{"id":3749,"date":"2021-03-15T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-03-15T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/?p=3749"},"modified":"2025-02-19T15:33:09","modified_gmt":"2025-02-19T15:33:09","slug":"kelo-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/kelo-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Launch of KELO in 1981"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"powerpress_player\" id=\"powerpress_player_4334\"><!--[if lt IE 9]><script>document.createElement('audio');<\/script><![endif]-->\n<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-3749-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/810315_1234-1338_1233_kelo_swords_last_test_c90_231_kb.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/810315_1234-1338_1233_kelo_swords_last_test_c90_231_kb.mp3\">https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/810315_1234-1338_1233_kelo_swords_last_test_c90_231_kb.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\/810315_1234-1338_1233_kelo_swords_last_test_c90_231_kb.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_pinw\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Play in new window\" onclick=\"return powerpress_pinw('https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/?powerpress_pinw=3749-podcast');\" rel=\"nofollow\">Play in new window<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/810315_1234-1338_1233_kelo_swords_last_test_c90_231_kb.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_d\" title=\"Download\" rel=\"nofollow\" download=\"810315_1234-1338_1233_kelo_swords_last_test_c90_231_kb.mp3\">Download<\/a><\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"573\" src=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/ireland_swords_kelo_ratecard_1_large-1024x573.jpg\" alt=\"Launch of KELO in 1981\" class=\"wp-image-3750\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/ireland_swords_kelo_ratecard_1_large-1024x573.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/ireland_swords_kelo_ratecard_1_large-300x168.jpg 300w, https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/ireland_swords_kelo_ratecard_1_large-768x430.jpg 768w, https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/ireland_swords_kelo_ratecard_1_large.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 767px) 89vw, (max-width: 1000px) 54vw, (max-width: 1071px) 543px, 580px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">KELO advertising flyer (courtesy of DX Archive). <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>On 15<sup>th<\/sup> March 1981, a new pirate called KELO began testing from Swords in north Co. Dublin. KELO was a short-lived but important pirate because its music policy broke the mould: Top 40 and album tracks played back to back with minimal talk. Its frequency of 1233 kHz (244 metres) got out well and in the advertising flyer above, KELO claimed to be audible throughout Leinster and on the northwestern coast of Britain. It changed its frequency to 1566 kHz probably on July 8<sup>th<\/sup> 1981, only to return to 1233 kHz after a few days. When <a href=\"http:\/\/dxarchive.com\/ireland_a_to_z_irish_pirates_kelo_swords.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">DX Archive<\/a> visited the station in mid-August, it was definitely on that frequency. Following the arrival of Radio Nova, the Dublin radio scene became more competitive in 1981 and many smaller stations fell by the wayside. According to <em>Airsounds Newsletter<\/em> from December 1981: \u2018KELO Radio from Dublin closed down on 244\u00a0metres\u00a0on November 11<sup>th<\/sup>. Apparently, the rig was reclaimed by Peter Gibney as he was not paid for it, so he just came and took it away! It may have been sold to another station for use from a hotel in the north suburbs of the city\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"689\" src=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/ireland_swords_kelo_kelly_1981b-1024x689.jpg\" alt=\"Launch of KELO in 1981\" class=\"wp-image-3752\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/ireland_swords_kelo_kelly_1981b-1024x689.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/ireland_swords_kelo_kelly_1981b-300x202.jpg 300w, https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/ireland_swords_kelo_kelly_1981b-768x516.jpg 768w, https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/ireland_swords_kelo_kelly_1981b-1536x1033.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/ireland_swords_kelo_kelly_1981b.jpg 1548w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 767px) 89vw, (max-width: 1000px) 54vw, (max-width: 1071px) 543px, 580px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Dave Kelly in the KELO studio (photo courtesy of DX Archive). <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>This recording features Davitt Kelly (RIP) on 15<sup>th<\/sup> March 1981 starting at 1234, the day before official programming started. It was recorded by Ken Baird in Scotland, hence the DX reception. Thanks to Ian Biggar for assistance with research.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On 15th March 1981, a new pirate called KELO began testing from Swords in north Co. Dublin. KELO was a short-lived but important pirate because its music policy broke the mould: Top 40 and album tracks played back to back with minimal talk. Its frequency of 1233 kHz (244 metres) got out well and in &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/kelo-1\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Launch of KELO in 1981&#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":[486,46,178,153,110],"class_list":["post-3749","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-full-recordings","tag-486","tag-am","tag-davitt-kelly","tag-dublin","tag-kelo"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Launch of KELO in 1981 - 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\/kelo-1\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Launch of KELO in 1981 - Irish Pirate Radio Audio Archive\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"On 15th March 1981, a new pirate called KELO began testing from Swords in north Co. Dublin. KELO was a short-lived but important pirate because its music policy broke the mould: Top 40 and album tracks played back to back with minimal talk. Its frequency of 1233 kHz (244 metres) got out well and in &hellip; Continue reading &quot;Launch of KELO in 1981&quot;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/kelo-1\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Irish Pirate Radio Audio Archive\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-03-15T07:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-02-19T15:33:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/ireland_swords_kelo_ratecard_1_large-1024x573.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\/kelo-1\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/kelo-1\/\",\"name\":\"Launch of KELO in 1981 - Irish Pirate Radio Audio Archive\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/kelo-1\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/kelo-1\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/ireland_swords_kelo_ratecard_1_large-1024x573.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-03-15T07:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-02-19T15:33:09+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/#\/schema\/person\/a6eb579c7ad730e14f91e6455b207f00\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/kelo-1\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/kelo-1\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/kelo-1\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/ireland_swords_kelo_ratecard_1_large.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/ireland_swords_kelo_ratecard_1_large.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":672},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/kelo-1\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Launch of KELO in 1981\"}]},{\"@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":"Launch of KELO in 1981 - 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\/kelo-1\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Launch of KELO in 1981 - Irish Pirate Radio Audio Archive","og_description":"On 15th March 1981, a new pirate called KELO began testing from Swords in north Co. Dublin. KELO was a short-lived but important pirate because its music policy broke the mould: Top 40 and album tracks played back to back with minimal talk. Its frequency of 1233 kHz (244 metres) got out well and in &hellip; Continue reading \"Launch of KELO in 1981\"","og_url":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/kelo-1\/","og_site_name":"Irish Pirate Radio Audio Archive","article_published_time":"2021-03-15T07:00:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-02-19T15:33:09+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/ireland_swords_kelo_ratecard_1_large-1024x573.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\/kelo-1\/","url":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/kelo-1\/","name":"Launch of KELO in 1981 - Irish Pirate Radio Audio Archive","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/kelo-1\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/kelo-1\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/ireland_swords_kelo_ratecard_1_large-1024x573.jpg","datePublished":"2021-03-15T07:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2025-02-19T15:33:09+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/#\/schema\/person\/a6eb579c7ad730e14f91e6455b207f00"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/kelo-1\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/kelo-1\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/kelo-1\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/ireland_swords_kelo_ratecard_1_large.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/ireland_swords_kelo_ratecard_1_large.jpg","width":1200,"height":672},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/kelo-1\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Launch of KELO in 1981"}]},{"@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\/3749","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=3749"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3749\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10631,"href":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3749\/revisions\/10631"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3749"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}