The Anorak Hour

Carrying on the great pirate tradition of radio programmes made by radio enthusiasts for radio enthusiasts, The Anorak Hour felt like a relic of times past. However, it was probably the best of its genre in terms of content, production, accessibility and, most of all, one of the most knowledgeable men you're likely to find on the subject of the beloved transister radio.

The Anorak Hour was a curated archive programme built from old radio airchecks, radio personality interviews, station histories, bandscans, and the latest radio industry news.

The programme found a long-term home on Dublin's alternative music service Phantom FM. That was as much down to the fact that Ger Roe had found a home on the station. The origins of The Anorak Hour can be traced right back to the 1980s where any number of cassette recordings might seduce your aurals with a very familiar voice making very similar radio noises on some long passed radio stations. Ger explicitly links his latest incarnation to the older Free Radio Campaign format he had presented in the 1980s.

Fadó, fadó, before the digital age, programmes sometimes would have to cut to music so that Ger could locate the spot on the cassette to play out his next item. If you'd only ever heard him on the more modern version, it might become evident that his sleek professionalism was as much down to more modern equipment than to the man himself (hi Ger!!!!).

Phantom itself had its own little bit of history of course. Pre-deceased by Coast FM (1991-1996 RIP) and Spectrum FM (1996-1997 RIP), all three were started by Simon Maher (or Pete Reed to his friends) who found a great use for his garden shed by storing all sorts of radio equipment which, magically, when turned on, managed to light up a part of Dublin's FM dial.

The origins of The Anorak Hour on Coast FM, where it debuted, were borne out of the already running Free Radio Show. Once Ger Roe joined the station, with his fingers itching to hit rewind, then play, then fast forward, then play, over and over, again, well it didn't take a genius to work out what should happen (which was thankful as genuses were in short supply!).

And so, The Anorak Hour was born in 1994. It was agreed that it would air on Sundays at 1pm; that Ger would run features and recordings for 45 minutes and then Simon would spend the last 15 minutes imparting news and opinion on current events.

*The Anorak Hour from November 3rd 1995

When Coast FM closed in February 1996 it looked like another programme about radio had bitten the dust. However, later that year, out of Coast's ashes rose Spectrum 105, a weekend only rock music service, and amongst those ashes the remnants of The Anorak Hour were put back together and it carried on where it had left off.

**The Anorak Hour #75 from October 13th 1996

Spectrum 105 was relatively short-lived, lasting just short of a year but it wasn't long before the station's personnel had another service up and running: Phantom FM launched in November 1997 with ambitions of becoming a licensed service. To this end they left the airwaves twice to apply for an advertised licence only to return to FM battered, but not yet beaten.

When the authorities upped the ante with a series of Black Tuesday raids on the country's pirate stations in May 2003, Phantom made the executve decision to cease illegal broadcasts and put all their energies into securing a licence. They continued as a web-only service and The Anorak Hour remained part of their Sunday schedule, like clockwork, running at 1pm on Sunday afternoons.

The station successfully applied for two temporary licensed services, allowing them to return to FM for two 14 weekend runs in 2003 and 2004. The Anorak Hour continued but with a facelift, it was now known as 'Media Beacon'. The content broadly remained the same.

In July 2004 the station once again applied for a full-time licence and this time were successful. Plans to start their new service in summer 2005 hit a brick wall when one of the losing bidders launched an ultimately unsuccessful appeal against the licence award. Because of the delays, the station couldn't launch until October 1986. Even on the full licensed service 'The Anorak Hour' continued, albeit now in the graveyard 'Irish language' slot of Sunday morning at 9am (licence stipulations require a certain amount of Irish language programming - virtually every station outside areas where the language is strong fulfill their requirements very early on a Sunday morning.)

Ger, even as Phantom's CEO, continued to present although the formal news section was now gone, with Ger giving updates during the programme. Pressures of running the station, plus a self-confessed drop-off of interest, saw the programme - which had survived two station shutdowns; a lack of FM; and a name change - finally hanging up its yellow raincoat on April 1st 2007. When announcing Ger's plan to finish the show, Radiowaves News sadly had to inform listeners that it wasn't an April Fool's prank.

The programme was, as was the norm, relayed left, right and centre. In the 90s, many stations relayed it live on their own frequencies. Others played out recorded reruns, most notably through Brian Greene at Radio Caroline in Dublin and, the ever-present Prince Terry through his Ozone Radio shortwave service. When Radiowaves launched at the end of 1999, we decided to make the programme available on demand, a service that proved extremely popular. As a result, every edition (bar one or two exceptions) of the programme from February 2000 through to the last is archived in its own special section here on Radiowaves FM.

