Radio Nova was a

pirate radio Pirate radio or a pirate radio station is a radio station that broadcasts without a valid license. In some cases, radio stations are considered legal where the signal is transmitted, but illegal where the signals are received—especially ...

station broadcasting from

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...

. Owned and operated by the UK pirate radio veteran Chris Cary, the station's first broadcasts were during the summer of 1981 on 88.5 MHz FM and 819 kHz AM.

Early history

Prior to Nova's arrival, Irish radio consisted of the government broadcaster

RTÉ (RTÉ) (; Irish for "Radio & Television of Ireland") is the national broadcaster of Ireland headquartered in Dublin. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, whil ...

and a number of local AM pirate stations. Radio Nova was the first station in Ireland to use a high powered signal on FM. By 1982 Radio Nova was pulling in over 40% of the available audience around Dublin. In September 1982 Radio Nova (operating on 88.1FM and 819AM at the time) introduced a new service called Kiss FM on 102.7 MHz - inspired by Los Angeles-based 102.7 KIIS-FM. Prior to May 1983 the stations had been allowed to operate without interference from the Irish government. However, on 18 May 1983 officials from the

Department of Posts and Telegraphs The Minister for Posts and Telegraphs ( ga, Aire Poist agus Telegrafa) was the holder of a position in the Government of Ireland (and, earlier, in the Executive Council of the Irish Free State). From 1924 until 1984 – when it was abolished � ...

together with Irish Gardaí raided both the studio site and the transmitter sites of Radio Nova and Kiss FM. Both stations went off air until the next day. Following the raids, the Minister for Communications claimed in the Dáil (25 May 1983) that intermodulation products resulting from co-located transmitters for Radio Nova and its sister station Kiss FM had caused interference to emergency services' frequencies around 74 MHz for a period in the previous month. On 19 May at 6.00am, Radio Nova returned to the air to announce that they would be closing down at 6.00pm that day. They urged listeners to protest to the government and to show up at the Nova studios in Herbert Street, Dublin 2 for a huge protest. The story was front page of every national newspaper and was headline news on RTÉ. The hysteria continued when a rival pirate Sunshine Radio was raided at 9.00am. By 6.00pm, there were several thousand people outside the studios of Nova as the station played its last record. The political fallout of the Nova closedown was huge. More protest marches continued and following criticism of the government's action by the judge in the State's case against Nova, the station returned in glory some days later. During the winter months of 1983 Radio Nova started test transmissions on UHF TV. The station was to be "Nova TV" and was to run a similar format to

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

in the United States. Tests stopped after the government raided the studios and warned they would not tolerate a pirate television station operating. More trouble was to hit Radio Nova in 1984. The state broadcaster RTÉ which had seen its audience dwindle due to the arrival of Nova and other large pirate stations started a jamming campaign against Radio Nova. The jamming continued for some weeks and made reception of Nova almost impossible at times. The station eventually went into receivership and shut down its Kiss FM operation. Eventually the Irish government ordered RTÉ to stop the jamming and once again Radio Nova flourished.

NUJ Dispute May 1984

By the middle of 1985 the radio dial in Dublin was getting very crowded. Although the station remained firmly at number one (some survey books during this time show Nova at 62% reach in Dublin) they faced increasing competition from RTÉ and other pirates like Sunshine Radio. There was now also

Q102 Q102 may refer to: * Quran 102, the 102nd chapter of the Islamic Holy book Transportation * Q102 (New York City bus) Radio stations * Q102 (Pirate Station) in London, United Kingdom; the precursor to XFM London * Q102.9 in Derry, Northern Irela ...

, a station founded by former Radio Nova DJ Lawrence John, after being pressured not to cross the NUJ picket line at Radio Nova. To try to increase revenue, Radio Nova launched a new station called Magic 103. Magic 103 was an easy listening station with a lot of local news and current affairs designed to appeal to the Irish government who were taking part in a national debate about local radio. Magic 103 was not a success, however, and was shut down by Chris Cary at very short notice. This infuriated the

National Union of Journalists The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) is a trade union for journalists in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It was founded in 1907 and has 38,000 members. It is a member of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ). Structure There is ...

who called a strike and placed pickets on Radio Nova. They also urged advertising agencies to

boycott A boycott is an act of nonviolent, voluntary abstention from a product, person, organization, or country as an expression of protest. It is usually for moral, social, political, or environmental reasons. The purpose of a boycott is to inflict so ...

the station. With advertising revenue down dramatically and trouble in the boardroom, Cary pulled the plug on Radio Nova with just three hours’ notice on 19 March 1986.

