{"id":7247,"date":"2022-10-12T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-10-12T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/?p=7247"},"modified":"2022-10-09T17:30:48","modified_gmt":"2022-10-09T16:30:48","slug":"border-blaster-zee-103-from-co-louth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/border-blaster-zee-103-from-co-louth\/","title":{"rendered":"Border-blaster Zee 103 from Co. Louth"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"powerpress_player\" id=\"powerpress_player_8843\"><!--[if lt IE 9]><script>document.createElement('audio');<\/script><![endif]-->\n<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-7247-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/19880500_Zee_103_Brendan_Mee_1925-2027_BM.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/19880500_Zee_103_Brendan_Mee_1925-2027_BM.mp3\">https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/19880500_Zee_103_Brendan_Mee_1925-2027_BM.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\/2022\/10\/19880500_Zee_103_Brendan_Mee_1925-2027_BM.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_pinw\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Play in new window\" onclick=\"return powerpress_pinw('https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/?powerpress_pinw=7247-podcast');\" rel=\"nofollow\">Play in new window<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/19880500_Zee_103_Brendan_Mee_1925-2027_BM.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_d\" title=\"Download\" rel=\"nofollow\" download=\"19880500_Zee_103_Brendan_Mee_1925-2027_BM.mp3\">Download<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"329\" src=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Zee-logo-CU-1024x329.jpg\" alt=\"Border-blaster Zee 103 from Co. Louth\" class=\"wp-image-7253\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Zee-logo-CU-1024x329.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Zee-logo-CU-300x96.jpg 300w, https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Zee-logo-CU-768x247.jpg 768w, https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Zee-logo-CU.jpg 1334w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 767px) 89vw, (max-width: 1000px) 54vw, (max-width: 1071px) 543px, 580px\" \/><figcaption>Zee 103 logo from advertising card (courtesy Ian Biggar). <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Zee 103 was a contemporary music station broadcasting from just south of the border in Omeath, Co. Louth from late 1986 until early 1989. It was one of several &#8216;border-blaster&#8217; pirates from the 1980s, aiming its signal into Northern Ireland. Its origins were in another station, KISS FM, which began broadcasting from Craigavon in Co. Armagh in 1985 but moved south of the border to Omeath following a raid by the British authorities. Internal politics led to a delay in the station getting on air and resulted in a number&nbsp;staff of staff leaving to start their own operation, which would become KISS FM in Monaghan Town. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ArdaghyHouse-Ian-Biggar-768x1024.jpg\" alt=\"Border-blaster Zee 103 from Co. Louth\" class=\"wp-image-2951\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ArdaghyHouse-Ian-Biggar-768x1025.jpg 768w, https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ArdaghyHouse-Ian-Biggar-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ArdaghyHouse-Ian-Biggar-1151x1536.jpg 1151w, https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ArdaghyHouse-Ian-Biggar.jpg 1161w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 767px) 89vw, (max-width: 1000px) 54vw, (max-width: 1071px) 543px, 580px\" \/><figcaption>Zee 103 was based in Ardaghy House near Omeath (courtesy Ian Biggar). <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Test transmissions using the name &#8216;Zee 103.3&#8217; were made from Omeath in October 1986 and the station adjusted the frequency slightly to 103.25. Regular programming began on 11<sup>th<\/sup> November 1986 and continued until 31<sup>st<\/sup> December 1988 when the vast majority of Ireland&#8217;s pirate stations closed down in the light of legislation to legalise independent radio. Zee 103 ventured back on the air on 19th January 1989 but closed for good on 7<sup>th<\/sup> February as it became apparent that the authorities would crack down on pirates that were defying the new law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This recording of Zee 103 is of Brendan Mee on an evening show between 1925-2027. Brendan was also heard on Galway pirates including WLS and offshore station Voice of Peace. The tape is undated but is estimated to be from April or May 1988. All adverts are for businesses north of the border, reflecting the fact that the station&#8217;s signal was aimed at mid-Ulster. Thanks to Brendan Mee for the donation and to Ian Biggar for background. Read a full station history <a href=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/northeast-series-zee-103-1986-1988\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">here<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Zee 103 was a contemporary music station broadcasting from just south of the border in Omeath, Co. Louth from late 1986 until early 1989. It was one of several &#8216;border-blaster&#8217; pirates from the 1980s, aiming its signal into Northern Ireland. Its origins were in another station, KISS FM, which began broadcasting from Craigavon in Co. &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/border-blaster-zee-103-from-co-louth\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Border-blaster Zee 103 from Co. Louth&#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":[487,260,609,154,159],"class_list":["post-7247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-full-recordings","tag-487","tag-border","tag-brendan-mee","tag-louth","tag-zee-103"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Border-blaster Zee 103 from Co. Louth - 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\/border-blaster-zee-103-from-co-louth\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Border-blaster Zee 103 from Co. Louth - Irish Pirate Radio Audio Archive\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Zee 103 was a contemporary music station broadcasting from just south of the border in Omeath, Co. Louth from late 1986 until early 1989. It was one of several &#8216;border-blaster&#8217; pirates from the 1980s, aiming its signal into Northern Ireland. Its origins were in another station, KISS FM, which began broadcasting from Craigavon in Co. &hellip; Continue reading &quot;Border-blaster Zee 103 from Co. 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Louth - 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\/border-blaster-zee-103-from-co-louth\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Border-blaster Zee 103 from Co. Louth - Irish Pirate Radio Audio Archive","og_description":"Zee 103 was a contemporary music station broadcasting from just south of the border in Omeath, Co. Louth from late 1986 until early 1989. It was one of several &#8216;border-blaster&#8217; pirates from the 1980s, aiming its signal into Northern Ireland. Its origins were in another station, KISS FM, which began broadcasting from Craigavon in Co. &hellip; Continue reading \"Border-blaster Zee 103 from Co. 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