Issue 14 was in fact the final edition of Sounds Alternative. Between the FRC Newsletter and Sounds Alternative, the story of Irish free radio in those developing years during the change from the Sunday 'hobby' stations to full ' 24 hour commercial radio' was fully documented and forms an important part of Irish Broadcasting History. During this period, many of the deejays who were part of these early full time ventures were poached by RTE for their new pop music station Radio 2. The formation of RTE 2 was a direct result of the 'pirates' proving there was a huge audience for a daily diet of pop music and local information.
The
demise of Sounds Alternative in 1981 made it difficult to obtain written
information on the still developing radio scene in Ireland. Occasional
news sheets and updated station lists were sent out between supporters.
Some of the many free radio magazines which appeared in the 1980's also
had occasional articles. Enthusiasts Barrie and Ruth Johnston who had
been supplying lists and stickers became known as 'Anoraks UK', and
following the raids in 1983 began producing a 'Weekly Report' which
attempted to cover Irish, UK and Offshore radio news. This continued
through legislation and finally ceased in August 1989. An 'Anoraks Ireland'
was formed by Tony Donlon and also produced occasional newsletters and
supplied tapes and merchandise from its base in Dublin. An 'Airwaves'
magazine was also produced for a time in the late 1980's.
On the radio, free radio news continued to be found on many stations. Kieran himself had hosted an FRC Show in Dublin during the late 1970's. This continued on Southside Radio with Mark Boland into late 1981 but then disappeared. Other free radio shows appeared during the 1980's on various stations, including Gerard Roe on Radio Dublin, Bernard Evans on Tallaght Community Radio and Kieran Murray on Radio Rainbow International. There were also shows on most of the shortwave stations which operated out of Eire, giving free radio information to listeners across Europe. Possibly the most intriguing and indeed controversial of all these programmes was on Radio West from Mullingar. This started in 1986 and almost without fail continued each Sunday morning, for an hour, until legislation finally closed the station in December 1988. As well as including news and phone calls from 'anoraks', the show had many 'heated' debates between owner Sean Coyne and other operators, on the radio situation. It was this show that many other operators also appeared to listen to. Because of the large coverage area of Radio West (the transmitter was 10kw), they were able to mount a campaign to produce a 'one-off' high quality magazine about Irish Radio before legislation closed everyone down. Despite many people supplying information, the magazine sadly never appeared, probably due as much to lack of time as finance.
The
only book known to have been published to cover the development of independent
radio in Ireland was issued in the Summer of 1988 by Peter Mulryan (see
below). It was an excellent time to write, as less than six months
later only Radio Dublin would be left, along with on or two stations
down country.
