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THE FRC IRELAND SECTION: Intro - FRC Newsletter - FRC Sounds Alternative - 1978 in radio - Print era ends - FRC on the radio

The Free Radio Campaign Ireland by Kieran Murray

1978 FRC Ireland – ‘Sounds Alternative Captures The Changes’

Robbie Robinson (left) and Chris Cary (right) in an
early Sunshine Radio publicity shot

The changes to the pirate radio landscape were quite rapid in 1978, with more stations opening up around the country and lots of raids by the Department of Posts & Telegraphs. ‘Sounds Alternative’ featured as many reports as was possible. The ‘Tune-In’ radio station listing was growing with each passing publication. However, raids by the ‘P&T’ (as they were affectionately known), were not always successful – and those that were, usually resulted in a court case with a small fine and soon after, the equipment was returned to the pirate operators.

In time, this was one of the main considerations as to why Robbie Robinson and Chris Cary came over from the UK and chose Ireland to launch Sunshine Radio, with the latter leaving Ireland and then returning a few months later to set up Radio Nova.

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1979 FRC Ireland – ‘Sounds Alternative‘ Irish Postal Strike

The publication of ‘Sounds Alternative #8’ (May/June) 1979 had to be held over, due to a 19-week postal strike by workers at the Irish Post Office. I had to wait until that ended before resuming. So all that news was included in the next publication which was August/September 1979 and that edition was listed as publication #8.

Because of the increased postal charges, as a result of the strike, the annual subscription increased to £1.20 from this point on.

By 1979 there were over 150 subscribers to the publication.

With ‘Sounds Alternative’ #11 in August 1980, subscription was increased to £1.50 – again to offset the costs of printing and postage.

The second last edition of ‘Sounds Alternative’ was #13 in November 1980. Sunshine Radio had just started broadcasting and this edition carried an interview with Tony Allan (RIP). He had agreed to do the interview OK, but he was very suspicious of me, very cautious – and at times, a bit confrontational, brisk and cold in his manner. I made my way out to The Sands Hotel in Portmarnock, north county Dublin and took my cassette recorder with me in order to record the interview, which was on page 3! I’m sure he would have got the irony of that!

I even used Letraset to print his name in bold on the page. The interview you see in the magazine is a transcription of exactly how the conversation went, from beginning to end; no edits, no changes.

(Years later, I learned that if I had invited Tony out for a few pints, got him drunk, then we would have been the best of buddies!)

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