{"id":11213,"date":"2025-12-03T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-03T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/?p=11213"},"modified":"2025-12-01T19:17:38","modified_gmt":"2025-12-01T19:17:38","slug":"margaretta-darcy-on-radio-pirate-woman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/margaretta-darcy-on-radio-pirate-woman\/","title":{"rendered":"Margaretta D&#8217;Arcy on Radio Pirate Woman"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"powerpress_player\" id=\"powerpress_player_5959\"><!--[if lt IE 9]><script>document.createElement('audio');<\/script><![endif]-->\n<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-11213-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/WOMA02.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/WOMA02.mp3\">https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/WOMA02.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\/12\/WOMA02.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_pinw\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Play in new window\" onclick=\"return powerpress_pinw('https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/?powerpress_pinw=11213-podcast');\" rel=\"nofollow\">Play in new window<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/WOMA02.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_d\" title=\"Download\" rel=\"nofollow\" download=\"WOMA02.mp3\">Download<\/a><\/p><div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"678\" src=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Radio-Pirate-Woman-1991-1024x678.jpg\" alt=\"Margaretta D&#039;Arcy on Radio Pirate Woman\" class=\"wp-image-2213\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Radio-Pirate-Woman-1991-1024x678.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Radio-Pirate-Woman-1991-300x199.jpg 300w, https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Radio-Pirate-Woman-1991-768x508.jpg 768w, https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Radio-Pirate-Woman-1991-1536x1017.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Radio-Pirate-Woman-1991-2048x1355.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 767px) 89vw, (max-width: 1000px) 54vw, (max-width: 1071px) 543px, 580px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Margaretta D\u2019Arcy on Radio Pirate Woman in her home in 1991 (courtesy Stan Shields, Galway City Tribune). <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p>Radio Pirate Woman was one of Ireland\u2019s unique pirate radio stations, run by activist and dramatist Margaretta D\u2019Arcy (RIP) from her home in Galway. It began as Women\u2019s Sc\u00e9al Radio in 1987 but changed its name to Radio Pirate Woman in 1989 to underline its illegal status in the new era after the introduction of new broadcasting legislation. The technical set-up was very basic and there was no studio as such, with women sitting around Margaretta\u2019s table and discussing the news of the day. The low-powered FM transmitter covered only the city centre, but although Radio Pirate Woman\u2019s geographical reach was limited, it was known in feminist and activist circles way beyond Galway.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"745\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/20180807_183947-745x1024.jpg\" alt=\"Margaretta D&#039;Arcy on Radio Pirate Woman\" class=\"wp-image-11214\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/20180807_183947-745x1024.jpg 745w, https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/20180807_183947-218x300.jpg 218w, https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/20180807_183947-768x1056.jpg 768w, https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/20180807_183947-1117x1536.jpg 1117w, https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/20180807_183947-1490x2048.jpg 1490w, https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/20180807_183947-scaled.jpg 1862w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 706px) 89vw, (max-width: 767px) 82vw, 740px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Radio Pirate Woman poster from the 1990s (courtesy Eddie Bohan).<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p>In this recording, Margaretta is heard presenting a late-night programme with esoteric music and news items about women\u2019s issues and human rights. She calls it \u2018a bit of a random radio\u2019 as she attempts to fix technical problems and rewinds cassettes on the air. Due to interference caused to her neighbour\u2019s television, Margaretta announces that she is changing her broadcasting times to avoid upset. The recording ends with part of a cassette from WINGS (Women\u2019s International News Gathering Service) based in Austin, Texas, a common feature on the station.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The tape was made from 102 FM on 26<sup>th<\/sup> November 1999 between 0015-0100 and is courtesy of John Breslin. Radio Pirate Woman continued intermittently until about 2010 and Margaretta D\u2019Arcy died in 2025 at the age of 91.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Radio Pirate Woman was one of Ireland\u2019s unique pirate radio stations, run by activist and dramatist Margaretta D\u2019Arcy (RIP) from her home in Galway. It began as Women\u2019s Sc\u00e9al Radio in 1987 but changed its name to Radio Pirate Woman in 1989 to underline its illegal status in the new era after the introduction of &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/margaretta-darcy-on-radio-pirate-woman\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Margaretta D&#8217;Arcy on Radio Pirate Woman&#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":[641,322,320,134],"class_list":["post-11213","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-full-recordings","tag-641","tag-galway","tag-margaretta-darcy","tag-radio-pirate-woman"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Margaretta D&#039;Arcy on Radio Pirate Woman - 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\/margaretta-darcy-on-radio-pirate-woman\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Margaretta D&#039;Arcy on Radio Pirate Woman - Irish Pirate Radio Audio Archive\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Radio Pirate Woman was one of Ireland\u2019s unique pirate radio stations, run by activist and dramatist Margaretta D\u2019Arcy (RIP) from her home in Galway. It began as Women\u2019s Sc\u00e9al Radio in 1987 but changed its name to Radio Pirate Woman in 1989 to underline its illegal status in the new era after the introduction of &hellip; Continue reading &quot;Margaretta D&#8217;Arcy on Radio Pirate Woman&quot;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/margaretta-darcy-on-radio-pirate-woman\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Irish Pirate Radio Audio Archive\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-12-03T06:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-12-01T19:17:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Radio-Pirate-Woman-1991-1024x678.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\/margaretta-darcy-on-radio-pirate-woman\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/margaretta-darcy-on-radio-pirate-woman\/\",\"name\":\"Margaretta D'Arcy on Radio Pirate Woman - Irish Pirate Radio Audio Archive\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/margaretta-darcy-on-radio-pirate-woman\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/margaretta-darcy-on-radio-pirate-woman\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Radio-Pirate-Woman-1991-1024x678.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-03T06:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-12-01T19:17:38+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/#\/schema\/person\/a6eb579c7ad730e14f91e6455b207f00\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/margaretta-darcy-on-radio-pirate-woman\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/margaretta-darcy-on-radio-pirate-woman\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/margaretta-darcy-on-radio-pirate-woman\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Radio-Pirate-Woman-1991-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Radio-Pirate-Woman-1991-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1694,\"caption\":\"Margaretta D\u2019arcy broadcasting on Radio Pirate Woman from her home in St Brigit\u2019s Terrace Lower in November 1991. 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