The late Liam Lawlor & Jim Tunney were involved in controversy surrounding the setting up of Radio Fianna Fail in June 1981 for the election. At the time, news papers like the northside news (now people) ran half page adverts by pirate radio stations saying vote FF! I kid you not. Then 1988 came and FF failed to repay any of the slick super pirates and the century module of the The Tribunal of Inquiry into Certain Planning Matters & Payments tells the rest of the story.
In the Netherlands its a different story.. from the PM down there is wide spread support for free radio in a free society.
The Dutch Christian Democrats (CDA), the party led by Prime Minister Jan-Peter Balkenende, introduced a motion urging that space be found on the airwaves for pirate radio stations. Several other political parties expressed their support for the CDA position. Minister of Economic Affairs Laurens-Jan Brinkhorst reluctantly agreed to investigate ways of accommodating local ‘free’ broadcasts. Nothing much seems to have come of that, but it will be interesting to see whether the CDA revives its interest in the matter in the next Parliament. (Dutch elections in 3 months time!) [source radio netherlands 28.5Eurobird 11390V ]
Last week comreg made iTrip legal (kind of) so reception reports welcome for 107.9FM my gaff & garden local area broadcasting to radio AT wxtc.net
in the course of writing this I found my radio (b)log enteries from 1995 hosted on line here
5th September 1995
Radio Caroline Dublin will broadcast a short-wave DXpedition special on 6260Khz SW on Sunday 24th September from 00.00GMT to 20.00GMT. QSL cards are welcome to our mailing address or by Email with about 15 mins. of programme details.
Pulse FM are now pumping 150W from the hills.
Coast FM have their aerials up and have an ERP on 250w
X-FM from the ashes of Alice’s Restaurant have begun weekend progs.
NEAR FM are station 3 of 4 community Radio to come on air this summer with a 18 month licence from the IRTC. They share the Northside frequency of 101.5FM with 7 9 11 Radio
98FM and the IRTC have arrived on the Internet in the last week
— 8< listening to Regina Spektor - Soviet Kitsch as seen on my Googletalk profile.
dave can still not be seen on rte radio one “drivetime” 7-8, yes its official drive time lasts 3 hours in Ireland. big D flyer via radiowaves.FM