Irish pirates get organised

BREAKING NEWS: To read about the BCI's announcement that they will be accepting bids for four new radio stations in the Dublin area, click here.

While pirate radio took a extremely serious blow after the raids of Tuesday May 20, a day already referred to as "Black Tuesday" amidst the wireless fraternity, there is some hope offered by the newly formed Specialist Radio Association (SRA). This group of individuals are currently drafting a document outlining a viable means of accommodating specialist radio stations in Ireland.

Most of the prominent pirates are involved in the group, which is a loose coalition of the major specialist operations in the country including Phantom, Jazz FM, Freedom, Premier, Choice, Drive 105, Vibe, Hot Power, Drive 105 in Donegal and Magic 105 in Cavan. Many of these stations are simultaneously ploughing their own furrows and lobbying outside the SRA umbrella. "After the initial events of Black Tuesday, there was something of a gung ho and very angry attitude," says Paul Shepard, SRA spokesperson. "Then the realisation dawned that there was no point in complaining and barraging TDs without suggesting an alternative. We began to come up with useful and practical suggestions, so we are now in the process of putting together a document to detail a proposed model for future broadcasting including everything from finance to whatever amendments to the law might be necessary."

"We are looking at some interesting models in Belgium, the Netherlands and Spain where they have an intermediate level of station somewhere between a commercial and community operation," Shepard continues. "We are talking about small operations with perhaps no more than a 3 to 5% audience share. We will have to look at the issue of space on the spectrum and I think a shake up of the FM dial will be necessary, but if New York has 65 stations on the FM dial, there is no reason we can’t or shouldn’t have at least half that amount of choice."

The SRA have just set up a website at www.sraireland.com. At the time of writing, very few of the pirates were broadcasting but many were resorting to Internet streaming, such as Power FM and XFM. Perhaps not an ideal scenario, but the medium offers its own awards and benefits. "It’s great having the online end and worldwide interaction," says JMC of Power FM. "For example, we’ve hooked up with some Irish people in Tokyo and have been sending them over new material by Irish artists and producers which they’re plugging over there. We get regular emails from a fire station in LA and a textile factory in Argentina. That is all brilliant, but we still want to keep the direct connection with our base, Dublin City and our Irish audience."

David Lattimer of XFM has not witnessed anything like the recent crackdown in over twelve years of broadcasting. XFM were the first Irish pirate to broadcast over the web, which they have continued to do since being forced off the air. Like most others involved in specialist radio, David firmly believes an alternative to the status quo is long overdue.

"Dublin needs an alternative music station, an indie station, a jazz one and perhaps four dance stations catering for everything from specialist to r n’ b to mainstream," Lattimer opines. "I think the Minister of Communications Dermot Ahern should really consider how he may be disenfranchising 60-100,000 people in the Dublin area alone."

"At present, if you like alternative and indie who have to wait until the evening to listen to Tom Dunne or whoever," David points out. "When you think about it, pirate radio has contributed so much to the scene here. I don’t regard it as pirate radio, its free radio. We’ve pointed scores of people towards Road Records and the like in the last five years. The idea of cracking down on this activity in a Robocop fashion is just absurd and I think it is just ComReg and elements of the BCI just trying to justify their existence."

At the time of going to press, an "announcement" was due from the BCI pertaining to pirates and specialist stations. Also, it appears likely that a number of popular pirates will return to the airwaves in some form or other in the coming weeks. However, until some sort of provision for quality niche radio programming is provided, the risk of more Black Tuesdays still hangs in the air(waves). "It would be great to wake up in the morning and not have to worry whether somebody has taken all the equipment," Pete Reid of Phantom reflects. "It would be wonderful if we were left alone to get along with running a business and providing our service without fear of persecution."

Links: www.sraireland.com/www.radiowaves.fm