Phantom FM

Beginnings: 1997-2000

Written by Ger Roe (2000)

Phantom has the roots of its beginnings in Coast 105FM, which was run by Pete Reed, through the early nineties from his garden shed in Ballybrack. Coast 105 closed in February 1996 because it had gone as far as it could in its limited circumstances – and Pete wanted the use of his house back!

The main crew members were still committed to the Indie/Irish music principle and decided to set up a similar station to Coast but with a tighter format and also with the ultimate aim of applying for a licence. So, in August 1996, Spectrum FM was launched as a weekend rock service for Dublin on 100.7MHz and was based in the old Sunset studio site in Sandyford.

In the early days the studio (shed) was shared with Jazz FM who made use of the site and frequency during the week. When Jazz FM moved on to more permanent studios, Spectrum extended its hours to include weeknights. When Radio Ireland – now Today FM – was allocated the 100FM area of the band, Spectrum returned to the Coast frequency of 105.3FM

Two weeks before the station’s first birthday, Spectrum was forced to close but held their already arranged birthday party anyway! The support from the public was so good that the station’s main players decided to give it another go.

After much deliberation (down the local) the name was chosen and Phantom 105 began testing on November 23rd 1997. Unfortunately, a violent storm destroyed both the studio and mountain aerial systems and this forced the station off the air in early December. The station returned in January 1998 and, by this time, were also operational on the web as an occasional experiment.

On St Patrick’s Day 1998, new UHF link equipment was installed and the station changed frequency to 91.6FM – which had previously been the link frequency. The station continued to develop until June 30th 1999 when it closed to apply for a Special Interest licence advertised by the IRTC – closure was needed in order to satisfy the requirements of the licence application.

Following the FM closure, the station changed location to Grafton St, over Lillie Morellos, and carried on operating its full schedule on the internet.

The licence application ended in failure and repeated attempts to attain an explanation from the IRTC also ended in failure. It must be stressed that all possible options to obtain information were exhausted before we made the decision to return to FM in November 1999. Demand from our listeners was coupled with the feeling that we could only highlight our case further by going back on air. And so, we returned with the plan to carry out as much of our licence proposal as possible without the obvious financial backing that would have been available had the station received a licence.

The internet service has been expanded with the introduction of Ph magazine, gigs from local bands have been broadcast live, and we’ve introduced a 20% new Irish music policy across the board…all as promised in our submission.

More developments will be announced in due course. The station also changed location in April 2000.

Path to full licence: 2000-2004

Now based in studios above Whelan's in Wexford St, Phantom FM filled a very real gap on the radio landscape. Dublin had mainstream pop/commercial radio, and late-night alternative pockets, but Phantom gave indie, alternative rock, metal, left-field music and unsigned Irish bands a regular home. This helped build a dedicated listenership who felt disenfranchised by regular radio output.

Following their failed licence application in 1999, the Phantom FM team gave it another shot in 2001. Their application for a special interest music licence for Dublin once again necessitated them vacating the FM band in January that year, although programming continued online.

Despite positive feedback to the application from the BCI, Phantom this time lost out to a country music station.

The station returned to the FM band in June 2001, continuing from where they left off. A series of major raids on unlicensed services in May 2003 led to the team re-evaluating their position. They decided that an all-out attempt at securing a licence was the only way forward and officially ceased broadcasting as an unlicensed FM service at the end of May 2003.

Later that year they secured a 30 day temporary licence, followed by another the following year. These temporary licences allowed Phantom to broadcast over 14 weekends, keeping the station very much in the public eye as well as catering for its listenership, who were not catered for anywhere else.

In July 2004 the chance to apply for a full licence arose again. The team were determined to hop on the right bus this time and the one they chose gve them a ghost of a chance!!!

The licensed era: 2004-2014

The breakthrough came in November 2004, when the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland awarded the Dublin alternative-rock licence to the Phantom consortium, formally Dublin Rock Radio Ltd trading as Phantom FM. Backers included Paul McGuinness’s Principle Management and Denis Desmond’s Gaiety Investments, with other music and radio figures involved.

Planning to launch in July 2005, problems arose when a failed bidder, Zed FM, challenged the award, arguing - amongst other things - that Phantom’s pirate experience had unfairly worked in their favour. The challenge went all the way to the Supreme Court, where it was rejected in April 2006, finally clearing the way for the licensed station to hit the airwaves.

The new Phantom finally launched from studios at North Wall Quay on October 31st 2006, broadcasting to Dublin on 105.2MHz FM. It was now a full-service commercial operation, with news, sport, sales, administration, proper studios and all the grown-up machinery that comes with a licence.

In 2007 it won the PPI award for music-driven station of the year.

Behind the scenes the station had to satisfy regulators and advertisers, which meant more formal playlisting, a tighter commercial model and less of the glorious pirate-chaos that listeners remembered. After the financial crash in 2008, pressure mounted, playlists were tightened, costs were cut, and by 2010 the station’s Board had agreed a restructure that allowed Communicorp to take executive control with a major stake in the station. Infamously, one of the outgoing investors scribbled ‘death warrant’ on a piece of paper as the vote to restructure took place. In 2011, Phantom moved into Marconi House alongside Today FM and Newstalk - the opposite end of the shed in a back garden spectrum.

Wholesale changes resulted in a number of behind the scenes personnel and on-air presenters leaving the station. The cost-cutting measures also led to the departures of both station founder, Simon Maher and Chief Executive, Ger Roe.

More job cuts and restructuring in 2014 led to an exceptionally slimmed down and (even) more commercial sounding station, which, by March 30th 2014, had rebranded to TXFM. This followed two weeks of the ‘Spirit of Radio’ haunting the airwaves with a diet of virtually non-stop music and the station identifying as simply “105.2”. It was a sad end to the Phantom FM venture. Phantom’s final ever show, on March 16th 2016, The last show under Phantom branding was ‘Powerhouse with John Caddell’. radiowaves 2019

It also emerged on the day of the rebrand that there were no bidders for the licence under which Phantom FM operated, which was due for renewal in October 2016.

Recordings