Nova after closure

Subsequently, another station began broadcasting using most of Nova's old equipment and frequencies under the cover name of Zoom 103, later rebranded as ENeRGy 103, NRG 103 stood for "Nova re-generated". However, despite various name-changes (Energy Power 103 FM, a "merger" with a Radio Nova (The Hot 100 FM), then a re-launch station called Nova Power 103 FM, and once again reverting to the "Energy Power 103 FM" name) this station never enjoyed the same success as its predecessor and was eventually bought out and shut down on 11 March 1988 by rival station Q102. Within two weeks Q relaunched themselves as SuperQ102 on NRG's four FM frequencies ranging from 99.9 to 103.1 MHz which effectively "boxed in" Sunshine 101. Chris Cary subsequently launched a satellite radio station, also called Radio Nova, from a studio in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

.Nova: A New Star in the Sky
AMFM.org.

Nova Presenters and Airstaff

* Andy Archer * Mike Edgar (news and disc jockey (DJ)) *

Colm Hayes Colm Caffrey, known professionally as Colm Hayes, is an Irish radio broadcaster and sometimes television presenter. He formerly presented weekend breakfasts on RTÉ 2fm. Hayes had a 10-year radio partnership with James "Jim-Jim" Nugent, beginni ...

- Former FM104 and 2FM DJ and now PD for

Classic Hits Classic hits is a radio format which generally includes songs from the top 40 music charts from the late 1960s to the early 2000s, with music from the 1980s serving as the core of the format. Music that was popularized by MTV in the early 198 ...

. * Casey Casem (not to be confused with

Casey Kasem Kemal Amin "Casey" Kasem (April 27, 1932 – June 15, 2014) was an American disc jockey, actor, and radio personality, who created and hosted several radio countdown programs, notably ''American Top 40''. He was the first actor to voice No ...

) *

Rick Dees Rigdon Osmond Dees III (born March 14, 1950), best known as Rick Dees, is an American entertainer, radio personality, comedian, actor, and voice artist, best known for his internationally syndicated radio show '' The Rick Dees Weekly Top 40 Coun ...

Terry Riley Terrence Mitchell "Terry" Riley (born June 24, 1935) is an American composer and performing musician best known as a pioneer of the minimalist school of composition. Influenced by jazz and Indian classical music, his music became notable for ...

* Chris Cary aka "Harry" *

Sybil Fennell Sibyls were oracular women believed to possess prophetic powers in ancient Greece. Sybil or Sibyl may also refer to: Films * ''Sybil'' (1921 film) * ''Sybil'' (1976 film), a film starring Sally Field * ''Sybil'' (2007 film), a remake of the 19 ...

Gary Hamill Gary may refer to: *Gary (given name), a common masculine given name, including a list of people and fictional characters with the name *Gary, Indiana, the largest city named Gary Places ;Iran *Gary, Iran, Sistan and Baluchestan Province ;Unit ...

(news and disc jockey (DJ)) * John Clarke - Former 2FM DJ and producer and boss, now with

Radio Nova 100FM (Ireland) Radio NOVA is a radio station licensed by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, based in Dublin, Ireland. It was awarded its broadcasting licence by the BAI in September 2008 and launched on 1 September 2010. It is the only Dublin radio station ...

. *

Jason Maine Jason ( ; ) was an ancient Greek mythological hero and leader of the Argonauts, whose quest for the Golden Fleece featured in Greek literature. He was the son of Aeson, the rightful king of Iolcos. He was married to the sorceress Medea. He wa ...

* Bryan Dobson (news) - now presenter of Six One News on RTÉ One *

Anna Cassin Anna may refer to: People Surname and given name * Anna (name) Mononym * Anna the Prophetess, in the Gospel of Luke * Anna (wife of Artabasdos) (fl. 715–773) * Anna (daughter of Boris I) (9th–10th century) * Anna (Anisia) (fl. 1218 to 1221) ...

(news) - now presenter of Nationwide on RTÉ One * Ken Hammond (news) - now an RTÉ Newscaster *

David Harvey David W. Harvey (born 31 October 1935) is a British-born Marxist economic geographer, podcaster and Distinguished Professor of anthropology and geography at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY). He received his P ...

