REACTIVATED

RADIOACTIVE 101 FM, undoubtedly the sharpest and most radical of the new wave of Dublin pirates, has once again hoisted its broadcasting skull and crossbones and is back on the air, for the time being at least.

Following a series of visits by the gardaí, the station was eventually forced to temporarily shut down its operation on July 25th. While they've been off the air, the gardaí have made a number of further visits to the Radioactive "studio" and even to the homes of one or two of those involved in its organisation. To date, however, no warrants or summonses have been served and no attempt has been made to seize broadcasting equipment.

"The unplanned holiday has given us a chance to regroup and replan our strategy," says a spokesperson for the station. "Our security is also going to be tightened up so we won't be as vulnerable to any more surprise visits by the cops. We also have contingency arrangements if we're forced to shut down again. Beyond that though, we can only wait and see what happens."

Meanwhile, Radioactive are currently working on the introduction of an hourly news service, an uncensored, radical alternative to what they see as "the soft-focus, soundbite bulletins" on the licensed stations.

"The news on the so-called legitimate stations is pathetic," insists the spokesperson. "It's just superficial reporting and reworking of P.R. handouts. They don't delve very deeply into anything. We're going to try and do something different to that. We're also going to continue giving out helpline numbers for abortion information and so on, and report on things like the Pat The Baker strike which receive very little unbiased coverage in the mainstream media."

Indeed, some in Radioactive believe that it may have been the "bolshy tone" of their news bulletins which prompted the gardaí's recent offensive against the station. "In particular, we got our hands on an internal garda newsletter which had a piece about the installation of closed circuit surveillance cameras on Moore Street," the spokesperson explains. "There was a reference in that newsletter to tackling 'travellers and their fellow criminals'. We did a whole big thing about the cops' obviously racist attitude to travellers, and I'm sure they didn't like that. So, maybe that's why they decided to start hassling us. They certainly don't seem to have been acting on the department's instructions. Or, at least, they've said nothing to us which suggested that they were."

Assuming that they're permitted to remain on the air, the word from Radioactive is that they intend to "get even more bolshy." "The fact that the cops have been paying us so much attention has politicised a lot of people here, even those who weren't particularly political before," says the spokesperson. "We'll be doing our best to piss off even more establishment people from now on."

The battle for freedom of the airwaves continues.