{"id":3736,"date":"2021-03-05T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-03-05T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/?p=3736"},"modified":"2021-08-06T16:48:29","modified_gmt":"2021-08-06T15:48:29","slug":"radio-empathy-1973","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/radio-empathy-1973\/","title":{"rendered":"Pirate Pioneers: Radio Empathy from 1973"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"powerpress_player\" id=\"powerpress_player_2271\"><!--[if lt IE 9]><script>document.createElement('audio');<\/script><![endif]-->\n<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-3736-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/19730000_Radio_Empathy_SignOff_IB.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/19730000_Radio_Empathy_SignOff_IB.mp3\">https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/19730000_Radio_Empathy_SignOff_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\/2021\/03\/19730000_Radio_Empathy_SignOff_IB.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_pinw\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Play in new window\" onclick=\"return powerpress_pinw('https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/?powerpress_pinw=3736-podcast');\" rel=\"nofollow\">Play in new window<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/19730000_Radio_Empathy_SignOff_IB.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_d\" title=\"Download\" rel=\"nofollow\" download=\"19730000_Radio_Empathy_SignOff_IB.mp3\">Download<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"960\" height=\"583\" src=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/1973_Radio_Empathy_QSL.jpg\" alt=\"Pirate Pioneers: Radio Empathy from 1973\" class=\"wp-image-3740\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/1973_Radio_Empathy_QSL.jpg 960w, https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/1973_Radio_Empathy_QSL-300x182.jpg 300w, https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/1973_Radio_Empathy_QSL-768x466.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 767px) 89vw, (max-width: 1000px) 54vw, (max-width: 1071px) 543px, 580px\" \/><figcaption>Radio Empathy QSL card from 1973 (courtesy of John Dowling). <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Late&nbsp;summer of 1972 was a busy period for pirate radio in Dublin. Kieran Murray remembered one particular day in September in the first edition of his <em>FRC Ireland Newsletter<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"183\" src=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/fullsizeoutput_cf8-1024x183.jpeg\" alt=\"Pirate Pioneers: Radio Empathy from 1973\" class=\"wp-image-3738\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/fullsizeoutput_cf8-1024x183.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/fullsizeoutput_cf8-300x54.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/fullsizeoutput_cf8-768x137.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/fullsizeoutput_cf8-1536x274.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/fullsizeoutput_cf8-2048x366.jpeg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 767px) 89vw, (max-width: 1000px) 54vw, (max-width: 1071px) 543px, 580px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Of course, such increased activity prompted a proportionate response from the P&amp;T which culminated in the raid on Radio Milinda on December 17<sup>th<\/sup>. This pretty much silenced all the free radio stations in the city with the exception of one. Radio Empathy commenced broadcasts in early 1973 from the Churchtown area. The station operated on Sunday afternoons as well as some late-night transmissions on 1378&nbsp;kHz.&nbsp;Station&nbsp;operator was Ed McDowell (Eoin McDonagh) who was also the main presenter on the station. Regular&nbsp;late night&nbsp;Saturday and Sunday afternoon transmissions continued every week with a power of around 100 watts. The station pioneered the use of FM in the city with broadcasts around 98&nbsp;MHz.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With such a regular service it was only a matter of time before the P&amp;T took action, which they did on April&nbsp;4<sup>th<\/sup>&nbsp;1974. The transmitter and studio equipment was confiscated. The resulting court case on October&nbsp;4<sup>th<\/sup>&nbsp;1974 was reported in the Irish Radio Movement&#8217;s <em>Medium<\/em> newsletter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"678\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/fullsizeoutput_cf9-678x1024.jpeg\" alt=\"Pirate Pioneers: Radio Empathy from 1973\" class=\"wp-image-3737\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/fullsizeoutput_cf9-678x1024.jpeg 678w, https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/fullsizeoutput_cf9-199x300.jpeg 199w, https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/fullsizeoutput_cf9-768x1160.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/fullsizeoutput_cf9-1017x1536.jpeg 1017w, https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/fullsizeoutput_cf9-1356x2048.jpeg 1356w, https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/fullsizeoutput_cf9-scaled.jpeg 1695w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 678px) 100vw, 678px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"100\" src=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/fullsizeoutput_cfa-1024x100.jpeg\" alt=\"Pirate Pioneers: Radio Empathy from 1973\" class=\"wp-image-3739\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/fullsizeoutput_cfa-1024x100.