With its original studios being located at Parnell Square, the original Q102 made its first FM test transmissions on 101.9 MHz between Christmas 1984 and January 1985, with medium wave tests being also heard on 1116kHz and 1134kHz in parallel on New Years Day 1985, but by the following morning, all transmissions had ceased due to the theft of the station's then-new equipment in the Dublin mountains.

After being delayed for a few weeks, Q102 gave the green light and the station pre-launched with various launch promos and several hours of continuous music.

It was marketed as an Irish owned and operated station in contrast to one competitor Radio Nova's severe union issues throughout the mid-1980s.

Reports from Anoraks UK say that the station received anonymous calls from Dublin, saying that the ‘ghost’ of Radio Nova was to return and later that day, the 'phantom' began whispering on the microphone, created a few sound effects, and stunting with music clips and Radio Nova's jingles produced by JAM Creative Productions on Q102’s AM frequency.

Engineers later discovered a person of interest on a bicycle with a rucksack and a homemade dipole near the Q’s transmitter site, but the hijacker escaped quick before capture.

In March 1988, Q102 bought the equipment of its rival Energy 103 after its sudden closure and took over all its frequencies, giving it the prominence on the AM and FM bands, and Q102 was rebranded as "Super Q102" three months later in June 1988.

Unfortunately because of Ireland's newly-established legislation coming into play, many radio stations, alongside the original Q102 (or Super Q102), ceased operations on December 30, 1988.

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