{"id":2082,"date":"2020-06-26T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-06-26T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/?p=2082"},"modified":"2021-08-06T17:40:59","modified_gmt":"2021-08-06T16:40:59","slug":"aircheck-independent-radio-galway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/aircheck-independent-radio-galway\/","title":{"rendered":"Aircheck: Independent Radio Galway"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"powerpress_player\" id=\"powerpress_player_579\"><!--[if lt IE 9]><script>document.createElement('audio');<\/script><![endif]-->\n<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-2082-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"http:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/19790500-0000-0000-IndependantRadioGalwa_1508KHz.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/19790500-0000-0000-IndependantRadioGalwa_1508KHz.mp3\">http:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/19790500-0000-0000-IndependantRadioGalwa_1508KHz.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/div><p class=\"powerpress_links powerpress_links_mp3\" style=\"margin-bottom: 1px !important;\">Podcast: <a href=\"http:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/19790500-0000-0000-IndependantRadioGalwa_1508KHz.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_pinw\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Play in new window\" onclick=\"return powerpress_pinw('https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/?powerpress_pinw=2082-podcast');\" rel=\"nofollow\">Play in new window<\/a> | <a href=\"http:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/19790500-0000-0000-IndependantRadioGalwa_1508KHz.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_d\" title=\"Download\" rel=\"nofollow\" download=\"19790500-0000-0000-IndependantRadioGalwa_1508KHz.mp3\">Download<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"643\" src=\"http:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Independent-Radio-Galway-6-1024x643.jpg\" alt=\"Aircheck: Independent Radio Galway\" class=\"wp-image-2141\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Independent-Radio-Galway-6-1024x643.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Independent-Radio-Galway-6-300x188.jpg 300w, https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Independent-Radio-Galway-6-768x482.jpg 768w, https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Independent-Radio-Galway-6-1536x965.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Independent-Radio-Galway-6-2048x1286.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 767px) 89vw, (max-width: 1000px) 54vw, (max-width: 1071px) 543px, 580px\" \/><figcaption>IRG on the day it closed: Fionnuala Concannon (back), Liam Stenson, Mary Hyland and Mike Mulkerrins in the studio (photo courtesy of Joe O&#8217;Shaughnessy, City Tribune).<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Independent Radio Galway (IRG) was arguably the closest Galway got to having a full-time community station during the pirate era. Some of the larger Galway stations of the 1980s provided variety in their schedule and carried community news. However, there was no long-term station embedded firmly in the community radio ethos represented by the National Association of Community Broadcasters which included pioneering stations such as <a href=\"http:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/tags\/blb\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">BLB<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/tags\/ndcr\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">NDCR<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>IRG began test transmissions on the 15<sup>th<\/sup> of April 1978 with a full service planned from the 17<sup>th<\/sup> of April. Similar to many other similar stations, the pirate venture followed an RT\u00c9 local radio experiment in Galway and in fact planned to use the same frequency, 202 metres (1485 kHz). According to the <em>Connacht Tribune<\/em> of the 14<sup>th<\/sup> of April, IRG was planning a light entertainment service with no news bulletins and a minimal amount of interviews due to a lack of equipment. The start-up cost was only \u00a3400 and IRG initially broadcast for just four hours a day from a one-room studio in a shopping centre in William Street in the city centre. In the end the frequency was 199 metres and jingles including \u2018199\u2019 were famously sung by the choir of University College Galway (now the National University of Ireland, Galway).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"638\" src=\"http:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Independent-Radio-Galway-7-1024x638.jpg\" alt=\"Aircheck: Independent Radio Galway\" class=\"wp-image-2142\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Independent-Radio-Galway-7-1024x638.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Independent-Radio-Galway-7-300x187.jpg 300w, https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Independent-Radio-Galway-7-768x478.jpg 768w, https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Independent-Radio-Galway-7-1536x957.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Independent-Radio-Galway-7-2048x1276.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 767px) 89vw, (max-width: 1000px) 54vw, (max-width: 1071px) 543px, 580px\" \/><figcaption>Liam Stenson and Kieran Muldoon in the studio (photo courtesy of Joe O&#8217;Shaughnessy, City Tribune).<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>In June 1978 IRG was raided and equipment confiscated by officials of the Department of Posts and Telegraphs but the station soon returned with a standby transmitter. On the 20<sup>th<\/sup> of July 1979 the <em>Tribune<\/em> reported financial problems at IRG and the threat of closure was mooted, with the owners attributing a major loss in advertising revenue to the arrival of RT\u00c9 Radio 2 the previous May. IRG closed officially at 8pm on the 29<sup>th<\/sup> of July 1979, thereby ending Galway\u2019s short-lived community radio experiment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"633\" src=\"http:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Independent-Radio-Galway-3-1024x633.jpg\" alt=\"Aircheck: Independent Radio Galway\" class=\"wp-image-2140\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Independent-Radio-Galway-3-1024x633.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Independent-Radio-Galway-3-300x186.jpg 300w, https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Independent-Radio-Galway-3-768x475.jpg 768w, https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Independent-Radio-Galway-3-1536x950.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Independent-Radio-Galway-3-2048x1267.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 767px) 89vw, (max-width: 1000px) 54vw, (max-width: 1071px) 543px, 580px\" \/><figcaption>The late Deirdre Manifold, who presented a religious programme, in the IRG studio (photo courtesy of Joe O&#8217;Shaughnessy, City Tribune).<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>This partially airchecked recording is possibly from two separate undated days in May 1979 from around 11.00am. The presenter is Chris Williams and \u2018Auntie Mamie\u2019 dispenses advice to expectant mothers, recommends discipline for children and promotes buying Irish produce. There are references to other presenters Paul Jones (Mike Mulkerrins) and Billy McCoy (Liam Stenson). We thank Ian Biggar for his donation of this recording (originally made by Dave Small, Liam Stenson for information and Joe O&#8217;Shaughnessy for the photographs. &nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Independent Radio Galway (IRG) was arguably the closest Galway got to having a full-time community station during the pirate era. Some of the larger Galway stations of the 1980s provided variety in their schedule and carried community news. However, there was no long-term station embedded firmly in the community radio ethos represented by the National &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/aircheck-independent-radio-galway\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Aircheck: Independent Radio Galway&#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":[15],"tags":[491,46,322,337,189],"class_list":["post-2082","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-airchecks","tag-491","tag-am","tag-galway","tag-irg","tag-raids"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Aircheck: Independent Radio Galway - 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\/aircheck-independent-radio-galway\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Aircheck: Independent Radio Galway - Irish Pirate Radio Audio Archive\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Independent Radio Galway (IRG) was arguably the closest Galway got to having a full-time community station during the pirate era. Some of the larger Galway stations of the 1980s provided variety in their schedule and carried community news. 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