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/fullsizeoutput_cfa-300x29.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/fullsizeoutput_cfa-768x75.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/fullsizeoutput_cfa-1536x149.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/fullsizeoutput_cfa-2048x199.jpeg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 767px) 89vw, (max-width: 1000px) 54vw, (max-width: 1071px) 543px, 580px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Ed McDowell would go to to found Capitol Radio which broadcast for the latter part of 1975 and again for three years from 1978. The recording above features Radio Empathy signing off one Sunday in 1973 or 1974 with Ed McDowell. 222 metres is announced which corresponds to 1350 kHz although presumably the actual frequency was around 1378 kHz. There were obviously some technical problems that day judging by the audio. Thanks to Ian Biggar for the text, Roger Lloyd for another gem of a recording and John Dowling for the QSL card, which was for daytime reception in County Carlow. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That concludes our mini-series on the pirate pioneers of the Dublin radio scene in the late 1960s and early 1970s, without whom the 1980s boom would never have happened. Thanks again to Ian Biggar for supplying much of the material and to all others who contributed recordings, images and information. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Late&nbsp;summer of 1972 was a busy period for pirate radio in Dublin. Kieran Murray remembered one particular day in September in the first edition of his FRC Ireland Newsletter. Of course, such increased activity prompted a proportionate response from the P&amp;T which culminated in the raid on Radio Milinda on December 17th. This pretty much &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/radio-empathy-1973\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Pirate Pioneers: Radio Empathy from 1973&#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":[531,46,153,480,479,189],"class_list":["post-3736","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-airchecks","tag-531","tag-am","tag-dublin","tag-ed-mcdowell","tag-pirate-pioneers-series","tag-raids"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Pirate Pioneers: Radio Empathy from 1973 - 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\/radio-empathy-1973\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pirate Pioneers: Radio Empathy from 1973 - Irish Pirate Radio Audio Archive\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Late&nbsp;summer of 1972 was a busy period for pirate radio in Dublin. Kieran Murray remembered one particular day in September in the first edition of his FRC Ireland Newsletter. Of course, such increased activity prompted a proportionate response from the P&amp;T which culminated in the raid on Radio Milinda on December 17th. This pretty much &hellip; Continue reading &quot;Pirate Pioneers: Radio Empathy from 1973&quot;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/radio-empathy-1973\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Irish Pirate Radio Audio Archive\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-03-05T07:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-08-06T15:48:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/1973_Radio_Empathy_QSL.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\/radio-empathy-1973\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/radio-empathy-1973\/\",\"name\":\"Pirate Pioneers: Radio Empathy from 1973 - Irish Pirate Radio Audio Archive\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/radio-empathy-1973\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/radio-empathy-1973\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/1973_Radio_Empathy_QSL.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-03-05T07:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-08-06T15:48:29+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/#\/schema\/person\/a6eb579c7ad730e14f91e6455b207f00\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/radio-empathy-1973\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/radio-empathy-1973\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/radio-empathy-1973\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/1973_Radio_Empathy_QSL.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/1973_Radio_Empathy_QSL.jpg\",\"width\":960,\"height\":583},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/radio-empathy-1973\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Pirate Pioneers: Radio Empathy from 1973\"}]},{\"@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":"Pirate Pioneers: Radio Empathy from 1973 - 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\/radio-empathy-1973\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Pirate Pioneers: Radio Empathy from 1973 - Irish Pirate Radio Audio Archive","og_description":"Late&nbsp;summer of 1972 was a busy period for pirate radio in Dublin. 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