When Radio Nova switched off 738kHz AM at just after 6pm on March 19th 1986 (FM had gone earlier in the day) there was no outpouring of grief, no mass protests, no chanting, no car horns – just an air of resignation from everybody who had ever cared about the station. The contrast with May 1983 could not have been starker. The famous Nova roar had become little more than a whimper.
It wasn’t that the listeners cared less, nor even that less of them cared, necessarily. This time around too many forces were working to put the station off the air and although it was Cary himself who had decided - or was backed so far into a corner that he had no choice but - to pull the plug, Nova didn’t even get the opportunity to do that on their own terms.
The year had started with Radio Nova reigniting tests on long wave. Ireland’s internationally agreed frequency of 254kHz was not being used so Cary decided to make use of it. For a few days the long wave service was simply a relay of the main service but on January 28th Chris Barry went live with Radio Nova LW, announcing test broadcasts and asking for reception reports. Within a couple of days, the long wave was switched off, never to return.
The Radio Nova Story: March 1986
There follows a chronological recount of the events leading to the station’s closure: (see also side panel)
March 5th
Dublin County Council discusses Radio Nova’s application for planning permission for two masts to be situated at Nova Park. At this meeting Fine Gael councillor Breda Cass stated that she objected to permission being granted on health grounds, claiming that there is scientific evidence to show that exposure to RF can lead to a number of health issues and that the council could be leaving itself open to future litigation if they gave planning permission allowing Radio Nova to operate their masts in the Rathfarnham area.
March 8th:
An appeal is aired on Radio Nova’s News Bulletins for anyone with a transmitter site to contact the station. This is because planning permission for Nova Park had been turned down. Mullingar emerges as a possible option.
March 10th:
On a number of bulletins, Radio Nova announces that due to continued problems with the NUJ that the station would close down on March 31st.
Chris Cary admits: “I am beaten, I have been beaten by the NUJ.”
He says he is no longer prepared to invest in the station owing to “…continual and unrelenting harassment from the NUJ.”
He reveals that Nova Media Services is up for sale with a valuation placed on it by a ‘management consultancy company’ of £10,000.
In a sign of the times, the Radio Nova closedown announcement is tucked away on the inside of newspapers or under the fold on front pages. It’s a far cry from the crazy days of the May 1983 raid, or the unstable RTÉ jamming period in 1984, when even a possible closedown for the station heralded banner front-page headlines.
The NUJ deny that they are responsible for the forced closure of Radio Nova and say they are taking the announcement with a pinch of salt. They also claim that it is Cary who is harassing their members rather than the other way round.
“We have had nothing but trouble from him. He is not a good employer,” Jim Eadie, Regional secretary, said.
March 13th:
On the evening of March 13th, some very explosive News bulletins are broadcast on Radio Nova.
This is a transcript of the piece that ran at both the start AND the end of the extended 7pm bulletin with Sybil Fennell & Gary Hamill
Sybil: NUJ member Barry McCall today continued with his attempts to ensure that Radio Nova is forced off the air, in spite of the fact the station has already announced its intention to close down voluntarily on the last day of March as a direct result of continued and unrelenting NUJ harassment.
In court today Barry McCall sought a date for the hearing of his appeal against a stay of execution already granted to Radio Nova by the courts. Should Barry McCall’s appeal be successful he will force the station to cease broadcasting from Nova Park in Rathfarnham resulting in the immediate loss of all 25 jobs at Radio Nova.
Gary: Barry McCall’s action would therefore have resulted in putting 25 Nova employees, including NUJ members, out of a job; closing Radio Nova; and of robbing Dublin city of its most popular radio station.
In the words of NUJ member Bernie Jameson, writing in the NUJ’s Dublin press and PR branch letter of October 16th 1985, quote: “The chapel aims to have members reinstated…” and quote: “…failing this we will do all in our power to ensure that the station ceases to function.” end quote.
Barry McCall is the Chairperson of that branch, the NUJ’s Dublin press and PR branch.
We suggest you ring the NUJ HQ on Dublin 748694 or Dublin 741207 with your comments.
March 13th:
A promo is aired on Radio Nova, voiced by Bob Gallico, which states:-
On Thursday, March 27th, all of the professional broadcast equipment currently in use here at Radio Nova will be offered for sale by public auction. Included will be professional broadcast studios, audio processing equipment, antennas, transmitters and generators. It is sold as seen and heard and is all in working order. This package is deliberately being offered for sale prior to Radio Nova’s official closedown on March 31st to afford the purchaser the opportunity to continue trading without a break in continuity. The trading name of Radio Nova will also be offered for sale as a separate entity…
March 16th:
The Sunday Press reports that Zena Brady has filed a Section 205 claim (oppression of minority interest) against Cary. Brady is a 26% shareholder in Nova Media Services. Her case is that Cary has been inflating the prices that Nova Media Services has been paying Stratford Leasing for the lease of Radio Nova’s equipment. Stratford Leasing was founded by Cary and he is the major shareholder.
