What was the name of the dance radio station(s) in Dublin early 1990's?

Slideshowbob

Can anyone remember?

They used to have promos for dance events in between songs where the announcer would repeat the name of the DJ in a real deep voice - hilarious!

I wonder are they on the web anywhere preserved for posterity?

Anyone know???

Fuzzy Clam

Was it Club FM and DJ Keno or Franko or some crap dj like that?

fred funk }{

Pulse 103.

diceyreilly

Long wave radio 252

im invisible

Sunset 107 early 90's. club fm 106.4, changed to vibe. Pulse 103.2 (im sure there was another station on that frequency, either before or after). I remember at one stage we could get 3 different Kiss fm stations, one from dublin, one from the north, and one from the UK,

Slideshowbob

Kind of along these lines

http://declanpierce.com/?page_id=98

Thanks all for the contributions

ntlbell

sunset it was indeed

bbability

This is an over 18s ID required on the night... the Blue Banana Nightclub Clondalkin....

Dj Willie Wicked I think was one famous voice of the pirate era.

prunudo

Slideshowbob wrote: »

Kind of along these lines

http://declanpierce.com/?page_id=98

Thanks all for the contributions

A lot of good memories in those clips there. Used to listen to to pulse and club as a young lad. Hard to believe they closed in '99. Don't think spin103 has ever, or will match either of them tbh. I suppose that's the difference between a pirate and a commercial station though:(

Declan A Walsh

Sunset was the first of the dance pirates in Dublin (and probably Ireland too). It started in the summer of 1991 as an albums station, but switched to be all-dance in September that year. AFAIK Sunset FM was the only dance pirate station until late 1993, when Power FM came along in Dublin. DLR started to have some dance shows, for example Mark Kavanagh's, but it was not a pure dance pirate and had a mixture of programming.

Some other dance pirates up to and including 1995 were: Club FM (later renamed Vive FM), Rhythm FM (successor to Sunset), Hot 107 (successor to Rhythm), Mix 106 (successor to Hot 107), Solar FM, The Vibe 107 and Pulse FM. I thnk Urban FM may have been around 1995 as well.

By the way, comparisons with Spin103 are probably a bit unfair as it did not get a licence for dance music. It is officially "Hot Urban Contemporary"... affectively the youth licence, and, as such, includes much more than dance music. Spin does have some dance-specific music shows. A number of the original lineup of Spin back in the day had done stints in the likes of Pulse FM (and late '90s/early '00s dance pirates but that's going away from the thread subject matter!).

Declan A Walsh

Declan A Walsh wrote: »

Sunset was the first of the dance pirates in Dublin (and probably Ireland too). It started in the summer of 1991 as an albums station, but switched to be all-dance in September that year. AFAIK Sunset FM was the only dance pirate station until late 1993, when Power FM came along in Dublin. DLR started to have some dance shows, for example Mark Kavanagh's, but it was not a pure dance pirate and had a mixture of programming.

Some other dance pirates up to and including 1995 were: Club FM (later renamed Vive FM), Rhythm FM (successor to Sunset), Hot 107 (successor to Rhythm), Mix 106 (successor to Hot 107), Solar FM, The Vibe 107 and Pulse FM. I thnk Urban FM may have been around 1995 as well.

By the way, comparisons with Spin103 are probably a bit unfair as it did not get a licence for dance music. It is officially "Hot Urban Contemporary"... affectively the youth licence, and, as such, includes much more than dance music. Spin does have some dance-specific music shows. A number of the original lineup of Spin back in the day had done stints in the likes of Pulse FM (and late '90s/early '00s dance pirates but that's going away from the thread subject matter!).

I just remembered another name : Q95. Like Pulse FM and Hot 107, this station started in 1995.

Losty Dublin

Declan A Walsh wrote: »

Sunset was the first of the dance pirates in Dublin (and probably Ireland too). It started in the summer of 1991 as an albums station, but switched to be all-dance in September that year. AFAIK Sunset FM was the only dance pirate station until late 1993, when Power FM came along in Dublin. DLR started to have some dance shows, for example Mark Kavanagh's, but it was not a pure dance pirate and had a mixture of programming.

Ome abiding memory of DLR was how Johnny would go on holiday and one of his sons, Bud Johnson, would be left in charge and the station would run as a hard dance station for the 2 or so weeks or until somebody rang Johnny, whichever came first

Declan A Walsh wrote: »

Some other dance pirates up to and including 1995 were: Club FM (later renamed Vive FM), Rhythm FM (successor to Sunset), Hot 107 (successor to Rhythm), Mix 106 (successor to Hot 107), Solar FM, The Vibe 107 and Pulse FM. I thnk Urban FM may have been around 1995 as well.

Urban was about 1996 and came from Ranelagh; it was, ahem, different.

