The Anoraks Programme

As the 'post-pirate' era developed with new, licensed, independent radio stations now on air alongside RTÉ, pirate stations were a very different animal. Gone were the huge commercial beasts like Sunshine and Q102; gone were smaller stations who courted and welcomed publicity; in their place were smaller, more localised stations who were shrouded in secrecy. However, as the realisation grew that the threatened fines and imprisonment were the maximum possible penalties rather than the minimum, pirate stations started to spring up around the country and across Dublin's suburbs. Many came and went, partly to avoid detection and partly because most of the talent was now working in 'proper' jobs!

The defiant face of the era was Radio Dublin. Having stayed on air post legislation, they had overcome raids, court cases, and anything else the authorities could hit them with, yet remained on air going in to the 90s. Joe Doyle was Station Manager during this period, an association which endured until Radio Dublin finally succumbed in 2002. Joe was a massive anorak so it was no surprise that he played a part in the first regular anorak programme of the period. Barry Dunne was an early presenter of the programme and Simon Maher also played a role by bringing news stories to the listeners.

Not surprisingly, the programme was more combative in style than those of the 80s; there was a huge sense of injustice not just from those at Radio Dublin but throughout the pirate world at how the licensing situation had played out.

In 'The Anoraks Programme' there was more speech content than had previously been the case, with lots of retrospective reflection and analysis of the radio scene. It originally became part of the schedule to fill in the schedule gap due to a lack of presenters thanks to the fear created by the new laws. As staff increased it was eventually dropped with the final show running on January 1st 1991.

From New Year's Day 1990, Joe looks back at the pirates who had closed one year earlier.

Next: The 90s

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