K.I.C. FM now have a website which you can use to send dedications and requests. They are also considering changing their RDS - and their name - back to KICK FM due to confusion amongst listeners who are now spelling out the station name rather than pronouncing it!
The medium wave station planned by ABC/Beat FM is due to start test transmissions this week on 1557kHz medium wave. There is, as of yet, no name for the service which will be independent of its stablemates.
Broadcasting from the west of Dublin city, a dance station calling itself Q102 has been heard in the past week. Frequency is 101.9MHz which is sitting directly on top of ntl/Cablelink's relay of Classic FM which should ruffle a few ODTR feathers!
Source: Anorak Hour
The medium wave station from those behind ABC 94FM and Beat FM will broadcast from Cavan on 1593khz and not 1557kHz as stated previously.
Power FM has been off air today making technical adjustments to their system. They hope to be back on air tonight and there may continue to be temporary loss of transmissions. Work is expected to be finished by Friday.
Storm FM's challenge against the IRTC's award of the youth licence for Dublin to Spin FM has failed. The court has upheld the decision to award to Spin FM and not accepted the claim that there was bias from the IRTC against Storm FM's John Reynolds due to allegations that his night club "The Pod" was involved in drug dealing. There has, as of yet, been no frequency allocated to Spin FM according to a spokesperson for the IRTC.
Power FM, who have been broadcasting on reduced power since Wednesday evening, are today in the process of moving a transmitter and hope to be back on full power sometime over the weekend.
Atlantic 252, Ireland's long wave station, have had their licence renewed for another 8 years. News that's bound to make somebody's day!
Technical problems have delayed the 1593khz am broadcasts planned by ABC 94FM. They are however currently broadcasting 24 hours a day with low power on 6940khz shortwave from north of Cavan.
Mad FM will be off air this week as they are moving studios in an attempt to stop interference to local services. They will also be upgrading their transmitter and hope to be back on air next week with slightly increased power which they say will not effect Raidió na Gaeltachta.
Prison sentences have been handed down to two pirate broadcasters in the UK after the station they operated - Klass - was heard quite clearly by air traffic control at Rochester Airport in Kent. The sentences consisted of 6 months for one of the men and 4 months for the other. These sentences are heavy compared to 1999 when 47 people were prosecuted for their involvement in illegal broadcasts and fines averaged £239.
The Irish Mix are planning on a studio move shortly which may necessitate being off air for a period of time. Station owner Alan Hunter also has a website under construction at shamrockfm.com.
Bray-based dance music station Passion FM now have a dedicated transmitter broadcasting to Co Wicklow on 105.2MHz. Broadcasts continue to Dublin on 103.7MHz.
Beat FM, and weekend station Gold FM, say that work has been carried out to improve their signal on 87.6MHz with further improvements promised over the next month. Gold FM will be on the air every Sunday from this weekend with additional broadcasts on future bank holiday Mondays.
ABC 94FM and Gold FM were off air for long periods this morning due to a power failure but both returned after 10am. New aerials have been installed on the Beat/Gold 87.6MHz transmitter which should see a noticeable improvement in signal in the city centre and towards the northside. There is a new high-powered rig which will be ready to go on air after a few problems have been ironed out. Timescale mentioned is early July.
ABC 94FM are planning new programming on weeknights and at weekends from mid-July if all goes to plan. Programmes will take the form of special interest shows e.g. country, classical music, rock etc.
C101.3 have been off air also for most of the day but returned just after 2.30pm. Cause unknown although there was still a full metered signal present so maybe the problem was that there was no-one there to reboot the pc? Automated stations, eh!
Kiss 105.8FM, whose link was causing problems to Jazz FM's frequency on Friday, were off air all day returning at 8.05pm.
An unidentified broadcast appeared today on 106.9mhz playing dance music with a signal from the westside. Broadcasts were also heard on Friday night and on Saturday. Today it came on at approx midday but by 3pm seems to have ceased.
Premier FM's live output has had a dramatic increase in hours this week. They were live this afternoon for a couple of hours and this followed a week of live morning broadcasts between 9 and 10am.
ABC 94FM's shortwave transmissions have been heard in Scotland and North England despite only 15 watts of power. In July they hope to increase to full power of 100 watts which should top off what's looking like an exciting month for the ABC/Beat/Gold stable! No word yet on the planned AM transmissions. If you've heard ABC on shortwave, they would welcome your reception reports at feedback@abc94fm.freeservers.com.
The medium wave station planned for 1593kHz by those behind ABC/Beat FM will be music-based - contrary to the circulating rumours that it will be a religious service. ABC are currently awaiting the arrival from the UK of a new aerial for use on both the medium wave and shortwave broadcasts.