Something else I'll comment on here with a little detail, Declan. Hot 107 changed hands in 1996 when it's owners pulled out and sold it onto the knackers backers of Club FM. When the sale was announced to the staff, virtually all of the on air staff collectively withdrew themselves from involvement under the new ownership; this and their enforced move from their studio had the result of leaving the station dead in all but name; even it's distinctive VO's disappeared from transmission. After running from new premises for a few months, the station "closed" and was "relaunched" as Mix 106. Under this name, the station was to remain on air for about 9 months before it and Club abruptly closed after a very near miss from a DoC raid party.

donkey balls

bbability wrote: »

This is an over 18s ID required on the night... the Blue Banana Nightclub Clondalkin....

Dj Willie Wicked I think was one famous voice of the pirate era.

Ah the memories are coming back from the 90s with your man willie wicked promoting the BBC(blue banana club) when I first heard the promo it had me wondering what the f**k or were is this BBC club as the only BBC I knew of was across the pond.:o
Also some of the requests use to have me in stitches like this song goes out for micko in the joy, I think the name of the songs was I got the key I got the secret and the other one was set you free.:D

Fuzzy Clam

Losty Dublin wrote: »

Ome abiding memory of DLR was how Johnny would go on holiday and one of his sons, Bud Johnson, would be left in charge and the station

Johnny kept that quiet :eek:

Fuzzy Clam

donkey balls wrote: »

Also some of the requests use to have me in stitches like this song goes out for micko in the joy,

It's whats known as having a "captive audience".

Losty Dublin

Fuzzy Clam wrote: »

Johnny kept that quiet :eek:

Brother, sorry. May as well have been his Dad from what I heard of the pair of them

Declan A Walsh

Losty Dublin wrote: »

Something else I'll comment on here with a little detail, Declan. Hot 107 changed hands in 1996 when it's owners pulled out and sold it onto the knackers backers of Club FM. When the sale was announced to the staff, virtually all of the on air staff collectively withdrew themselves from involvement under the new ownership; this and their enforced move from their studio had the result of leaving the station dead in all but name; even it's distinctive VO's disappeared from transmission. After running from new premises for a few months, the station "closed" and was "relaunched" as Mix 106. Under this name, the station was to remain on air for about 9 months before it and Club abruptly closed after a very near miss from a DoC raid party.

Tell me more about this change of ownership of Hot 107. I didn't know about the Club FM angle. Who was involved with Hot 107 after this event - who were the owners and/or deejays?

While I think of it, there was another dance (AFAIK) pirate in the early '90s called Solar FM. This was operated by Chris Murray.

If you look at some of the names involved with legal radio now, it is amazing the amount of them who went through dance pirates ... even just the first half (remembering the title of this thread!).

The following were involved and/or started in dance pirates during the first half of the '90s (by the way, some of these continued in dance pirates in the late '90s/'00s ):
Barry Dunne - 98FM
Daragh O'Dea - 98FM
Chris Murray - LMFM
Kevin Brannigan - Radio Nova
Jason Dee - Radio Nova
Andy Preston - FM104
Al Gibbs - FM104
Frank Jez - FM104 (he may have been later
Damien McCaul - Q102 (again: if not later)
Garvin Rigby - Spirit Radio (if he is still there - PD)
Mr. Spring - 2FM .......................................

and previously : Tracey Lee (last heard on Today FM), Ronan Scanlon (l.h. on South East Radio), Tony Dixon, R.I.P. (l.h. on FM104)

Losty Dublin

Declan A Walsh wrote: »

Tell me more about this change of ownership of Hot 107. I didn't know about the Club FM angle. Who was involved with Hot 107 after this event - who were the owners and/or deejays?

That's about all I can tell you about the sale, aside from getting into names and guesses at the price of the station sale. There was very few of the old staff left after this and those drafted in to fill the voids were, to be frank, sub standard. In short, the station was a shadow of it's former self.

Declan A Walsh wrote: »

While I think of it, there was another dance (AFAIK) pirate in the early '90s called Solar FM. This was operated by Chris Murray.

It actually ran from the studio site of Hot/Mix and was fairly low powered; it didn't last too long and was largely a weekend broadcaster.

Declan A Walsh wrote: »

If you look at some of the names involved with legal radio now, it is amazing the amount of them who went through dance pirates ... even just the first half (remembering the title of this thread!).

The following were involved and/or started in dance pirates during the first half of the '90s (by the way, some of these continued in dance pirates in the late '90s/'00s ):
Barry Dunne - 98FM
Daragh O'Dea - 98FM
Chris Murray - LMFM
Kevin Brannigan - Radio Nova
Jason Dee - Radio Nova
Andy Preston - FM104
Al Gibbs - FM104
Frank Jez - FM104 (he may have been later
Damien McCaul - Q102 (again: if not later)
Garvin Rigby - Spirit Radio (if he is still there - PD)
Mr. Spring - 2FM .......................................

and previously : Tracey Lee (last heard on Today FM), Ronan Scanlon (l.h. on South East Radio), Tony Dixon, R.I.P. (l.h. on FM104)

It sure reads as a who's who of current radio. Between Sunset, Kiss 103FM and Freedom, a new generation of radio DJ was bred and trained in that dominates the airwaves nowadays; them were salad days to be sure.