In 1940, for example, Mayo man Jack Sean McNeela died on hunger strike in Arbour Hill Military Detention Barracks after 55 days protesting his arrest for operating a pro IRA clandestine radio station.
[citation needed] It was commercial music radio at a time when state broadcaster RTÉ struggled to capture the youth market.
[3] These were pirate radio stations run for the first time on a commercial basis with the critical support of Ireland's advertising industry.
The station boasted an extensive marketing and sales department which produced no fewer than six future local radio managing directors or chief executives throughout Ireland under the legalised regime after 1989 [4] In 1988 it, along with stations such as Sunshine and Q102 run by Mike Hogan (who was the first managing director of Dublin ILR franchise holder Capital Radio in 1989) and owned by nightclub impresario Pierre Doyle, had annual sales revenues in millions of pounds.
The 1988 Act effectively limited future pirate radio stations by making it illegal to advertise or support them with stiff penalties.
[citation needed] ComReg had much more funding, staff and resources than its predecessor – and these were put to use in May 2003, when a major crackdown on Dublin pirates saw virtually every station wiped off the band.
It was the first radio station in the Republic of Ireland to complete a 24-hour broadcast, this on the occasion of the Irish general election of June 1977.
Well-known names on radio and television that went through these smaller stations include Marty Whelan, Gerry Ryan, Dave Fanning, John Paul, Ian Dempsey and Robbie Irwin.