the end of 1987 but the start date was delayed by technical problems in spring 1988 &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/border-series-tom-hardy-on-kiss-fm-monaghan\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Border series: Tom Hardy on KISS FM Monaghan&#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":[487,46,260,89,20,259,122],"class_list":["post-10806","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-full-recordings","tag-487","tag-am","tag-border","tag-dx","tag-kiss-fm-monaghan","tag-monaghan","tag-tom-hardy"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Border series: Tom Hardy on KISS FM Monaghan - 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-tom-hardy-on-kiss-fm-monaghan\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Border series: Tom Hardy on KISS FM Monaghan - Irish Pirate Radio Audio Archive\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Despite being on air for only 9 months in 1988, KISS FM from Monaghan Town was one of the more successful and ambitious stations during the peak period of pirate radio in Ireland in the 1980s. 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