Pirate radio in Cork
In Cork the big stations were ERI (1982–1988) and the original (1982–1984) South Coast Radio. ERI unsuccessfully applied for a commercial licence in the area in 1989 under the name 'Sound of the South'. Subsequently, its studio and transmission facilities were leased to a new licensed station, the then 'Radio South' in 1989, allowing this new station to come on air relatively quickly. Radio South was relaunched in July 1990 as 96FM and eventually bought out by County Sound in February 1991 with the original 4 shareholders selling all their shares to the Mallow based station.
WKLR & NCCR
Outside of Cork city in County Cork, the two most significant stations during the 1980s were the Bandon-based WKLR, and NCCR (North Cork Community Radio), which broadcast from the old Majestic Ballroom in Mallow. WKLR (West Cork Local Radio) founded in 1984, initially intended for the West Cork area, but towards the end of the station's life had extended its transmission to cover Cork city and much of the rest of Co. Cork. The close-down night of NCCR in Mallow on 31 December 1988 was struck by tragedy, when local farmer and former presenter and shareholder of the station - Pat O'Connor - who was participating in an interview - collapsed and died suddenly during a commercial break. The station immediately announced it was closing earlier than planned "due to unforeseen circumstances". Pat O'Connor had also been a brief national celebrity was he was chosen as a representative of rural Ireland to guest present an edition of the 'Saturday Live' chat show on RTÉ TV in 1987, however his RTÉ appearance meant he had to resign his involvement in the pirate NCCR to avoid controversy beforehand, and did not appear on NCCR again until the closedown night. NCCR had come into being in 1985 when a community co-operative took over the ownership of a previous station - NCLR (North Cork Local Radio) that had been in existence since 1981.
Community Radio Youghal
Another well remembered pirate station in County Cork was Community Radio Youghal (CRY), whose existence, (like NCLR in Mallow) was ironically inspired by a stint in the town of RTÉ's mobile community radio station (which provided temporary community radio services during visits to dozens of towns nationwide in the 1980s). CRY had been on air for almost a decade and was one of the longest surviving pirates in Ireland when it closed at the end of 1988. CRY returned to the airwaves 7 years later in 1995 with a licence, and currently broadcasts on 104.0 MHz to Youghal town and surrounding areas from a 25 Watt transmitter located on the town's water tower at Cork Hill.
Radio Friendly
The 1990s also saw the birth of one of Cork's most memorable pirate stations, Radio Friendly. Radio Friendly provided Corkonians with music from the "Underground" DJs of Cork, some from the infamous Sir Henry's nightclub at the time and its DJs included Stevie G and Greg & Shane of Fish Go Deep. The station got its name from its owners MR P, Miss Ken D and some Djs from Dublin's Power FM. The original transmitter was the original Power 98.7FM equipment. Radio Friendly for most of its existence were on 104.6FM but moved to 104.0FM in late 2001 until its closure in 2003 - Radio Friendly won the Best Irish Dance station award beating all the national stations at the Smirnoff Irish Dance awards.
Kiss 105.5 Fm
Another big station in the late 1990s early 2000s was Kiss 105.5FM which had a more commercial side than Radio Friendly and was aimed at a younger audience, such DJs such as Colin Edwards, Damien Sreenan, Dave Newman and Derek O Keefe were regulars on this, it closed down in 2001. Kiss actually first appeared on 105.3FM, but moved to 105.5 some months later after they extended coverage. They later introduced another transmitter for the north Cork area on 107.1 lasting until it broke down.
Kiss 106.5/94.8/87.8/88.7/104.9
Kiss (previously called NRG 2003-04) started on 106.5 in April 2004 by Peter O'Neill of C.S. N College and were on air for over 6 months, then were raided, kiss had their name built and was very popular to the younger audience of cork. One of the reasons this happened was the large Max Power Event that was advertised on the station. There was hundreds of cars and thousands of people in attendance. There was a car crash on the road near Douglas. This was atrributed to the station and therefore was closed down. The Evening Echo carried the story in 2 pages and this worried some stations. The other stations presenters then complained from the point of view of ratings. Hence why they switched frequency's due to the fact they were to be close to that other stations frequency. This was the main pirate station in Cork and was more known on Kiss 94.8, but they have been the subject of much Comreg attention and have been raided three times having broadcasting equipment confiscated. The station also featured many big DJs including Simon Murdoch (I Radio) Bounce, Jerry Coughlan, DJ Redzer (96fm & Red fm) , Chris Curtis, Steve Nation, Colin Edwards (funky colin voiceovers) . A 2008 relaunch of Kiss 94.8 lasted only 3 weeks with the station being raided once again (13/08/2008 13:00) and all equipment was confiscated while off air. This is believed to be due to the popularity of the station which poses a financial threat to other licensed broadcasters in the area and also it was said that their equipment was worth about €20000. Kiss made another return to 88.7 for 2 months and closed due to the fact of another station that they were going joining with.[NRG887] They then separated and the old kiss members surprisingly made a return once again (24/06/2012) to the airwaves on 104.9Mhz for a period of time before suddenly disappearing from the airwaves (Nov 1st 2013) and has not reappeared. Kiss FM's last website was at www.kisscork.com
NRG 88.7 Fm
NRG 88.7MHZ Tied from the old NRG 106.5 and Kiss 106.5/94.8 and linked with the owners of the old Pulse 106.5 & Galaxy fm to create NRG 88.7MHZ. Later the Kiss owner separated and once again brought Kiss FM back to the airwaves on 104.9FM, while NRG was still being run on 88.7Mhz by the old Pulse & Galaxy Fm owner but was on and off the air due to equipment issues. Website was as www.nrg887.com but is no loner active.