Jam FM plan a return to the airwaves this weekend with tests on both 91.0MHz & 97.8MHz. They have been off air due to complaints concerning interference to CKR FM on 97.6MHz despite only using a 20 watt transmitter which they plan to use on a lower site hoping to avoid the same problems. The station will also be running tests on shortwave using the frequency 6490khz and are requesting feedback at studio@jamfm.com.
Radio Caroline Dublin has ceased transmissions on 102.5MHz. The ODTR rang the station yesterday evening with a request for them to stop broadcasting because of complaints of interference to licenced newcomer Lite FM on 102.2MHz who threatened to go through the courts to get Caroline off the air.
106.9FM in Dublin is presently home to a continuous loop of background dance music with a voiceover stating that "You are listening to a test transmission on 106.9FM. Stay tuned for more details on Dublin's newest dance music radio station." Postings to message boards state that this station will be calling itself X-Cell 107FM and will launch at 1.07pm on Sunday...mirroring Lite 102FM's frequency - time coordinated launch of a few weeks ago. You can listen to the announcement here
Clip thanks to Anto
Atlantic 252's managing-director John O'Hara has been given the green light by parent company CLT-UFA to kick-start a £1 million marketing push to restore the youth-oriented station to its former glory. Atlantic's website is due to launch on October 1st and they hope to have re-established themselves in the "hearts and minds" of their 15-34 year old audience by then.
ABC 94FM are introducing a new Sunday schedule. These are the details Radiowaves News has to hand:
9am Ballads and irish (coming soon)
11am Golden Gold Sunday ('60s music - starts tomorrow)
2pm Golden Gold Sunday 2 ('70s and '80s music - starts tomorrow)
6pm Non-stop hits ('90s and current music - starts tomorrow)
9pm The Classical Hour (coming soon)
10pm Brother Stairs Overcomer Ministry
11pm Love Songs (starts tomorrow)
Hot Radio will be launching their live schedule on Monday at 7pm. Hot Radio are currently broadcasting to Dublin on 88.1MHz and 99.4MHz.
87.6FM's vastly improved signal is today home to Gold FM to allow some technical upgrading. Beat FM will return tomorrow and from next week Gold FM will broadcast on Sunday as normal.
Chris Cary, a man who revolutionised the Irish radio scene, at last has a tribute site on the world wide web. chriscary.com is the brainchild of Sybil Fennell, the voice of Nova news!
Radio Caroline Dublin are hoping to be back on air soon aided by some technical adjustments and the purchase of new equipment which will hopefully cure the problems which led to the request for them to stop broadcasting.
Hot Radio's live launch was hit by a power-cut on their mountain site this evening. All set to launch at 7pm, power went just after 6.30 also putting Freedom FM off-air. Power returned at about 7.45 but ABC 94FM were on Freedom's 92FM frequency (as well as their usual 94.3MHz), however Freedom returned at 7.55pm. Meanwhile Hot Radio were carrying RDS and a test-tone on both of their frequencies. Live programming on Hot Radio finally got under way with a countdown at 8pm. Power is slightly reduced and it will be a while before normality returns. Hot Radio are now broadcasting live programming to Dublin on 99.4MHz and 88.1MHz.
106.9FM is once again carrying continuous dance music with no idents and no test transmission announcements.
Jam FM were not testing at the weekend due to unforseen circumstances. They plan to be on air this weekend on 97.8MHz and 91.0MHz as well as shortwave frequency 6490kHz. Email for feedback: studio@jamfm.com.
Hits 106 will be starting live day-time programming over the next few weeks. At present broadcasts are automated until 6pm. Hits 106 can be located on 106.1MHz in Dublin.
Fantasy FM is the name of the station planned for 106.9FM. Their playlist will consist of dance - both club and commercial - and R'n'B. Broadcasts on 106.9MHz are of a temporary nature until a more permanent frequency becomes available. There will be a launch date set soon (possibly mid-August) and a website is currently under development. The station are requesting reception reports at fantasyfm@ireland.com.
Pulse 103FM, referred to by many as "The Pirate of the Nineties", closed down one year ago today hoping for a successful licence application which they didn't achieve. Essential Galaxy 94FM will be rerunning the final hour of Pulse FM at 6pm this evening!
K.I.C. FM plan to shift frequency to 104.1MHz with reduced power to avoid problems when Spin FM come on air - unless a new frequency becomes available.
ESG FM are presently back broadcasting on the 99.1MHz frequency they vacated two weeks ago.