* Emperor Rosko * Tom Hardy - former PD for

Today FM Today FM is an Irish national commercial FM radio station, owned and operated by Bauer Audio Ireland Limited. Broadcasting since 17 March 1997, it broadcasts mostly music, with a daily news and current affairs programme. Today FM holds a l ...

and now a radio consultant *

Declan Meehan (radio presenter) Declan Meehan ( ga, Déaglán Ó Míocháin) is an Irish radio presenter. Currently fronting ''The Morning Show'' with local radio station East Coast FM, his career has incorporated involvement with multiple pirate radio stations (including Ra ...

- already had much pirate radio experience and had left 2FM and rejoined pirate scene before joining Radio Nova, now a DJ with

East Coast FM East Coast FM (formerly known as BLB, Horizon FM, then East Coast Radio) is an Irish local radio station broadcasting from Bray, County Wicklow under a sound broadcasting contract from the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland The station operat ...

. *

Hugh O'Brien Hugh O'Brien (July 13, 1827 – August 1, 1895) was the 31st mayor of Boston, from 1884 to 1888. O'Brien is notable as Boston's first Irish and Catholic mayor, having emigrated from Ireland to America in the early 1830s. O'Brien was the editor ...

* Tony Allan * Denis Murray * Tony Gareth aka Gareth O'Callaghan - former

DJ, now on

4FM Ireland's Classic Hits Radio is an Irish Radio in Ireland, independent multi-region radio station based in Dublin, and broadcasting to that city as well as Cork city, Cork, Limerick, Galway, County Clare, County Wicklow, County Kildare, County M ...

* Bernie Jameson * Tony Mackenzie * Andrew Hanlon aka Dave Johnson - now

TV3 Channel 3 or TV 3 may refer to: Television * Canal 3 (Burkina Faso), a commercial television channel in Burkina Faso * Canal 3 (Guatemala), a commercial television channel in Guatemala * Channel 3 (Algeria), a public Algerian TV channel owned by E ...

John O'Hara John Henry O'Hara (January 31, 1905 – April 11, 1970) was one of America's most prolific writers of short stories, credited with helping to invent ''The New Yorker'' magazine short story style.John O'Hara: Stories, Charles McGrath, ed., The ...

* Jim Cotter * Greg Gaughran now with

. * George Talbot (Drivetime) * Lawrence John (ALL NIGHT NOVA, 1983 & 1984) founded Q102, Dublin in 1985 and ENERGY 106, Belfast 1997. Later produced and hosted a series of weekly TV shows on Virgin TV and SKY. Now owns Jump Radio Belfast and Radio Nova International, an online tribute station www.RadioNOVAinternational.co * Chris Barry - late night talk show host FM104 * Scott Williams - now CEO (and presenter) with Dublin's Q102. *

Aidan Cooney Aidan Cooney is an Irish radio presenter. He was a presenter of ''Ireland AM'' on TV3 from 1999 to 2018. He has since began hosting a weekday show on Q102, called Q Breakfast from 7am to 10am. Ireland AM Cooney joined the Ireland AM team in 1 ...

- Had been with a number of pirates before Radio Nova and a few afterwards. Now works on

TV3 (Ireland) Virgin Media One, also called Virgin One, is an Irish free-to-air television channel owned by Virgin Media Ireland (part of Liberty Global), operated through its subsidiary Virgin Media Television. The channel was known until 30 August 20 ...

and Dublin's Q102. *

Frank Wynne Frank Wynne (born 1962) is an Irish literary translator and writer. Born in County Sligo in the west of Ireland, he worked as a comics editor at Fleetway and later at comic magazine '' Deadline''. He worked for a time at AOL before becoming a ...

* Roland Burke""http://rolandburke.com/Roland/Eulogy.html""
/ref> * Eddie West former Downtown Radio Belfast presenter

References

{{reflist Defunct radio stations in the Republic of Ireland Pirate radio stations in Ireland Radio stations established in 1981 Radio stations disestablished in 1986 1981 establishments in Ireland 1986 disestablishments in Ireland 1980s in Ireland

Early history

NUJ Dispute May 1984

Nova after closure

Nova Presenters and Airstaff

See also

References