{"id":4412,"date":"2021-12-30T19:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-12-30T19:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/?p=4412"},"modified":"2021-12-31T09:54:17","modified_gmt":"2021-12-31T09:54:17","slug":"radio-dublin-new-year-1978","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/radio-dublin-new-year-1978\/","title":{"rendered":"Radio Dublin rings in New Year 1978"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"powerpress_player\" id=\"powerpress_player_1250\"><!--[if lt IE 9]><script>document.createElement('audio');<\/script><![endif]-->\n<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-4412-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/19771231_Radio_Dublin_James_Dillon_2312-0040_into_1978.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/19771231_Radio_Dublin_James_Dillon_2312-0040_into_1978.mp3\">https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/19771231_Radio_Dublin_James_Dillon_2312-0040_into_1978.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\/07\/19771231_Radio_Dublin_James_Dillon_2312-0040_into_1978.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_pinw\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Play in new window\" onclick=\"return powerpress_pinw('https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/?powerpress_pinw=4412-podcast');\" rel=\"nofollow\">Play in new window<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/19771231_Radio_Dublin_James_Dillon_2312-0040_into_1978.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_d\" title=\"Download\" rel=\"nofollow\" download=\"19771231_Radio_Dublin_James_Dillon_2312-0040_into_1978.mp3\">Download<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"651\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/RD-TX-1977-B-Ebrill-651x1024.jpg\" alt=\"Radio Dublin rings in New Year 1978\" class=\"wp-image-4482\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/RD-TX-1977-B-Ebrill-651x1024.jpg 651w, https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/RD-TX-1977-B-Ebrill-191x300.jpg 191w, https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/RD-TX-1977-B-Ebrill-768x1208.jpg 768w, https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/RD-TX-1977-B-Ebrill-976x1536.jpg 976w, https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/RD-TX-1977-B-Ebrill-1302x2048.jpg 1302w, https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/RD-TX-1977-B-Ebrill-scaled.jpg 1627w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 651px) 100vw, 651px\" \/><figcaption>The Radio Dublin transmitter at Christmas 1977 (photo courtesy of Bill Ebrill). <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Radio Dublin was the only Irish station to ring in the New Year at midnight on Saturday 31<sup>st<\/sup> December 1977. The <em>Evening Herald<\/em> reported that RT\u00c9 Radio had to scrap its planned New Year\u2019s Eve special programme, to be presented by Pat Kenny, because of an industrial relations dispute. The state broadcaster would close down at 11.45pm, leaving the airwaves to Radio Dublin. This was an important period for the pirates as it marked the shift from hobby to full-time broadcasting. Radio Dublin stayed on air for 300 hours over the Christmas and New Year period 1977-1978 and began full-time daily broadcasting on 2<sup>nd<\/sup> January 1978.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This recording is of Radio Dublin staff saying farewell to 1977 and ringing in 1978. Running from 2312-0040, it features station owner Eamonn Cooke along with DJs John Paul, Shay West, DJ Sylvie, Mike Eastwood and James Dillon. There are plenty of requests from listeners and thanks to businesses for advertising with the station during the year. At midnight a recording of bells is almost scuppered by a faulty cassette tape. This is followed by the DJs singing Auld Land Syne and a message from the Lord Mayor of Dublin Cllr Michael Collins. Eamonn Cooke urges listeners to lobby the government for a licence for Radio Dublin and also thanks Prince Terry (Roger Lloyd) for relaying the broadcast on the shortwave frequency of Westside Radio International. This recording was made locally but there is some night-time co-channel interference and that characteristic Radio Dublin hum throughout. We thank Ian Biggar for the donation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"332\" src=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/1977_Radio_Dublin_letterhead_IB-1024x332.jpg\" alt=\"Radio Dublin rings in New Year 1978\" class=\"wp-image-3901\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/1977_Radio_Dublin_letterhead_IB-1024x332.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/1977_Radio_Dublin_letterhead_IB-300x97.jpg 300w, https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/1977_Radio_Dublin_letterhead_IB-768x249.jpg 768w, https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/1977_Radio_Dublin_letterhead_IB-1536x497.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/1977_Radio_Dublin_letterhead_IB.jpg 1729w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 767px) 89vw, (max-width: 1000px) 54vw, (max-width: 1071px) 543px, 580px\" \/><figcaption>Early Radio Dublin letterhead (courtesy of Ian Biggar) <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>However, the exuberance of New Year\u2019s Eve did not last and in April James Dillon led a walk-out of most staff following allegations that Eamonn Cooke was involved in child abuse. Dillon formed a breakaway station, the Big D, which lasted until 1982. Radio Dublin closed down permanently in 2002 following Cooke\u2019s conviction for sexually abusing children. He was jailed in 2003 and again in 2007 and died in 2016 while on temporary release. If you require support with this issue, you can contact the organisation <a href=\"https:\/\/www.oneinfour.ie\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">One in Four<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Radio Dublin was the only Irish station to ring in the New Year at midnight on Saturday 31st December 1977. The Evening Herald reported that RT\u00c9 Radio had to scrap its planned New Year\u2019s Eve special programme, to be presented by Pat Kenny, because of an industrial relations dispute. The state broadcaster would close down &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/radio-dublin-new-year-1978\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Radio Dublin rings in New Year 1978&#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":[524,489,46,153,311,525,371,9],"class_list":["post-4412","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-full-recordings","tag-524","tag-489","tag-am","tag-dublin","tag-eamonn-cooke","tag-james-dillon","tag-john-paul","tag-radio-dublin"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Radio Dublin rings in New Year 1978 - 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-dublin-new-year-1978\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Radio Dublin rings in New Year 1978 - Irish Pirate Radio Audio Archive\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Radio Dublin was the only Irish station to ring in the New Year at midnight on Saturday 31st December 1977. The Evening Herald reported that RT\u00c9 Radio had to scrap its planned New Year\u2019s Eve special programme, to be presented by Pat Kenny, because of an industrial relations dispute. The state broadcaster would close down &hellip; Continue reading &quot;Radio Dublin rings in New Year 1978&quot;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/radio-dublin-new-year-1978\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Irish Pirate Radio Audio Archive\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-12-30T19:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-12-31T09:54:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/RD-TX-1977-B-Ebrill-651x1024.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=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/radio-dublin-new-year-1978\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/radio-dublin-new-year-1978\/\",\"name\":\"Radio Dublin rings in New Year 1978 - Irish Pirate Radio Audio Archive\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/radio-dublin-new-year-1978\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/radio-dublin-new-year-1978\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/RD-TX-1977-B-Ebrill-651x1024.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-12-30T19:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-12-31T09:54:17+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/#\/schema\/person\/a6eb579c7ad730e14f91e6455b207f00\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/radio-dublin-new-year-1978\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/radio-dublin-new-year-1978\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/radio-dublin-new-year-1978\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/RD-TX-1977-B-Ebrill-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/RD-TX-1977-B-Ebrill-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":1627,\"height\":2560},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/radio-dublin-new-year-1978\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Radio Dublin rings in New Year 1978\"}]},{\"@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":"Radio Dublin rings in New Year 1978 - 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-dublin-new-year-1978\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Radio Dublin rings in New Year 1978 - Irish Pirate Radio Audio Archive","og_description":"Radio Dublin was the only Irish station to ring in the New Year at midnight on Saturday 31st December 1977. The Evening Herald reported that RT\u00c9 Radio had to scrap its planned New Year\u2019s Eve special programme, to be presented by Pat Kenny, because of an industrial relations dispute. 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