Pir8 Radio

magpie

Anyone here (in the Dublin area) have any experience of or interest in setting up a pirate radio station?

Time to reclaim the airwaves methinks...

DerekD Goldfish

I would have no interest as that is illigal and therefore wrong:rolleyes:
Seriously though with the current clampdown it could be difficult and you could spend a fortune on equipment only to have it taken by the guards after a week.
What you could do is have it on a dingy of the coast as the irish navy is so crap with a couple of long sticks you would have them out armed and they would have to back down.

goo

Well yeah, but it would never ever happen.

magpie

Well of course this kind of thing is highly illegal, so any discussion here is of a purely academic nature...

As far as I can make out they can only trace transmitters, so as long as there was some way of making your equipment remote from your transmitter you'd be safe enough.... especially if you have your aerial on the top of a large, private apartment block... or even better wired up to the mast at RTE

Anyone technically minded care to comment? I'm thinking along the lines of infra-red connection between studio and transmitter, a kind of pirate bluetooth if you will.

magpie

Check out this link for info

http://www.freeradio.org/

Monkey

I don't think the guards really bother to confiscate broadcasting equipment but I'm not entirely sure. There is nothing illegal about owning the equipment. When phantom, xfm and a couple of others had their gear nicked the guards found it and they were able to get it back. Try asking Pete Reed on the phantom board and the XFM board but I don't think it'll be easy to set up a new pirate station when so many are having problems at the moment.

magpie

Try asking Pete Reed on the phantom board and the XFM board but I don't think it'll be easy to set up a new pirate station when so many are having problems at the moment.

I've tried asking "sinister" Pete a few questions via email, but either he doesn't check his mail, or he can't be arsed replying. Either is fair enough I suppose...

To be honest I think Phantom's problem was its attempts at respectability, trying to get a licence, going off the air for 6 months to apply, playing 30% new Irish music etc etc etc.

I think setting up a pirate should be with the intention of staying a pirate, then you can always play/say what you like, until they come to shut you down...

"When they kick at your front door, how you gonna come, with your hands on your head or on the tirgger of your gun?"

magpie

I should state that that nice Mr Reed has now got in touch, so disregard any comments about the regularity with which he checks his mail...

eth0_

Originally posted by magpie

I think setting up a pirate should be with the intention of staying a pirate, then you can always play/say what you like, until they come to shut you down...

Well then you're pretty clueless.
Do you honestly think Pete et al are running an all day radio station, which is more professional than some of it's counterparts in the legal sector of FM radio *cough*SPIN*COUGH*, purely for "fight the power!" sh1ts n giggles?

Phantom would love to go legal, there's only so much they can do with limited resources and cash, and the threat of being shut down and having their equipment confiscated.

And you know a station like Phantom wouldn't "sell out" if it did get a licence, and here's hoping they do get one.

magpie

OK, first of all don't take the piss, as that's not very constructive is it?

I have boundless respect for Phantom FM and all they have done, and was as upset as anyone when their service was pulled, especially as there is now nothing worth listening to on the radio, with the possible excpetion of Alison's show on sunday nights on Today FM.

The entire concept of "pirate" radio is that it is "illegal" owing to the ludicrous broadcasting laws in Ireland. Therefore do you not think it is slightly oxymoronic to run a pirate in a bid to get a licence? You pour your considerable reservoirs of scorn over what you call "fight the power", yet this is exactly what anyone, including Phantom, who sets up a pirate radio station is doing.

Pirate stations have absolute editorial control over what they play and say, licensed stations are forced to observe a very strict set of guidelines on what can and cannot be said. Licensed stations are also far more reliant on advertising revenue and effectively have to bow to pressure from their advertisers on content.

In fact, the reason crackdown on stations was, according to my sources, a direct result of pressure from advertisers on the licensed stations to get back listener share from the pirates and therefore make their advertising dollar more effective. Of course the licensed stations could not do this through music policy (as they are hampered in what they can play, it's not just that 2000 odd people in Ireland working professionally in radio are gob****es, evil corporate whores, or just out to get you) so they have to shut down the pirates. They have no other recourse.

Therefore the pirates need to fight back. Phantom is taking the course of media coverage, negotiation and continued webcasts, which is fine, since as you say they are a well-established semi-pro organisation.

Having said that they started with Pete Reed sitting in his garden shed broadcasting to his neighbour's cat, which is the essence of a pirate station.

This thread was merely to assess the level of interest in pirate radio in dublin, and whether anyone has any technical expertise they would be interested in sharing.

The Muppet

Good point Magpie and spot on in my opinion.

Definitely more fun in Pirate Radio. When you go legal it turns into Work and the the freedom disappears. The BCI and advertisers to a lesser degree see to that.

You point about a remote studio being traced is incorrect as you would need some type of link tx usually a UHF link with the pirates and this signal would be trackable by Niall and his friends in Comreg.