Radio Dublin – Radiowaves FM

Radio Dublin launched in October 1966, known then as Radio Baile Átha Cliath.

When it eventually closed the station had taken its place in the pantheon of radio broadcasting with a colourful and controversial history that could only be matched by a handful of worldwide stations, ever.

Run-ins with the authorities; arson; sabotage; rancorous splits; station coups; numerous location and frequency changes; a second channel; spin-off stations; on-air thinly-veiled threats against other stations; defiance in the face of new legislation; court cases; intimidation; accusations of murder; paedophilia; changes in format. Radio Dublin had all of these – and more. It was the longest-running continuous pirate station in Ireland … and the world.

Some of its unfortunate history has sullied the name but it should never, ever be forgotten as a training ground for some of the best presenters that have graced Ireland’s airwaves. Everybody who’s anybody spent time at Radio Dublin.

It was founded in 1966 by Ken Sheehan as Radio Blácliath and broadcast from his home in Mourne Road. The transmissions were of very low power, modifications helping the station reaching 20watts by 1969.

A new transmitter was put in place in 1969 and Sunday afternoon broadcasts of taped programming became a regular feature.

In 1971 the station changed location and under the stewardship of Prince Terry briefly changed name to Static Radio.

In 1972, following a close shave in which the authorities came close to locating the studio, the station decided to close for a six week period before returning on shortwave. The station remained off the air, however, until 1974 when Prince Terry managed to get Radio Dublin back on air but this lasted for just a couple of months.

Dr Don became involved towards the end of 1974 and he and Prince Terry put Radio Dublin back on the air in 1975.

The station’s associated frequency is almost as famous as the station’s name. 253m became synonymous with Radio Dublin but it did not use this frequency until into the 1970s.

The station’s fortunes were to change forever when a transmitter broke down and a tv repairman by the name of Eamon Cooke was hired to fix it. He quickly became involved and was instrumental in a change of format to playing pop music.

Following a couple of raids, and a publicity stunt in which Dr Don threatened to set fire to his petrol-soaked body, the station went off air for a long period in September 1976. When it returned at the end of May 1977 it was now broadcasting from Cooke’s home in Ballyfermot and Dr Don was prevented from going on air. This led to Don setting up his own station on 254m which he named Old Radio Dublin but he eventually joined forces with the men behind ARD.

Prince Terry also left at this time and presenters from Premier Atlantis Radio were drafted in to fill the gaps in the schedule.

During the June 1977 election Radio Dublin were the first-ever pirate to run an Election Special plus, they also became the first station in the history of the state to broadcast for 24 hours continuously.
They followed this with a marathon 60 hour non-stop broadcast over the August 1977 bank holiday weekend.

Radio Dublin moved to seven day a week broadcasting for the Christmas period in 1977. This proved to be a success so broadcast hours were extended to 8am-7pm on weekdays and non-stop at weekends.

In April 1978, a bitter and infamous split amidst allegations of child abuse and transmitter sabotage, led to all the staff defecting to a new station – Big D – whilst Cooke was away on holiday.

Irish Press April 10th 1978 – Click here to read

Radio Dublin outlived Big D, which was destroyed by a fire at its studios in January 1979.

In October 1979 moved to 58 Inchicore Riad, less than a mile from their previous location in Sarsfield Road. Residential complaints about the noise created by the station’s presence forced the move.
FM was added around this time with the station now also broadcasting on 91.8MHz, which served the medium wave outlet.

Radio Dublin Channel 2, broadcasting on FM, was launched at the start of the new decade, which also saw the arrival of a new breed of superpirates in Ireland which would sound the death-knell for many of the nation’s less professional stations. Radio Dublin marched on, however.