Pirate radio stations invade Dublin's airwaves

Illegal stations on the FM band in Dublin now outnumber licensed outfits by more than two to one — and legitimate broadcasters feel under attack

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They were once banished from Ireland’s airwaves, but pirate radio stations now appear to be invading once more.

There are currently more than a dozen illegal stations on the FM band in Dublin, outnumbering the licensed outfits by more than two to one. Most do not broadcast full time, taking to the air in the evenings and at weekends, usually playing dance music, oldies, or up-and-coming Irish bands.

Some of the new breed of pirates have sophisticated equipment that is producing a broadcast signal powerful enough to be picked up in the Dublin Port Tunnel. Alongside legitimate stations such as RTE, Newstalk, 98FM, FM104, Q102, Spin 1038 and Sunshine, pirate stations RetroNow and Kiss could be picked up in the lowest depths of the 4.5km tunnel one afternoon last weekend.

Kevin Branigan, chief executive of Radio Nova, a licensed classic rock station, is unhappy that pirates can be heard inside the tunnel. “That the operators are rebroadcasting pirate radio stations for users of the Port Tunnel when they have steadfastly refused to rebroadcast legitimate services such as Nova, Today FM and 2FM is nothing short of outrageous,” he said.

Transport Infrastructure Ireland replied: “This is the nature of pirate radio. We just transmit through the tunnel the existing frequencies.”

Operators of pirate stations insist they are doing no harm to the industry. The chief executive of The 90sNetwork, a pirate station playing music from that decade, said it was a hobby.

“We’ve built our audience since 2008 and we broadcast on FM each weekend in Dublin on very low signal output,” said the man, who asked to be identified only as Mike.

“We try to keep under the radar. Don’t be too loud, try not annoy anybody, and pray to God that the knock on the door never comes. Other stations are putting out huge amounts of power. We cater for a small market. I do it for the love of it.”

Phever, an online platform for Irish dance music, becomes available on the FM band at weekends. “Dean”, who works on the station, said an organisation that put their signal out on the airwaves had fallen foul of the authorities. “Another crew approached us, said they liked what we were doing, and asked could they rebroadcast our signal,” he said. “They’ve had equipment seized; sites threatened. We’re not trying to step on toes, just to provide an alternative.”

Some executives in the legitimate business think the revival of pirates is down to the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) not issuing more licences. “That there are so many unlicensed broadcasters is surely a reflection that the licensing policy does not cater for the choice people want,” said one station chief executive. “It’s 10 years since there has been any new licences, and the world has changed in that time. As before, pirate stations are filling the void as the BAI’s policy is preventing growth.”

John Purcell, chairman of the Independent Broadcasters of Ireland, said the “annoying” resurgence of pirates indicated there were gaps in the application of regulation. “When people were starting in pirate radio back in the 1970s there was no legislation covering any alternative other than RTE. The people who are abiding by the laws would like to see a bit of equity and fairness in the application of standards, and it falls on the powers that be to apply the regulations fairly and equally,” he said.

The BAI said regulation of the airwaves was a matter for ComReg and it did not have statutory powers to deal with pirates itself.

ComReg said it actively monitors illegal activity and “responds accordingly”.