KIC FM

K.I.C. FM came on air on 104.0MHz in January 2000 and was the result of yet another Radio Dublin split…history repeating itself yet again!

K.I.C. stands for Keep It Country, which gives an idea of their musical output. Sometimes identified on air as Kick Country 104, the station were nowhere near the superpirate that an RTÉ news report attempted to make them out to be; however, they did have a very professional sound with good coverage and, unique for the time (even with legals), they were live around the clock.

Officially, because of interference to Shannonside’s 104.1FM transmissions, there was a raid on the station’s mountain-site which took K.I.C. FM off the air on June 1st 2001. Cynical voices suggested it was more to do with a recent licence award to Star FM, who became Dublin’s Country just prior to launch later in the year.

Refusing to lie down, K.I.C. FM reappeared on 104.0MHz less than a week later. Using makeshift aerials from their studios on the North Circular Rd, a signal, increasing gradually in strength, spread over Dublin. Automated at first, with old station recordings following, eventually they went live…but it didn’t last long before they were raided again.

K.I.C. FM made a lot of noises about returning that summer, they even launched a campaign to take the Irish authorities to the European Court of Human Rights, but the anger faded away.

Either way, in a Dublin court in Summer 2002, the station were fined on many counts – although they managed to escape on others.