Editing Pirate radio in Ireland (section)

===20th century===
Pirate radio in Ireland has its origins in the early and mid-20th century. In 1940, for example, Mayo man [[Jack_McNeela|Jack Sean McNeela]] died on hunger strike in Arbour Hill Military Detention Barracks after 55 days protesting his arrest for operating a pro [[Irish Republican Army|IRA]] clandestine radio station.

In the early 1970's [[Irish language]] activists in [[county Galway]] established [[Saor Raidió Chonamara]] to protest the lack of an official fulltime broadcasting service in Irish. <ref>{{Cite book|last=Ó Glaisne|first=Risteard|title=Raidio na Gaeltachta|publisher=Clódóirí Lurgan|year=1982}}</ref> The authorities responded by [[RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta|establishing such a service]].

While the number of recorded pirate radio stations during the 1980's was in the hundreds, only a few have been notable enough to be remembered.{{original research inline|date=November 2020}} Pirate radio reached its height of popularity in Ireland in that decade after Sunshine Radio and [[Radio_Nova_(Ireland)|Radio Nova]] were launched in Dublin. <ref>{{cite web |url = http://radiowaves.fm/ire/database/radio-nova-88/ |url-status=usurped |title= The Radio Nova Story |website=radiowaves.fm |year=2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210526102525/http://radiowaves.fm/ire/database/radio-nova-88/ |archive-date=26 May 2021 }}</ref> They were soon joined by others.{{citation needed|date=November 2020}}

It was commercial music radio at a time when state broadcaster [[RTÉ]] struggled to capture the youth market. This was followed by the arrival in 1982 of South Coast Radio, ABC Tramore and Radio ERI in Cork.<ref name="auto">{{cite web |url = https://radiowaves.fm/ire/database/from-corks-eastside-to-the-sound-of-the-south-1982/|url-status=usurped |title=From Cork's Eastside to the Sound of the South|website=radiowaves.fm |year=2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220831120602/https://radiowaves.fm/ire/database/from-corks-eastside-to-the-sound-of-the-south-1982/ |archive-date=31 August 2022 }}</ref> These were pirate radio stations run for the first time on a commercial basis with the critical support of Ireland's advertising industry. {{fact|date=June 2024}}

Professional market research conducted in the 1980s by market research companies such as Lansdowne Research, Irish Marketing Surveys and Behaviours and Attitudes showed that these radio stations consistently led RTE in terms of reach and market share{{fact|date=June 2024}}

In Cork, Radio ERI had a consistent reach in excess of 50% with a reach of 63% recorded in 1986/87, an unprecedented listenership figure. The station boasted an extensive marketing and sales department which produced no fewer than six future local radio managing directors or chief executives throughout Ireland under the legalised regime after 1989 <ref name="auto"/>

In 1988 it, along with stations such as Sunshine and Q102 run by Mike Hogan (who was the first managing director of Dublin ILR franchise holder Capital Radio in 1989) and owned by nightclub impresario [[Pierre Doyle]], had annual sales revenues in millions of pounds. <ref>{{cite web |url = http://radiowaves.fm/ire/database/dublin-pirates/q102-dublin-pirates/ |url-status=usurped|website=radiowaves.fm |year=2019 |title=Q102|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210513040631/http://radiowaves.fm/ire/database/dublin-pirates/q102-dublin-pirates/ |archive-date=13 May 2021 }}</ref>

This led to the Radio and Television Act 1988 which paved the way, with the cooperation of nearly all pirate radio stations, to a new era in independent local radio in Ireland which commenced in 1989. <ref>{{Cite ISB|title=Radio and Television Act 1988|year=1988|number=20|date=3 July 1988}}</ref> The [[Independent Radio and Television Commission]] (IRTC) was established under this legislation.

The 1988 Act effectively limited future pirate radio stations by making it illegal to advertise or support them with stiff penalties.<ref>{{Cite ISB|title=Broadcasting and Wireless Telegraphy Act 1988|year=1988|number=19}}</ref> The 1980s were therefore the heyday of pirate radio in Ireland.{{fact|date=June 2024}}