(See newspaper cutting in the side panel)
March 17th:
During the 7pm News on Radio Nova, George Long announces that the station’s FM transmitter would be off the air for a short time due to maintenance. What actually happened is that a lot of the studio gear and link equipment was taken out and shipped to Leeson Street.
As a result, the FM was linked from the 738kHz medium wave transmitter on its return, so was broadcasting only in mono.
March 19th:
The morning on Radio Nova was the same as any other, relatively speaking given recent events. John O’Hara and Bob Gallico were on Breakfast and they were followed at 9am by Tony McKenzie...both programmes containing subtle verbal clues of what was to come...
The first on-air hint that something was not right was the News bulletin at 1pm. It wasn’t the usual extended one.
Then, as the 3pm News with Gary Hamill was approaching, Colm Hayes was heard asking for Chris or Tony to contact the station.
Following the 3pm News the signal on FM went silent for a few seconds and returned with a different song to the one which had been playing. Even stranger, it was a different song to the one on 738kHz. 103.1FM continued with continuous music. There were no idents or anything else to give the listener any idea of what was happening.
However, on medium wave Colm Hayes continued as normal. Well, not really...we rejoin his show at 4.40pm with the news that Radio Nova is closing down.
Gary Hamill with the final Nova News at 5pm explains the situation…and then George Talbot starts the final hour.
And with that, at 6.03pm on March 19th 1986, Radio Nova was no more.
Meanwhile, over on 103.1FM the non-stop music was still going.
Brady's Punch
The station's death-knell had been sounded earlier that day in the High Court. A receiver-manager had been appointed over Nova Media Services on foot of a petition brought by Zena Brady, a 26% shareholder in Nova Media Services, who claimed that Chris Cary had been misappropriating funds from the company. Pearse Farrell, the receiver-manager, was given the power to carry on the business of the company, but only operating within the law. This meant that Radio Nova, operating without a licence, was required to close immediately.
Not long after the receiver-manager had turned up at Nova Park, over at 144 Upper Leeson Street Tony McKenzie faded out Radio Nova’s FM transmissions and turned on the mysterious feed broadcasting non-stop music. He did this to protect the frequency.
Continuous music continued until 10.15pm when the unidentified station identified itself as Zoom 103.
George Talbot is pictured here in the makeshift Nova studio on that final day. Recalling how it all transpired, he told us:-
[The final day] was bittersweet as some of us knew it was coming. We also knew there was another station being prepared elsewhere but didn’t have that much information...as it turned out it was Zoom. Myself and Tony McKenzie were actually the last two at Nova Park and we were filling the cars with anything that hadn’t already gone to Zoom to take there. It was a crazy day – while waiting for the bailiffs we got through the skylight in the library on to the roof and passed hundreds of albums up there. The bailiffs only saw an empty room with shelves and never thought to open the skylight!
Did Chris Cary have an endgame?
Kevin Branigan believes so…
Chris Cary was under pressure from Zena and Eugene Brady, they had been 26% shareholders since 1982 and they hadn’t received a penny. They resigned as directors in early 1985 so things were obviously pretty fraught by then.
Cary was denuding the assets of Nova. He’d sold the whole of Magic 103 – an entire radio station including FM and AM transmitters, Optimods and studio to Q102 and the Brady’s were taking a case for suppression of minority interest against him and that case was coming down the tracks.
So, at the beginning of March he announced that Radio Nova was closing down and that all the assets would be put up for sale on March 27th at a BP Gunne Auction. However, some of the kit listed in the BP Gunne list is junk and some had been sold already to Grattanoak (Zoom/Energy) and they must have had receipts for it as when the Receiver went to Zoom, they couldn’t take it.
I reckon his plan was to do a hooky pre-packed asset auction in which he would buy the assets of Radio Nova, including the name, and then move the station to Lesson St and, lo and behold, Nova doesn’t close down at the end of March after all but continues from Leeson St – minus the Bradys.
I believe that was his plan and the Brady’s cut him off at the pass because they heard the BP Gunne auction ads going out and they went to the High Court and got an injunction preventing him from dissipating the assets any further.
He was advertising for a new medium wave site in February 1986 on the news. He knew he was going to have to leave Nova Park because of planning permission, His behaviour was not that of someone who was preparing to close down in a few weeks. I’m convinced he was going to do a rinky-dink on the assets, move Nova into a new company, and leave the Brady’s taking a suppression of minority interest against a defunct company. What stopped him was the High Court – no messing around with the High Court or you could be in contempt, of course.