Radio NOW 87.8FM
Radio NOW was Cork's Underground Soundtrack broadcasting on 87.8 FM in Cork and surrounding suburbs, Radio NOW went off air in May 2013 after 2 years on air. Playing Non Stop HD&T [House Dance & Trance] with a wide selection of djs playing a variety of all styles of House, dance, trance, techno, drum&bass, R'n'B, hip hop & Dubstep . Website was at www.radionowcork.com
FreakFm 105.2
Freakfm began in Mallow, North Cork in 2000 before moving to Cork city in Early 2001. Music was a mix of Indie Rock, alternative and metal. The station Closed down after a few months. In 2004 the station began broadcastng again from a city center studio and programming was much more diverse than the original Freakfm format. Rock,Metal,Indie,Soul,Funk,Reggae,eclectic were some of the genres of shows The station continued until December 2005 when Comreg raided two of the transmitter sites, the main studio was not raided and the station continued for 1 more week until permanent shutdown 31 December 2005. Website was at www.freakfm.com
Pastime Urban Pirates
NOTE : The below data may not be accurate but gives a rough idea of what was on air in Cork. 94.8 Powerfm [1990s] 97.8 Lighthouse [1990s]
- 100.6 Heat Fm [2004] - 101.5 Buzz Fm [2003-2005] - 101.5 Fresh Fm [2005] - 101.5 Static Fm [2006] - 101.5 Rush Fm [2006] - 106.5 LUV FM (1999-2001) - 106.5 MIX FM (2001-2003) - 102.3 Vintage Fm [2002] - 104.0 X-Fm [2005] (was KLUB FM) - 104.6 Radio Friendly [1996-2001] - 104.0 Radio Friendly [2001-2002] - 106.8 K.2. [1996-1999] - 105.5 Kiss Fm [1999-2001] - 107.1 Kiss FM [2000?] North Cork transmitter of the above Kiss FM - 106.7 Liquid Radio [May 2011] - 105.0 Galaxy [1 Month 2006] - 106.5 Nrg Fm [2003] became Kiss FM (April 2004) - 106.5 Kiss Fm [2004-2006] - 94.8 Kiss Fm [2006-2008] - 87.8 Play FM (2007)Affiliated to Kiss FM - 87.8 Kiss Fm [2009] - 88.7 Kiss Fm [2009-2011) - 104.9 Kiss Fm (2012 - 1st Nov 2013) - 95.5 Pulse Fm [2005 - 2007] - 106.5 Pulse Fm [2007 -2008] - 105.2 Freak Fm [2004] - 106.5 Spin Fm [2006] - 106.5 Heat Fm [2006] - 107.4 BPM [2004] - 107.4 Fresh Fm [2005] - 107.4 Galaxy [2004 - 2005] - 107.4 Tech Fm [2006] - 107.5 Spin Fm [2006] - 107.5 Phantom [2007] - 87.7 Sub Fm [2005 - 2006] - 87.7 Heat Fm [2006] - 93.1 Heat Fm [2004 - 2005] - 94.8 Tech Fm [2003] - 105.2 Dream Fm [2006 - 2007] Station in Clonakilty - 93.3 Touch Fm [2007] - 104.0 Rush Fm [2007] - 104.0 Klub FM [2000 -?] - 104.2 Klub Fm [2000 - 2007] - 94.8 Club Fm [1999 - 2000] - 105.2 Vibe Fm [2007] - 101.5 Storm Fm [2007] - 97.4 Galaxy-Fm [2008 - 2009] - 100.5 Galaxy-Fm [2009] - 87.8 Galaxy-Fm [2009] - 88.7 Galaxy-Fm (2011–2012) - 88.7 Ice-Fm (2011) - 100.5 Buzz-Fm (2011) - 88.9 Kiss-FM (2011) - 87.8 Radio NOW (2011 -2013) - 104.9 JAMM Fm (1 week)
- 87.5 Klub Fm (2013)- (Present)
- 87.8 Fermoy Community Radio (testing - Coming soon)
Current Pirates on air (06/11/2016)
| Klub FM | 87.5 MHz | Dance/House | Yes (_KlubFM_) | Yes |