Pirate Radio Crackdown

"We don't know how much longer we'll be off the air for," says Pete Reed of Phantom FM. "This was a bit of a bolt out of the blue. You have to half expect these things because of the funny legal situation we're all in, but we hadn't gotten any wind of it. They (Com Reg) will say this action is being taken solely because the stations concerned are illegal, but they've been illegal for the past 15 years and nothing's really happened."

Jazz FM have stated that they will be off the air for at least a month. In addition, Ministry FM have claimed that severe damage was doneto their site.
"It'll finish a lot of the smaller stations who wouldn't be in a position to get back on air easily," adds Reed. "I would imagine that some of the bigger dance stations might have the cash in the bank to spend five to ten thousand euro on equipment, but that would only be very few. We certainly wouldn't be able to"

When asked whether or not the raids were related to the poor listenership figures of licensed stations Dublin's Country and Newstalk 106, Com Reg suggested that it was not for them to comment on such matters, all they were concerned about, a spokesperson said, was the legality of radio operations.

In addition, while Com Reg maintain that all pirate broadcasts are illegal, they suggest that those which gain revenue through advertising are more at risk since "they're illegally taking in revenue and illegally taking in listenership from other radio stations."

A press release was issued by Com Reg, on March 18 2003 which outlined the commission's plans to prosecute all those found "in possession of unauthorised radio equipment" as part of their crackdown on pirate radio. This indicates a hardening of the official attitude when contrasted with the fact that, last July, Gardai returned Phantom FM's stolen transmitter on the grounds that it would not be used for pirate broadcasting.

"Our enforcement team are operational throughout the country on an ongoing basis", says Com Reg spokesperson, Orla O'Donnell. "We were not reacting to a complaint. The stations would actually be on a list, so we'd deal with whichever station was next on that list. Since Com Reg was set up in 1997, there has been an enforcement team whose main role would be to close down illegal pirate radio stations or anybody who hasn't received a license from the BCI. How many other stations has it closed down? I couldn't reveal that. But if any of the stations go back on air, the exact same thing would happen again. They would eventually come up on a list and they will be raided again.
"Each one of these radio stations would have received warning from us, absolutely," adds O'Donnell. "They would've received an official letter and a phone call. All of them know that they're acting illegally and they know that at some stage we're on the way."
However, Phantom FM's Pete Reed says he has no recollection of such a letter. Similarly sources close to Jazz FM maintain that they didn't receive any formal communications either.