{"id":893,"date":"2019-07-10T10:00:38","date_gmt":"2019-07-10T09:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/?p=893"},"modified":"2021-12-28T10:28:51","modified_gmt":"2021-12-28T10:28:51","slug":"interview-gareth-oconnor-kits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/interview-gareth-oconnor-kits\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview: Gareth O&#8217;Connor (KITS)"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"powerpress_player\" id=\"powerpress_player_856\"><!--[if lt IE 9]><script>document.createElement('audio');<\/script><![endif]-->\n<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-893-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"http:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Gareth-OConnor.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Gareth-OConnor.mp3\">http:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Gareth-OConnor.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\/2019\/07\/Gareth-OConnor.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_pinw\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Play in new window\" onclick=\"return powerpress_pinw('https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/?powerpress_pinw=893-podcast');\" rel=\"nofollow\">Play in new window<\/a> | <a href=\"http:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Gareth-OConnor.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_d\" title=\"Download\" rel=\"nofollow\" download=\"Gareth-OConnor.mp3\">Download<\/a><\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"http:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/GOC-1-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"Interview: Gareth O&#039;Connor (KITS)\" class=\"wp-image-894\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/GOC-1-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/GOC-1-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/GOC-1-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/GOC-1.jpg 1334w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 767px) 89vw, (max-width: 1000px) 54vw, (max-width: 1071px) 543px, 580px\" \/><figcaption>Gareth O&#8217;Connor in the KITS studio in 1988. Thanks to Gareth for the photo. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>We interview journalist Gareth O&#8217;Connor about his memories of KITS (837 AM and 101 FM) in Monaghan Town in 1987 and 1988. KITS came on the air towards the end of the pirate era and, like other border stations, gained listeners and advertisers both north and south. Gareth tells us about how he became interested in radio and how a decisive Christmas Day phone call launched his broadcasting career. He also pays tribute to station owner the late Frank McCarthy and discusses the impact of the pirates on Monaghan and further afield.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Gareth went on to work as a journalist with many broadcasters including Northern Sound, Century Radio, RT\u00c9, 98FM, Today FM, East Coast FM, LMFM and Radio Nova. He has also contributed to temporary station Walk in My Shoes Radio and is a regular on Christmas FM. Gareth currently works as an Executive Producer at Virgin Media Ireland. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can listen to KITS jingles <a href=\"http:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/jingles-kits\/\">here<\/a>.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We interview journalist Gareth O&#8217;Connor about his memories of KITS (837 AM and 101 FM) in Monaghan Town in 1987 and 1988. KITS came on the air towards the end of the pirate era and, like other border stations, gained listeners and advertisers both north and south. Gareth tells us about how he became interested &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/interview-gareth-oconnor-kits\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Interview: Gareth O&#8217;Connor (KITS)&#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":[14],"tags":[174,19,259],"class_list":["post-893","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-interview","tag-gareth-oconnor","tag-kits","tag-monaghan"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Interview: Gareth O&#039;Connor (KITS) - 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\/interview-gareth-oconnor-kits\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Interview: Gareth O&#039;Connor (KITS) - Irish Pirate Radio Audio Archive\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"We interview journalist Gareth O&#8217;Connor about his memories of KITS (837 AM and 101 FM) in Monaghan Town in 1987 and 1988. KITS came on the air towards the end of the pirate era and, like other border stations, gained listeners and advertisers both north and south. Gareth tells us about how he became interested &hellip; Continue reading &quot;Interview: Gareth O&#8217;Connor (KITS)&quot;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/interview-gareth-oconnor-kits\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Irish Pirate Radio Audio Archive\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-07-10T09:00:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-12-28T10:28:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/GOC-1-1024x576.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=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/interview-gareth-oconnor-kits\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/interview-gareth-oconnor-kits\/\",\"name\":\"Interview: Gareth O'Connor (KITS) - Irish Pirate Radio Audio Archive\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/interview-gareth-oconnor-kits\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/interview-gareth-oconnor-kits\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/GOC-1-1024x576.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-07-10T09:00:38+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-12-28T10:28:51+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/#\/schema\/person\/a6eb579c7ad730e14f91e6455b207f00\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/interview-gareth-oconnor-kits\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/interview-gareth-oconnor-kits\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/interview-gareth-oconnor-kits\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/GOC-1-1024x576.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/GOC-1-1024x576.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/interview-gareth-oconnor-kits\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/pirate.ie\/archive\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Interview: Gareth O&#8217;Connor (KITS)\"}]},{\"@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":"Interview: Gareth O'Connor (KITS) - 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\/interview-gareth-oconnor-kits\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Interview: Gareth O'Connor (KITS) - Irish Pirate Radio Audio Archive","og_description":"We interview journalist Gareth O&#8217;Connor about his memories of KITS (837 AM and 101 FM) in Monaghan Town in 1987 and 1988. 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