***The Anorak Hour #103 from April 27th 1997

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****The Anorak Hour #104 from May 4th 1997

*****The Anorak Hour #105 from May 11th 1997

* The showlist:
Start - Only the Strong Survive.
05:45 - Kevin Barrett, Tony Gareth and Martin C from 1979.
12:03 - Barry O’Hanlon interviewed by Ger in December 1983.
16:15 - Personalities from the late ’70s
27:23 - Mark T from October 1972
32:11 - Ken Sheehan from 1976
35:59 - Dave C from May 23rd 1989.
42:39 - Jingles and idents
47:47 - Interview with Cooke on Radio Nova in 1983.

** 75 The showlist:
03:36 - A look at the Pop Panel on Channel 2 from 1982. Hosted by Mike Barron with guests Mike Davis, John Hughes and Paul Haig.
10:06 - An Anoraks UK advert voiced by Charlie Wolf.
11:18 - A sample of some controversial American radio with the Mark & Brian Breakfast Show on KRQR San Francisco.
17:27 - Eddie Coady on Suirside Radio in Waterford.
24:11 - A Radio Annabel promo voiced by Tony Allan.
24:42 - David Lyons on Sunshine Radio from 1983.
29:19 - Sunshine Radio jingles.
32:11 - Paul Downey and Dave C on Radio Dublin from 1977.
38:31 - Chris Cary on Radio Nova from 1982.
41:38 - Pat James on Capitol FM in 1983.
45:23 - The week’s radio industry news with Pete Reed.

*** 103 The showlist:
Start - Radio Nova’s closedown in March 1986 with Tony McKenzie, John O’Hara and Chris Cary.
06:13 - Zoom 103 appears in place of Radio Nova with live programmes the next day.
09:03 - Energy 103 with clips from Tony McKenzie, Dave Johnson, Gareth O’Callaghan & Tony Allan.
18:15 - Q102 Stickerman promotion.
19:15 - Chris Barry with Goodnight Kiss on Kiss FM, the Nova sister station.
22:33 - Q102 Stickerman 2 promotion.
23:45 - A clip of Tony Dixon on ‘The Soul Show’ for Sunshine Radio.
25:51 - Q102 Stickerman 3 promo.
26:18 - A sample of Q102 with Gerry Stevens from 1985.
30:24 - Seán Coyne with the Anorak programme on Radio West from Mullingar speaking about TV interference caused by pirate stations in Monaghan.
36:29 - Radio Annabel theme ‘The Long Road’
39:26 - The week’s radio industry news with Pete Reed.

**** 104 The showlist:
Start - Introduction
02:07 - A tribute to the recently deceased Atlantic 252 and 1980s offshore presenter David Lee Stone.
06:03 - Bob Gallico on Magic 103, the Nova spin off, in April 1985.
14:03 - Ger Roe on Shamrock Radio International reporting on Radio Nova’s imminent closure / rebrand and also playing a clip of Q102’s Eye in the Sky segment.
22:45 - ARD promos and jingles from 1977; plus a sample of ARD’s Top 20 programme presented by Arno St Jude.
30:46 - More ARD from 1977 with Paul Downey.
33:16 - A sample of another early radio pioneer, Dave C, from the mid-70s.
41:20 - Some typical Sunday afternoon fare from Dr Don’s Surgery on ARD.
46:31 - The week’s radio industry news with Pete Reed which includes a Dublin pirate bandscan.

***** 105 The showlist:
Start - Introduction
02:02 - From September 14th 1980, Eamon Cooke speaks about the appearance of the new Sunshine Radio on Radio Dublin’s ‘Station News’.
07:27 - From September 15th 1980, Denis Murray reading the News on Big D reports on mast sabotage at the new Sunshine Radio.
10:47 - Mark Boland on Bray’s Southside Radio with the FRC programme on September 16th 1979.
15:57 - John O’Hara on the air at Radio Nova on October 1st 1985.
23:13 - An interview with Chris Cary from 1982 by Leon Tipler.
39:36 - A collage of Radio Dublin voices, jingles and commercials from 1979…includes DJ Lee, Pat James, John Everest.
46:31 - The week’s radio industry news with Pete Reed.